As I’ve said before, and as, I’m sure, many of you already know, one of the keys to success in academics and really just life is organization.  The problem is, the life of a college student has just become too freaking hectic.  On top of readings, homework, papers studying and the rest of the huge pile of schoolwork in your life, you have to find time for greek functions, parties, extra-curriculars and all kinds of crap.  Well, I’m savvy to what I believe is the best way to keep your schedule tidy.  It’s called iscrybe and it’s awesome.  I’ll run through my favorite features with you and tel you how you can have your own scrybe calendar at the end of the article.

At first glance, iscrybe looks like any other calendar no different than google’s organizer or one that may have come with your computer.  I assure you though, it is superior.

If you watch the video above, you can pretty much just skip what I’m going to tell you but I’m going to keep typing anyways and you should keep reading.  I am going to skip the basic details about the program though, so you should probably watch the video after you read what I have to say.

After you input items into your calendar(s), you’re all set to go.  You can have the website automatically email you reminders or even have them send texts to your phone (you’ll have to find out what your phone’s text e-mail address, nothing a quick google search can’t solve).  You can share calendars with other scrybe members, which is excellent for group projects or organizations.  You can share lists and notes too.  You can even view your scrybe account when your computer is disconnected to the internet.  Sounds awesome huh?  Well, I haven’t mentioned my favorite part.

My favorite feature of this program is the printing functionality.  I love that you can print your calendars and lists onto easy to fold (they give you instructions) paper so that you can carry your todo’s and calendars with you.  This one feature makes navigating a hectic day so great.  I always walk around with a small scrybe calendar in my pocket.

Now watch the video.  I’ll wait.  Ok, good.  Now, how do you get an account?  Well, the program is in beta right now so you can’t just waltz on up and sign up, but it’s not hard to get an invitation.  First, you can send e an e-mail (Jason@thecollegiatestyle.com) asking for an account.  I won’t do this for very long but I’ll do it for a while so go ahead and ask away.  The other way to get an invite is to go to the website iscrybe.com, and ask for an invite in their invite forum.  You’ll get a response pretty quickly.  Just be sure to scramble up your e-mail a little bit.  Posting your e-mail on a public forum is usually an invitation for spam.  Just type it out like example [at] gmail [dot] com or something like that.

Seriously, you should give this program a chance.  It’s really great.

I’ll never understand the complete obsession girls have with chocolate.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it, I just don’t get why girls go so nuts for it.  Then again, I don’t really understand very much about girls to start off with.  Well ladies, It’s called Le Whif and it’s going to blow (or i guess suck) the brains right out of your heads.

David Edwards, one of the world’s leading experts in aerosols and a Harvard Professor, has figured out how to make chocolate inhalable.  What this means is that you can enjoy the flavor of some seriously fine chocolate, without ever eating it.  What THIS means is that you can enjoy chocolate without any calories whatsoever.  I know, I know…crazy.

My first reaction to this was concern for lungs and the fact that inhaling chocolate couldn’t possibly be as good as letting it melt in your mouth, but testers say that it feels as if they’re actually consuming real life chocolate.  Well, actually I thought “Great Name”.  I understand that whifs won’t give you the brown lung either.  Apparently, Edwards is in the process of making le whifs in actual food flavors.  Currently, you can purchase them in chocolate and raspberry chocolate flavors.

If for no other reason than the fact that this is absolutely crazy, you should try it.

You can find more info at le whif’s official website

And you can purchase at le labo shop

To wind up my Dorm Sexy series, I’d like to leave a short article pointing you guys to places to keep up with fun things to spruce your dorms up.  Some of the things these guys showcase are funky but cool, some are too weird to even think about buying, and some are just plain sexy.  Look through and hopefully, they’ll help you live just a little sexier.

The Green Head

This is a website with user and staff submitted things that are funky, cool and fun to have.  They constantly update so you can check back with them on a regular basis and find new fun things.  They don’t sell anything on their site, they just showcase things.

Think Geek

Think Geek is a veritable giant in geek-chic.  They have everything from USB rocket launchers to caffeine lotions.  the website is huge, but a lot of people have still never heard of it.  If you haven’t, now you have. Your wallet may hate you after seeing this site, or you may hate your wallet.

