Thursday, January 30, 2014

Ideas for Roommate Bonding

Let’s face it: your roommate isn’t always your best friend. Sometimes you may find a roommate on an apartment listing site, through your job, or through a mutual acquaintance.

When you move in with somebody that you don’t know quite so well, you can still get to know them and maybe even become friends! And believe it or not, you don’t even need to have lots of things in common or similar schedules. All it takes is a little bit of creativity and effort to making apartment living a pleasure for you and your roommate.

ApartmentGuide.com published a nice article with some tips for getting to forge a real friendship with your new roommate. Here are some of them:

Go on a campus or neighborhood adventure. Whether you both know the area or not, you two can both discover new things just by walking outside and exploring the sights and sounds. Don’t make any formal plans – just choose a mild day to walk around together and see what happens. You never know what you might discover: a hidden coffee shop, a quiet study spot or even an easy shortcut to class or work.

Break bread together. Even if you were complete strangers a few weeks ago, eating is not negotiable. Why not do it together? Try to make it a regular practice to enjoy a meal with your roommate. This could be at the campus dining hall or a local spot near your apartment. Trying a new place might be a fun experience for both of you. If you’re really on a budget, alternate preparing meals at home – or just cook together! The point is, a mutual breaking of bread offers you the chance to chat, catch up and really get to know the person who sleeps just a few feet away every night.

“Break Bad” together. After a long day of classes and/or work, few things will excite you more than knowing that later on you’ll get to unwind with a bowl of popcorn watching an awesome show with your equally awesome roommate. This tradition can make living with a roommate fun. Even if you two have had a disagreement, primetime bonding can be an easy way to forget your spat, at least temporarily. So fire up that DVR! If there’s no TV in the main living room and you don’t feel comfortable in each other’s bedrooms, stream your favorite show on a laptop or tablet. Make a ritual of it. Order in Chinese on TV binge night and chow down while you catch up on all the shows you both missed that week.

Make his or her favorite comfort food. You’ll be one of the first to know when your roommate is having a bad day. From a low test score to family or relationship troubles, everyone could use some cheering up now and then. If you know your roommate’s favorite snack, be a good sport and surprise him or her. We’re not suggesting you go into full-blown maternal mode and spend hours preparing a giant pot of homemade chicken soup. Keep it simple with a quick snack that your roommate will appreciate when he or she gets home from a long, stressful day.


Thursday, January 23, 2014

Switching Lanes the Safe Way


Let’s face it, we don’t have the greatest traffic patterns here in Albuquerque. If you’ve been living here for a while, you’ve probably accepted that the semi-daily gridlock is just part of life here.

But if you’re in a tough traffic situation, it’s important to know how to navigate through them safely, and with minimal stress.

Changing lanes is one of the most frequent, yet risky moves to make when you’re behind the wheel, and different people use different techniques. There are those that merge early (lineuppers) and those that zoom by at the last second (sidezoomers). If you find yourself in a tricky lane-changing situation, Lifehacker.com recommends the following techniques:

- Stay calm
- Slow down a bit
- "Zipper merge"

In the zipper merge, we take turns getting into the lane and use up all available road real estate:

All cars remain in their lanes, using all the real estate. (On the question of frontage roads and exit-only lanes, the experts waffled; those are arguably part of the real estate, they agreed, but they are meant for a different purpose, and this scenario relies upon everybody buying into the same rules. So no frontage-roading or fake-exit-laning, unless there's a sign specifically instructing otherwise.) People in the narrowing left lanes refrain from shooting ahead, while people in the right through lanes — this is hard to swallow, for those of us inclined toward vigilantism, but crucial — leave big spaces in front of their cars for the merging that is about to commence. We resist the freeze-out-the-sidezoomer urge. We prepare to invite them in.


Thursday, January 16, 2014

Get the Scoop on a New Art Project Downtown

Albuquerque’s art scene is still thriving, and the city certainly sees the value in investing in its local art community. Meanwhile, Albuquerque’s downtown is also seeing a rennaisance, with more and more businesses opening up catering to the city’s young, artistically minded population.

If you’re interested in our local art community, you’re probably interested in 516 ARTS.

516 ARTS is an independent, nonprofit arts and education organization, with a museum-style gallery in the center of Downtown Albuquerque. And on February 13 at 7pm, organized by the fine folks at 516 ARTS, the 2014 Heart of the City Forum will be held at 516’s headquarters at 516 Central Ave. SW.

