If you mention the word networking to any of the current teen generation today, they will without a doubt mention myspace or facebook. These social networking sites let you stay in contact with your friends and family without having to rely on a mundane method such as emailing or calling them. Social networking online has become such an accepted thing that I think it has become more common to ask for facebook names or myspace URL’s as a contact method. This method of communication is just about as personal as a regular phone call but it really keeps an informal way of tracking people you know.

However, there are some times when you can’t always be at the computer. For those times there is a social networking site called Mobile Chat. It operates on the same principle that most social networking sites work at. You fill in a profile and then you are periodically matched to other people that share your common interests. The great thing about this particular site is that you are not physically bound to the computer. You can be out wherever you are, receiving matches for other people in your area.

With Mobile Chat you can assure that your phone number remains private. All profiling transactions are handled by the system itself and only you can choose to disclose your number to your profile match. The subscription service starts at $9.99 a month and this is a reasonable deal compared to other paid networking sites I have heard of. With all the hype of networking communities out there I don’t see any harm in joining another one. It is rare to come across one that takes you away from the computer screen and actually out into the open. You simply carry on normal life awaiting that profile match sent directly to your mobile phone, once every week.

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For me, today is Friday. For most of you that are reading this, you are probably already just mid-way through your Saturday! Haha. All I can say is that I have a good weekend to look forward to. My brother and aunt will be here on my Sunday and I will be picking them up from Denver International Airport. I will try to get a bulk, or at least a start on my homework so I can spend some time with them. I still got a lot of things to plan for. I just only found out which bus they can take to get to CU because it is about 10-15 minutes out from the main campus. Other things will pop up I’m sure…like I really need to get them a cell phone so we can keep in contact while they are here.

So later on today I have to attend a meeting for my new job on campus. It is from 4-5pm. After that I’ll probably go grab dinner then PARTY!!! Um, I mean do my assignments. Maybe the next time you hear from me, I’ll have pictures up of when my brother and auntie arrive in the US of A, woooooooooooo

I’m sure a lot of people have bought something online at least once in their lives, but do you ever stop to wonder how these online systems are implemented? If you are a developer you probably have a rough idea of how their e-commerce software is constructed. You might even know of some open source shopping cart software that can be used for free. However, with open source shopping carts you will struggle to find some technical support simply because there is no way to fund this sort of software.

If you are currently managing your own business and need to find your way online, I suggest the use of shopping cart software offered by Ashop Commerce. Their shopping carts are fully integrated with the major credit card companies so you don’t have to worry about using some proprietary payment method that will drive customers away. They offer a 10 day free trial of their software so you can test drive the system before purchase and best of all, they include customer technical support.

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Last week Chris and I were just “chillin’” in our room and he put on some music. A few minutes later there was a party in here!. It was a great way to get to know my floor mates a bit better. It was kind of the pre-game chillout session where we all just talked about crap and generally had a good time. I have some nice photos to share…

From left: Me, Nick, Patrick, Julie, Anastasiya

The gathering moved further up the hall…(notice Chris with the BIMBO shirt LOL)

Hannah and Nick

Anastasiya and Julie (in the background)

Sometimes I hate planning for holidays. I hate it sometimes because you spend hours on end trying to find that cheap hotel. You do end up finding cheap ones but then you are disgusted with the quality of them. The last trip I planned for is to New York City. I really didn’t know anything about the accommodation in the area so I just did my usual searches through my search engine. I ended up booking some derelict looking place. But hey, when you are on a student budget, the cheaper is better.

I’m pretty sure New York has some fancy hotels, after all it is the Big Apple. However, I wanted to make comparisons on the rates I had just paid compared to standard hotels. There is this site that specializes in Hotel Reservations and you are able to select and view hotels for cities anywhere in the world. I used their search engine to find myself a hotel between November 17 and 23. It turns out that the average nightly rate was about $100! That is so amazingly cheap compared to what Sophie, Vicki and I are paying combined. We are paying about $35 each a night. If we split the bill we can all share a room together, with better facilities and for fraction cheaper.

The Hotel Reservations website also allows you to search for competitive flights, rental cars, vacation rentals and packages. You can book your entire holiday plus more through one localized system. If you don’t like the idea of booking online but are impressed with their rates, HotelReservations.com has toll free numbers in which you can speak and consult with one of their hotel experts. Rest assured that with HotelReservations, you will always get their best rate whether you want quality or the best “bang for buck”.

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