Archive for the ‘College’ Category

Dan: Grace’s last gift recommendation triggered my mind about this great photo scanning service. The website is called scanmyphotos.com . The service is very easy to use! All you have to do is collect all of the photos that you want to be saved. You mail them the photos and they scan all the photos onto a DVD(s) for $0.04 a photo. It is really hard to find a better deal than the one here. Gifts that are thoughtful are the best gifts!

You can take photos that are meaningful to you and the person or persons that you want to give the gift to. Have them scanned onto a DVD and gift it as a gift! For and extra fee they will even make photo slideshows for you and enhance them with personal music selections. They can even convert old VHS film videos onto a DVD just like the photos. Not only can the service provide a meaningful avenue for gift giving, it is something that all people should do anyways either on their own or through a service like this. You never know when your old photos can be destroyed or weather out. It is important to keep your memories safe and sound on electronic media. If you really want to be safe, make multiple copies and store them in different places to diversify the risk. Also, you can get your old photos back! I strongly recommend this task as a meaningful gift idea and for your own well being.

PS: Here is a link to a great forum where people discuss different avenues for backing up everything from video to professional files!

Grace: This is a really great and creative gift idea!  In addition to getting into digital photography, my dad has also recently started to get into either restoring or preserving some of our old pictures, and this would be a great gift for him!  Unfortunately, I am behind the times and don’t own a scanner and probably never will because I am that lazy.  For someone like me who would only use a scanner to digitally preserve photos, this service is a lot cheaper and easier than buying a scanner.  I love the idea of giving people gifts that they can look back on and reminisce, so I think this is a great, affordable idea!

Grace: One of those weird Asian genes I happened to inherit is my obsession with taking pictures of EVERYTHING! Before my camera completely died on me, I would literally take it anywhere and everywhere because you never knew when it would come in handy!

Now that my camera is officially dead, I’ve been on the lookout for a new one. I think a reliable yet fairly inexpensive digital camera is a great thing for everyone to have. I know how difficult it is to find the perfect digital camera (there are just too many!) but I think the best approach to buying one as a gift is to think of the person’s needs. For example, if I we’re buying a camera for someone who is not a professional photographer but still very dedicated, such as my dad, I would probably buy a more high end digital camera and a nice standard zoom lens too.

However, if you are shopping for someone younger, perhaps a college or high school student, something smaller and cheaper would be better, especially since cameras tend to get replaced every few years. Personally, I would want my digital camera to take clear pictures regardless of the situation (I hate when the pictures I take at night or at museums don’t turn out well), but I’d also want it to be small and easy to carry around. From what I’ve seen, the Canon PowerShot digital cameras take very nice pictures, but I find them to be a little bulky. I also like the Fujifilm FinePix because it takes quality pictures, but it’s slimmer than the PowerShot.

Whatever you decide on, don’t fret too much about it. I would make a list of what I know I want in a camera, and then do some research and read both professional and customer reviews. As long as the camera does its job, it’s sure to be a well loved and well used gift.

Dan: A digital camera is a great gift idea Grace! When we just went to the Maritime Aquarium in Norwalk my camera came in real handy. Digital cameras these days have unlimited capabilities, I was able to take A LOT of video and at least thirty pictures of frogs, fish and crazy toothed sharks. In the past I always hated people who walked around filming their lives on camera. I would think to myself, “enjoy the moment don’t record the moment”, but it really is wonderful to have the ability to reflect on great experiences. I also recommend taking lots of short films because they truly re-live the moment unlike photos.

Dan: I cannot get enough of the Olympics! Unfortunately, the games are late at night having recorded and live segments between 8 and midnight on the east coast, but I stay up. Sports can either be beneficial or terrible to kids and adults. It can be viewed as something that is an avenue for winning or as something where people can compete and gain confidence and self esteem. I truly believe in the second but I personally feel that the first is a more common viewpoint.

The point of the Olympics is for athletes to represent their countries in honest sport. However, I cannot go anywhere without hearing the Phelps saga and how he does not even know where his gold medals are anymore. I feel as if the media has drawn away from the true competitive nature of the Olympics and why Olympians are truly there.

My gift recommendation to parents are to get your kids involved in sports. Either through lessons or on a local club and please teach them that winning is not the greatest part of sport.

Grace: Hmmm, I’m kind of on the fence about this gift idea. I agree that kids should be encouraged to play sports and learn all about being part of a team and whatnot, but at the same time, I definitely wouldn’t force my child into it. I’ve never really liked playing sports all that much because of their overly competitive nature. Not to mention, sometimes teammates can be very cruel to each other. My parents pushed lots of sports on me when I was younger, but the only one I really took to was one that I’d loved all my life and found on my own, horseback riding (which, ironically, I received as a birthday gift!) Even then there were times where the competition between riders was ridiculous and cruel, such as sabotaging others riding equipment and even horse. For this gift, I would recommend really listening to your child because this could either be a great experience or it could be traumatic.

Dan: I am currently a Junior at the University of Delaware and I must admit that I am an avid UD football fanatic. Joe Flacco…first round pick…Baltimore Ravens…we’re lucky. At a lot of colleges, student life revolves around football every weekend. A game represents more than just a game, it is a bonding experience and a chance to have a really great time before and after the game. I personally exude a yearning to go home once my work really starts to pile up. A gift idea that can be either simple or slightly complicated depending on the university is football tickets. Either from the rest of the family or the student, going to the game brings the family back together for a weekend and really is a great time to be had.

My family came to a game last year and it was the best game/weekend of my fall. Even though it was a mutual gift, it was one of the best gifts that I have ever been a part of. My parents treated me this year on a UD vs. James Madison game and I cannot wait!

