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Managing personal finances has been a difficult concept for many who have been negatively affected by the Great Recession. If you find yourself in this position, you may benefit from the helpful advice and financial tips you could receive from the following popular personal finance blogs.
 
Business Blogs
The following blogs are great reads for people [...]

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Are you an engineering buff yearning for just about anything you can get your hands related to the field? If so, you’ve reached the right place. Below are 50 of the most popular blogs on the Internet that focus on this exciting topic.
Blogs from Engineering Schools
These blogs are offered from specific engineering schools, but are [...]

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On March 30 2010, President Obama signed “historic student loan legislation” into law. The Education Reconciliation Act is intended to generate $61 billion in savings, by streamlining the student loan program and reinvesting the money to make college more affordable. Sadly, it is too little, too late.
Once a Great Nation
The student loan burden on today´s [...]

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There’s nothing like free money – especially when it can be applied to something as productive as college tuition. However, the best free college money – scholarships – can often be difficult to obtain because of their strict guidelines.
But before you decide to give up on the idea of getting your own scholarship, take a [...]

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Intro:  This is the first in my journals as a college graduate.  Life after academia is pretty insane, and through my experiences you can be ready for it when it comes.  Enjoy!

I graduated 3 months ago (in July).  Since then my world has flipped around, life is nothing like it was, and frankly I miss [...]

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Good work ethic and good studying techniques are key to doing well at college, but frequent readers of Zen College Life already know that.  Without a key part of the formula, however, we sometimes find ourselves feeling lost and find the journey pointless.  That key part is Motivation.   With endless deadlines seemingly approaching and [...]

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This is a less ‘useful’ post, but definitely entertaining.  Remember all the cool fads from our younger years?  Well a friend of mine and I were trying to remember a few of them, and these are the ones we came up with.  Enjoy your journey back to yesteryear.

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The new school year is just about to begin (Welcome to college, class of 2013).  And with a new class coming in there are plenty of ways to start off college.  Here at ZCL we want you to start ahead of the pack.  We imagine that if you start ahead, you definitely have a better [...]

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Over the last few years of watching I’ve noticed in interviews and T.V shows etc. a recurring rhetoric with winning of the Heisman award and the notion that this will automatically make one a star and ultimately a success in the professional league. This completely misses the point. The Heisman is awarded; purely to the [...]

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Since starting  college I have increasingly (and unawaringly) began challenges in a way that I have named the “How-hard-could-this-actually-be” Ideology. Simply, when facing a tough challenge in life, be it an essay, a job interview or a scholarship application  I simply say to myself “how hard can this actually be” which primes me with motivation [...]

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Amongst my reading pile this summer vacation was a quite populist, Freakanomics type book simply entitled Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, a staff writer for the New Yorker and author of The Tipping Point, which some people may be more familiar with. Blink is well summed up by the information snippet which states “This books is [...]

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I see a lot of people with iPod touches these days. With me being an old school type of guy, I still prefer my 80 gig classic. It holds more stuff and gets the job done for me.  Here are a few of the great things you can do with [...]

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A couple of months ago I wrote an article teaching you how to be a badass. In case you missed it, [intlink id="704" type="post"]check this out[/intlink]. Well since you guys seemed to love it, and we could all use a little advice on being a badass, I decided to give you part 2 [...]

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This is a post by Stefan from StudySuccessful.com. A blog about studying successful. Stefan is a graduated high school student from Holland who likes to experiment with study tactics and with everything that comes with studying.

Summer time!
School is over, people start to look for [intlink id="1570" type="post"]jobs during the holiday[/intlink], to make some extra money. [...]

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If you are reading this I am going to go ahead and assume you are a creative intellectual.  You know, the type of person who tries to improve themselves by doing things differently, who tries different things, loves to learn new things, and is generally a bit more passionate than most people.  In fact, if [...]

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Would you say that you live a happy life?  Do you wake up in the morning excited to seize the day?  Are you the kind of person that walks around all day with a smile on your face? Or are you one of those people who has to drag yourself out of bed, can’t function [...]

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There is no one true way to find the person of your dreams.  No person, book, or secret will give you 100% success in this area of life, because let’s face it, love isn’t a science.  Love is a living being in itself, and as we all know, living things can sometimes be rather unpredictable.  [...]

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Although I strive to keep a positive outlook on like I won’t deny it: sometimes, life just sucks.  Nothing seems to go your way, no matter how hard you try.  Just when it seems like things are finally turning around, something else goes wrong and sends us back to square one.  We’ve all experienced at [...]

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Remember when you were a kid and you had heroes? There was someone in your life, real or fictional, that you looked up to. Someone that would do the right thing, no matter what the cost. Someone that you hoped to one day be like. I know that throughout my years I’ve had many different [...]

