Book’em’s Read Me Week 2010
The BookFools were honored to participate in Book’em’s Read Me Week this year at Caldwell Enhanced Option School. NPT put together a post that explains this amazing event in more detail. I just want to share a few pics and make a related announcement:
BookFool.com has officially chosen Book’em as our outlet for charitable giving and corporate volunteering. Book’em’s mission is to distribute books to underprivileged local children and to provide reading volunteers to area schools to encourage a lifelong love of reading.
About a month ago, we met with Book’em Executive Director Melissa Spradlin to discuss their plans and to brainstorm how we might work together. We are very impressed with Book’em’s mission, passion, and efficiency in getting books into the hands of young readers and hope this will be a fruitful partnership for many years.
If would like to get involved with this worthy non-profit yourself, visit their website for some ideas.
And now, the pictures.
Farmer Jason really brought down the house.
Jumping to the music.
Expounding upon the joys of reading.
Mixing it up with this motley crew.
Is it Time for Plan B?
Revert to Plan B (cc) Flickr user mringlein
This American Life did a fine show last year on Plan B:
There’s the thing you plan to do, and then there’s the thing you end up doing. Most of us start off our lives with some Plan A which we abandon…switching to a Plan B, which becomes our life.
Conan O’Brien got bumped to Plan B a few months ago. A lot of good people have had to revert to Plan B during this recession, and all the animals at the shelter are waiting for their Plan B to begin.
But Plan B doesn’t have to be a bad thing. How many of you have found that Plan B led to a better life than you ever imagined under the original plan?
I asked the Fools to share their plans for their lives before BookFool. It was an open-ended question, so we had a wide variety of responses. I’ll kick it with my short entry:
Luke
My plan went Motorcycle Driver > Chef > Radio DJ > Teacher > Videographer > Marketing/Strategy. When I was a kid, I thought that people driving motorcycles up and down the highway were being paid to ride. Then I planned to be a chef and talked about that plan a lot, so much that people I knew then still ask me when I’m going to culinary school. I guess now I’m on Plan F.
Kris
I’m on Plan B.
- Plan A: Play in the NBA.
- Plan B: Entrepreneur, which started when my father gave me a huge wooden desk around age 6 or 7.
Accountancy was the best avenue I saw to make Plan B work. From age 6 to 14, I went back and forth between Plan A and Plan B.
Like this, only much much bigger! (cc) Flickr user H is for Home
The Story of the Desk
My father’s office of Arthur Young was closing in Fayetteville, AR, I think around 1987. He chose not to move to Austin for the company. The office was giving away all the furniture and my mom pushed my dad to take something. So he snagged a desk. He didn’t take the nicest desk nor did he take something small.
The desk landed in my tiny bedroom and quickly became the fixture of my dreams. I would site behind this tectonic slab of wood and play “store.” I had old checks from my parents I kept in the drawers that felt like real money. There’s no telling what else I had in the drawers. I know I stored my basketball card collection there.
This is the desk I use today. The desktop needs refinishing, and I’ve never had a key to lock the middle drawer, but I hope to use it for many more years.
Casey
Still on Plan A. 
Nicole
Jet Fighter > State Senator > Political Legislative Assistant > Human Resources Manager > Customer Care. I thought I was going to join the Air Force and be a Jet Fighter. Then I wanted to be a SENATOR only to find that the Political World was too harsh for my kind heart, but I fell into HR, which has led me to Customer Care and I couldn’t be happier!
Lou
Well, it kinda went like this:
- In High School I wanted to be a starving artist.
- At the end of High School I was starving and in love!
- Married and had a child soon after graduating high school.
- Entered the Air Force where I would live my life with my family and the military…Plan A.
Plan B Happened….
- Marriage ended in divorce.
- Was introduced to Lisa, my current wife, who was also in the Air Force.
- Left the Air Force to go to college for Advertising Design (starving artist related!).
- Started a wonderful career in that field and progressed to management.
- Landed on BookFool.com mountain and am loving every minute of it.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
YOU!
How about you? What’s your Plan B?
Jim Coudal’s Greatest Failure
A quick quote for this icy Tuesday:
“If it’s a good idea and it gets you excited, try it, and if it bursts into flames, that’s going to be exciting too. People always ask, ‘What is your greatest failure?’ I always have the same answer — We’re working on it right now, it’s gonna be awesome!” ~ Jim Coudal
Your Fools are working behind the scenes this month to make something big happen. You may not see its effects for awhile but stay tuned!
