In the past year, I have spoken to many college students who are spending their summers either idle or working minimum wage at retail stores. Some do construction while others work inventory work in warehouses. Although it's great that they are making their own money, I feel like they are wasting their summer.

It reminds me about this article I recently read in TIME magazine where they think the summer break is detrimental to the growth of children because in between these 10 or so weeks, kids usually lose about a third of what they have learned in the previous academic year. For college students, my fear isn't that they will lose what they've learned, but instead, opportunities to beef up their resume so that they would have chances to compete against other candidates for jobs when they graduate.

Every summer should be used to find internships or any kind of white collar office work. I feel that if they tried to better their previous job experiences, it shows a lot of growth, ambition and potential. These are the qualities that many employers are looking for.

While not every college student can get such jobs, many should be able to. If you scour bulletin boards and even Craigslist, there are still such jobs available! Understandably, some of these internships are unpaid, but I look at it as an investment to their future.

I have seen many recent graduate resumes and sometimes, I feel like there's nothing I can do except make them look aesthetically better. There's just no content their to build on. How is any employer supposed to hire you if there doesn't seem to be any development of soft skills? If you don't have any relevant experience with WORD or EXCEL?

So my advice to all current college students--do not waste your summers. Use this time to land jobs or internships that help you when you graduate.

Another thing is, get a GMAIL account. There is a certain bias that employers sort of shun on if you're still using Hotmail or Yahoo. It's as if you're not savvy enough to know what GMAIL is. There was an article about this a few months back. I don't know how true it is, but don't be marginally worse than someone else because of an email address.

How do you spend or spent your summers during college?

This past weekend, my friends and I attempted a pig roast at one of my friend' place. He lives in a big place with a huge backyard and we wanted to do it Hawaiian style where you bury the pig that's surrounded by hot stones for about 20-22 hours and then dig it up to find crispy roasted skin with meat that's so tender, it falls off the bone. Unfortunately, his dad wouldn't be too happy with us digging a giant hole in his backyard and we wound up using a smoker.

It was a suckling pig, weighing at about 30lbs. We didn't have time to marinate or prep it earlier and instead used a makeshift BBQ type of sauce and covered it along with salt and pepper. I stuffed it with elephant garlic and a couple of onions to let it bring out the aroma as it roasted. By now, it was around 6:30pm and smoking it was going to take too long. We fired up the smoker at a higher temperature and roasted the pig instead.

After flipping it once and 3.5 hours later, we removed it from the smoker and carried the pig into the kitchen where we began carving it. Fifteen hungry people crowded around to watch as the meat was slowly being taken off the pig. The rear wasn't entirely cooked, so I chopped it off and brought it back to the smoker. Another 30-45 mins would have done the trick.

The verdict? The pig was good, but could have been much better. I definitely needed more time to prep and cook. I think if I had started it early, I would have kept the temperatures low and let it slowly cook. The heat was too high and some of the skin was really burnt.

I think if I ever buy a house in the future, I would have a housewarming with a real pig roast, either the lua way like the Hawaiians and bury it in the ground or build a pig roaster with metal and concrete blocks like the Cubans. Both require a decent amount of space and time. Both would yield delicious roasted pigs. Can't wait!

Have you ever done or been to a pig roast?  How was it?

As I'm standing on this train wondering what blog about, there's a girl seated next to me who has been staring at her mirror and doing her make up for as long as I got on. It's a very typical thing to see women do their make up on the train in the morning and I have seen some women literally transform in front of my eyes. But for whatever reason, I feel that it's a private matter--something to be done at home or behind closed doors and not outright in the open.

What's worse about this woman doing her make up is that she is now plucking her brows. That's pretty disgusting because all that hair is going to be somehow flying around this well air-conditioned train. The only thing more unhygienic than that is when I see people clip their nails on the train. Who does that?

I'm sure that sometimes, people are running late and utilize their hour long commute to pretty themselves, but I remember one person a few years back that I saw on the train everyday, doing her make up. Obviously, it's none of my business and I have never approached her about it. But am I the only person who thinks that anything cosmetic should be done at home? Women brushing their hair, doing their nails and now plucking their brows. Yes, they have the right to do it, but when did these things not become private matters anymore?

Ladies, do you do your make up on the train? Would you brush your hair, pluck your brows or even cut your nails?

Last night, Karen and I decided to have delivery pizza for dinner. Dominos recently improved their recipe and although I had tried it before, it was during one of our snowboarding trips in another state. Maybe it's different from state to state?

We decided to order two 2-topping medium pizzas for $5.49 each. Karen decided on mushrooms and Philly Steak while I opted for my usual, pineapples and Italian sausage, with extra sauce.

The verdict? The sauce and the crust is indeed better. Maybe even better than Papa John's now. The garlic encrusted crust was very tasty and the sauce actually tasted like it was made with real tomatoes. The Philly steak topping was mediocre at best and I barely noticed the mushrooms.