Firebox

Along the same lines as think geek, these guys sell all kinds of cool gadgets and toys.  They just aren’t limited to what is “geeky”.

Bathrooms are gross.  Think about it, the sole and entire purpose of that room is to expunge waste and nasty things from your body.  You use the toilet to flush actual body waste, the shower to wash dirt, oil and other nasty things from your surface and the sink to rid your hands, face and mouth of various forms of grime.  The nasty nature of the bathroom is what makes it the best and most important room in the house to beautify.

Aside from keeping it clean, you have to put pretty things in your bathroom to distract you (and anyone else) from the true nature of that section of your abode.  But why stop at distracting?  Take an extra step, anything worth doing is worth doing right, right?  Make your bathroom SEXY.

One of the most important things to pay attention to in your bathroom is the shower curtain.  It’s not because the shower curtain is particularly important by itself, but because it’s huge.  Take some time in finding the perfect shower curtain to go along with the floor mats and general decor of your lavatory.  If you just want it to be simple, that’s fine, maybe a solid color is for you.  If it’s polka dots you need, go for it.  Maybe you’re a little adventurous and want something a little out there, this is for you then:

Whatever your style may be, just make sure you pay attention to your shower curtain and choose one wisely.

You may be unaware, but there are some pretty kick-ass bath mats floating around the internet and ikea.  Don’t be boring, go somewhere other than your local Wal-mart to get your bath mats.  They come in all shapes and sizes.  I love my white shag-carpeting bath mats.

Bathroom accessories are a great way to keep organized in a beautiful way.  Make sure you pay special attention to your counter space.  Continuity and theme are key here.

I’m sure you all have great looking bathroom already, right? Well, now you don’t have an excuse.  Send us pictures of your bathrooms sexy or not (Jason@thecollegiatestyle.com).  First 5 pictures win a toothbrush holder in the shape of an animal’s head (pictured below).  Weird, but very cool.  I’ve been trying to think of a good way to sign off this article, but I’m finding it hard. So…poop Sexy?

I’d like to share, with you, my personal motto to life.  Wherever I go and whatever I do, I like to keep one phrase in the back of my head.  LIVE SEXY.  Look sexy, dress sexy, act sexy, do everything sexy.  What I want to impart with a of the articles that I write are things that I think will help you to LIVE SEXY.  Now, we’ve done some talking about how to make you look sexy, but you need to surround yourself in sexy things.  So, I’ve decided that I need to give you guys some pointers on making your rooms sexy. Read on, let’s sexify your room.

As many of you are probably aware, time management is an important part of being a successful student and an efficient real person.  That’s effing boring, but there’s relief for you in the next few paragraphs.  There is almost nothing as important to time management than the clocks that tell us what time it actually is and luckily for us, we can spruce up our rooms with some very attractive timepieces.

Wooden Clock

This is one helluva clock.  When it’s off, it look like a plain sleek block of wood and when it’s on, numbers from a digital clock shine through the surface.  I have absolutely no idea how this works, but I have one and I love it.  Not only does it look good, but people ask about it all the time.  It’s just too bad I don’t need a clock on my coffee table.

If you need to get your hands on one, run a google search for “wooden clock” or go to firebox.com and order one.  Fire box is selling them for $199.  Pricey for a clock, but this isn’t an ordinary clock.  The wooden clock also sports an alarm.

Blue Clock Powered by Water…So Green!

This clock is admittedly not-so-attractive but I wouldn’t go as far to say it’s ugly.  Hear me out.  There’s a small tank on the back that you fill with water, instead of batteries.  Yes, you heard me, the clock is powered by water.  You know what’s even better?  You can pour some beer into the clock instead of the water, just make sure you take it’s keys before you give it any bud light.  As you can see in the picture above, you can even use the clock ans a vase.  Come on, it’s sort of good for the environment and its kind of cute.  Best of all, it’s only $12.99 at thinkgeek.com.