(cc) Flickr user Tancread
Dormology Chapter 4: Dorm Pranks
[Series Table of Contents: The Fool's Guide to Dormology]
Chapter 4: Dorm Pranks
Geek dorm prank (cc) Flickr user Mllerustad
By: David, Intern to the Stars
Everyone knows that one of the best aspects of living in a building with 200 of your closest friends is the prank potential. The closeness leaves everyone vulnerable–except, of course, the master prankster. To become the master of the pranks requires not only cunning and agility but also a massively creative brain. Here are a few true life pranks to get your creative juices flowing.
[Note: BookFool.com does not advocate that readers attempt any of these pranks. All reader attempts at prankage are done at the reader's own risk and neither BookFool.com nor I, your humble author, claim responsibility. In addition to the potential hazards involved in pranking, it is often quite mean to prank people. And BookFool.com does not support meanness. Unless, of course, it's really really funny.]
Prank #1: Trapped in the Dorm Room
(Not to be confused with R. Kelly’s hip-hopera Trapped in the Closet)
I have a friend–let’s call him Randy–who pulled this prank on a whole floor of guys. Randy and a few buddies had a friend who worked in their school’s cafeteria. They managed to get their caf-working buddy to donate about a thousand Styrofoam cups to their prankly cause. Then they waited until 3 or 4 in the morning. At this unreasonably late hour, Randy and his bros snuck into another hall on campus with their cups. Using the sinks in the hall bathroom, Randy and Co. filled up the cups one by one with water and covered every inch of the hall floor in little cups full of water. The next morning, the residents of the victimized hall had to empty the cups one by one in order to leave their hall. They all missed class. BLAMMO.
Prank #2: Wake Up Sticky
This one’s pretty creative. My friend–let’s call him Howard–decided to prank this other guy, who we’ll call Dean. Basically, Howard made a sugar-water concoction and put it in a spray bottle. At night, Dean’s roomate would let Howard into the room after Dean had fallen asleep. Howard would lightly mist Dean with sugar water and leave. Every morning, Dean would wake up sticky and could not figure out why this was happening every morning. Eventually, Dean went to health services to find out why his sweat was sticky. POW.
Office Prank (cc) Flickr user disterics
Office Prank (cc) Flickr user disterics
Prank #3: Way Too Many Phone Numbers
Who says students have too much time on their hands? These folks filled a kid’s entire room in torn up phone books. Check out the video of this championship prank (Warning: Language).
Prank #4: The Great Flood
This prank is brutal. My photography teacher from high school–let’s call him Mr. Noah–is the perpetrator. When Mr. Noah was in college, prank wars raged unbelievably hard. After climbing into his bed only only to find a huge collection of toenail clippings mixed with Gold Bond Powder spread between his sheets (yeah, weird), Mr. Noah was ready to take his revenge.
Mr. Noah had a hunch about who had contaminated his pristine sheets. The next night, Mr. Noah took the huge 55 gallon garbage can from the end of the hall and filled it with water. With the help of some buddies, he dragged the can down the hall and leaned it against his victim’s door. The next morning, when yawning Mr. Gold Bond Toenails opened his door, he was greeted by 55 gallons of water flooding into his room. Mr. Gold Bond: 1; Mr. Noah: INFINITY.
Pulled Any Good Pranks Lately?
How about you? How have you pranked your fellow dorm residents? Tell us about it in the comments.
We Have the Best Customers
Businesses are made up of individuals. Obvious, right? But how often do we forget this?
(cc) Flickr user Archie McPhee Seattle
When we complain about unfair treatment, we start off mean and super-aggressive, shaking our fist and raising our voice, as if that’s the only way to get our way. And then when we get what we want, we never go back to say thanks, even if it was our own mistake that caused the problem.
We forget that it’s a real person we’re complaining to on the other end of the line.
The textbook industry has notoriously bad customer service, which is something we’re trying to change. But considering how poorly our customers have been treated by other sellers, I’m always surprised by how generous and good-humored they are to us.
Just last week, Jenise and Ashley came by to pick up a book and brought cupcakes for the whole crew so we could help them celebrate their birthdays. Happy to oblige!
Last night, I received the following email from Aundrea:
I just wanted you to know that I have been using your service for quite some time and I am VERY pleased. This semester I bought all my books using the BookFool.com service and it saved me around $500!!! I also love the buy back service that comes around to my school. When I used it two semesters ago, I was able to buy my books for the next semester with the money BookFool.com gave me for my books! Again Thank you so much for your service!!!