We each ate a few slices and decided to bring the rest for lunch. I'm not a huge fan of leftover pizza, but food shouldn't be wasted.

Anyway, Dominos is noticeably better, but it went from just okay, to good. It could be even better with a better cheese and sauce ratio. The extra sauce I asked for was consistent with the cheese, but made the crust slightly soggier. Without the extra sauce, the cheese would be over powering. Like I said, I liked it slightly better than Papa John's and I was never a fan of Pizza Hut.

Do you like delivery pizza? Tried the new Dominos yet? Thoughts?

A really good friend of mine recently got engaged and I finally got the chance to congratulate him and then talk about his wedding plans. He mentioned that although he does not have a definite date, it will probably be the second weekend of September of next year. Of course, that's when Karen and I plan to have out wedding.

Normally with regular friends, you might just brush it off and figure that it's no big deal, but when it's a friend you've known for over a decade and you have many mutual friends with, it's not that easy to ignore. A really large group of friends would be conflicted with which wedding to attend. If I were a guest and two friends are getting married on the same day, I would wonder why they didn't work it out beforehand to avoid such complications.

But how do you work this out? He's not set on his date because he's waiting for the Chinese calendar to come out and show him if that day is good. I saw a source that said it was a good day. Neither of us wants to move out day to Sunday because it would be 9/11 and although that doesn't bother me, it understandably, doesn't sit well with Karen.

Usually, you might say "first come, first serve," but we're not definite with the date either. This is because we're booking a park and they do not allow you book until March of the same year. So we're not entirely set with out date until March earliest.

I guess at the moment, there's nothing we can do. I mean, I don't feel it's right to ask anyone to move their date for whatever reason and even if he was willing, it's not like our date is set. The idea if not having him and our mutual friends there at my big day doesn't sit well with me. Yet changing the day to the weekend before or after is a huge scheduling conflict.

I'm going to think about this for a while to try and figure it out. Karen is pretty set on that day, but I feel like she doesn't understand how much it bothers me that my friend and our mutual friends won't be at my wedding. At the same time, it's also her big day--why does she have to give it up?

What would you do?

I woke up yesterday morning with this monstrous headache, something I have never had before. Wasn't sure what caused it because I wasn't hungover or anything. The pain came from spots right above the eyes.

I couldn't even get up, so I called out sick and decided to sleep some more. I couldn't really sleep so I got up about an hour later to take some medicine. Three extra strength Tylenols that usually do the trick did not work this time.

After going to Facebook for other possible remedies, I decided to try some of them. I drank lots of water and tried those pressure points that some people suggested, but they did not work. I took some Motrin and that didn't work. Around 4pm, the pain had died down a bit, but was still bothering me quite a bit. I had some coffee as some people have suggested. Although the pain went down some more, the pain never really went away completely.

Today, I feel some pain, but it has moved to the front of my head, right above the sinuses. I have no fever and otherwise have no other symptoms. I guess if the pain does linger, I should see a doctor. It's kind of scary since it came out of nowhere. I hadn't had any head trauma at all.

What are some of your remedies for headaches and migraines?

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This weeks theme is, "Summer Fun." Picture will be posted on Friday's post.

I'm a pretty environmentally conscious person and I always try to find more ways to be environmentally friendly. My mom taught me never to waste electricity and turn off the lights if you're not in the room. I take it a step further and turn the lights off even when I'm in the room. Sometimes, I even shower in the dark.

Reusing bags as many times as possible before throwing them out limits the amount of bags being thrown away. I ride my bike everywhere and I use a mug and metal utensils at work to limit the amount of paper cups and plastics used.

The one thing that takes the cake is the lack of use of air conditioning at home. Through this heatwave of 98-103 degree weather everyday for the past 5 days, we have only turned on the air condition once. We don't own a fan and there is no breeze that comes in--so we just minimize our moment around the apartment. The trick? Just think cool.

I think not going with air conditioning through this weather is a bit much, but I also feel that people turn on the AC whenever they can, even if a fan would suffice. We shouldn't be wasteful of our resources. America has become a country of excessiveness. We use more and consume more than any country in this world. It's ingrained in our culture. Everything from driving big cars to obesity is because of excess consumption. While I can't get a new car to replace my SUV, I can use it as sparingly as possible by walking, riding my bike or using public transportation.

Do you care about the environment? Enough to consciously make environmentally friendly choices?

It's going to be around 100 degrees today and slightly hotter tomorrow.  I went out an hour ago to get some milk and eggs--figure I make some breakfast while Karen was still in bed.  It was probably around around 90 at that time and I was dying outside.

As I walked from store to store, I thought about my childhood in a similar Brooklyn neighborhood and what I did on summer mornings.  On weekends, we would wake up early to watch cartoons.  During commercial breaks, I would do chores like water the garden and laundry.  Then around 9, go to the school yard and play some basketball.  By the time 10:30-11 came around, it was time to get back, eat breakfast and do more chores.  I had to vacuum the house, mop the floor, and clean the rugs.

