[Welcome to my Weekly Love List. A list, on all things I love. Because if I love them - well then obviously you may (and should) love them too. As the Backstreet Boys song says (and yes I am actually quoting them) “My Love is All I Have To Give.” So with that throwback, here are this week’s list-worthy things…]

1. My Dropbox – Does your friend have all the good pictures from last night on her camera? Did she just buy the new Britney album that you want but are too embarrassed to purchase? We all know how annoying it is to transfer files via email – that stuff takes forever - and now you don’t have to. My Dropbox is a program you and your friends download. Wanna share some pics with eachother? Just drag em into your box (that’s what she said) and – voila! – any friends who are linked up with you now have the files too. It’s technology at its finest.

2. Healthy Mac & Cheese? 18 grams of fiber in one serving, and it’s GOOD. My late night munching self is in LOVE with this idea.

3. Eco Friendly organization. We all know we are supposed to hold on to every exam all semester long, along with our bank statements, our shopping reciepts, and a plethora of other junk that just ends up splattered all over our desks, and floors, and cars… and the list goes on. So check out these great, eco friendly ways to divide up your important documents and tuck them away in a neat, safe place. I don’t really love these, but my roommates love seeing the kitchen table, so I guess that’s good enough.

4. Laura Mercier ‘Almond Coconut Milk’ Hand Crème - It fits in your purse, makes your hands baby soft, and makes you think you are sipping pina coladas on spring break instead of cramming for your econ final.

5. Frustration Free Packaging. How many times do you spend 25 mintues trying to open up your new phone/Bluetooth/Barbie Doll and you just end up with a missing tooth, a bloody lip and the urge to scream and stomp on the product? Whoever designed that hard plastic packaging should work for national security. But, thankfully, Amazon.com is ready to do away with “Wrap Rage”; they are introducing a line of “frustration free packaging,” in recyclable cardboard boxes. Perfect for those of us with a need for instant gratification. Easy to open AND eco-friendly? Now that I L-O-V-E.

So you fancy your downloaded music? Well, guess what, you pirating son of a bitch: the Man’s gonna getcha. Believe me; I know firsthand. One moment, I was floating through the web, using Kazaa and Limewire to download my favorite Ace of Base songs, then BOOM! I’m doin’ time. Well, not really, but you’ll see.

Let’s backtrack a bit. I had just persuaded my mother to bring my desktop to the fraternity house. Let the guiltless hiding-of-the-porn-in-a-separate-folder, illegal downloading free-for-all commence! An album here, a movie there, it was cooler than penguin shit. My roommate wanted in. “Do you mind if I download this new song I love?”“Sure,” I said confidently, feeling like Jesus Himself, feeding the masses with fish and bread, well, username and login, in this case.

Then all the brothers in my ‘fraternity’ file started sharing off the same machine. Before I knew it, the popped-collar posse and I had gathered more than 200,000 downloaded pieces of media.

One day, the phone rang. Read More »