Have an old iPod?

Yea, so I started blogging then...well...disappeared.

Ok, I mentioned earlier that simple or old items around the house, dorm, car...etc. could become great new products. Well, the iFlask is the perfect example of recycled ingenuity. I am lucky and have a super creative uncle: Jim Watson. See http://www.jamesrobertwatson.com/ for proof. I tell no lie here.

Here is his genius product:

He, being an Apple guru, had this old iPod laying around the house, and took it apart. This makes sense; he's curious. Have you ever wanted to just have a quick drink where, well, you are not suppose to? Check it out, the head phone jack doubles as the spout. Note: when you take it apart, if you attempt the task, be sure to darken the screen to a nice green or silver color. This way it looks legit when it is put back together.

Uses: I leave it to your imagination. I'm not recommending anything.

I apologize for being short. last 10 hours of my (first) senior year are getting in the way.

A Business Class

What would you say the top ways are to learn something new?

In my opinion, there is one definitive and tested way: do it. How do you learn how to mow the lawn (in the most efficient way)? How do you learn how to widdle? How do you learn how to drive a car? (I am serious about this one)

YOU DO IT!

So, to the point and the meaning of the title, why don't more (or any) classes in business (and other) colleges actually do what they teach? I have put some thought in to it, while sitting in my classes listening to teachers hammer on the idea that I need to read my textbooks. I'm sorry. It doesn't have pictures or graphs. But I think I have a solution that would make everyone a better graduate.


How I would structure my university(or my classes):

Take students majoring in small business or entrepreneurial coursework to come up with a product that would fit in a local or regional market. Then, the students would create and run a business around the idea; after all, shouldn't these students be prepared for what they plan on doing anyways?

Marketing students: experience the aspect of researching the market for the product(s). COOL HUNT.

Engineers/management students: design and come up with how to get the product made and ordered. In class building and hands on work!

Artistic students: design packaging, labeling, .....ads (with the advertising students of course)

Finance students: figure out how in the heck it will be paid for, how much it will be sold for, how much the parts will cost...etc.

Time to get it out there!

Transportation students: coordinate the journey of whatever-it-is to the class room, the store, the venue, the whatever!

Advertising/Marketing students: Do what the title of your major is! Market and advertise!

Accounting students: run the books, set up a non-profit.

Law students: Create the LLC. I know this doesn't take much work, but look at the legal side of patents, trademarks, and infringements.

Internet savvy majors/computer engineers: Create a web site. Set up a blog. Tweet and Facebook the product.


Of course, this is not for everyone. You would have to apply for the classes; in addition, the interviews would be conducted by previous students, and these honors-like classes would be fairly small. Each major has a different class so, 10-15 students from each major or related major would meet together, but all the classes meet at the same time. Each year, expand.

I call them:

Real Life:Marketing
Real Life: Finance
Real Life: Entrepreneurs
Real Life: ________




Teach some, do some, learn a ton.

Turn a class in to an experience.

Apple: The Classic Gift

Growing up, I would hear my parents say that you should give your teacher an apple. Funny thing, my mom was a teacher. But I would always see (early elementary school) my friends, or there moms, giving the teacher an apple with some note attached. As it turns out, an Apple as a gift has shifted from the teacher to the student. What better gift to give a college student, a grad student, or a student of the arts an Apple product? The difference, the capital "A". Everywhere I turn, I see a shiny super-tech apple creation. My friends and family own enough products to fill a store, and I have owned 5 iPods myself. My first was the 3rd Gen. 20-gig champion iPod. Don't worry, as you may have come to realize in my previous posts, I have kept it around. It has a 5 second battery life outside of the charger, doesn't like to charge on my computer anymore, and the row of 4 buttons seems to confuse anyone who examines the dinosaur of media players. At one point I upgraded to the 80-gig video monster, but that lasted a few months and one good party before it was too good for me and up and left my possession for some one better...


