Having been away for a semester and without a solid meal or little more than a few phone calls. A handful of things have come to light as necessities and others as…niceties for the future.

A Taste from Home

1. Tapes of Live Shows or Local Band Shirts or CDs. Good music in a strange town is never easy to find. Especially when it takes a little time to search out a solid venue. In RVA I had the Nanci Raygun, what do I have now? A Half Penny? Without much time to scour the bar scene for good music, which I’ve tried. Other than a highly recommended dynamic duo, Smash Brothers I’ve come up empty for the most part. I don’t get the Gaskets up here, where’s Prabir and the Substitutes? Of course, I recommend you ask the musicians before taping, but this is a bit of home you can’t get over a phone call. A+ for pulling this one off, if you can. Otherwise shirts and CDs go along way, too. Get them signed for extra cool points.

2. Local Restaurant Bar Memorabilia. There are NO cuban restaurants in Syracuse. None. I can find two cuban sandwiches in this town, one at a gas station and another at a little bodega….both crap. Something to remind me of the best cuban sandwich in Richmond would be nice. T-shirts, coffee mugs…. a stolen bar stool or the like.

3. Local Original Food. I’ll never deny my affinity for cheap pizza and wings, but for the most part, I’ll agree college food sucks. Following in suit with the most recent request, I owe a dear friend of mine for bringing up with her three two liter bottles of Cheerwine, a cherry soda unique to North Carolina. One of which i have stored away for a rainy day. A couple well appreciated bottles of local hot sauce in the mail makes every meal feel like home.

4. Stupid “We miss you” photos. Now I love my fellow law school buddies, as it is the truth that no one parties harder than law students, but there’s no one like ‘the boys.’ The few Super Friends that have withstood the test of time. The classic Photo Booth pics are effective but the late night picture mail is quite sufficient.

For the Sake of Survival

5. Travel Expenses. Costly, I’ll admit, but hear me out, with reasonably cheap airfare available it’s not absurd. Travel expenses take a huge chunk out of a semester’s student loan disbursements and with the dire need for some reality it can cost 600+ for Thanksgiving alone if you’re crossing the country. I’m a JetBlue guy. I don’t do this Kayak or Orbitz thing. If you travel often, watching for their specials, and make solid payments on their credit card, then you can easily earn free flights that can be given away to wandering student. Just a thought. Remember we can’t drive to visit too many lost hours.

6. Gift Cards. No Blockbuster! No Itunes! Nothing media oriented. I’ll acknowledge the thought as greatly appreciated, but pulling 12 hour shifts in the library doesn’t give much time to take advantage of these sort of things. A break is needed but there are plenty of ways to putter around the internet for a break. I’m saying Wal-mart or Starbucks. Now I know sound like a patsy for the man, but when the little things take care of themselves everything seems so much easier. A dependable cup of coffee can be better than a good cup of coffee same goes for a cheap meal over a good one. Need winter clothes? A gift card to wherever such and such shops would do. I want to stress gift cards as a wonderful gift for helping keep someone within a certain quality of life, not as the gift of distraction.

7. The basics. It became understood, if not just a tradition, that after I moved out of my mother’s home that maybe I didn’t need a pony or a train set for Christmas anymore. I love getting socks, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towels, all the things I loath having to leave the house to get. The sort of items you’re roommate is dying to bug you to pick up. This might not be appreciated by many, but for a man who has to pay someone to do his laundry because he can’t afford the loss of time, this is priceless.

More Scholastic….I Suppose

8. Suit with travel bag. This may just go for law school, but I think everyone ought to have an emergency suit available. Along with a strong legal education they provide great deal of professional development as well. At least I find Syracuse does. Wardrobe is crucial. Within my first semester I found myself needing to suit up at least a dozen times and very early on. Advice show up with one ready to go but otherwise it needs to go on your grocery list. The travel bag, again, crucial. Flying out for interviews doesn’t always lend for an opportunity to iron or steam in the shower.

9. Moleskin and collapsible pen. I find this helpful as a matter of practice. The ADD/GTD in me requires a pen and paper at all times. The nicer they get, a Moleskine can run you a couple bucks, but a run of the mill can be found at a New York office supply store for just a couple bucks. Same goes for the pen. I use a pen ink refill exclusively as the pen for my paper. It’s tiny and fits into the moleskine pocket. Sadly that doesn’t come as a very nice gift though. 43folders has a great wiki up of higher class fountain pens that i think will do quite fine.

10. Thumbdrive. My father gave me a 1g stick that dangles form my key chain and I will tell yo it’s a life saver. The geek inside me would recommend something else, but a 1g is more than enough for transferring files on the fly. Space for plenty of music, a film and backups of all your files. Enough said.

11. Premium earbuds. This came to me as a huge surprise. The importance of quiet place, if not a personal isolation chamber, to get some work done is crucial. A pair of earbuds can turn any nuisance off for a few hours so you can focus. I haven’t tried cans, as a bit of minimalist they don’t travel as well as buds, but i would love to know other’s thoughts. I used to love my Shure e2c earbuds but they didn’t wear well. Great sound and noise canceling, but the wires ripped easily and removed themselves from the buds after a few months. I now own a pair of Bose Tri-Port earbuds, and am very happy. For the price you get serious bass, but they lack real noise canceling. You can hear everything around you along with the music, awful on the subways. Plus the plastic earbud spacers fall off super easy. Just thoughts to consider.

12. Slippers that look like shoes. I’m a huge fan of Web Worker Daily and after a read of a gift guide they had done over there, I’m a firm supporter of faux footwear. Some don’t think as well with their pants on, others with shoes. Comfy slippers make for a great pal on a long stride in the library.

13. Coffee Tumbler. I haven’t looked into a solid option, but I don’t doubt the classic Starbucks tumbler impulse buy will do. Caffeine is invaluable, but think of it on the go…BRILLIANT!

Let me know if there’s anything I didn’t cover…over and out

Law school

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