1. I need something to do this summer. A job, a learning experience, and internship. My interests are photography, videography, music industry, business, and Christianity. I have some college level training in the areas of photography, videography, and business. More importantly I am willing to learn. What opportunities are their in the NYC/Baltimore/Philadelphia/Central Pennsylvania area for a kid my age? Who do you know further away? Do you know someone looking for an intern?

2. I need to engage people better. I feel like my communication skills are alright, but I can always learn more. Hit me with books, organizations to get involved with, events that are coming up in NYC/Philadelphia/Baltimore that I should attend.

3. Any creative ways you know of to pay for college.

I saw this image and thought, ‘Maybe this shouldn’t be my weekend OR my year.’
Not in the sense that it shouldn’t go well.
But in the sense that it shouldn’t be about me.

What do I already have planned for me this year?
I am in college studying a major I am interested in.
I am taking classes that I want to take.
I am planning to study in LA to better my career path.
I am trying to get an internship this summer or go on a giant roadtrip like internship.
All these things to try and further myself.

I am blind to you.

What can I do for you?

How can I make this year at least as much about others as I have planned for myself?
How can I make it more about others?

What can I do for you?
Here is my chance to be a listener and responder.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Part 1 – Chapter 5: Creating Documents with Microsoft Word 2007

Part 2 – Chapter 5: Creating Documents with Microsoft Word 2007

Part 3 – Chapter 6: Formatting and Organizing Text

Part 4 – Chapter 6: Formatting and Organizing Text

Part 5 – Chapter 7: Using Graphics and Tables

Part 6 – Chapter 7: Using Graphics and Tables

1. Look down the door line for ripples in the sheet metal.  This could be an indicator that the car was in an accident.

2. Look at the doors, is the space around the door even on all sides?  This could also indicate that the car was in an accident and that something was bent.

3. Look at the rubber pieces around doors and windows.  If the car was in an accident and was repainted, usually you will see some paint on the rubber.  In most cases people wont have paint jobs of excellent quality so the painters will just cover up the rubber with masking tape.  Some paint with inevitably get on the rubber.

4. Make sure bumpers look like they fit well with the car because this could be a sign of an accident.

5. Make sure body parts look their age.  If some of that grey plastic that they like to use for bumpers or on the side of doors looks like it is new compared to other parts, this could indicated that it has been replaced and that their could have been an accident.

6. Look under the car, if their is a new undercoat, this could indicate that the dealer is hiding something.

7. Look under the car at the sheet metal, does it look buckled or rippled?  Does it look original?  If either of these are wrong, it could be an indicater of an accident.

8. Open up the trunk, inspect the sheet metal around the trunk, if it is buckled or rippled or obviously new, it could incate an accident.

9. Look for straight lines in paint like masking tape was peeled away, this indicates that something was fixed or replaced.

10. Check for any leaks in hoses or gaskets.

11. Ask the dealer or person you are buying it from how many owners the car has had, if it was a leased car, if it has been in any major accidents, if it has had water damage, et cetera.

12. Check the interior for rips, tears, stains, holes, missing knobs, broken levers, et cetera.

13. Check if the windows, locks, AC, 4 ways, turn signals, lights, wipers, cd player, cassett player, mirrors, and sunroof work.

14. Check if the car smells of mold.  Could indicate water damage.

15. Check if the steering wheel wobbles while driving the car.  This could indicated an assortment of problems such as wheels are out of alignment or balance, or transmission problems.

16. Get the VIN number and run a VIN check on a website like CARFAX to get the lowdown on the car before buying it.  CARFAX will tell you how many owners the car has had, accidents it has been in, any time the car was serviced at a dealership or place of service, warranties remaining, and it will spit out safety reports based on the cars reviews.

17. Optional but recommended – Take the car to a dealer that specializes in that type of car and have them inspect it for you.  This may cost you 50 to a hundred dollars, but it saves you surprises.

18. Check the value of the car at retail on Kelly Blue Book, NADA, or Edmunds.

When going to buy or test drive a car, take someone along with you to ease the pressure and think of things that you wouldn’t.  Test drive the car to your hearts content.  Don’t buy the car if you feel uneasy or pressured.  Tell the dealership that they can do better on price and normally they will groan but get back to you with a lower price.

Hope this has helped.  Anyone have other things to think about or add?

That is why I was not exactly thrilled today when I asked the professor teaching Illustrator, what he knew about InDesign.  He said he knew a lot about it and a good place for me to learn was the Adobe help files.  Granted I could take the InDesign class on Mondays and Wednesdays, but I would have already missed a session.

Which really makes me sad, because recently, my friends and I thought it would be a good idea to start putting together a PDF magazine.  Which means, I will be the one looked to, to do layout and spread the word via the internet.

