The Best Medicine

Yet again, I am sick. Seems like all I do this semester is get sick!
I figured that you, my friends, are also sick once in a while. For that, I prescribe my favorite medicine: lots and lots of laughter.

How do I propose that you get lots and lots of laughter?

Community.

Seriously, if you aren't watching this show, you are truly missing out. Community has a stellar cast including Joel McHale (eye candy, let me tell you!), Chevy Chase, Donald Glover, and Ken Jeong. The show is in its third season, and it has only gotten funnier as time goes by -- and if you are a college student, you will be able to appreciate so many of the absurd situations that they get into.

Community is also a part of a trend that I've noticed on TV. Suddenly, it's really hip and cool to be, well, uncool. Nerds, geeks and people who usually wouldn't fall into the category of 'glamorous' are suddenly the heroes and heroines of primetime. Hallelujah!

Now, my post isn't only because I love watching Community. Sadly, NBC has decided to put Community "on the bench" because of low ratings. So, in a heartening social movement, the show's fans have rallied to support it and let NBC know that the ratings don't reflect how great of a show it really is. And I'm one of those fans.

Here's what some people have been doing to try and support the show:

savecommunity! by Jon Defreest

Chaos Theory Goatee from AOL



If you love the show and want to support it -- you can follow the official twitter account @NBCcommunity or follow some the cast like Joel McHale or Donald Glover (who are both actually really awesome outside of being in Community). Use the hashtags #savecommunity #sixseasonsandamovie or #12seasonsandathemepark to get the show trending!

Alright, alright, I'll leave you alone now. But hey! Watch it!

Long-Distance Dance Party

Are you a student?

Do you go to college away from home?

Is calling your family and friends on the phone just not enough?

If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, then you better believe I have news for you!

Okay, okay, enough of that. But don't you feel like an infomercial when you tell people about a product or service that you like? I always do.

But really, I found a really cool new service that I wanted to share with you! Since I go to a school outside of my hometown, I spend quite a bit of time keeping in touch with people at home. Last year, we invested in webcams and started using Skype. Skype is great, especially for times when I hardly get to come home -- I can Skype with my parents to see what's going on at home and church, with my best friend to get some much needed encouragement and chat time in, and even with friends who have moved away to chat about their lives. It has been so handy.

Over Christmas break, a few of us at church decided to try a bible study during the semester. Since we are all over the country during the year, we thought we would Skype video calls. However, unless we paid, having a conference call with 7 of us wasn't going to happen.

Then what? Well, nothing happened at first, I'm ashamed to admit. But when I got down to searching for a great video call provider who would allow the 7 of us to all talk and see each other at once, I finally found a winner. Yesterday, I signed up for tok-box.

tok-box is a video call service that allows you to conference call (for FREE) with up to 20 people. So you can have business meetings, share exciting news with a big group, have a bible study, or who knows what else!? Now that I'm signed up and getting the hang of it, I'm attempting my first 3-way video call with a couple of friends this weekend. I'm very excited.

Now all I can say is: 20-person-long-distance-tokbox-video dance party GO!

Have a favorite new product or service? Share with me, my friends!

Computer Safety

Well, friends, I write to you from a computer not my own. Two days ago, a rather fishy looking "antivirus" alert popped up on my screen. Though I was suspicious, the alert was in fact a virus that had already downloaded itself onto my computer.

Though many of you know the easy ways to keep yourself and your computer safe while you are online -- don't ever share your login information, for example -- there are some other precautions you can take so that you don't end up like me.

Passwords: Though having a complicated password (upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols) is necessary and an oft-mentioned tip, it is also important to change your password regularly. If you work in a situation where you use a company computer program or are part of an organization with a central network, you probably are required to change your password every 90 or 120 days. However, you should take up this practice for all your passwords. Another quick password tip: try not to recycle passwords -- that is just making it easier for someone to guess it the second or third time you use it.

Updates: Though I'm sad to say that I hadn't taken my own advice here, it's very important that you keep your computer up-to-date. This means both the operating system your computer runs (Windows XP, in my case) and any security software you may have downloaded. I have had an update from Microsoft waiting on my computer for almost a year now because I wanted to back up my information before updating. That may have been a factor in my computer getting a virus. Unfortunately, you can never tell! Just be sure your computer is always updated.

Security: I won't recommend any specific programs or systems here, but lets just say there are a lot of options. You can pay for services like McAfee or Norton, or you can download a free service, like Avast. When my parents bought me my laptop a few years ago, they paid for McAfee on my computer, and it expired about the time I started school. However, the school required that I download their security system in order to use the wi-fi offered, and that system functions year-round. In any case, have a security system and update or scan regularly!

So overall, if any of these are news to you, I hope I can save you from a future mishap. Do you have any tips for me or any of the other readers here at RFP?