Sometimes the best gifts are ones that can be shared. The best gift is not always the newest video game or fashion trend, but quality family time. If this type of gift cannot work for you, go ahead and bend the rules…the tickets don’t have to be to a football game !

Grace: I think this is a really sweet gift idea!  I know my family misses me just as much as I miss them but they don’t want to be too intrusive.  If I went to a bigger school that held large sports events (I’m not sure Hamilton even charges, ever!), I would definitely buy my family tickets.  Even tickets to concert events would be a great idea!  I know that the Hamilton Music Department brings in great orchestras and chamber groups and my family would love to see some of those performances.  I would just check to make sure the dates work out properly before buying the tickets.

Grace: As you probably already know, I am obsessed with earrings. I own so many pairs that I literally have nowhere to put them. My love for earrings may be a bit over the top, but I know that I am not the only girl who owns so many pairs she doesn’t know what to do with them all. For me, earrings are always a default gift; if I can’t think of anything creative or unique for my friends, I’ll end up buying them a nice pair of earrings.

Earrings have been around for hundreds of years; the earliest sign of earrings was found in art work in ancient Persia. Historically, piercing and other forms of body modification were used as a sign of wealth and status. For example, in southeast Alaska it used to be very difficult to raise one’s social status, so in order to ensure their child’s social ranking, parents would hold a community feast. At this feast, the parent or host would pay members of their group to pierce the rims of their child’s ears. The more feasts, the more rings. Since these feasts were fairly expensive, the number of holes indicated levels of wealth.

Today, the piercing of one’s ears is quite popular and is no longer used as a sign of social ranking. However, as I mentioned before, it is quite easy to accumulate earrings, especially if you’ve had your ears pierced for a very long time. I have no way of organizing my earrings other than to store them in boxes, and it has become a hassle to go through that box every morning and untangle my earrings and try to locate pairs. In a world where stress levels are already high, the last thing anyone needs is stress caused by unorganized earrings.

I found this great earring organizer that is both decorative and functional (I’m a big fan of things that look nice but are also practical). Shaped like a tree, you can hook your earrings onto the branches, or you can even hang your bracelets and necklaces! Instead of just buying your friend jewelry, why not buy her something she can use to organize it all? It’ll probably get more use than just a pair of earrings (to be honest, I only wear a given pair for maybe 6 months until I’m ready to move on to the next pair), and it’s a great decorative piece too!

Grace: Dan has decided to be a slacker and go on vacation for the week, so I am stuck posting on my own

Before I started my freshman year at Hamilton College, I was given a new, shiny Macbook as a graduation gift.  I am absolutely in love with my computer; it works like a dream and I’ve never had any serious problems with it.  My only complaint, however, are the speakers; they are so quiet!  I like to listen to music while I study, even though there is no statistically significant data indicating that music improves test scores, but I can’t hear anything at all!  My only hope was to wear my harmful earbuds and hope I didn’t got deaf.

I was so tired of my computer’s speakers, that I went out and bought the JBL Spyro speakers.  It may be the girly girl in me, but I love the fact that these speakers are visually appealing in addition to sounding great.  These speakers may be too feminine for some men, but that is really up to you to decide.  Just remember to take the gift recipient’s tastes into consideration before buying a gift, no matter how much we gush over it.

What I really love about these speakers, besides the great sound quality and subwoofer, is their compact size.  I like to keep my desk very spacious and clean, so gigantic speakers weren’t really right for me.  The floret shaped speakers are perfect for someone who doesn’t have a lot of room on their desk, but don’t want to sacrifice sound quality for compactness.  The sound quality is very clean, and the speakers themselves are easy to use.

I would highly recommend these speakers, or any speakers really, as a gift for a college student (especially one who owns a Mac; I know I’m not the only one who complains about their speakers).  There’s no need to buy an insanely expensive sound system for a college student, but it’s nice to have quality speakers.

Grace: As a poor college student, I have a hard time finding gifts for my friends that I think they’d enjoy but won’t leave me broke. The easy way out would be to buy clothing or jewelry, but those gifts can get repetitive and boring.

As a very hands-on person, I love the idea of giving a scrapbook as a gift. Scrapbooking is a fun and easy activity that anyone can partake in; all it takes is a little time and patience. It is a visual form of story telling that was first practiced in ancient Greece. As more people became literate and no longer had to hire scribes to record their thoughts and memories for them, scrapbooks became more popular. Sometime during 15th century England, scrapbooks started appearing as personal journals where recipes, letters, quotes, and other memorable items were placed. Today, scrapbooks are used mainly to preserve memories.

For my friend’s 20th birthday, a bunch of my friends and I decided to buy and start a scrapbook for her, and it was a complete success! We started out with a simple scrapbook, nice and affordable, and started 2 pages. In order to give her a little push, we bought her some stickers, glue, glitter, and other fun crafty things, and printed out a bunch of pictures we thought she would enjoy.

I wasn’t sure if my friend would actually continue scrapbooking, but come finals she’s always sitting in her room cutting paper and pasting pictures. She finds that it’s a great way to relieve stress (and procrastinate). A scrapbook is a great gift for someone who loves arts and crafts and also has the patience and time to actually work on one.

Dan: I have never personally made a scrapbook of my own, but I have received one as a gift. It was a memory capsule of many of the major moments during my four years in high school. I cherish that present more than any other gift I have ever been given. It is so important to me that it has to come to college with me throughout the year so that when I become over-stressed I can open it up and laugh about good times from the past. I am so happy that you gave this gift recommendation, Grace, because it is a very special one. You beat me to it!