Make an Exploded Wall Clock

I just moved into a new apartment and decided that the walls of my living room needed some sexy and we needed a clock. So why not combine the two and make a sexy wall clock?  That’s exactly what I did.  I really like those exploded wall clocks that use the wall as the face of the clock and have the numbers disconnected from the clock hands but what was I going to do about the numbers?  This is where a wall clock project becomes a lot of fun.  Use your creativity and come up with a theme.  For my clock, I wanted all of my friend and the people that I love to have a part of it so I called them all and asked them to choose a number and make it.  I told them to use whatever materials they wanted and asked that they just not make it too big.  I would post a picture, but my camera is on the fritz.  You get the idea though.  So how do you make a wall clock like this?  Jason’s here to help:

1. Buy the cheapest clock you can find.  Now try not to spend too much money (you’ll be taking the whole thing apart) but try and get a big clock.  Bigger hands will make it easier to read on the wall
2. Take the whole thing apart, saving the mechanism behind the face that spins the hands.  Save the hands too.
3. If you had to take the hands off of the clock to take it apart, put them back on.  If you’re mechanically inclined, you can even make your own hands and stick them on the clock.
4. Now stick it all to the wall.

So easy, so fun.  I don’t know why you wouldn’t do this.

Use Your Computer or Stereo

These won’t add any visual sexy to your room, but they can add sexy to your life.  I’ve found that waking up gradually is the best way for me.  For some of you, a standard alarm will do, but I have a suggestion for a much gentler way to wake up.  Download an audio editing program, like the free audacity for windows, and choose a series of songs that get faster and louder as you go.  For me, my list is as follows:

1. Damien Rice - The Professor & La Fille Danse
2. Moby - Porcelain
3. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony
4. The Vines - Get Free

Now in that audio editing program, turn the volume of the first song way down and save it that way.  Gradually make the next song louder and the next louder still until the last song is at full volume.  The idea is that when your alarm goes off, you may still be asleep, but you’ll be slightly aware of the music.  As it gets louder, and louder you’ll wake up a little bit at a time.  So burn your new playlist to a cd and stick it in you alarm equipped stereo or use a computer alarm program.  For your computer, a lot of the programs will have features that will open a specified file.  Go ahead and point the alarm to the playlist you’ve made and specify a time.  Make sure you know exactly how long the playlist will take to get to the last song so that you ca set the alarm accordingly.

This just may help you wake up better, making your morning’s sexier.  And if you wake up on a good note, you’re likely to have a good day, making you happy sexy.  And, If you’re overall more responsible, there’s almost nothing sexier.

Go get yourself some clocks.  I’d love to hear about any clocks that you guys have made or purchased.  And please, for me, LIVE SEXY!

College football is just around the corner and The Collegiate Style is here to make sure you look good while you support your team.  Now, this won’t be a very specific guide because the appropriate dress for a football game changes drastically depending on what part of the US you’re in.  Some teams actually have their own tradition that dictate what you should wear to a football game.  For instance, Alabama fans sport houndstooth in honor of their legendary coach Bear Bryant who wore a houndstooth hat.  Ok, back to the matter at hand, let’s talk football fashion.

1. Be comfortable, physically and/or mentally.  If attending a football game in a t-shirt and jeans makes you feel like you’re bumming it, dress-up.  If a school colored oxford and khakis makes you feel like a tool, go with the t-shirt.  It’s a football game, not a gallery opening.  Wear whatever makes you feel most comfortable.  Unless, of course, what makes you comfortable is incredibly ugly or whatever makes you uncomfortable looks THAT good.  This includes your level of fandom.  If you’re at the game to tailgate and socialize, you don’t need to do anything but look good, but if you’re a die-hard go ahead, paint up, wear a wig.  Again, this isn’t anything fancy, its a sporting event, be comfortable.

2. Dress in colors that are as close to your school’s colors as you can get.  Wearing colors that are just sort-of like your team’s actual colors makes you look lazy, like you don’t care and it makes you look uncreative.  Avoid looking like a asshole and just wear the right colors.  Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to match your outfit’s colors by comparing pantone swatches, but try not to wear a red-orange if your school’s colors include orange, teal does not equal blue.

3.  Dress appropriately for the weather.  Very simple.  You look like a great-big tool if you’re over or under-dressed for weather.  You know what?  If you’re not dressed properly for the weather, you either made a mistake and didn’t check the weather for that day, which is fine, or you think people are going to be impressed or think you’re cool for wearing too much when it’s hot or too little when it’s cold, in which case there’s probably no helping you anyways.  Hopefully this was an obvious point that you didn’t need me to understand.

