What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 02/07/14

Good tidings to you all! Here's what I'm geeking out about this week! I wanted to highlight some other blogs I am into lately or have been into for a while now. Enjoy!

• 300 Before 30

My friend Amanda runs this blog which chronicles her journeys fulfilling a long list of 300 goals she wants to accomplish before she turns 30. I love the idea and hope to cross some things off my lifelong to-do list before I'm 30 as well such as traveling to the West Coast and dipping my feet into the Pacific. The blog is a lot of fun as she remarks about the anecdotes from her adventures and the feelings she gets from accomplishing all the goals she set out for herself. Support her in her journey and go on your own adventure!

• Life Work Balances Podcast

I was a guest on this podcast a little while back (check it out here) and it was a lot of fun to go through my story and how I seek to achieve serenity and balance amidst the chaos that is student affairs at times. The host, Conor, just hit 100 episodes recently and features interviews with professionals and graduate students from all over the country. I support his work and hope some more folks will take time to check out his podcast!

• Krista Kohlmann

So, I may be a bit biased here but Krista is my supervisor for an internship I'm doing. That being said, she is objectively an awesome human being. We share some geeky connections and also our passion for change and the social good so I feel confident in giving her a shout-out. She is rebooting her blog and could definitely use some support from interested parties. I give her my official stamp of approval and know I'll see her blog blossom as it rightfully should.

What are some of your favorite blogs/podcasts? Let me know in the comments and I'll see you here next week!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 01/31/14

Good day to you all! So, sorry this is late. I usually like to get these out every Friday but it just didn't happen this past week. I was thinking about it all week as usual but I didn't block out time to write so I paid dearly for my hubris! Nevertheless, the post is here to share all the awesome stuff I've been getting into this week. I've got one classic television series and two engaging reads I'm digging into.

• Star Trek: The Next Generation

So I've shared my love of TNG before on the blog when I just started watching the show (the entire series is on Netflix). When Star Trek is at its best (which TNG often is), the show is able to confront ethical, moral, philosophical, and diversity issues in wonderful science fiction drama. I'm currently on the latter end of season three and this season in particular has been spot on. I've had a lot of fun with everything the Enterprise has gotten into and look forward to more awesome episodes as I work to up my nerd credentials working through the entire series.

• Generation on a Tightrope: A Portrait of Today's College Student

This book is from 2012 and is a deep insight into the what it means to go to college in the 21st century. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same since the baby boomers were in school. Students still party and have sex while on campus but now more of them are under more pressure to succeed, working full-time, and stacking their schedules even more with heavy course loads and extra curriculars. I haven't gotten through the whole book yet but it is confirming (with hard data) the plights of modern higher education. I'll let you all know what I think of the ending for sure (probably on Twitter, follow me!).

• Quiet

This book (also from 2012), is one that I feel like I should have read last year. It was getting quite the positive buzz, and rightfully so. I'm about halfway through and it just has a fun voice to it from author Susan Cain. It really delves into all the aspects of what it means to be introverted, and how to maximize the potential of what that means. Hopefully I'll be able to get through it soon with all the other stuff going on lately.

Thanks for checking in! I'll see you next week with more fun stuff I'm getting into!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 01/24/14

Good tidings to you all! Here is what I'm geeking out about this week!

• Community

Let me just start by saying that I love this show and have loved it for it's entire run thus far. It always seems to be on the NBC cutting board but nevertheless, all the passionate fans seem to get their way every year. I don't have a problem with this at all. It's a unique, quirky, smartly dumb show that I enjoy watching every week. This season that has been on for a few weeks now is sort of "rebooting" the show which is interesting to watch. It mostly feels like the same old Community but there are some major changes happening so I'll probably post again about how the season ends. Check out the entire series on Hulu Plus if you're a subscriber.

• Lumosity

This app is a brilliant tool to help keep your mind sharp. It has a variety of brain games such as quick math problems and memory puzzles. It's a free app for your smartphone and you can pay for premium access. I have found it very useful to help me center my mind more as I have a lot of work ramping up now with the semester starting.

• Smart People Podcast

I recently posted about this excellent podcast on Socialnomics and got an email from Chris and Jon thanking me for the shoutout. It felt really awesome to be noticed and shown gratitude so I'm just echoing my praise for their content and their attentiveness to their community of listeners. They interview big names who are putting out big ideas for life, leadership, and work like Daniel Pink, Seth Godin, Tony Hsieh, Brene Brown, Drew Dudley, and many more! Take a gander at their library of over a hundred episodes and subscribe to never miss an episode!

So, what're you all geeking out about? Leave a comment and reach out! Have a great week, everyone!

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 01/17/14

Salutations! Check out what I'm getting into this week as I head into my final semester of school for the time being! (Wish me luck!)

• Her

So I finally saw this movie over the past weekend when it came out in wide release and it was great! The trailer is linked above and the quick review of it (spoiler-free) is that it's a beautiful, quirky, unconventional love story that reminded me a lot of another one of my favorite romantic movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Someone else said it reminded them of Lars and the Real Girl, which I agreed. Both of these movies are on Netflix if you can't make it out to the theater but I highly recommend Her. Go treat yourself to a great time at the movies (after you finish reading this post)!

• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

Ah yes, the oft critiqued new series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is well into it's first season and I think the show is hitting its stride. Introducing a few villains to expand the universe and progressing the plot along each episode (albeit at times at the cost of their characters), I have been on board with this adventure so far. I am sharing the show with my partner, Jenn too, and I think that is also a great part of the appeal; it's just good TV. She has seen all of the recent Marvel movies but isn't a huge comics junkie or anything. It's just a fun ride and I like being able to relax with her and watch the show together.

• Josie Ahlquist

Going into student affairs mode here. I've been sharing a lot of what Josie has been posting lately, since it blends my love of student affairs and my fascination with social media into one smoothie of intellectual awesomeness. She's researching it all for her doctorate and in a cool way, putting it out into the world for everyone to easily check out. It's great and if you're into either topic at all, you should take a gander at what she's writing on her blog. I'll be forwarding more of her stuff I'm sure anyway so you might as well get ahead of the game.

* Honorable Mention: @midnight - It's a fun, topical show with my role model Chris Hardwick that makes fun of the latest internet headlines with hilarious comedians every night. It's a gaggle of laughs, do yourself a favor and check it out.

What I'm Geeking Out About This Week - 01/10/14

Greetings friends! I am going to try to structure the stuff I'm putting out to make myself more consistent with my content. So here is the first of a weekly series of what I've been geeking out about this past week.

• ASAP Science

So I am just generally geeking out about this YouTube channel. I pretty much always watch their weekly videos when they come out and tend to fall into a science wormhole of connected videos. They're short, sweet, engaging, and entertaining. A particularly intriguing video was their one on frozen versus fresh foods (which you can find here).

• 2014 Student Affairs Feature

This free ebook (or PDF) contains a highlight reel of the articles written for the site of the same name (found here). I really enjoyed seeing some of my favorite stories featured as well as all the great ones I missed over the past year. This is a great gathering of knowledge and insight for any of my fellow student affairs folks. Share it and support great, independent, collaborative communities!

• Arrow

I recently caught up on this show, binge watching it rather quickly to be ready for it's return next week. For those unfamiliar, it's a new look at the classic DC Comics character, Green Arrow (aka Oliver Queen). It is an exciting, action series that has some great writing and a lot of fun nods to the greater DC Universe, which I hope play into a bigger play by DC alongside their upcoming powerhouse film, Batman VS. Superman. The first season is on Netflix and some of the second is on Hulu. Check it out!

What are you geeking out about? Share in the comments and come back next week for more awesome stuff!