Sometimes I have to wonder about the decisions that college and universities make in the face of a crumbling economy. In February, Rutgers University announced that it would spend $500 million in the next three years to expand and upgrade its campuses. For those of you who are not from New Jersey, Rutgers essentially has three main campuses throughout New Jersey – one in Camden, one in Newark, and the main campus in the New Brunswick/Piscataway area. Some of the expansions that the university will be undertaking are as follows:
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Rutgers Wins Its Third Straight Bowl Game
Yesterday Rutgers University won the PapaJohns.com Bowl beating North Carolina State 29 to 23 in Birmingham, Alabama! Way to go, Rutgers! I join the rest of New Jersey and the student body at Rutgers in saying that this year’s team has made us proud.
I was also glad to see that Freshman Joe Martinek did some respectable running at the end of the game to help Rutgers cinch it up. Martinek is from Hopatcong, which is right down the way from where I grew up so it’s always nice to see someone from the hometown area doing well.
So Rutgers finishes this season with an 8 – 5 record and a PapaJohns.com bowl victory. Not so bad for a team that started 1 – 5. Obviously, much credit needs to be given to guys like Mike Teel, but Greg Schiano has succeeded in building a resilient program at Rutgers. Any team that can come back from a 1 – 5 start and win a bowl game (even if it’s just the PapaJohns.com bowl) is doing something right.
And what’s the deal with that stupid name for a bowl game? The PapaJohns.com bowl? Couldn’t it just be the Papa John’s Bowl? Does is it have to be the “.com” bowl game? What crap!
Congratulations, again, Rutgers!
“Significant” Progress on My Student Loans
Regular readers of this blog will know that I am in some major student loan debt. As detailed in my front page USA Today article from June 2006, I graduated from Rutgers University with a Master of the Arts in Public Policy…and over $116,000 in student loan debt. For a young guy (I was 25 at the time that I graduated), this was almost like being handed a financial death sentence just as I was getting access into new doors of opportunity by virtue of my degree. Well, I’m here to report some type of “significant” progress on paying back my student loans.
When I graduated, I had some $49,000+ in NJHESAA loans (a private organization), $59,000+ in Direct Loans (loans from the US Department of Education), and more than $8,000 in a private student loan from CitiBank. Since graduation, I’ve completely paid back the CitiBank student loan and I’ve lowered my total outstanding loan balance to slightly more than $107,000. I’m not sure if someone would call this “significant” progress on paying back the student loans, but I think bringing down my overall balance by about $10,000 in two and a half years isn’t so bad! If I didn’t have to pay any of my other expenses, I could have had more than half of the loans paid off by now, but I’m satisfied with my progress.
My short-term goal is to break below $100,000 by March or April of 2009. I think this is completely doable so long as I continue to not have major automobile problems. If I have to buy a new car, then my goal will be to break $100,000 by the end of 2009. Getting below the six figure range will be a great mental victory in paying back these loans and I’m looking forward to it!
In any event, though, there’s a progress report on my student loan repayments. I’m doing a pretty good job of putting all of my available extra cash into paying down my student loan and not squandering it on unnecessary expenses. I win!
Cytolean by Gaspari Nutrition Review
The other day I was up in the Roxbury area so I stopped in at The Vitamin Shoppe that my younger brother works at to replenish my supply of “Ultimate Man” multivitamins. I like the Ultimate Man, No Iron blend because it is essentially the same mixture as GNC’s Mega Men multivitamins except it costs between $8 and $15 less per 180-count bottle (depending on the sale at the time)! I began taking these “high-powered” multi-vitamins a few years ago after my doctor said that he wanted to see me on something stronger than Centrum. Anyway, I digress…
The Vitamin Shoppe was running a promotion where you got a free, 30-count bottle of Cytolean for every 180-count bottle of Ultimate Man that you bought. Since I buy my vitamins two bottles at a time, I got two free bottles of this Cytolean stuff. The Cytolean bottle says that it is a, “Maximum Duration Adipose Reducing Agent,” which I think means that it tries to burn fat for you. Another one of the on-bottle advertisements is, “Profound sense of well-being & mental focus.” Well, folks, since I have these two free bottles, I decided to give this stuff a try to see what the effects would be on me.
I should preface this review by stating that I don’t really take anything to enhance or skew my train of thought. I take the multivitamin each morning and I take some Excedrin Migraine whenever I get a headache. On occasion I will take some Excedrin PM to help me sleep. I don’t really drink that much any more and I’ve never done any drugs, so any time I’m taking something that has the ability to alter my state of mind, it’s pretty noticeable.
This Cytolean stuff definitely altered my state of mind! When I was taking it, I found that I was more active and less sluggish. I also found that my appetite was diminished and I was able to focus more on whatever project I had in front of me. Every now and again I found myself yelling at the television while I was watching Rutgers and the Giants play over the weekend (which is very unlike me to do). It’s also worth commenting that I was not jittery or in a frantic state of mind when I used the Cytolean; these are common side effects of energy/stimulant pills. Though I did get a little light-headed from time to time, but nothing more than usual.
Many years ago when I was in high school, I took Stacker 2 just to see what the effect would be and if it would actually help me lose weight. I distinctly remember sweating a lot with the Stacker 2 and being in an excitable state of mind while the pills were pumping through me. I didn’t like that. I also remember crashing after taking Stacker. I didn’t get any of those effects from Cytolean. Well, yeah, I was sweating when I took it the other day, but that’s because it was nearly 90 degrees in New Jersey…in October!
So I would recommend Cytolean for anyone who is looking for a clear, clean boost to their mental and physical facilities. I had no hangover effect after the pills wore off nor did I crash and burn at the end of the day. I can’t comment on the “fat burning” ability of the product as I’ve only had it a couple of times. All in all, though, it was a pretty nice feeling and something that I’ll probably use again!
No More School – Now What?
I had my last day of class, ever, on Tuesday. It was pretty sweet. I walked out of the school knowing that the next time I walk into it, it’ll be for a pre-Graduation open house.
It’s a great feeling – it’s like the weight of the world has been lifted off of my shoulders. And another odd thing has happened…I have a ton of free time. It’s weird.
I’m not entirely sure what to do with myself. I’ll probably spend more time building my web design business. Of course, starting June 1st I’ll be working full-time (I’m 90% sure about that) for my current employer.
I also have a lot of random things that I need to get done like transferring most of my control of my fraternity’s alumni club over to one of our new alumni, starting an entirely new workout program (I like to switch it up every once in a while), begin planning for becoming my fraternity’s Province Archon in the fall, READ MORE BOOKS, set up a better internal infrastructure for my small business accounting (that’s a real bitch, let me tell you), etc, etc.
So much to do, so…much time. Ha! I win.
I don’t know why I’m so happy. I’m going back for a doctorate in a few years…
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