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As you may have noticed, I’m not writing as frequently as I did last semester. I haven’t lost my passion, but it seems that I may have lost some time. I’m taking 20 hours this semester and it is stealing every waking moment from me. I will continue to write as I find time, but [...]

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Valentine’s Day is upon us.  This is the day when those who have someone special in their live’s do something to show their appreciation for thier special someone, and those who don’t have someone curse love, romance, and relationships in general while secretly hoping, wishing, and praying that they meet someone.

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Let’s face it.  You aren’t in perfect health.  Sure, you’re healthy, or at least free of sickness.  But you and I both know there is room for improvement.  But we all know that students don’t have much time to devote to things that promote health.  That’s pretty obvious by the amount of crappy food we [...]

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In this hustle and bustle, dog eat dog, never ending daily cycle we call life we are expected to keep up with so many passwords; email, social networks, banks, credit cards, other websites, and so much more.  It can become a real hassle.  And we all know it’s not safe to use the same password [...]

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A new semester is upon us.  And with this great semester we are given a gift.  This gift is a chance to better ourselves; not just academically, but to further our growth in every aspect of life.  We are given a chance to improve on our weaknesses and further our strengths.  With the new semester [...]

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Here’s the deal.  Most of us college students work really hard during the semester.  Some of us work really, really hard.  The problem is that we tend to get exhausted of the work and spend or breaks (summer, winter, etc.) doing absolutely nothing at all.  I take that back. We spend the breaks making a [...]

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Sometimes reaching a goal is a reward in itself.  For example, I’ve been working out daily and monitoring my diet very carefully, in an effort to get less than 10% body fat, and I feel as though my 6 pack abdominals will be a great reward.  But for other things, like meeting a goal at [...]

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Believe it or not, if you are able to read this you are savy enough to build a decent website.  And with the whole world turning to the internet, there is no good reason for you not to have a personal website.  It doesn’t have to be extravagant, but it should be clean and neat [...]

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When it comes to doing pretty much anything in life, you’ll find that there are 3 types of people; the quitters or “dropouts”, the amateurs or “normies”, and the experts or “badasses.”  If you are the type of person that tries something and finds that it is too hard, this article is for you.  If [...]

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Today I was made an uncle!  At exactly 7am this morning my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Ava Layne Johnston.  She’s beautiful!  The pic doesn’t do her justice (she was sleeping).

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First of all, congratulations sir.  You campaigned honorably, didn’t fall to slander the way the republicans did, and you have already done America a great justice.  You have respectfully become the 44th president of the United States, and, through your great actions, you told every man, woman, and child that they can truly become whatever [...]

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httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD19Os5oUTg
Whatever you believe, there is no denying that something is protecting some of these people.  An amazing video.

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I’ve noticed a widespread problem among most college students. Well I say most, but it’s really almost every student minus the business students; We are not good at remembering people’s names.  Just moments after being introduced to someone we’ve already forgotten.  We are so obsessed with introducing ourselves, saying our own names, that we forget [...]

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I’ve been thinking a lot about motivation and inspiration.  I started swimming 5 weeks ago, and I’ve swam at least 5 times each week.  Sometimes I didn’t feel like swimming and did it anyways, but most of the time I really want to go.  I know what motivates me to swim; fitness and the fact [...]

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Photo Courtesy of W.P.A.
Happy Blog Action Day everyone.  Today you, along with 9,535,041 other readers, will be reading about poverty and what we the inhabitants of earth can do to rid ourselves of it.  As you read the different blogs you subscribe to today you will notice that each has their own ideas and ways [...]

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I have my own personal blog, aside from Zen College Life.  I haven’t really done much with it to date, but I have big plans.  I really think it is important for everyone to have an online presence.  Some people use linkedin, facebook, myspace, etc.  But if your name is something of a brand, as [...]

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httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vtHwWReGU0
The deadlines in many states have passed, but today is the last day in Texas.  Your vote counts, and with our economy in crisis, the war continuing to go on, and so many other aspects of this election affecting each of us daily, you really need to vote.

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The previous article was so deep and philosophical, I thought it might be nice to lighten things up a bit with a couple of Zen jokes I’ve collected from around the world wide web.  Enjoy!

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and a leaky tire.
Always remember you’re unique, just like [...]

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I’ve been noticing that the number of subcribers to Zen College Life has been increasing at a decent rate recently.  I’ve also been noticing that the increase of readers has not had a noticeable impact on the amount of reader activity on the site, including comments and conversations.  In an effort to stimulate more responses [...]

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In an effort to make Zen College Life more interactive for the readers, I’m going to start inserting polls, allowing users to vote use the comments field to express reasons for said choice.  With the presidential election coming up very soon, I figured this would be the best place to start.

