I normally tend to ignore the law school-related stuff that comes on postcards. More often than not, they are solicitations for summer programs that claim to give gunners you a head start or are offers for law student loan programs.
A postcard I received yesterday from Access Group, a non-profit student loan provider, was pretty standard as it didn’t deviate from this pattern. What was extraordinary, however, was the amount of customization that went into it.
The front of the postcard shows a newspaper clipping with the headline “Ines nominated to Supreme Court” and with the subhed “(My hometown) resident has been appointed”. What you can’t see from the photo I posted along with this story is the lede paragraph of the fake article.
“AP, (My hometown) – The President nominated U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Julieanne Ines for the Supreme Court last night. He introduced his choice for the nation’s 112th justice in a primetime East Room ceremony broadcast live on national television after a dramatic day of shifting speculation that captivated Washington. The President hailed Ines as an impressive legal figure who would interpret the Constitution and laws rather than legislate from the bench. ‘Julieanne Ines’s entire professional life has been’ entire professional life has been devoted to the cause of justice and has been widely admired for intellect, sound judgment and personal decency.’ ”
I know that it’s just a rather creative use of mail merge, but the ad got my attention.
The Blawgirl crawls the Interwebz to find steals and deals for the frugal law student and the competitive bargain shopper. Find a new Frugal Finds 11:30 (ish) p.m. PST every Monday through Saturday! Also, each post is updated as I come across items. You’re welcome.
Gadgets and Gear:
- $450 notebook. Newegg.com has the Acer Aspire AS4530-6823 Athlon 64 X2 2GHz 14.1″ Widescreen Notebook for $449.99 (Orig. price: $599.99) with free shipping. (via DealNews)
- $504 notebook. Dell Small Business has the Dell Vostro 1510 Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz 15.4″ Widescreen Notebook for $504 plus free shipping via the directions found at DealNews.
- $700 notebook. HP Home & Home Office has its HP TouchSmart tx2z Turion X2 2.2GHz 12.1″ Touchscreen Tablet Notebook for $699.99 with free shipping via the directions at DealNews.
- $600 notebook. TigerDirect.com has the Lenovo L3000 V200 Intel Core 2 Duo 1.83GHz 12.1″ Widescreen Notebook for $599.99 (Orig. price: $1,199) with $1.99 for shipping. (via DealNews)
Entertainment:
- Free Ziggy Marley song. The Amazon MP3 store has a free download of Ziggy Marley’s “Walk Tall”, featuring Paul Simon, from the album Family Time. Scroll to the end of this article for an awesome song from Playing for Change!
- More great deals from Amazon. Ben Harper and Relentless7′s White Lies for Dark Times for $3.99. The same 11-song album, which was released today, goes for $9.99 at iTunes. Keane’s Cherrytree Sessions for $2.24.
- 50 albums for $5 each. Amazon.com also has 50 hand-picked albums for $5 each during the month of May, including Ida Maria’s ‘Fortress Round My Heart, Utada’s This Is The One, and Death Cab for Cutie’s We Have the Facts and We’re Voting Yes.
Odds and Ends:
- Free KFC. According to Frugal Freebies, KFC has printable coupons good for two pieces of chicken, two sides and a biscuit for free. Print the coupon here. And if you plan on saving money by using the coupons to take mom out on Mother’s Day, don’t. The coupons aren’t valid May 10, but even if they were I wouldn’t take mom out to KFC on Mother’s Day.
- $40 dinner for two. Participating P.F. Chang’s offer a four-course dinner for two for $39.95 . The meal includes two cups of soup, one starter, two entrees, and two desserts. (via DealNews)
- 5 cent appetizers. From 4 to 7 p.m. today, Cinco de Mayo, T.G.I. Friday’s will offer select appetizers for 5 cents when purchased with a drink at the bar. Find your nearest Friday’s here. (via DealNews)
Ever wonder what you’d look like as a Star Trek character? Wonder no more. Cheez-It has partnered with the movie franchise, whose latest installment opens Friday, to allow fans to Trek-ify themselves.
With Trek Yourself, you can make yourself look like Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock, a Romulan, or an officer. The only female choice is the officer so, natch, that’s what I picked. I mean, you can technically put your face on any of the other characters, but for me it just looked creepy. The Capt. Kirk and Mr. Spock avatars made me look like Bobby Lee playing dorktastic, dress-up, and the Romulan just made me look like a creepy, bridge troll. The officer fit just right.
Once you’re done picking your character, you can also pick from a handful of backgrounds, and have your character speak some pre-recorded lines or type in your own!
The Blawgirl crawls the Interwebz to find steals and deals for the frugal law student and the competitive bargain shopper. Find a new Frugal Finds 11:30 (ish) p.m. PST every Monday through Saturday! Also, each post is updated as I come across items. You’re welcome.
