How To Be Driven Around Like Grant Cushman

Since it’s Thanksgiving week and I’m drowning in files and (soon-to-be) mashed potatoes and gravy, I figure I’ll do a quick little blurb (with quite possibly the most confusing prepositional title ever) about one of my favorite innovations that the smartphone has helped bring about: Uber. For all of you who use Uber I’m sure you can attest to how fantastic it is. For those of you who don’t: Uber is a modern taxi service that allows you hail a ‘car,’ pay, and rate your experience completely through your smart phone. Rather than having to call a cab company, you pull up your smart phone, request a car, and then wait for the car to pick you up. The cool thing about this feature is that you can actually see the path the car takes to your location (in the form of an adorable little black car icon); each Uber car is tracked through the car’s GPS so you don’t have to guesstimate when the car will arrive. Before you confirm a ride, you will also receive a projected fare based on …

How to Type Like Grant Cushman

Is it Tuesday already? Of course it is. So peel your eyes off those applications and take a little break with Grant Cushman as we dive into another installment of Tech Tuesdays. Today we’re going to delve into the world of smart phone keyboards and explore how you can maximize your text-based output while minimizing your finger-based input. Still following me? Impressive. I’ll break it down based on platforms: Android and iOS. Android Swype Probably one of the first apps to revolutionize smart phone keyboards, Swype ($3.99) is one of the more popular alternatives for users in need of a change from the Android default keyboard. Swype popularized the slide-to-type craze where you type your words with a series of gestures rather than typing out individual letters. It’s added a whole slew of new features, but the sliding mechanism is still at the heart of the application and will generally be the go-to app for patrons who prefer that style of typing. TouchPal Let’s follow Swype …

How to Groove Like Grant Cushman

It’s your good friend and confidante Grant Cushman with another installment of Tech Tuesday. So, travel season is winding down and it’s time for everyone to crawl back into whatever hole you came out of so that you can read applications for the better part of six months.  To honor this exciting time of the cycle, I would like to share with all of you the music services that I use to drown out the silence while reading. Like all things in life, each of these services has its own pros and cons which I hope to elucidate on throughout the blog. Spotify Starting off with the one that probably everyone knows: Spotify has become the staple for streaming music (legally). Present in either a desktop or web-based client, Spotify allows users to create their own playlists using a gigantic music library or to connect Spotify with their Facebook (so they can see what all of their friends are grooving to). While it doesn’t have every song in the world, you’re pretty much set if you are a …

How To Organize Your E-Mail Inbox Like Grant Cushman

Hello there friends, colleagues, and people whose name I already forgot even though we just met five minutes ago. Welcome to another installment of Tech Tuesdays with Grant Cushman. With travel season still in full swing, I imagine that many counselors are struggling to keep up with their emails from students, parents, and people who you may have just met more or less five minutes ago.  Unfortunately, I’m not here today to show you an iPhone application or website that will automatically answer your emails and call your mother (no but really, call your mother). However, I do hope to impart upon all of you fine people how I organize my email inbox in Microsoft Outlook, so that I can maximize my time while on the road and in the office. Now, I know, e-mail organization is a highly personal activity and everyone works in their own unique-as-a-snowflake kind of way. Trust me- I get that. However, organization was always a bit of a struggle for me when I first started this job and I …

Dr. Cushman, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Tripit

Oh hey it’s my third blog post and I have yet to stick to one topic or computer program. WHOOPS. Anyway, HI EVERYONE and welcome to the third installment of Tech Tuesday with Grant Cushman. Today I’m going to be talking about a program that has been my invaluable sidekick since little baby first year Admission Counselor Grant Cushman first entered into this wonderful profession: TripIt. If you’re in my position right now, then you are in the midst of the ever-rewarding and grueling staple of the Admission Cycle: travel season; and if you’re anything like me, then you rely on your electronics now more than ever.   My phone calendar is my portal to what school I’m visiting next, what hotel I’m staying at tonight, what car company I booked my rental through, and what airport will send me to my next destination.  With all of these different time-sensitive pieces of information it’s imperative to keep everything succinct and organized. Unfortunately, organization has never come …