Envelopes and Experiments

Today I learned how much I used to take for granted simple things, and how much more complicated they can be in college.  I am applying to be a part of something called 'Eller Ambassadors' who are the people who help recruit students to Eller, give tours of the college, and do other various things.  In order to apply, I had to complete an application and turn in a statement of intent, letter of recommendation, and resume.  These materials I needed to place in an envelope and deliver to the business college.  The envelope, measly little uncomplicated envelope, was what turned into a big hassle.  Where at home, I would have simply gone into the office and grabbed a large, paper sized, manila envelope off of the shelf, with the only complication being the height of the shelf which I would probably need to stand on a rolling office chair to reach.  Here, the process was much more difficult.  I planned to run to the small post office in the Student Union between my 10:00 and 12:00 classes, buy an envelope really quick, and be on my way.  Upon arriving at the post office, I found that I had to take a number and wait my turn to get to the desk in order to buy an envelope.  I figured this wasn't too big a deal so I took a number and waited for 10-15 minutes.  Right before my number was called, I noticed the sign that said only cash and checks were excepted.  All I had with me, was a debit card.  So I sadly deposited my number in a trash can and moved next door to the Fed Ex shop where I didn't have to wait in line at all and they had a sign posted stating that they excepted various credit/debit cards.  The price of the envelope turned out to be $.27 and I held out my debit card to pay the lady at the desk. Unfortunately, she informed me that they have a four dollar minimum on all cards. Bummer.  So I went to the ATM outside the Union, and though I only needed one dollar, was forced to withdraw $20 from my account because that is the smallest amount available.  I then proceeded to return to the Fed Ex shop and purchase my $.27 envelope with a twenty dollar bill.  Then, I went back to the ATM and deposited $19 back into my account.  All for a manila envelope.

This afternoon, I had another interesting experience.  At my Economics class on Tuesday, a man told our class about business experiments being done at the business college for which they needed students to volunteer. We could add our names to a database and then be invited to participate when they arose.  Most importantly, you could get paid for going, $5 to show up and additional money depending on the time you spent and the experiment being done.  So, as I'm now a poor college student with no job, I figured anything that would give me any sort of income was a good opportunity.  I added my name to the database and signed up for an experiment scheduled for today (Friday) to which I was invited.  The experiment was some type of Economics simulation thing where we each sat at individual, blocked of computers where we couldn't see anyone around us.  We were then given instructions about pretending to be buyers and sellers of land and bargaining with other participants trying to buy/sell the land at the best price.  We had to exchange funds and land with four different buyers/sellers depending on which one we were. I was a buyer.  So basically, I got to bargain with four different sellers, (on the computer of course) over prices for four different plots of land.  The goal was to end with the most profit possible and the pay we received at the end (though they didn't mention this) was based on how high our profit was.  It was kind of fun and interesting, and I ended up leaving the experiment with $12.50.  Not bad for half an hour.

Tomorrow is another home football game against Iowa and it is sure to be much more packed and loud than last weeks because it is a super big game.  The rest of the weekend I will probably spend reading pages and pages and pages for my classes and studying for two tests I have coming up next week.  Should be a blast =)