When we got a little older, we would ride bikes around the neighborhood and eventually, to the beach.  We would go for morning swims and then head back.  Thinking back, we were pretty reckless.  Not only were we really young, we played on the water unsupervised.  I guess that's how you are when you're young--everything was an adventure.  You would try to push as many boundaries as possible, hoping to do more things every time you get out of the house.  I had a curfew, but would constantly break it till eventually, the curfew was much later than what it originally was.

Times were easy back then.  Everything was fun and cost next to nothing.  We spent maybe a couple of dollars at most each time and there was always something to do and places to go.  As I was thinking about this, I was paying for eggs, milk, fresh rolls and cheese--costing more than double of what used to spend in an entire day!  All in 15-20 minutes of leaving the house.  And that's the truth of how things are now as an adult--everything costs more money.  I go out with Karen for an entire day touring the streets of New York, but still cannot spend less than $20 through the course of the day.  Not even counting the fare to take the train (we have Unlimited Cards), simply eating 2 meals for the both of us would run us around $5-7 per person, per meal.

Anyway, we are planning to stay in today.  When I was 14, I would be making plans to go to the beach.  At 29, I much rather be comfortable in the air conditioning at home.  Besides, I already spent $7 for breakfast on today.

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This week's theme is, "Bloom."

As I was watching Toy Story 3 last week, I thought about my toys growing up. I tend to do this every time I watch a Toy Story movie. I didn't have that many toys as a kid. My parents were poor and I didn't understand the value of money.

Thinking back, they really did what they could and I was a real brat sometimes. I remember my first real toys were a teddy bear and a Smurf bus. The Smurf bus was a small white bus with pictures of all the Smurfs on the window. I was probably around 1 when I lost it and I remember being devastated. My grandmother was carrying me on her back and it was winter with snow on the floor. I dropped it and we never found it again.

For my fifth birthday, I really wanted the complete Voltron. I only had the yellow lion and it wasn't enough. I cried and cried, throwing the biggest tantrum ever and finally my dad caved in and brought me to the toy store. The Voltron (lion series) was really expensive and he didn't want to pay for it. We wound up getting the other Voltron, made of cars.

Whenever my birthday or Christmas came around, I would net for toys. Most of the time, I got nothing, but sometimes, they would get me things if I did well in school.

I never really treasured my toys. I was a show off and would bring my toys in and let my friends play with them. I guess it was because everyone had all these toys and I didn't. Eventually, all my toys were either broken or confiscated by the teachers. I was too scared to ask my parents to get it back for me, so I just pretended nothing happened.

Imagine if my toys really had life. I can imagine the disappointment in them of me. I wasn't like Andy and although I wasn't like Sid either, I might as well be labeled in a similar category. I wonder if I show my kids Toy Story, would they treasure their toys more than I did? I hope so.

What kind of toy owner were you?

For the past couple of weeks, I have been compiling a list of people I want to invite to my wedding.  I was told by many people to create multiple lists because it's very hard to invite everyone and some people might not make the cut.  As I'm constructing this list, I think about the all my closest friends, those who have invited me to their wedding and then, those who didn't invite me to their wedding.

For the people who didn't invite me to their wedding, I really have to think about whether I should invite them to mine.  For the most part, I wasn't really close to most of them and I totally understand why they didn't invite me.  For some, they wanted to keep their weddings really small.  However, there are two specific instances, I just can't shake off.  In both instances, I thought I was going to be invited.  I thought I was very close to these people.

In one example, she could have told me that she wasn't inviting me for whatever reason, but instead, they never mentioned it, even though we hung out.  In the other example, the person invited a bunch of our mutual friends, but not me.  It really bothered me because although we have drifted apart the last couple of years, I've known him for over ten and there was no falling out between us.

I feel that inviting/not inviting someone to your wedding sort of defines how you view the relationship.  And although two people may not view their relationship with each other the same, there shouldn't be a huge difference.  Wedding invites may be the one way to clearly define how one person views it as opposed to the other.  I wish I could invite all my friends to my wedding, but the harsh reality is that it would be impossible.  I would have to cut out certain people and maybe in a few cases, be viewed as the bad guy.

In any event, I think if there are people who are borderline, but don't make the cut, I think it's only right that I explain to them that I can't fit them.  I think if you consider someone a friend, it is necessary to be upfront about these things.  If you're not, then you don't really think of that person as a friend.  It might be passive aggressive on my part, but I am very sure (though not 100%) that I'm not inviting those two people to my wedding.

Have you ever been in an incident where you were not invited to a wedding you thought you would be invited to?  If so, are you still friends with that person and would you invite them to your wedding?

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This week's theme: "Motionless"