Then my sister went to college, received a stellar Apple computer for her....production design classes, or is it interior design? I don't know. I'm a finance and econ student; other end of the spectrum. So she was granted a new iPod mini...MINE! Great thing about nice younger sisters. The best part is when my sweet phone broke and oh how convenient, my birthday was the following week. Jackpot. iPhone. I would say, I qualify to be a proud owner of an Apple sticker on something I use to express myself. 5 items qualifies, right? Or do I need a laptop?



Here's the good news for me (and you), Apple keeps the industry buzzing and sailing along with new designs and new products. If you aren't an obsessive tech news reader like many of my friends, you probably would not know about Apple's latest change to its already highly catering line up of goodies. Apple just revealed its new iPod shuffle, or rather the smallest most high-tech thing I know of. It's about the size of a key, and what do I know about keys? I lose them. At least they keep things simple and unbelievably easy to use, unless you're my parents... Sorry folks. I want an owner's opinion on the micro-pod before I dare risk hiring a search party to dig through my closet or dresser to find the rascal. One of the features is VoiceOver, where it tells you what song or which playlist is playing (yes, playlist). I only wish it would send out a distress signal if not played in 24 or 48 hours, so you could find it.



It would be cool, if Apple marketed to students a memo mic application for speaking and recording little notes to your self, or homework assignments...

If I'm just missing out, it would be great if someone would tell me.

What Kind of Clock Are You?

I started thinking, right after my first post, what credit do I have to instruct everyone on reading, commenting, and following my blog. Well, none. I just am an avid mid-early twenties male. I enjoy a constructive lifestyle more than not, although being constructive does not have to be plain and dry; furthermore, constructive is not necessarily stereotypical of doing homework, studying for tests, researching ideas for work, or doing the laundry, although these are quite productive. I'm talking about learning a new trade or (as in above) figuring out a new way to use something.


Take an old TV, radio, computer, cell phone, hat, rusty pan, or an old baseball bat and do something with it. Make a fish take out of a TV or a toothpick and chewing gum holder out of an old cell phone. In essence, remove junk from your life. That's my biggest problem and favor goal. I lived with my parents through high school, where mom "helped" clean my room. Yeah right, she did it. I tried to take credit once or twice, at which point I was immediately sent a look that even the most reflective pair of aviators couldn't stop. Doing the dorm thing in college, I was lucky if I could keep it clean and tidy. Don't worry, care packages came to rescue with everything no freshmen needs, but always has. Candy, Ramon, and popcorn, the rivals of campus cafeterias, come full force in every care package, unless -maybe- a vegetarian's. On top of mountains of goodies to fill my shelves, I get little toys and games, such as a parachute guy(????!!), a mini checkers board (???!!), and some crossword or puzzle book too small for any male handwriting (and girl's handwriting for that matter with the big loopy letters). I apologize for the seemingly tangent story, but I promise that I have a point.


My point: simplify and reuse. I game the games and parachute dude to a teach that I thought would enjoy the humor, and no, I didn't hand them to him personally. I put them in his box, while he was in class....anonymously.

Back to what credit I have, or lack of for that matter. I am experiencing life, just like you. Something you might learn as my posts continue is that I am a fan of reorganizing words to express my thoughts. I want to know what makes your clock tick and if you are a person with a date, hour hand, minute hand, second hand, etc. Are you digital? Are you a watch? How deep can you go underwater?

Welcome to a New Approach

Not many people, at least my age, look at something and find multiple uses for it, or come up with something completely new to solve a common problem. What else can you do with an empty plastic juice jug, those left over chip crumbs, or (my favorite) a Frisbee? How can you solve little inconveniences in your daily life with new, creative, and CHEAP solutions? Take my examples. A plastic juice jug makes an excellent large reusable water bottle for a long day of driving or school or practice. The left over chip crumbs make excellent additions to sandwiches or other snacks. Now, here is my current favorite: the plastic Frisbee. This probably won't work well with disc golf drivers or mid-ranges discs, but how about turning that bad boy upside down and using it as a plate. What better thing to put snacks and quick meals-to-go on that a flat surface with a raised ridge that protects your car or couch from stray crumbs?

This blog is open to any ideas, suggestions, criticism, and all other thought on the topics. Feel free to take as many and as wild tangents as you wish. Its simply and normally a blog, right?