Here’s some more info on the event, courtesy of Albuquerque Business First:

Each participant will present a short talk about their vision for a project relating to the arts in Downtown.


Heart of the City, organized by 516 ARTS, is an arts collaboration meant to discuss what the condition of the city’s urban core says about the city.

The project centers around an exhibition at 516 ARTS that features a series of installations created by lead artists with student apprentices or collaborators from 13 organizations representing arts, education and small business.


The exhibition opens from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 1 at 516 ARTS.

Friday, January 10, 2014

How to Exercise During the Winter

Let’s be honest, it’s pretty easy to pack on a few extra pounds this time of year. While Albuquerque weather usually doesn’t get too cold during the winter, sometimes the chill can be just enough to keep you inside, away from the gym or your jogging route.

Although it might be difficult to motivate yourself to get out and exercise during the winter, there are some ways to skirt around it and create a reliable habit of activity that’ll take you straight into spring and beyond!

Lifehacker.com posed this question last week: “How Can I Keep My Exercise Routine In the Winter?” One of their tips simply involves dressing the part:

Dress the Part and Go Outside Anyway
Depending on where you are, the winter months might mean cold weather, wet weather, or both. Either way, you probably can't hit the streets in your neon short shorts and tank top like you could in the summer. If you've got the gusto to keep exercising outside in the winter you really only need a slight change of clothes to do so comfortably.
We've covered the basics of staying safe when exercising outdoors before, and in the winter that generally means wearing bright colors, dressing in layers, remembering to keep hydrated, and staying visible.

Or, consider other winter friendly activities:

Find Winter-Friendly Alternate Activities
Exercising outside in the winter isn't always an option for everyone regardless of what clothes they wear. In that case, it means finding exercising you can do indoors or finding winter activities that count as exercise.

If you're a runner, that might be a treadmill. If you're a cyclist, spin classes might be up your alley, or if you're a climber, the climbing gym should do the trick. Gym memberships aren't cheap, but you can usually save money on a membership by getting off-peak memberships or showing little interest. Many gyms also have a la carte deals where you pay by visit or by month so you don't have to get a yearly contract. Those prices are usually a lot higher than a yearly contract, but if you only have to use the gym for a month or two they're not that bad. If the price is too much, your local community center likely has a small gym that'll get you through the winter months.


Thursday, January 2, 2014

How to Return Things without a Receipt


We sure hope that you got everything on your holiday wish list this year. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the reality. God bless ‘em, but sometimes friends and family don’t quite hit the mark with their gifts, whether you have the item already or it isn’t exactly what you were hoping for.

If you’re looking to exchange a holiday gift without a receipt, many retailers will tell you that there’s nothing that can be done. We beg to differ. On Lifehacker.com, Whitson Gordon laid out some techniques for getting that return to go through, even if you don’t have the receipt handy.

Among some of the tips are:

Check That Store's Policy
Before doing anything else, check up on that store's return policy, so you know what you're going to face. Many stores don't actually care about having a receipt—Wal-Mart, for example, will let you get cash back for anything under $25, and store credit for anything above that—no receipt necessary. Target, on the other hand, can look up any purchase using your credit card or gift card. If you shop at stores like Costco, that require a membership, they can easily track your account's purchases. Amazon even has a policy for gift returns, which is great when you don't have the receipt yourself. Basically, don't waste time building up a case if you don't need it—check your store's policy, see if you can wrangle up whatever you need to get your money back, and head on in.

Be Nice and Stay Calm
This is super important. No matter how frustrated you are with the company, it's rarely the customer service rep's fault that you had to wait in line, or that your product was defective, or that you don't have a receipt. In most cases, they want to be there as little as you do, and you're going to make them want to help you a lot less if you're rude—and since, in many cases, you're the one trying to go against store policy, you want them to be on your side as much as possible. Being honest is also great, but be careful it doesn't hurt your chances of returning the item—if you knew the item was non-refundable and say so, you're probably going to have a harder time convincing them.

Realize That Store Credit Is Often As Good As It Gets
Pick your battles. If you can get the store to offer you store credit, you've probably won that battle. You won't be able to make every store give you cash back, or refund your credit card, but a willingness to compromise can get you pretty far. Whether it's store credit, exchanging the item right then and there, or (if it's defective) getting a repair or replacement, you'll be getting more of your money's worth with a compromise than you would just keeping the unwanted item.


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