Mindful Ink     Life, Living and Productivity

We’ve certainly seen our share of school supply lists lately, but this will b e no different, but I’d like to focus on some of the more lifehacky sorts of supplies, the ones no one ever tells you about but can make a world of difference in your day to day life.

1. The Pendaflex Folder

This is, by far, the most useful thing I’ve ever purchased regarding my education, with the obvious exception of my laptop. I really wish I had found this wonderful product when I was first starting school.

The link above doesn’t go to this particular model, which is canvas and has a velcro strap. I prefer this model, but they’re all about the same. You can easily find these at your local office store.

Screw folders and binders, especially a handful for various classes…. and don’t even mention spiral notebooks with pockets. No forgetting to pick up the right one, not putting that test review in the wrong one. It’s in one place. Get one of these, and I promise you, you’re life (and your back) will thank you.

2. The Index Card Case

The link above isn’t your best bet, most likely. Go to your local office store and find one for a buck or so. These are great, though. As I mentioned in our little series about flash cards - they’re still pretty much the best way to learn quite a lot of information.

A cheap case like this will allow you to keep them in your backpack without them becoming destroyed. Not a bad idea to grab a little index card container for later filing, too.

3. The iPod

Originally this article was going to be called the “unusual, cheap things” but that went out the door when I added the ipod. Still, a Nano will be just fine for most your needs.The iPod, besides being a dandy way to listen to your tunes, has four major things to offer a student.

1. Podcasts and Audiobooks
2. Recordings of your lectures
3. All your contacts and address book info
4. Your calendar and to-do list
5. Personal harddrive

If you record your classes with any sort of digitial audio, putting the file on your ipod is no different than any other mp3 file. And there is a wealth of audiobooks and handy podcasts out there. (Open Culture is a favorite site of mine)

4. Laptop Sleeve

It’s always handy to have a laptop case or bag. Why I suggest this particular type is because it is water resistant and slim and allows you to avoid having to get a laptop bag and use a much more handy standard backpack. Face it, most laptop bags are not made with your Calculus book in mind, this will allow you to slip your laptop in your bag like anything else.

5. And last but not least, a small umbrella

Yeah, I know, that seems like an odd thing for this list. But face it, if you’re on a campus you are likely walking a lot. Also, it will rain. These particular umbrellas are tiny, and compared to everything else in your bag, take up little space. And when you have to hike that half-mile to your Bio Lab, you won’t have to spend the next three hours soaking wet.

Okay, couple quick things:

1) I may have mentioned this before, I hope I did, but there is a site called OpenCulture, and you should be visiting it daily. And don’t just subscribe to its RSS feed, the website is a wealth of information - particularly lists of podcasts and such.

2) The Chronicle of Higher Education has some great podcasts. Check them out here.

Dumb Little Man - Discover and Share Free Software:

“We have a mission: to create the largest download exchange worldwide. With some enthusiastic independent developers we created a platform where you can discover, add and share your favorite software on the web.”

I’ve now conducted several searches from everything from design to gaming and the results have been pretty solid each time. As you might expect, Deligio is a Web 2.0-type site, but it’s not obnoxious about it. Users can rate their experiences with software, apply tags, send to friends, and leave comments.
Deligio

AcademHack: Best Link of the Week:

The Center for History and Media at George Mason University just launched Digital Campus a website for discussing technology, teaching, and scholarship. It seems that the intent is to drive this as a biweekly podcast. The first of which is now available. I am not really into podcasts (there are a few I listen to but not many), but I will say that this is one of the best I have heard, and I will definitely add it to iTunes. The first installment covers a range of topics, but the one they focus the most heavily on is Wikipedia. The commentators are insightful, break down the issues at hand, and discuss ways they have used Wikipedia in their class. This podcast is about 45 minutes and well worth the listen for anyone in education.

MacUpdate: iGTD 1.0.3 - MacUpdate:

iGTD helps you organize your life by contexts. Organize your life by projects. Drag your files or browser links to iGTD. Synchronize your tasks with your mobile or PDA. Add new tasks via the menu bar submenu. Search your tasks quickly.

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