Technology, first jobs and cooking

- technology: video games, facebook, myspace, the internet in general, email and you (in the real world)

A good place to meet people is through your alma mater's alumni connections. Most colleges have online alumni databases that can search by city. I hung out with a few people from that, but even just e-mailing older alumni asking for places to
eat, shop, doctors, vets, etc.

A piece of advice on email. Only use your work email for work related things. Lots of companies monitor e-mail so be mindful of what you send and open. I have 2 personal emails account I use. Both are gmail aka google mail that allows your inboxes to be HUGE. So although I don't need 2 e-mails I like to use one email for personal and one for business. Meaning I give my friends and family my personal account. My business account is where I have online bills sent, it's the address I give businesses, it's the email I use for those types of things to keep them safe, but separate from my personal things.

- first jobs out of college from hell - how to survive and move to the next step in your career

First jobs from hell aren't always a bad thing, I rather learn what doesn't work first than be unpleasantly surprised later in my career. I had the supervisor from hell, but I learned what to look for when interviewing and to look back on the red flags I should have paid attention to. I stayed a year at the job - in my profession it's "frowned" upon to leave before a year is out. I'm at my new job and it is fantastic, but I also learned a whole lot from that job from hell.

- adventures in learning how to cook, advice

True life: I burn things in the microwave. I am a terrible cook. But eating out is a lot of money and also isn't always the healthiest option. Everytime I go home I try and learn one new recipe from my mother - one at a time is about all I can handle. Vegetables, deli meats, soup, cheese, eggs, and pasta can also get you pretty far in life. I also watch the foodnetwork - I'm hoping that maybe osmosis works, but so far I haven't tried anything I've seen on tv.