Last week, we received this message from Alexandria:
I love bookfool.com! You’ve been to my school to buy back books. And I love it. And I’ve ordered my books through you guys for this semester. I’ve saved about $150 so far because of bookfool.com. Continue with your greatness! Thanks!
Needless to say, receiving compliments out of the blue really makes our day. Apropos of nothing, these customers (and many more) have taken a few minutes out of their day to send us a virtual cupcake. We forward them around the office, print them out, and then work extra hard to be worthy of such praise.
Question of the Day: Who should you send a virtual cupcake to today? I guarantee you will make their day.
(cc) Flickr user Bev (Sugarbloom Cupcakes)
Dormology Chapter 3: Crazy Roommates
[Series Table of Contents: The Fool's Guide to Dormology]
True Life: Crazy Roommates
By: David, Intern to the Stars
There are many kinds of roommates. There are the nice, sweet, caring, quiet, pleasant-smelling roommates who make your life easy but are likely to be forgotten immediately after graduation. There are also the loonies–or at the very least those with their loony moments. The loonies we remember. In this chapter, we’ll look at a few types of “crazy roommates.”
(Note: A number of Foolish folks contributed stories to this chapter. Though I will tell the stories in first person, this does not mean that I actually roomed with these people. It’s simply a narrative device. If you have ever roomed with me, this isn’t about you. Even if it exactly describes you.)
1. Roommates who kick walls in.
(cc) Flickr user singingbeagle
I had a great roommate my sophomore year. Sure, this dude–let’s call him Jack Danger–was a bit of a kook, but his shenanigans were always entertaining. One day, Jacky-boy decided he was going to break the world record for consecutive somersaults down the dorm hallway. (Indeed, an impressive aspiration.) We were all pretty stoked because, I mean, who doesn’t want to know the guy who holds the record for the most somersaults down the hall? So Jack Danger started rolling.
Things were looking really good until the 16th flip, when suddenly Jack came to a crashing halt. He looked up to find his feet firmly implanted in the wall of our floor’s R.A. After yanking his feet out of the wall, Mr. Danger paced around for a little while, trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, he accepted responsibility and left the following note on our R.A’s door:
“Dear R.A.,
I broke two things today:
1. The record for somersaults executed consecutively down the 3rd floor hallway.
and
2. Your wall.
Sorry,
Jack Danger”
It was really inspiring to see Jack break a record.
I knew another kid my freshman year who also tried to attempt an impressive hallway feat. The hallway was fairly narrow, and so this guy–let’s call him Chris Death–wanted to see if he could jump from one wall to the other and back while running down the hall (you know, Mario and Luigi type stuff). So Mr. Death takes off running down the hall. He makes a flying leap towards the first wall, extends his foot, and watches it plow through the sheet-rock. It was really cool. It wasn’t quite the Mario stunt he was going for, but ended up being a pretty rad ninja-kick-thing. After lifting himself off the ground, Chris moved one of the posters in the hall to cover up the hole. The R.A. didn’t find out for a week.
2. Roommates who want that Dave Matthews CD just a little too badly.
Some roommates will do anything for a Dave Matthews CD. Like, for instance, Jerry. Here’s Jerry’s story:
“My suitemates had a sweet computer that would burn CDs (this was the late 90’s when that was still an amazing concept) and was FULL of music they downloaded from the internet. I wanted to burn a Dave Matthews album to listen to on my way to the upcoming Dave and Tim Reynolds concert in Kentucky.
Well, Suitemate A had moral qualms about burning Dave Matthews music, even though he would rip, download, burn, and generally steal anything else. He felt that he and Dave has a special connection. He never let me burn the disc.
One weekend, Suitemates A & B go out of town on a debate trip and lock the door that joins their room to our shared bathroom. My roommate and I never locked our bathroom door, so we were a little offended by the gesture. We were also bored and so … of course … decided to break into their room and burn that coveted CD. We had to get the door off the hinges, which required borrowing some tools from our RA, who seemed to think the whole thing was pretty funny.
It’s Saturday night and we finally get the door off. I’m feeling smug because the debate trip lasts until Sunday night and here I am, burning the CD on their precious computer, about to re-hang the door and they’ll never know I was in there.
I’m watching the burn progress bar with their door leaning up against Suitemate A’s bed, when the door opens and I hear Suitemate B scream, “[DELETED]!?!” as I go bolting out of the room like an idiot. My roommate and I are laughing and trying to apologize at the same time. The RA is nowhere to be found.
(cc) Flickr user How can I recycle this
Our suitemates didn’t speak to us for days.
