Rico is our resident gadget guy and net surfer, which is why he obsesses for the latest tech toys. No, seriously! Use the drop down above to read about the gadgets and websites he's discovered. We're still not sure how he can do a radio show everyday when his time is spent in geekdom. Oh, that's right... he does "nothing" on his show anyway.
Rico lives in Elk Grove and spends his free time he has with his wife of five years and their two-and-a-half year old son, Jace. He's really hoping Jace doesn't want to be a radio DJ like dad; Rico prefers his son get a real job making real money.
1. Return Your Cap And Gown (And Your Library Books) Before You Leave Campus
Return your cap and gown or you will be charged like $150.
2. Don't Throw Out Your Student I.D.
Remember how awesome it was to go to museums for a discount while you were in college? Well, as a Real Adult, you will appreciate not paying the full entry fee when you whip out your college I.D. (Also, J. Crew and Madewell give anyone with a student I.D. 15 percent off, and you can still get your Apple Store discount with your I.D., so it's not just about being all cultured.)
3. Make Your Own Lunch
You really will save a ton of money. And you'll be healthier.
4. Use Your Commuting Time Wisely
No matter how you get to work, spending your commuting time on something engrossing that is not email, Twitter or anything work-related will make you feel like a healthier, less-work-crazed person.
5. Hangovers Will Get A Lot Harder To Deal With
Going to work with a vicious hangover is not the same as snoozing through a 9 a.m. sociology lecture with a vicious hangover. Also, you will get drunk off three drinks by the time you're 25. (On the bright side, this makes getting drunk a lot cheaper.)
6. Keep Track Of All Your Tax Stuff
Taxes! You have to file them. And if you're a freelancer, you should keep track of your eligible business-related deductions and spend the extra couple hundred dollars to have an accountant do your taxes. Here is another tip: If you "forget" to pay, the IRS will find you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but they will find you and then one day you will go to take money out of your bank account and it will be ALL GONE because they put a lien on it and that is NOT FUN.
7. Use Your Credit Card (Wisely)
You know how everyone warns you not to go into crazy credit card debt when you're in college? This is good advice. But getting a credit card in college — when it's super easy to do— is actually a very good idea, as long as you pay your bill on time. Then you'll have a clean credit history and you will be able to do Real Adult Things, like rent an apartment and buy a car on your own.
8. Go Back To Band Camp (Or Keep Playing Soccer, Or Doing Indian Classical Dance, Or Whatever)
Just because you're out of school doesn't mean you should drop your sport/musical instrument/extracurricular. Even if you are a Revolutionary War reenactor.
9. Sex Gets Better
It gets (SO MUCH) better when you're not doing it a) totally wasted and/or b) in a frat house.
10. Don't Freak Out If Everything Doesn't Happen Right Away
Everything moves faster in college. One semester you're a reporter for the school paper and the next you're the editor-in-chief! That doesn't exactly happen in the real world. It'll take some time to adapt to not being on a semester schedule, so don't be despondent if you don't get promoted after four months, or if you actually just suck at your first job. It's okay.
11. But Also Don't Freak Out If You Never Graduate College In The First Place
As one person put it: "I wish someone had told me to drop out sooner than I did b/c college isn't for everyone and I'd save myself a ton of debt and end up with a job I love anyway."
Wireless broadband won't dominate the home market for another 8 to 10 years, but kids born today won't remember a world where people pay for wired Internet connections.
Dedicated Cameras and Camcorders
Smartphone cameras are already killing the consumer point-and-shoot and the family camcorder. The advantage: Smartphones are always with us. They offer all kinds of apps and filters for adjusting pictures on the fly and they allow us to share our photos and videos online as soon as we take them. Within a few years, the average consumer won't own a dedicated camera at all.
Landline Phones
As of 2010, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 26 percent of U.S. homes had wireless phones only. By the time a baby that’s born today turns 5, only a handful of old people will continue to own house phones.
Slow-Booting Computers
With the move toward always-on computing, future users will almost never turn their computers off, instead waking them from sleep in a second or less. Someday you’ll be saying, "When I was your age, we had to wait up to two minutes for a computer to power on, and we liked it."
Windowed Operating Systems
By the time a baby that’s born today is ready for his or her first computer, the windows will be gone from Windows. Microsoft 's PC operating system will still exist, as will Mac OS X. But, in the next few years, we'll say good bye to the window metaphor where each application you run is displayed in a draggable box that has a title bar and widgets.
Movie Theaters
Pundits have been predicting the death of the movie theater since the first televisions hit the market, but this time, it's really going to happen for a number of reasons. First, with large HD televisions going mainstream and 3D sets becoming more affordable, the average home theater is almost as good as the average multiplex theater. Second, studios and their cable partners have begun releasing some movies for on-demand viewing on the same day they debut in theaters, a trend which is likely to continue. Finally, the cost of going to a movie theater is so out of control that nobody is going to keep paying it.
The Mouse
Within five years, the cost of adding touch capability to screens will be so small that every display, from large-screen TVs to laptops, will have it. More precise pointing devices such as the mouse and touchpad won't disappear overnight, but they'll likely fade away or become secondary within the next several years.
3D Glasses
Ever since the first 3D films hit theaters in the 1950s, viewers have been forced to wear some kind of glasses in order to experience three-dimensional effects. In 10 years, large-screened devices like TVs will be able to offer a compelling glasses-free 3D experience to many viewers at the same time.
Remote Controls
When we were kids, the family TV didn't even have a remote control. We had to actually get up and walk across the room to change the channel. In the next 5 to 10 years, most of us will have moved on to either using our smartphones or a combination of gestures and voice commands to change channels.