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About a year ago I was faced with a comment that really struck close to home.  A person close to me made the statement, “what makes you such a good person? What do you do that is so good?”  At first I became really upset, I thought “how could you say that?”  But the [...]

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Here is a problem that many college students have.  I know, because I’m all of my friends ‘computer guy.’  Whether it’s a virus, spyware, adware, buggy software, or we just want to do something new, we all have problems with our computers every once in a while.  And while this may be off topic, it’s [...]

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photo courtesy of eyeliam
Now that we’ve taken care of all of the necessary details to ensure a successful start to our school year, we have a little time before class actually begins.  For me this ‘little time’ consists of 3 days (I start Monday).  I’ve taken care to ensure that most of my loose ends [...]

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Happy Monday everyone. The weather here in Houston, Texas is supposed to get really nasty tonight, so the school closed and I’m working from home! It’s a lot easier to get distracted here, but I’ll do my best.
This week the focus is going to be on enjoying life. Too often we get [...]

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This presidential election will be my first time to vote.  I’m 23, and while I missed my first chance to vote for my president, I will not do so this election.  I feel very passionately about the issues that affect USA today, and though this isn’t the place for me to tell you who to [...]

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This week I have chosen for us to focus on compliments and criticisms.  This is a two fold focus.  We will focus on the importance and significance of giving both compliments and criticisms.
Sometimes we may find ourselves becoming lazy or just not focused on the importance of our words.  This is a terrible place to [...]

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My beautiful fiance, over at The Unassociated Press shared this video, and once I saw it I knew I had to pass it along.  It is truly beautiful, and I can only hope to one day be so blessed as to see, share, and experience the world in this way.

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That some achieve great success, is proof to all that others can achieve it as well. -Abraham Lincoln

My car broke down. I don’t feel well. The teacher hates me.  It’s my mom’s fault.  It’s not fun.  The list goes on and on, but the issue is the same; Most of us are conditioned to [...]

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I am a firm believer in the importance of having hobbies.  I diverge myself in so many hobbies that I don’t know what to do with myself.  I build websites (professionally and for fun), blog (also professionally and for fun), ride a motorcycle, play computer games, play guitar, sing, work with electronics, play sports once [...]

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A quick look at the Wikipedia page on Philanthropy got me thinking about doing for others. I thought it strange that the examples of philanthropy included people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett (billionaires), but neglected to list good doers like Mother Teresa. One might get the impression that in order to do [...]

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This week we will focus on simplification of life.  In this day and age it is easy to get caught up in the hustle, and digress from our core values in search of more wealth, power, and flat screen tvs.  Some of us may even work to obtain 24 inch rims.  I’m not kidding you, [...]

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“Opportunities multiply as they are seized” -Sun Tzu
So, you want to be a badass, huh?  I feel you.  I started out wanting it too.  Then I decided to do more than just want.  I decided to become a real live badass.  Wanna know how?

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For many of us who struggle to stay organized, be productive, and live a consciously purpose driven life, sometimes the daily grind gets in the way. We make a to do list and plow through it with the force of a typhoon, never really focusing on why it is we are doing each actions, [...]

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This week we will focus on reading. As a child I was never a fan of books. I didn’t understand the significance of hundreds of pages of words, nor did I care for the ‘knowledge’ they claimed to contain. But about a year ago (at age 22), I started reading religiously, not [...]

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This week we will focus on living a prolific life. Being prolific is being intellectually productive. Most of us are taking our summer vacation now, but that is no reason to sit around and do nothing. We are the generation that can make a difference in every aspect of life, from ridding [...]

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There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread. -Mother Teresa
In Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends And Influence People, one of the most important qualities he mentioned in getting along with people is honest and sincere appreciation. Now [...]

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I have 2 more final exams, and after that I am going to enjoy the summer. The weather is magnificent, I have a bunch of great friends, and a lot of books just waiting for me. In order to really get the most out of this summer, I have written a list of [...]

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“Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which confidence and ability to perform shall cease to exist.” -Mary Kay Ash
This week we will try to focus on being honest. As it pertains to last weeks focus, Purity, a lack of honesty is a digression from purity. So to build on purity one [...]

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For Zen College Life’s first ever weekly focus I chose a characteristic that is pretty easily identifiable and understandable: Purity. It is a simple principle, and with a little conscious effort and dedication it could change either a little or a lot of your daily routine, all for the better.

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So here’s my new idea. In order for us to better ourselves, to grow mentally, and to reach a greater potential we have to make conscious efforts to develop certain characteristics that would be richen our lives. Now we all want to be better people, we all want to develop into a person with greater [...]

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Have you noticed that everyone really wants to do something, but nobody has the free time to do it? I’ve often wondered how people could want so badly to lose weight, get fit, read more, learn a new language, take up a new hobby, spend more time with their loved ones, volunteer, teach, write, and [...]

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