I know it was insane to come home to find your room in shambles with the door off the hinges, but we eventually made up and I still keep in touch with Suitemate B. I never found out why they came home a day early.”
3. Roommates who are desperate for phone numbers.
I had a summer roommate who had to finish one short class before heading home to Wisconsin, where he would begin school there the next semester. On the last day of his mini-term, I returned to the apartment to find he had moved out. So far so good. A few nights later, I wanted a pizza delivered. I went for the phone book by the phone, but it was gone. I went for the phone book that I kept on my desk. Gone. I remembered we had a phone book in the junk drawer. Also gone. He took all three of my local phone books with him when he went home, 900 miles away.
Sounds like he was just playing a prank, right? But if I know him like I think I do, there’s a good chance he thought he would need all three phone books in Wisconsin.
4. Roommates who create awkward situations with tour groups.
(cc) Flickr user Mike "Dakinewavamon" Kline
One day, as I was staring intently at my computer screen, probably watching YouTube or something, I heard a knock at the door: “Hey, I’ve got a tour group, do you mind if we check out your room?” This would happen on occasion. Tour groups would show up in our dorm building, and if anybody was in the rooms, the tour guide would ask if it would be okay to have a look.
I didn’t mind, so I opened the door and the tour group began to file in. Suddenly, in unison, the group gasped and with extreme disgust began to turn away from something in the back of the room. (You should understand, I had an L shaped room, and from the place I was, I couldn’t see what was back in the corner.) I leaned over to discover my roommate, Stan, sitting atop his bed in the nude. He just sat there, smiling and naked, watching the tour group run from the room.
5. Famous Roommates
- Speaking of crazy roommates, did you know that Adam Sandler and Judd Apatow shared an apartment in LA for a while? (They spent the majority of their time making prank phone calls together. Some of the footage appears in the opening minutes of Funny People.)
- Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones lived together at Harvard. I can’t imagine the insanity that must have ensued.
- Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman shared a Manhattan apartment in the ‘60s. At one point Robert Duvall lived with them as well.
- Marilyn Monroe and Shelley Winters shared a bedroom as acting students at the Hollywood Studio Club.
What kind of roommate do you have?
If they’re the crazy kind, stay tuned for some pranks you can pull on them.
Dormology Chapter 2: How to be a Roommate
[Series Table of Contents: The Fool's Guide to Dormology]
Chapter 2: How to be a Roommate
By: David, Intern to the Stars
Headphones: Good for everybody. (cc) Flickr user AndYaDontStop
I have found that it is in your best interest to be a good roommate. Often by being a good roommate, you will encourage your roomie to do the same, thereby creating an atmosphere of mutual goodness crucial to enjoying dorm life. During my freshman year, this is the kind of relationship I had with my roommate. We never really spoke, aside from the occasional “where are the paper towels?” but the mutual respect made dorm life quite pleasant.
Of course, there are other times when one might prefer to be a bad roommate. For instance, being a bad roommate can be the perfect passive-aggressive approach to convincing your roommate to move out.
Good roommates shower (cc) Flickr user dotbenjamin
I have three friends–let’s call them the powderpuff girls–who used this approach quite successfully. The powderpuffs were living in a suite-style dorm, which means two rooms are connected by one bathroom. Thus, one dorm room has four occupants, rather than just two.
These three girls requested to live together but were placed with another girl they didn’t know. They wanted to get rid of that girl. So they each played the “bad roommate” card (see the second list below). The fourth wheel simply couldn’t take living with three bad roommates and moved out. I’m not saying it was right, but it was a great victory for the powderpuffs.
Because different situations call for different responses, I have created two lists. The first will help you to be a good roommate. The second will provide tips on being a bad roommate. Use the one that suits you best.
How to Be a Good Roommate:
- Shower. Body odor is generally quite undesirable in a roommate.
- Do your laundry. The reasoning behind this is similar to the reasoning in #1.
- Buy some headphones. When sharing a room, headphones not only provide an escape from the noise of your roommate, but they also prevent you from being the obnoxious noise maker.
- Learn the appropriate time and place for long and intense telephone conversations. Hint: your dorm room is not the place and the middle of the night is not the time.
- Smile. But not too much. That would be weird.
- Wash your dishes rather than leaving them in the sink or elsewhere to attract bugs and create foul stenches.
- Take out the trash on occasion.
- Plan to go out of town every now and then.
- Try not to wake up Roomsie when you come in late.
- Don’t tell your roommate when you begin to notice their “freshman 15” happening.
