Attention Phoenicians! Free hot or iced coffee from Dunkin' Donuts? I'm thinking, YES!

photo courtesy iirraa

That's right, all this week, 15th-21st, Dunkin' Donuts is reopening all Valley locations and to celebrate will be offering free medium hot or iced coffee.

Here are the following locations where you can get your free caffeine fix:

Scottsdale
-10629 N. Scottsdale Road (NE corner of Scottsdale and Shea roads)
-2910 N. Hayden Road (NW corner of Hayden and Thomas roads)

Tempe
-1335 W. University Drive (SE corner of University and Priest drives)

Mesa
-6606 E. McKellips Road (NW corner of McKellips and Power roads)

Gilbert
-862 E. Warner Road (SE corner Lindsay and Warner roads)

Chandler
-2021 S. Alma School Road (SE corner of Alma School and Germann roads)

Queen Creek
-18490 E. Rittenhouse Road (NE corner of Power and Rittenhouse roads)

Glendale
-20229 N. 67th Ave. (NE corner of Loop 101 and 67th Avenue)

Google Docs: The Best Friend a Student Can Have

When I purchased my laptop this past February, (about five minutes after I cashed my income tax check) I came home surprised to find that while the laptop came with Windows Vista, it did not come equipped with Microsoft Office. Not wanting to spend my grocery money on software, I simply did without Office. Finally, I was introduced to the wonderful world of Google Docs, the best friend a student can have. I'm aware that by now, most people know about the existence of Google Docs. What you might not know is that they also have templates, similar to MS Office. I guess I might be the only one who is excited by this but let me explain why.

With Google Docs I was able to find and utilize two very helpful tools. A spreadsheet budget template and a student schedule template.

Two important pieces of information I wish I would have had coming out of high school:

1. It is crucial for one to be able to create and follow a budget.
2. It is equally essential for one to manage their time wisely.
   

Between two jobs and full-time school this semester, I need to know how much time I can allot to studying, volunteering, prepping lesson activities for work, socializing and of course, sleeping. A spreadsheet allows me to visually see and plan where my time and money will go. The templates allow me to get this done twice as fast since they are tailored to what I need.

The benefits of Google Docs over software is the obvious fact that it's accessible wherever there's internet. My review I had to write for my Jazz History class? Hmm...could it be on that pesky flash drive which is swimming in the disaster area that is my backpack? Perhaps, but it's also saved on my Google Docs, which I can access in about six seconds without worrying if I forgot to copy it to my flash drive.

Before you're convinced I'm being paid by Google to write this, a spreadsheet is a spreadsheet either way you look at it and whether you're using Mac or MS software makes no difference in the long run. Google Docs just happens to cost me nothing, and right now, that's really all I can afford.

My attempt at a DIY Mouse pad

For 6 months I've used a Modified Arts venue flyer as a makeshift mouse pad. It proved to be decent and somewhat reliable until recently when it ripped in half. It might have been due to the fact that I had also been using it as a to-do list...but I can't confirm this. I decided it was time for a better quality mouse pad, however, with $10 in the bank till my next payday and the fact I didn't want to actually spend money on a mouse pad, I was in quite the bind. Enter Instructables.com, a community of folk who share do-it-yourself tutorials. I was excited to find that they had several mouse pad tutorials. The one I chose, A Quick, Easy and Cheap Mouse Pad, is the one that caught my eye, mostly because of the words, 'quick,' 'cheap,' and 'easy.'

Delighted with the fact it had only 4 steps, I got to work. The outcome proved to be a bit shabby, but hey, it's a mouse pad and I'm not Martha Stewart. Best of all it was free and took about 5 minutes.

Introduction

For the 5 0r 6 of you who are inclined to read this blog, I'm starting it with an introduction post despite the fact that you probably already know all of this information.

I'm a 21-year-old student who works as a tutor and lives in Phoenix, Arizona. I am in a lot of debt that I want to eradicate. I want to improve my writing, so if you see grammatical errors, please feel free to comment and let me know. I want to start a bike riding routine, grow a garden, read more books, and live frugally. This blog will chronicle my attempt to do so.