For us folks in California, an extended weekend is coming up (Cesar Chavez Day is tomorrow). That means no class. No class means less time spent studying and more time mingling.

If you’re in the market and a player, you might just be taking a special someone on a date. Check out this list of inexpensive dating ideas from zen habits:

Cheap but Great Dates

At one point or another during the year, we’re probably going to have to fly somewhere. Being the students and capitalists that we are, we deserve to pay as little as possible for a service because we, surprise, poor.

While perusing the Internet I found this comprehensive post over at Money for the Rest of Us. Enjoy:

15 Tips for Cheap Travel: How to Find Cheap Plane Tickets

Special thanks to my friend Chris Lesinski for sending me this one:

If your campus doesn’t have free copies of the New York Times on campus already, you still have an alternative.

If you’ve got a .edu email address (which you should with your enrollment at any respectable college), you can sign up for the NYTimes “Times Select” for free. Not all of the NYTimes articles are freely available online (unfortunately). One quick registration can change that, though. You’ll get access to much more–but not all–of their content.

Get Your Free Times Select Membership with a .edu Email Address

I swear I don’t usually read dating websites. As a little treat for a Monday back from the weekend, here’s one for HackCollege’s primary demographic:

Ten Ways Being a Geek Makes You More Attractive

I love articles that validate my own lifestyle.

Before coming to school, I moved all of my money from a local bank account to a Bank of America accounts. LMU’s got a Bank of America ATM on campus. I wasn’t about to pay $2.00 every time I needed to give a friend some cash.

Unfortunately for me, Bank of America has a pathetic interest rate on their savings account. We’re talking about a half a percent. As some might say, “That’s hella lame, yo.”

Read on to your heart’s content »

I don’t know why I haven’t posted about this before, but Project Gutenberg allows anyone to download free e-books from them. Just about every classic can be downloaded from the site, from Great Expectations to The Declaration of Independence.

So… boycott your monopolizing campus bookstore

Facebook has quietly added two new photo features over the past week:

• Photo Sorting and
• Facebook Export from iPhoto

The two are straight-forward, so stop wasting your time and go read their descriptions at the Facebook Blog.

Three things:

• This is going to be a long post.
• I have a love for Arcade Fire; I would follow them off of a cliff.
• I have a general distaste for big-business, mostly because of the despicable cases that arise from time to time.

The RIAA is at it again. They recently filed 400 more lawsuits for “file-sharing,” this time mostly against students. In an attempt to strike fear in the hearts of students and coerce people into never trading music again, the RIAA once again shows its ugly teeth. Did I mention they also convinced the Copyright Royalty Board to up the fees for Internet Radio? Kiss your streams goodbye (especially Pandora and Last.fm). The RIAA is attempting to put pressure on all fronts possible. It’s almost as if they don’t want people to listen to their music.

Recently the RIAA has been doing what big-business does best: strong-arming people with less money, i.e. almost any given American.

Read on to your heart’s content »

I found this gem while perusing the Internet today. Personally, I would say the Pepperdine Wave is probably the worst mascot ever, but I’m a little jaded.

Ready read: The Worst NCAA D-I College Mascots

There are few days in the year were it is socially acceptable nay… expected to begin drinking before 5 pm. If you are of age, of course. St. Patrick’s Day is definitely one of those holidays that has flown under the radar until college.

First, a little history from the trusted Wikipedia:

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide by Irish people and increasingly by many of non-Irish descent (Usually in the US and Ireland) Celebrations are generally themed around all things green and Irish; both Christians and non-Christians celebrate the secular version of the holiday by wearing green, eating Irish food, imbibing Irish drink, and attending parades.

Cool.

St. Patrick’s Day is remarkably popular on many campuses (especially those associated with the Catholic Church). Check out if your student body has anything planned. LMU is busing people to bars starting at 5 am, hosting St. Patrick’s Day events all day, then culminating everything with a concert feat. Common and OK Go (aka those four guys on treadmills). It’s going to be a blast, for those that remember it.

For those who don’t happen to have their annual concert coincide with this worldwide holiday, there are still a few rules to follow:

• Wear green. Duh.
• An Irish Car Bomb is a shot of Irish whiskey and a shot of Irish cream dropped into Guinness. You may hear people on Saturday referring to these as either “breakfast,” “lunch,” or “dinner.”
• Although it make seem like a good idea, taking “Kiss Me, I’m Irish” shirts literally may get you slapped in the face. Or not. Who knows?
• Pace yourself. Those potato-eating contests are more difficult than they look.

Did we forget anything?