4.  Alright, I don’t care how humid it is outside or how hard the sun is beating down, for the love of god and your own dignities girls, don’t dress too skimpily.  It’s just not cute.  Plus, when you’re jumping up and down because your team just scored a touchdown, you don’t want any wardrobe malfunctions.  Well, if you’re dressing this way anyways, you may actually want to display yourself for all to see and a nip-slip might not be that bad, which means you are again outside of the realm of helpable people.  In short, try not to look lke the girls in the picture above.  No one is as impressed with those girls like they are with themselves.

Hmm, this article really ended up being a guide on how not to look bad at a football game.  I suppose that’s forward motion (haha, pun definitely intended).  I’m sure our faithful readers didn’t need this article, but If this reaches the eyes of just one lost soul out there, my work is done.  Keep these rules in mind and do yourself a favor LIVE SEXY.

Alright, now that we’ve revamped the site, it feels like a good time to go over what we’re all about and what we’re going to be doing with this website.  This site will definitely function a little differently than most blogs so read on so you can know what to expect.

First and foremost, we want to let you guys know what we’re about.  (This will be covered in the soon to be available “Our philosophy” page but we wanted to cover this now so you guys know whats going on).

So, this whole thing was started by a few college students who have fashion and style on the mind.  We think we dress pretty well, no, we think we’re pretty damn hot.  Anyways, we were lucky enough to catch the attention of one of the leading trend forecasters in the world, Haysun Hahn, and she agreed to come on board as our fearless leader.  That’s how you guys know what we’re saying is legit.  Everything we post is ok’ed by Haysun, our in-house fashionista.  So we started this blog as a place for college students to come hear what’s going on in the world of style and to voice their own opinions.

Somewhere along the way, we decided that we needed to include more than the latest trends.  While the majority of our articles will be about how to make you look sexy, we will definitely be chiming in with news and advice about campus life and what we as college students think is cool, important or just worth mentioning.

So that’s what we’re about.  Fashion, College and everything in between.

Now to the REALLY fun stuff.

Every 2 weeks, we’re going to feature a different school on our site.  All of the colors on our site are going to match those of the school we’re featuring for 2 weeks.  During that time, we’re going to hold a contest, a search for the best-dressed student at that school.  It’ll be up to you guys to nominate yourself or your friends and send us pictures to prove who is the most fashionable at your school.

The lucky student we choose will win a whole bunch of stuff from us.  You see, one of the many benefits of having a world-famous trend forecaster on our side, is the mountain of cool stuff she has at her disposal.

If you want to see your school’s colors splashed across our site, drop us an e-mail at myschoolcolors@thecollegiatestyle.com.  We can’t guarantee that you’ll be the next school we feature, but we promise we’ll get to you soon enough.

Speaking of giveaways, we’ll be periodically holding other contests and just straight giveaways.  We’ll actually be adding a “giveaways” section to our site so check back and get some cool stuff.  We’re going to be giving away all kinds of things, everything from bags, to clothes to stuff to make your dorm/apt cooler than your neighbors.

The most important aspect of our site, is that it serves as a forum for University students around the world, guys and girls, freshman to seniors.  Get involved.  Send us your article ideas, entire articles, comment on what we’re talking about, vote in the polls, tell us what YOU want to see here.If you like what we’re doing, let us know.  If you want to see something new or see where we might be able to improve something, drop us a line.  This site is for you guys.  Send us anything you’ve got and we’ll see what we can do.  Who knows?  Maybe you’ll end up being part of our team.

If you’re not in college yet, or already graduated, you’re more than welcome to participate in everything we do, just not the contests to see who’s the hottest on campus.

This site is going to be continually evolving so keep checking back, interact and enjoy.

Cell phones have become a part of our lives, a critical part of our communication, an extenstion of our arms but so many of us don’t use all of the features that our cell phones offer us. It’s alright, Jason’s here to help.

I’m going to blow your mind grapes with 3 things you didn’t know your cell phone could do and how to take advantage of all the sometimes hidden features and tricks that will make your mobile THAT much more useful.

