Despite the fact that all they are good for is looking at them, not a lot of people take notice of mirrors. I thought of this as I was made my way through my daily gettin’-ready and nightly gettin’-sleepy routines–which revolves solely around the help of mirrors. Here are three different kinds of mirrors that I cannot live without!

1.) The bathroom mirror.
This is obvious. You brush your teeth and wash your face in front of the mirror! You fix your hair, check your make up, see if there’s anything sticking in your teeth! You use it to scare yourself by thinking there might be someone lurking behind the shower curtain in the reflection! And so on…! (Aside, possibly, from that last bit. But seriously, am I the only one?)

2.) The full-length mirror.
I don’t know how I was able to go for so long without one. I only bought a full-length mirror (for a measly $6 at Target!) last year! To be honest, I thought getting a full-length mirror was only for the vain. But this kind of mirror really helps you decide for yourself what kind of clothes in your wardrobe fit you the best. I have gotten rid of a ton of clothes this way. The full-length mirror also helps you prevent possible fashion faux pas, and create the illusion of space in your bedroom (which is great if it’s tiny like mine.)

3.) The magnified mirror.
Again, I thought these sort of mirrors were only for the vain. Only for those who couldn’t stop looking at themselves in the mirror. When I had to draw a self-portrait from home, I had no choice but to buy a small mirror for reference–I ended up getting one that had a magnified mirror on the other side. I love the magnified mirror. It makes cleaning up your eyebrows and doing your make up so much easier. OK, that might sound pretty vain but I really see the magnified mirror as a practical tool more than anything else. I also use it a lot to look at things that have fallen in my eye, such as eyelashes (my eyelashes are long and shed a lot so it is pretty tedious to get them out. This mirror eases the effort tremendously.)

Here are some other uses for mirrors:
- Decoration: Mount a few small matching mirrors together to create a neat design.
- Expand the room: A large mirror does wonders for small places. Just be careful not to place mirrors facing each other–this might create a paradoxical, funhouse-mirror-like effect.
- Picture-taking: Angle mirrors creatively to take interesting photographs.
- Emergency: Keep a small mirror with you for emergencies, such as if you get things in your eyes or you need to get attention from someone with a reflection.

There are many interesting ways to integrate mirrors into your day. Next time you have a hankering to re-do your room, think about the placement of mirrors–they will make a world of difference in your lifestyle.

Here is an excellent article about why you should keep your online activity under tabs. A lot of people (read: partying college kids) don’t realize that the reason why they might not get hired by a company is because companies are getting smarter and often look to the internet to look up information about potential employees. Here are some key points:

After many attempts to land that dream job, it seems no one’s interested, and you can’t quite put your finger on it. I mean, what could they possibly not want from you. You’re smart, got awesome grades in school, and even have that internship under your belt with some great referrals. There’s just one thing you’re forgetting about dude, and that’s your name. Yeah, it turns out those in charge of hiring these days are using the very simple task of searching for one’s name in search engines such as Google to find information about a possible job prospect. Turns out that when you Google your name, the first thing that appears is a newspaper article from way back in the day where your name appears with several of your friends for that carjacking you were involved with. Yeah, you were a young punk and you’ve changed since then, but the employer doesn’t know that. They’re gonna look elsewhere.

And if you’re in a relationship or have nosy family:

By using the history bar in your web browser, it’s not too hard to locate any web sites you’ve happen to visit recently. And when you get home, there’s bound to be hell to pay. Ever try explaining to your loved one about your secret porn obsession? Yeah, there’s a percentage out there who do and it turns out for the better, but I want to say that it’s a small one. Discussing with a spouse is one thing; having them find out on their own (it could even happen by accident if you share the same computer) is completely different.

This article is helpful in that it tells you what preventative measures you can take. The Internet is a powerful tool and, with social networking, anyone can make a name for themselves. But hopefully that name won’t pop up in Google under “chicken lover.”

Adobe Photoshop CS2 is an intensely powerful program, so it’s no wonder I didn’t discover this photo editting technique until I wanted to get rid of an ugly yellow hue that a lot of my pictures came out with from being in a setting with nasty lighting.
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Discovermagazine.com has a nifty article on little known facts about skin. Use the facts to impress your dates. Or scare them away.

Here are some of my favorites:

8 Without a trace: Some people never develop fingerprints at all. Two rare genetic defects, known as Naegeli syndrome and dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis, can leave carriers without any identifying ridges on their skin.

9 Fingerprints increase friction and help grip objects. New World monkeys have similar prints on the undersides of their tails, the better to grasp as they swing from branch to branch.

And a little more disturbing:

19 The Cleveland Public Library, Harvard Law School, and Brown University all have books clad in skin stripped from executed criminals or from the poor.

Hocus Pocus anyone?

When we see a friend hurt or caught during a bad time, our natural instinct is to help them. But sometimes our intention to help them doesn’t equate to them actually being helped. That is because we usually get our self-righteousness in the way! Here are some things I think one should consider when giving advice.

1.) Back Off
…Notice this post isn’t entitled “Give GOOD Advice.” Your advice might seem reasonable to you, but it might not be appropriate for your friend. If your friend doesn’t follow your advice, then you shouldn’t persist. Let your friend know your opinion and then let them decide for themselves whether they should follow your advice. At least they’ll be reassured knowing that you are there for them.

2.) Consider the X Factor
There are times when you see your friend suffering and the solution seems so obvious to you. It might be something like breaking up with an less-than-ideal boyfriend/girlfriend, but your friend might see it as throwing away good times, losing a friend, or being alone. These X factors should always be considered in giving advice. If you try to ignore them or say “they don’t see it now, but they’ll thank me in the end,” you’ll only end up hurting your friend.

3.) Time It Well
You are not being a good friend if you try giving advice about a personal problem to your buddy in front of all of your other friends. You might think that, by talking to your friend in front of other people, other friends will agree with you and back up your advice. But most likely your friend will not enjoy this and might even feel like they are being attacked. Instead, find time to talk to your friend in private face-to-face, over the phone, or send them an e-mail–anything that is plain ol’ one-on-one communication.

Everyone is responsible for their own actions, and it’s great when we can help each other out during hard times. But there are some people who are just prone to drama and won’t take your advice for one reason or another. Don’t get offended or get worked up about it (you might end up as part of more drama.) Just relax and know that you did what you could.