Gadgets and Gear:
- $439 notebook. CompUSA has the HP Compaq 6735s KS115UT Sempron 2GHz 15.4″ Widescreen Notebook for $429.99 (Orig. price: $499.99), but a $100 mail-in rebate brings the price down to $329.99 with $1.99 for shipping. (via DealNews)
- $480 notebook. TigerDirect.com has the Gateway T-1424u Athlon 64 1.9GHz 14.1″ Widescreen Notebook in red for $479.99 (Orig. price: $549.99) with $1.99 for shipping. (via DealNews)
- $800 notebook. Mwave.com offers the Lenovo ThinkPad R61 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz 14.1″ Widescreen Notebook for $999.99 but coupon code “THINKPADHP!” brings the price down to $799.99 with free shipping. (via DealNews)
- $200 off HP notebooks. HP Home & Home Office Store takes $200 off most HP Pavilion notebook PCs of $1,049 or more via coupon code “NB5474″ and most orders qualify for free shipping. (via DealNews)
- $10 flash drive. Buy.com offers the Kingston 4GB DataTraveler 101 USB 2.0 Flash Drive in yellow for $9.97 (List: $32.25) with free shipping. (via DealNews)
Entertainment:
- Free pizza with movie. Best Buy has a coupon for a free Domino’s Medium Pizza with the purchase of select DVD movies starting at $8.99. Shipping adds $2.49 or choose in-store pickup. Available DVD titles include Mamma Mia!, The Bourne Ultimatum, Milk, and more. The coupon is good for a pizza via online ordering only. Deal ends May 9. (via DealNews)
- Free movie rental. Today only, Redbox.com has a free 1-night DVD rental via coupon code “BT73H9″. Find your nearest Redbox kiosk here. (via DealNews)
Odds and Ends:
Welcome to the Frugal Finds Weekend edition! The Blawgirl shares frugal living ideas she comes across every Saturday morning.
Be sure to check back 11:30 (ish) Monday through Friday when The Blawgirl crawls the Interwebz to find steals and deals for the frugal law student and the competitive bargain shopper.
I’ve written before about all the wonderful lessons on frugality we can learn from those who lived through the hard economic times of the past. Which is why I was delighted to find YouTube show “Great Depression Cooking” hosted by 91-year-old Clara. Clara recreates recipes she learned as a child living through the Great Depression and intersperses her lessons with interesting tidbits (other than ‘It was depressing’) about what it was like to live at the time.
Many of the meals found at her YouTube channel are carb heavy – pasta, potatoes, rice – and when meat is incorporated into the meals it comes either in the form of hotdogs or really thin steaks. I’m pretty sure the foods don’t sound too healthy for all of you used to shopping at Whole Paycheck, but, dudes, she’s 91-years-old and can still cook without burning the house down in the literal sense. Sister sure does in the figurative sense though as her recipes are a breeze.
Last week, I tried cooking the ‘pasta with peas’ recipe she depicts in her first show. Preparation was a snap: throw everything in a pan, fry it up, add water and let it boil. In addition to the pasta, peas, potatoes and onions she recommends, I also threw in some leftover rotisserie chicken from Costco. After everything cooked down, I spooned some onto a plate and sprinkled some parmesan cheese onto it, and, by golly, it wasn’t bad. Even though there wasn’t any cream at all in the mix, the starch from the pasta and the potatoes gave a nice “creamy” texture to the hearty dish, which tasted like chicken pot pie. It was a hug for the tummy, and I could see myself making it while in law school where the civil procedure books don’t hug back.
If you haven’t clicked on the links above yet, be sure to check out this recipe and others at Clara’s YouTube channel.
In The Shark Attack, the Blawgirl brings you a list of links to blog posts published at The Shark, a blawg written by and for law students.
Facebook groups. Go. Join. Gripe. Law students are the least likely of all the students in the world to complain about anything. Now that I’ve made your heads implode and have possibly awakened the anti-Christ from the improbability of that last statement, I urge you, law students and prospective law students alike, to check out the groups listed in the post. If you want a picture of law school different than those displayed in the glossy, Abercrombie and Fitch-ed law school catalogs, the discussions in these groups are real eye-openers. There’s sex, doomed relationships, alcoholism … basically anything you’d find in any daytime soap opera worth its salt. It would make for very entertaining reading if it wasn’t something to be feared.
Fark on law school. If you thought that law students in all their sainted, high-achieving splendor were immune from stupidity, I would like to have what you’re having. Seriously, though. I was rather surprised by how many times the term “law student” and “law school” came up in my Fark search for the worst of the worst law school students to make Fark headlines. Follow the link and see who made it to the No. 1 spot.
Photo: Richard Ling / Flickr
The Blawgirl crawls the Interwebz to find steals and deals for the frugal law student and the competitive bargain shopper. Find a new Frugal Finds 11:30 (ish) p.m. PST every Monday through Saturday! Also, each post is updated as I come across items. You’re welcome.
Gadgets and Gear:
- $10 notebook case. Boscov’s has the Overland 14.1″ Notebook Carrying Case in black for $9.99 (Reg.: $24.99) with $9.95 for shipping. (via DealNews)
- $15 notebook case. Fry’s Electronics offers the Targus Zip-Thru Air Traveler Notebook Case for $39.99, but a $25 mail-in rebate brings the price to $14.99. Shipping adds $7.18, or choose you can opt for free in-store pickup. (via DealNews)
- $40 laptop travel kit. TigerDirect.com via eBay Daily Deal offers the HP Notebook On The Run Bundle Laptop Travel Kit for $39.99 (Sugg. retail: $109.99) with free shipping. (via DealNews)
Entertainment:
- Free comic book. Believe it or not, the Blawgirl has read a couple of comic books in the past – at the Boyfriend’s recommendation – and has actually enjoyed them! If you too like comic books, then tomorrow, Free Comic Book Day, is like a minor holiday (like President’s Day or St. Let’s All Get Drunk Day). If you’re lucky, in addition to your free comic book, you can meet some of the comic book writers and artists at participating shops. Find your nearest participating comic book shop here. Scroll to the end of this article to see a special message from your friendly neighborhood Juggernaut!
Odds and Ends:
- Free resume copies and business cards. For its Career Stimulus Program, Staples is offering 20 copies of your resume and 40 business cards for free! Visit Staples.com for more details. Offer valid through June 13. (via OC Deals)
I am currently reading …
}