1. Ringtones and the magic of bluetooth

This may come back to shoot me in the foot, but I’m going to teach you to ignore the annoying “text *8743 to get T-Pain on your cell phone” commericals (you know you’ve seen them in between installments of I Love Money) and get all the freaking ringtones you want for free, well as free as a song is anyways.

As long as your phone has bluetooth (and what respectable phone doesn’t) you can have any sound file on your phone serve as a ringtone. Best things is, it’s real easy.

If you don’t have bluetooth built into your computer, go buy what they call a bluetooth dongle. You can find some pretty sweet deals online *ahem* or if you can’t wait for the mailman to get it to you, you’l have to spend about $20 at your local best buy equivalent.

Now connect that badboy to your computer and install all of the drivers. Once installed, “pair” it to your cell phone by going into discover mode in your phone’s bluetooth menu and following the helpful wizard on your computer.

Now go to http://www.bitpim.org/ and download bitpim, the handy program that’s going to do all the messy work for you. Open bitpim and use their wizard (why the frack are they called wizards?) to setup your phone’s connection. (You’ll find the wizard by clicking on the screwdriver and wrench at the top of you screen and then the “phone wizard button” on the right side of the window that pops up)

After you’ve got that setup, go to media (on the left side of your screen) and then ringers.

Whoo, still with me?

Now right click on the big blank area on the right side of your screen and then hit “add…”. Select the song you want to use, or the clip of your mom yelling at you to pick up, and hit open. The window that opens up here is a little weird to use but thats why I’m here. Apparently, the songs that you downloaded (legally right?) are a different file type than the ones your phone can use as a ringtone so you need to convert it first. Just hit the convert button. After a few seconds of flashing black windows, you’ll be good to move on.

Now you have to prepare the song or sound clip to be a ringtone. Most songs have an intro that wouldn’t be very much fun as a ringtone, so when you’re uploading that epic Journey song, you need to cut out the intro. To do this, you can either drag the pink ball you see towards the bottom of the window, or you can manually enter your desired start point (in seconds) into the “Clip Start (sec)” text box.

Then, to keep the file size small and not overload your phone, drage the red ball to the left or enter a number into the “Clip Duration (sec)” box. A good rule of thumb is to make the ringtone about 30 seconds long but you can make that longer or shorter if you so please.

Now that we’ve gotten through all of that, hit the set button, and the experimenting begins. before we get to that though, upload the ringer to your phone by hitting OK and then hitting the button at the top left of your screen that has an arrow going into your phone. Get it? You’re putting stuff into your phone. I knew you were smart. Make sure you check ringers in the window that pops up so that you transfer the right things to your phone.

The reason I said you have to experiment is because some songs won’t be loud enough to serve as an effective ringtone. If your ringer sounds ok, you’re fine, but if it’s too loud or soft, you’ll have to go back, convert the file again and then adjust the “Volume Adjustment (dB)” field. Bigger number for louder, negative numbers for softer.

You now have your very own custom ringtone and you didn’t have to contact that annoying astronaut monkey to get it.

This method is entirely legal as long as you actually bought the song you’re putting onto your phone. I’m not here to judge so if you limewired the song, you’re actually getting the ringtone for free.

Bitpim isn’t limited to ringtones. You can use it to back up your contacts, calendar and even your text messages. If you’re particulalry tech or google savvy, you can even “hack” your phone to get free internet, games and all kinds of other stuff, but that’s a topic for a different article.

2. Track yourself (or someone else) via GPS

I hope that none of our readers have felt the sting of a less-than-faithful significant other, but that’s just unrealistic. Now, this isn’t entirely legal, but if you suspect that your boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband/dog/anyone may be cheating on you, there is a way to track them.

This is for informational purposes only and we at The Collegiate Style in no way condone this sort of behavior. haha

Instamapper.com is a service that offers a program that you install on your compatible phone and shows you where that phone is on a google map. They have all kinds of instructions on the site so I’m not going to bother typing it all up here. That epic ringtone tutorial is all you get for today.

If you’re pathetically alone, you may find use for this program anyways. I can’t imagine what, but it might be neat to see where you’ve been on a google map.

The site shows you where the person is and can actually tell you how quickly they’re moving. It’s pretty cool. Maybe you can find out where that man-stealing-tramp lives and pay her and your boyfriend a little unexpected visit. Or you and a few of your buddies can make sure your little sister’s new boyfriend isn’t getting fresh. I don’t know, because you shouldn’t be spying on people. But you shouldn’t be doing a lot of the things you’re doing.