Desktops
By the time a baby that’s born today hits elementary school, PC vendors will have stopped producing most desktop computers.
Phone Numbers
You probably still remember your parents' phone number, which hasn't changed in more than 30 years, but how many of us dial numbers rather than just tapping a name in our contacts menu? With the advent of Skype, Google Talk and even Facebook audio chat, you can just dial someone by username.
Prime-time Television
In ancient times, people had to gather around their TVs at a set time each week to watch "Starsky and Hutch." Then VCRs arrived and you could find out whether the Duke boys outsmarted Boss Hogg any time you wanted. DVRs now let us tape shows, but because most TV networks make their shows available for free either via Web streaming or cable on-demand, we don't even have to record shows anymore.
Fax Machines
Three things will finally slay the fax: First, more companies will start accepting online forms with electronic signatures as valid, so someone's illegible signature on a hard copy isn't needed. Second, for those who just can't let go of the signature requirement, touch devices will allow people to scribble their John Hancocks into digital forms. Finally, the death of landlines will also mean death for fax machines.
Optical Discs
It may take another 10 years for the major entertainment companies to stop publishing in DVD and Blu-ray format, but make no mistake, discs aren’t long for this world. Optical discs will last another decade because people aren't eager to repurchase films they already own.
1. ProFlowers App* - The ProFlowers app allows you to pick out a bouquet, order online and even have your purchase delivered if you don't have time to stop by the flower shop.
2. Bitehunter - Maybe you want to take mom to a nice restaurant for Mother'sDay. Download the Bitehunter app, and just like Groupon or LivingSocial, you can find the best dining deals nearest you.
3. Tango Video - If your mom lives out of state, the Tango Video app allows you to record a video, and customize it with special animations before sending it off.
4. Sincerely Ink Cards - Perhaps you're so busy you don't even have time to send mom a card in the mail. Download the Sincerely Ink Cards app, pick a template and a picture of yourself, along with a nicely written greeting and it will be sent to mom via email.
5. All-In Yoga App - If you're willing to spend some money on an app, maybe your mom is stressed out and needs some yoga. Get her the 'All-In Yoga app for 99 cents, which gives her breathing exercises, videos, and yoga tips and techniques.
6. I-Cookbook - Or if your mom is the culinary queen of your heart, then there's the I-cookbook for $5. The app contains 2,000 different recipes, with new items added every month free of charge. This is the perfect app for a mom with an affinity for cooking.
Whether you decide to go traditional or a bit more contemporary, these fantastic phone apps are sure to help you show mom how much you care regardless of your tight schedule or limited budget.
You should like your boss--or at the very least respect him or her.
You should like and respect your co-workers.
Try to avoid confrontations with superiors and colleagues. If there is an issue that you feel needs to be addressed, there is always a diplomatic forum in which to resolve it. If you don't think such a forum exists, work on creating one.
Set a positive example for your co-workers. Always work to your highest capacity, regardless of what others are doing or what is going on around you. Focus on controlling your own behavior. This approach to your work will do wonders for your productivity as well as your self-esteem.
Make a list of the steps you can take to become more productive and then carry them out.
Focus on the most important task at hand and attempt to finish it before moving on.
Avoid chit-chat beyond what's necessary to be social. Save gossip for breaks or lunch.
Restrict your personal business to your personal time. If you have no exciting personal interests, you need to become more active and "get a life."
Get enough sleep to recharge your system so you can work at your highest capacity and feel your best.
Count your blessings! And blessing No. 1 is you have a job. Just being employed should have a positive impact on your mood, even if you do not believe your current occupation is the ideal one.
Record Breaking Weekend: The Avengers' records from Deadline Hollywood.
· Biggest domestic opening weekend of all time.
· Fastest film to reach $200M (3 days).
· Highest Saturday of all time: $69.7M.
· 8th biggest midnight opening.
· Biggest superhero midnight debut.
· Passed domestic totals for Captain America and Thor.
· Passed international box office totals of Captain America ($192M), Iron Man ($266.7M), Thor ($268.3M), and Iron Man 2 ($311.5M) in 12 days of release.
· Biggest opening weekend of all time in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Central America, Peru, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines.
· Biggest Marvel opening weekend in Russia (May 3): $17.9M.
· Passed the global box office totals of Captain America ($364M) and Thor ($449M) and Iron Man ($585M) and Iron Man 2 ($624M).
· 110 domestic IMAX locations established a new opening Saturday record.
· Biggest IMAX domestic opening weekend for a digital only release.
· Highest grossing opening weekend in IMAX’s history
· Domestic weekend estimate from all 4,349 theaters: $200.3M.
· Domestic weekend theater average: $46,063.
· International weekend estimate: $151.5M
· In 52 territories representing about 95% of the international market.
· International cume: $441.5M
· Global cume estimate: $641.8M
· Crossed the $600M global box office threshold today after just 12 days of release.
· Performance to date in key international territories: UK $48.1M, Mexico $40.2M, Australia $32.2M, Korea $31.3M, Brazil $31.0M, France $26.4M, Italy $18.8M, Germany $18.3M, Russia $17.9M, China $17.4M, Spain $14.4M, Taiwan $14.3M, Philippines $11.5M.
I took the family and I went for a drive on Saturday, and ended up in Ione. We've been to Ione before, but this time we saw a sign that they were doing $5 tours of Preston Castle, AKA Preston School of Industry. The place has a creepy feeling about it, but it's a very cool experience to walk through that place. Here are a few pictures from the inside in case you've never been inside. Enjoy!
By the way, the Preston Castle Foundation is a group of volunteers working to restore the castle. You can donate to the cause if you're so inclinded by clicking here.
