Nolan's Notes

Reader’s Digest “Bill”: Misleading Marketing

Posted by Nolan on August 2, 2009 1 comment

I loved Reader’s Digest, don’t get me wrong. It’s one of those great bathroom reads, when you need some inspirational stories to get you through the day. However, once my parents’ membership ran out, they (Reader’s Digest) decided to take action to convince my parents that they need more money! I’m going to try a Better Business Bureau claim just for fun to see how far I can take this. Nowhere on the bill does it say that we don’t actually owe money, which makes this marketing scheme even weirder… I’ll keep you posted!

UPDATE: Well, it turns out that my parent’s didn’t check the box to decline RD’s opt-out service. Methinks they need to adjust their “billing” to at least remind someone that they’ve opted-in and can cancel at any time! Props to DayAnne at RD for the quick response and clarification.

My First E-Book!

Posted by Nolan on July 2, 2009 0 comments

Well, thank you everyone for tuning in to my blog! I am pleased to announce the first release of my own e-book on preparing and applying for colleges and scholarships. It’s been my labor of love for the last year or two, and I’ve been waiting for the day to release it for others to benefit from as well. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and comments on it, as well as any additional information you might want to share. Get it at my Colleges & Scholarships page.

Trimet WES

Posted by Nolan on June 29, 2009 3 comments

I had to run an errand today to Washington Square, so I went ahead and took the opportunity to try out the new Trimet Westside Express Service train that services Washington Square, Tigard, Tualatin, and Wilsonville. I was very impressed with the accessible bike storage, comfortable seating, and even the complimentary on-train WiFi! Fares are the same as a normal MAX ride, as well as the benefit of some added “WES Time” instead of waiting in traffic! Enjoy this fun video put together by the TrimetTV podcast.

EDIT: They mention this in a soft, soothing voice the video, but I want to point out that WES only runs during the morning and evening rush hours (5:20–10:00 and 3:30–8:00) on weekdays, which puts a kibosh in the plans of most evening and weekend shoppers. Hopefully they’ll expand this service in the future, but for now just leave an hour early from work and you’ll be fine.

Colleges & Scholarships Section

Posted by Nolan on May 28, 2009 0 comments

I’ve had a great few weeks in Portland since finishing up my year at Carnegie Mellon. More on that later, but I wanted to quickly point out a new section of my website that I’ve added: Colleges & Scholarships. After doing lots of research and filling out quite a few applications in my senior year of high school, I wanted to pass on some of the things that I learned from the whole experience. It’s not quite finished yet, but I’ve included a few links to get you started. Enjoy!

Spring Carnival!

Posted by Nolan on April 25, 2009 0 comments

Hello again! So, another update from Pittsburgh…I got the opportunity last weekend to attend Carnegie Mellon’s annual Spring Carnival and had a blast! Here’s an overview:

CMU Carnival is about 3 things–No School, Booth, and Buggy–all 3 pretty equally important. We get Thursday and Friday off of school and the festivities don’t end until Sunday afternoon, which is awesome especially when the weather is really nice! Booth is a very eccentric CMU tradition where different student groups race to finish building a mini-house around the given theme for a year. Booths ranged from a giant “Wall-E-Pi” to a Giant Peach, a nuclear fall-out shelter, and even a giant Poke-Booth. The Kiltie Band also performed our Spring Concert to start off the festival.

Buggy is the other main event that occurs at Carnival. You might not know what it is at first glance, but it’s basically a hill race with customized racing buggies (over a few thousand a pop, if you want a good one) that often hit 40 mph at the bottom of Flagstaff Hill. 5′ tall women are aggressively pursued at the beginning of the school year to drive the buggies and ensure their team’s victory. Believe me–these teams are HARD CORE. The Student Development Council beat Pi-KA’s record this year, but I put a video from last year anyway to give you the excitement of what happens.

Only 2 1/2 more weeks of school!