3. Get google to text you directions

Next time you’re at a party, lost and can’t find you’re way home, text google. That’s right, google will text directions to your cellphone. The service has been available for a while but a whole lot of people seem to be in the dark.

Just text “your current location’s address to where you want to be” to google (466453). They’ll text you back with step by step driving directions. Pretty sweet for those of us who don’t have gps navigators on our phones.

You can actually text any google search to the same number and get all kinds of info (www.google.com/mobile for more).

But you don’t need this, you went out and bought the LG Dare like I told you to.

There’s a whole lot of stuff that your cell phone can do to make your life a little easier and a little more fun. Google “cell phone hacks” or vist Howard Forums to learn more.

If you’re having any problems using any of this stuff, drop a comment or e-mail me at JasonLee@thecollegiatestyle.com.

Thanks to Tim, our resident tech guru

OK all you posers of the world, here is your check list of stuff you can wear so you can have total strangers wonder if you might be that chick they saw on TV last night. School’s out and there are so many opportunities to cruise the trendy lounges, shops, restaurants, and clubs; it’s time to amp up your look and demand the star treatment you deserve. Celebrities have access to some very cool fashion items, so we have listed the top five “must-haves” for this experience.

1. Sunglasses, the more dramatic the better, clear view of the designer logo is important, preferably Dolce & Gabbana, worn by Alicia Keys (above), Yves Saint Laurent, on Lindsay Lohan, or Dior, on Mariah Carey (above), and wear them all the time, especially indoors, even dark rooms where you might be risking your safety. The only other option that works is the aviator, shiny gold frames if you can handle it.

2. The hair must be long with loose curls, if it is messy make it sexy, and it’s alright to have it up, or in a pony tail, but it must be long. Ashley Tisdale has the best hair but a close second has to be Jessica Parker. The curls look great!

3. Big earrings are simply not going away, especially the hoops, they are still hanging on every other famous face. We like it very much because it screams, look at me, LOOK AT ME, especially the ones seen on Kim Kardashian and Beyonce. Yes, size matters. The bigger the earrings, the bigger the reaction. And it goes with everything from Jeans and T-shirts to ball gowns.

4. For the truly gutsy, wear the seasonal maxi dress. They require true celebrity courage and true celebrity bodies, so if it’s not the look for you, don’t worry, but also don’t wear them. It is so much more comfortable than it looks, but be careful about the kind of footwear you choose. Here is Nicole Richie and Jessica Simpson daring this new look.

5. Designer bags are a major statement, the more exclusive or expensive the better, currently the Prada’s Fairy bag is “the” bag and Hilary Duff has one. If you are not on a waiting list for this bag, than grab a Lanvin bag, Rachel Bilson has one, not as flashy but just as exclusive.

Last but not least you have got to put on the attitude. Repeat the mantra “I am a star, a superstar” and practice the photogenic smile. And walk like you are late for an event, touch your forehead often (like you might be ducking paparazzi), and keep your chin a little low. When people look your way, never smile just stare blankly. If you are not up to mastering these gestures, the full proof celeb thing to do is roll your eyes and let out an exhausted sigh as you walk away from the potential fan.

Wish all this didn’t matter? One hates to see ourselves so victimized by this superficial culture, but it can’t be resisted. The harder you try to avoid being influenced by who is and is not being talked about, the more lost you’ll find yourself. It’s unavoidable. When we go to buy a T-shirt or a bag, we are looking for that look we saw in that magazine, that TV show, and that new celebrity. To some degree we care because it signifies the tribe we belong to and what we stand for. Designers give this stuff away to celebs to have their look seen and the celebs have shoppers who get them the latest styles, so emulating celebs is not a sin. Just have fun, let loose, try a couple of things you didn’t last summer and see what it feels like to be a famous star, even if it’s only in your mind.

We’re back!  Sorry for the long delay, but as you can see, we’ve got a new look and it was a nightmare for us to get it working.

The break gave us an opportunity to write a ton of articles so keep checking back.  We’re looking forward to keeping you up to date with what’s going on with college students the world around.