I may also note, that spreading the word via the internet, will probably be hard, because this site doesn’t pull in more than several visitors a day right now.  I makes me sad, but what content am I offering my visitors?  I mean really, there is nothing of use on my site, just useless babblings.

That being said, lets continue.  I kind of want the new Samsung Instinct and because I have Sprint, I could get it for somewhere around 50 dollars when my contract has matured.  However, I do feel that it wont replace an iPhone an would probably be a waste of my time.  In which case, I can’t wait for Google to release Android.  I think I read that Spint is getting into that because they have dim future.  Oh well.

In other news, I was almost scammed the other day.  Some guy tried to get me to wire him money be sending a check that I knew wouldn’t clear and saying to send X number of dollars to some other person right away.  I didn’t and he hasn’t contacted me since, add another oh well to the list.

I might have a sprained wrist, and I have a semi-recovering ankle.  Both injuries are from skateboarding.  Plus I met some new people to skate with. Which brings me back to the post I have been trying to write all day and failing miserably at.  “Find People, Progress” was going to be the title.  My theory is this, find people who share the same interests, will help guide you and hold you accountable, and then you have to pursue a relationship or at least a correspondence with them.  In this way you will learn to your fullest potential because they will see to it.  If you don’t have anyone holding you accountable, or no one where you live shares the same interests, then you are going to find it hard to learn, progress, and become better at what you like.

So find some people who want you to do your best, exchange knowledge, learn and progress.

Soon I will be doing heelflips, making cool images in Illustrator, and getting a new car.  All because people are holding me accountable.  I just wish someone would hold me accountable for falling less.

I, personally have had very few problems with Sprint.  I can’t speak for others I know, my friends went through six different people and several hours of her time to try and get a problem solved.  The very same problem that I called about for her, received timely help, and had fixed in no more than 15 minutes.

By all means, gasp away, because in most cases if I need to contact customer service, I am in and out, problem resolved in less than half an hour.  How you may say?  All you have to do is become as smart as the person you are dealing with.

I learned a long time ago that I don’t like frustration.  I hated trying to explain to someone my problems that I knew little about.  It was efficient for me, and it made them guess at what I wanted accomplished.  This goes for everything in life, not just customer service at your wireless provider.  Here is how you become as smart as the person you are dealing with: research.

In today’s world, you can minimize your time with the customer service people by being knowledgeable.  If your phone spits out an error, quickly enter it into Google with keywords like your phones make and model along with the world ‘help’ or ‘problem.’  Many times you may find an answer on how to fix your issue right then and their.  Other times, you get a name for your problem.  In the case of my friend, she was not able to access the internet on her phone, completely voiding her unlimited data plan.  When she would talk on the phone with the people at Sprint, she would tell them that the internet on her phone was not working.  Naturally they assume she wants to go through a wireless hot-spot.  Her plan entitled her to be able to use the internet anywhere, anytime.  Five minutes of research on my part produced that Sprint calls this function PCS Vision.  When I called customer service up, I said my friend has been having problems with connecting with PCS Vision making her data plan useless, how can this be remedied?

A minute or two later, I am taking the battery out of the phone, the lady on the other end is remotely updating the software, I put the battery back in, press some buttons, it works and I’m asking her to dinner next Friday to show my gratitude.  Well, all but the last part.  The point is, if you make yourself intelligent about your situation–five minutes of research, ten if you’re feeling arrogant or haven’t received something solid–can save you tens of minutes or hours, if not the embarrassment of stumbling through your problem with six different people.

Try to become knowledgeable.  Speak in their terms if at all possible.  Be polite, courteous, and respectful–they will like you and be easier to deal with.  Finally, if you get someone who is obviously a moron, you have the choice to end it and call back (make sure you get his name so when he answers you can call again), or you can ask to be transferred to someone higher, politely.

Alright, now that you have the URL, feedly works off of Google Reader.  I had never used Google Reader in my life but it looks like Feedly just makes it prettier.  Anyway, go into Google Reader normally (http://www.google.com/reader/) and then on the left side, click “Add Subscription,” it is in a green highlighted box. Paste your link and click “Add.”

Good, now you just need to add it to Feedly.  If you are prompted to, go ahead and add it to the folder called “z.feedly.seeded”  and you can also add it to the subcategory where you would like it to appear in Feedly; for example, Thinkers, Auto, Web Dev, et cetera.  In this case, I am going to add it to design.

If you were not prompted to put it in a folder right away, or just happened to navigate away from that option.  Just click on the “Settings” link in the upper right corner, click on the “Subscriptions” tab, and find your feed.  Use the drop down menu to add it to “z.feedly.seeded” and then the subcategory of your choice.

Wait a minute or two for Feedly to find your feed and show it in unread material.  Enjoy.

EDIT

Thanks to Edwin Khodabakchian, one of the Feedly software developers for pointing out that you can also add a feed to Feedly by visiting the website and waiting for a +f to appear in the far right side of your address bar.