Things That Are Bothering You, Got You All Hibbeldy-Jibbeldy, or just downright pissed, RIGHT NOW!

I'm pretty pathetic. I feel like I'm going no where in life, wasted 5 years in college only to end up working a ****** part-time job.

ebay is making me broke.

Going to the cinema is epic fail. Yesterday I went to see Public Enemies and the cinema was full of annoying people. Last row had 3 guys complaining about how boring the movie is and that they nearly fall asleep. One row in front of me were 4 guidos (I guess that's what Jabbos translates to the closest) who were talking half of the movie, making jokes and laughing loud.

And that in a movie at 23:00 in the night

Next to me sat a really cute Latina ... but she had her BF with her and was snuffling the whole movie, so I decided I won't try to use the darkness of the cinema to examine her for swine flue.

cold toilet seats, wet grass

not knowing what to do with my life?

Heat and Humidity.

cant sleep.

Originally Posted by Rambo

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Having to **** every hour on the hour. Is it possible to burn out your asshole?
So, it turns out that the dreaded asshole blowout did not occur. Fun stuff that medical testing. Whoever thought up the name GoLightly should be shot. Best part, I get to do it again next week. Apparently, my "prep" was not good enough. WTF

Campus bookstores. Especially when run by B&N -- they charge 25% higher cost than you can buy the books from B&N's own website. It's the cabal.

Originally Posted by Huntsman

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Campus bookstores. Especially when run by B&N -- they charge 25% higher cost than you can buy the books from B&N's own website. It's the cabal.
I hear that a lot of universities have started outsourcing bookstores to B&N. I wonder who is benefiting the most from this. In your case, it doesn't sound like it's the student.

Buy them on-line then. Or another option is to buy the previous edition used on-line and simply make sure you're reading the right stuff according to the syllabus. You're a smart guy and can figure it out. This is especially easy in intro classes where the subject matter doesn't change from edition to edition. Photocopy the problems sets, etc. at the end from a classmate if you need them.

Not sure how well this works for advanced books or grad school stuff--but I can't imagine it's much different.

b

Originally Posted by rdawson808

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Buy them on-line then. Or another option is to buy the previous edition used on-line and simply make sure you're reading the right stuff according to the syllabus. You're a smart guy and can figure it out. This is especially easy in intro classes where the subject matter doesn't change from edition to edition. Photocopy the problems sets, etc. at the end from a classmate if you need them. Not sure how well this works for advanced books or grad school stuff--but I can't imagine it's much different. b
And I do, rd, I do. I have books coming in from six different sources, and will bid on one on eBay tomorrow. I couldn't just swipe Daddy's card in undergrad (well, I could, because he would do anything for me, but it would really have created a problem for him some semesters) so I was really thrifty and used a number of dodges. Got bit a few times for it, too. But is it too much to ask that I don't get shafted by the campus bookstore? Can't I just purchase the books at less than ripoff rates, at their own internal pricing? But of course there are difficulties -- some of the books from B&N online have 1-2wks delay until shipping, and since the book list is released nine days before classes start one is really hard against it. The campus bookstore quotes two prices -- used and new. But they will not tell you if a used book is available until after the order is processed. It really smacks of a racket, as does a number of things about college, and I am becoming quite bitter about that. I used to believe in Higher Education, but less and less so the more I am exposed to it. As for advanced books, at least with my grad engineering stuff you had to assume you would be out of luck -- esoteric fracture mechanics softcover, 250pp, $300 bucks. ~ H

Surprisingly, I've found that a lot of the books I need can be found for a pittance at local bookstores. There are still some that I can get online for like $2, but there are a ton of bookstores in this city and it is pretty easy to find the books you need. Usually costs less to get them there when shipping is factored in.

Hunts brings up a good point about temporal issues. If you need a book right away, you can usually forget about it getting it from Amazon Used/Abebooks/Alibris.

After my first year of undergrad I almost completely stopped buying books. I'd just use my friends' books or go to the library. I hated carrying the ******* things around and realized that even when I did buy them I'd end up doing work with my friends and just all using one book. I'm pretty sure you could do most of undergrad without having to buy books, especially considering that there's so many copies on reserve at libraries and a lot of what you need is online.

Originally Posted by Huntsman

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And I do, rd, I do. I have books coming in from six different sources, and will bid on one on eBay tomorrow.

I couldn't just swipe Daddy's card in undergrad (well, I could, because he would do anything for me, but it would really have created a problem for him some semesters) so I was really thrifty and used a number of dodges. Got bit a few times for it, too.

But is it too much to ask that I don't get shafted by the campus bookstore? Can't I just purchase the books at less than ripoff rates, at their own internal pricing? But of course there are difficulties -- some of the books from B&N online have 1-2wks delay until shipping, and since the book list is released nine days before classes start one is really hard against it. The campus bookstore quotes two prices -- used and new. But they will not tell you if a used book is available until after the order is processed. It really smacks of a racket, as does a number of things about college, and I am becoming quite bitter about that. I used to believe in Higher Education, but less and less so the more I am exposed to it.

As for advanced books, at least with my grad engineering stuff you had to assume you would be out of luck -- esoteric fracture mechanics softcover, 250pp, $300 bucks.

~ H

Find an Indian friend and get him/her to buy it there and ship it over.

Had friends back in college that had their semester's worth of textbook sent over for a fraction. Paper quality isn't as good as you would might touch from the textbook you buy at your local/college bookshop.

Originally Posted by Huntsman

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But is it too much to ask that I don't get shafted by the campus bookstore? Can't I just purchase the books at less than ripoff rates, at their own internal pricing?

I agree with you completely. Add to that the fact that textbook publishing is not the most competitive market in the world and you get a bad combination. This move to franchise takes the hassle and cost out of the college's hands, but absolutely screws students, imo.

I'm just waiting for the day, though, when students ditch the campus store for something else. For instance, the students getting together and running an end-of-semester book swap.

Hell, at my alma mater, the University of Washigton, the bookstore was (still is?) a co-op.

b