another sam chan: the student blogger

One of the most brutal consumer habits of the Christmas holidays is buying presents. Even if I don’t talk about lineups at the mall, it is still a major headache for most. Whoever said it was easier to give than receive probably never bought a Christmas present for Aunt Lily. Spend over 35, and you’ve wasted too much hard earned money; spend less than 30 and you’re officially the cheap nephew. Moreover, who do you buy presents for? Could you get away with just a card? Do you get a gift for Bill, even though the jerk hasn’t called in 6 months? What about Nancy? No wait, Nancy didn’t get you a birthday present. It’s not that you’re being insincere, just that it’s financially impossible to get everybody you remember a present. And personally as a student, holiday shopping time usually coincides with finals time and we have twenty-four hours a day just like everybody else. So I’m a big fan of Secret Santa.

With Secret Santa, you only need to get one gift per exchange and it creates the perfect alibi for not getting Drew that Ninja Turtles Backpack he’s been whining about since April – you didn’t draw him. What I’ve discovered this year (via google) is Elfster, an online Secret Santa management system. It’s great for running SS’s (wow!) if you have friends from abroad as it does the draw electronically and it even lets you ask anonymous questions to anybody on the list. One of my favourite features on there is that you can make sure that the Mister doesn’t get the Missus. You can preset so that Mr. Bing doesn’t get Mrs. Bing in the draw. It even syncs with Facebook, although the sync has a few bugs to work out. Elfster is also on Twitter so if any question arises, @elfster is the place to go.

If you’re not down with Secret Santa, you can always just donate the money you were going to spend on their present – I’ve never heard anybody complain about that either. And anybody who complains about donations shouldn’t receive a present anyways. Of course charity work because you were too lazy to go Christmas shopping isn’t the best of reasons, but hey – a donation’s a donation.

Speaking of gifts, congratulations to Jono, Aira, and Kabren who have successfully sold me their college major. I will be emailing or twittering you (if I haven’t already) to find out which case you want and where to ship it to.

Phew, and this was supposed to be a short post. Back to the books!

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I awoke this morning a bit late and was welcomed with a new look for my Gmail inbox. Following in Microsoft Live Hotmail’s footsteps, Google has given Gmail Users themes. There’s an interesting array of different shades of blue but most of them still maintain the classic Google blue. Some of them though, are crazy and fun, like the ninja style I have here. Old school users need not worry though, because you will still be able to select the “Classic look” which means no changes at all. It seems that some people have not seen it yet so far but I’m sure as the day goes on, your Inbox will change into a brand new blue for you too. To access your themes, all you have to do is Click on Settings –> Themes. Don’t worry if you can’t see it yet, you will soon enough.

As I’m writing this, I just found out Miss604 beat me to the punch and has some awesome screenshots of all the themes so you can take a look there. The official Google blog also has announced it. I can see Google Reader, Calendar et. all supporting themes eventually as well. I’ve stuck with the Tree theme for now.

Are Gmail themes change you can believe in?

By the way, the contest is still on, let me know what your major is by Friday and win that silicone case!

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The time has come again for me to choose my courses for the following semester and I am but a blank page. You see, I have been told that I need about 30 or so breadth credits in order to graduate. The problem is, I haven’t a clue what to take and I’m not allowed to take any more Communication courses, which is my major. (Well, technically I’m allowed to, I just don’t get any more credit for them). I double checked with my adviser and she let me know that I can take anything, as long as they give me credit. No requirements or stipulations whatsoever.

So this is my pitch to you. In a quick comment, tell me what your college major is (was, are, about to be, etc…) and why you’re so passionate about it. I’ll take a look at all the replies and for the best reply, I’ll mail you an iPod Touch 1st Gen or iPod Nano 3rd Gen (fat nano) silicone case for free. I’m not joking, I don’t have neither of those devices and have no use for it, so if you have one of these, lunge at the chance for this freebie! I’m looking forward to reading your replies. This ‘contest’ will go on until Friday by which time I definitely need to register.

EDIT: Due to the lack of entries and the fact I still haven’t registered, I am extending the contest to run until 11:59pm PST Sunday. I also going to give away the top 3 entries instead of only the top 1. The winner will be announced on Monday.

That is all!

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