Out in the Office - March 16th

Out in the Office is an exciting new initiative brought to you by Pride Western and The Student Success Centre. This conference-style event is intended to provide a safe space for students to dialogue about the challenges and opportunities associated with being open about your sexual orientation and gender expression/identity in the workplace.

Details of the event can be found here.

Listening to Gaga as I write this...coincidence?

Living off campus/Cooking

For those who are living off campus next year (or at least have access to a kitchen), you'll most likely face the daunting task of cooking.



Don't worry though, it's not as bad as you think it is! If you were thinking of asking your parental units to stock your freezer with pre-cooked meals...well that's good for the first month or two, but even as much as your parents love you, they'll undoubtedly start to get frustrated. And believe it or not, cooking/baking is a great stress reliever.

The most difficult part about cooking is probably trying to come up with something to make, so here's a list of sites that you'll want to bookmark. Everything from apps to blogs that will help you navigate around the culinary world.



Foodgawker is an excellent resource for cooking ideas. It pretty much acts like a database of recipes. An added bonus is that it gets updated pretty much every day. Most blogs have step by step photo instructions too. A word of caution though, you'll start to feel hungry after the second page.

Allrecipes.com: classic site, plenty of recipes and reviews from people who have tried them. And if you don't know what to make, try Allrecipes.com's app, Dinner Spinner. You can input the ingredients that you have and what not, very helpful.

Other sites to check out:

• Epicurious.com: Similar to Allrecipes.
  
• Food Network: note the 'Quick and Easy' tab at the top. Very important for students.
  

I Wish I'd Known Sooner #5 - Saving your work

I'm skeptical to have this entry as a "I Wish I'd Known Sooner"...it might fit better as "I Wish I'd Listen" instead, regardless, it's good to know.

Let me just put it out there:

BACK UP YOUR WORK BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS TO YOUR COMPUTER!

This is not a sight you want to see:

And then trying to turn your laptop back on, only to learn that it won't turn on? Not fun.

Let me tell you a story of how my laptop crashed on me, twice.

The first time happened in first year near the end of the semester. I was between assignments (just finished one, had to start on another) when the blue screen of death appeared before me on my HP. I had yet to hand in my essay on turn it in and spent the rest of the semester writing my other essay on my friends' computer and the computer labs.

Two years after that was the last leg of my HP. It was April and I was working on my final paper for my Advertising course. It had to be 7 pages and I was 5 pages through with it. And guess what happened? The motherboard (whatever that is) was a goner.

Moral of the story: back up your work.

LAMP's ITR Info Day - March 8

Hey LAMP! If you have questions about ITR and what courses to take for next year, you will want to check out this event on Tuesday. It's a drop-in, so come by between classes.

Also, check back the blog regularly...we'll be posting course reviews from your lovely Peer Mentors (MIT has some posted today!). Course descriptions from UWO's academic calendar are nice, but it's kind of bland...

LAMP Charity Coffee House - Sunday, March 6th 2011

Welcome back everyone!

LAMP's First Year Committee has been hard at work organizing the next LAMP Wide event: an upcoming charity coffee house. We've paired up with SOCS to bring you a great night of entertainment, all in support of Unity Project's Art Workshop.

You won't want to miss it...musical acts, a magician and stand-up comedy are just some of the acts you'll see.

Not to mention, an AMAZING raffle (sneak peak: one of the prizes is $50 Downtown Dollars)

Check out the Facebook event here.

2011 USC Elections, who do I vote for?!

What is this election business you speak of?
Well, USC Elections are going on RIGHT NOW and you can check out a list of candidates and their positions here.

And I know there's lots of buzz about this candidate and that candidate that you might base your vote on, but seriously, get informed before you make your decision.

Voteusc.ca has all the info you need on the three candidates running for USC President. So take a time and half a read through their platforms, check out their twitter/videos/etc,.

I've made my decision, when do I get to vote?!
Voting takes place Feb 15-16, with elections results night on the 16th. It's a party, check it out. And it's being hosted by BPC (Big Purple Couch)...doesn't get much better than that!


phew, hopefully that entry was objective enough for you all!

I Wish I'd Known Sooner #4 - Speaker series are actually helpful

I remember I'd always get e-mails in my UWO account from 'Backpack 2 Briefcase' about networking events and speakers coming to Western. Quite honestly, I'd glance over them with my finger hovering above the delete button.

Let me tell you something...it wasn't until my last year (this year) that I decided to attend one of those speaker events and honestly, they're more enlightening than you'd think.

Monday was the first day of Career Week at Western and it was kicked off with the topic of passion-- which was great. We often think that once we enter the 'real world' (aka: work), we lose the opportunity to pursue our passions. Listening to Melissa speak on Monday though, reassured me that you don't have to sacrifice everything just to make a living. And as someone who fears that the job life would become incredibly mundane and define who you are, I ended up getting a lot out of the event.

So before you delete that e-mail, give it a chance. Take advantage of all the resources and support systems that Western offers. It's great, seriously. Sure, you learn a lot in your lectures (let's hope), but UWO offers these other learning (enlightening?) outlets that many students I think, glaze over.

There's still two more days left in Career Week, see what else is happening.