Unsolicited Advice

The information you didn’t know you needed to achieve your dreams.

“The only limits are the ones we place upon ourselves.”  ---Unknown

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Jumping or Falling?

"Falling is easy, you just fall. Jumping requires strength of will....You should really try the jumping, it's the greatest feeling in the world."

Pretty sage advice from a character on the TV show Dead Like Me (hey, you should take inspiration where you can get it, right?)

Are you a jumper?  It's so easy when you stand on the precipice of anything, a new job, a new experience, or pursing your dreams to stand at the edge of the jump and look down, turn around, and walk away. Or to stand back from the edge of the precipice until you’re pushed or something else "happens" to you. It's amazing when you think about how easy it is to allow life to "happen," to be a passive participant instead of actively controlling your own destiny and jumping.  Find something you’ve wanted to do, try, or experience….and JUMP! (Figuratively, of course.)

All You Can Learn

Get a college education at your own pace from the comfort of your own home – for FREE.  MIT developed a program called Open Course Ware to allow individuals access to their excellent educational program.  Several colleges have followed suit, however MIT is still the leader with over 1100 course available online from over 34 academic disciplines, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. 

When looking at the MIT site I suggest you scroll through the main course index and look at all courses as there are many classes listed under departments you may not expect.  Classes include everything from photography, astronomy, literature, and marketing, to aerospace dynamics, mathematics, biology and foreign language classes (Japanese, German, Spanish, Chinese, German, etc.) just to name a few!  Each course includes access to the class syllabus, assignments, reading materials, handouts, exams, as well as video and audio files where   applicable. These are the actual classes taught at the university.  You cannot earn college credits for taking the courses, however these classes present an amazing opportunity to get a college level education in the subjects of your choosing or pick and choose individual courses to take. 

MIT http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm

Other universities that provide free online access to courses include:

University of Notre Dame: http://ocw.nd.edu/

Carnegie Mellon: http://www.cmu.edu/oli/

John Hopkins School of Public Health (Public Health related classes): http://ocw.jhsph.edu/

Tufts University: http://ocw.tufts.edu/

Utah State University: http://ocw.usu.edu/

Find other open course ware classes: http://ocwfinder.com/

Textbook Revolution

Visit Textbook Revolution for free textbook resources online.  The site features links to textbooks and various educational resources that are available for free as PDFs and online e-books.  The majority of the resources are undergraduate level, however there are also resources available from Kindergarten and up.  Click on “How to Use Textbook Revolution” on the right hand side of the home page to help get yourself started.  A perfect companion to your free online college courses.  www.textbookrevolution.org/

What’s Cooking?

Don’t know what panko is, but your recipe calls for it?  Run out of an ingredient once you’ve already started cooking?  The solutions are only a few key strokes away.  Switcheroo.com calls itself “The Cook’s Thesaurus” with information on thousands of ingredients and cooking tools.  You’ll find substitutions, synonyms, usages, pairing suggestions and even where you can look for the item in the grocery store.  This site is one of my personal (and well used!) favorites.  www.switcheroo.com

Good Deeds

MyGoodDeed was organized in 2002 as a way to honor those who lost their lives on 9/11 through the good deeds, both large and small, of ordinary individuals.  Visit the site to find volunteer opportunities in your area, donate money to local and national charities, see the acts of kindness of others and post your own. The web site encourages individuals to do good deeds in ways that matter to them and stresses that no act of kindness is too small. www.mygooddeed.org

Do you have a comment or question?  Email us at unsolicitedadvc@aol.com.

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