How to Be a Bad Roommate:
Significant others make bad roommates. (cc) Flickr user Elmo Alves
- Get a boyfriend or girlfriend.
- Spend the majority of your time in the dorm talking sappy with your significant other. This can take place either over the telephone or in person.
- Borrow your roommate’s stuff, specifically food items and hygiene products.
- Party hard. Every night.
- Invite someone to move in with you for a while.
- Secretly tell your RA whenever your roommate breaks a dorm rule.
- If your clothes are dirty, feel free to wear your roommate’s.
- Follow your roomie when he/she leaves the room.
- If you break something that belongs to your roommate, quickly hide or dispose of it.
- During times of boredom, read your roommate’s mail or journal.
Scenes from Buyback Fall 2009
And now, a few of our favorite scenes from this year’s many Buybacks.
The Freed Hardeman Fool Crew @ Besso's
Buying for Ouachita Baptist and Henderson State at Dino's Main Street Cafe
Buying at the excellent Underground Coffeehouse in Searcy, AR. FUN FACT: Two of the full-time Fools attended Harding Univ. in Searcy.
Buying at Something Brewing in Conway, Arkansas
Getting Foolish with the water bottles at Hendrix.
Books at Dino's Main Street Cafe
Foolin' it up at NACC, Rainsville, AL
Making it rain in Searcy!!
Buying at Freed Hardeman. FUN FACT: One of our Fool's parents went to FHU.
And finally, a short video from our visit to Calhoun Community College in Tanner, AL:
Dormology Chapter 1: History of the Dorm
[Series Table of Contents: The Fool's Guide to Dormology]
Chapter 1: The History of the Dorm
By: David, Intern to the Stars
Let us begin with the most fundamental question: What is a dorm?
According to Dictionary.com, “dorm” is an informal version of the term “dormitory.” Gee, thanks! Let’s move to a more legitimate source of internet knowledge, UrbanDictionary.com, which defines “dorm” as:
A bedroom, living room, and kitchen in a space about the size of most walk-in closets. Roommate included free of charge.
Though UrbanDictionary slightly overstates the dorm’s amenities (in particular the use of the word “kitchen”), I find this definition to be satisfactory. The standard dorm room will generally come equipped with a leaky sink, cracked mirror, two beds, two desks, two chairs, and maybe a closet or two. If you get lucky (or maybe unlucky, as we will discuss in a later chapter), there might be a bathroom attached to your dorm room. Dorm rooms are probably most comparable to prison cells but dirtier and with doors instead of bars.
Just when did dorm become a four-letter word?
(cc) Flickr user Randy OHC
The tradition began centuries ago with monks, who referred to their dorm rooms as “cells,” hence the similarity between dorm rooms and prison. (Both would develop out of the monastic tradition). As in modern universities, monastic dormitories consisted of a single building containing many cells. Amenities such as the kitchen and lavatory were shared by the monks. Due to their focus on solitude, monks usually did not receive a free roommate with admission to their dorm. (Bummer!)
Higher-level education developed out of their monasticism and brought with it the tradition of “dorm cells.” Over time, schools would begin packing as many kids into each cell as could possibly fit. And that is where we’re at now. A bunch of college kids pretending to be monks.
Some schools today, such as the University of Oregon, do not have “dorms,” but instead have “residence halls.” A residence hall is a more uppity version of a dormitory, which provides not only a place to live, but also a place to grow. Oregon’s website describes the difference as follows:
Monk's have the best dorms. (cc) Flickr user Ivan Marcialis
The terms “residence hall” and “dorm” are often used interchangeably; however, there is a difference between the two. An important objective of residence halls at the University of Oregon is to provide not just a place to sleep, but also opportunities for personal and educational growth. Highly trained Residence Life staff and Hall Government officers support this objective by creating engaging activities and programs in each hall or complex. At the University of Oregon, we are proud to say you’ll be living in a residence hall.
Though the opportunities for personal and educational growth offered through Oregon’s “residence halls” are clearly more desirable than the mere living space offered in the “dorms” of most schools, the analysis of “residence halls” will not be discussed in this course. For more on residence halls consider taking Residence Hallology 101. It’s sure to be a thrill.
That’s all the time we have for today, but stay tuned for Chapter 2: How to Be a Roommate.
And unless you live in a “residence hall” in Oregon, remember to thank the early monks the next time you walk into your dorm. For more on the history of the dorm, check out Time Magazine’s Evolution of the College Dorm Photo Essay.
Fancy residence halls at the Univ. of Oregon
