Pay for information? No way.

"Information is not air," I remember reading in an article for my New Media class this semester. I stopped reading in surprise. "What do you mean it is not air?" I thought.

Then I realized that with the abundance of free information online I tend to think of it as air. In addition to my most visited web pages, I am actively using bookmarks, RSS feeds and Google alerts to keep up with latest news and emerging trends. Information on the Web is free and necessary. It is exactly like air.

Yet some sources limit that air. A couple of days ago I found a Wallstreet Journal headline featured in my Google Alerts. The link redirected me to the WSJ page and I saw the story's lead. But to read on, I had to subscribe.

Some reliable Web sources like the WSJ and Encyclopedia Britannica require paid subscription. When I encounter such a challenge, I just close the page and look for the same information elsewhere. The chances are that I will find it on the NY Times or Wikipedia.

Information is not air because one has to be selective when choosing sources. But the choice becomes easy when one of two competing sources is free and the other one paid. So despite your high-quality content, WSJ, I guess I will have to pass.

Lock your rooms, girls

If a friend called you crying to say that someone had gotten into her college room and gone through all of her belongings, you would think the economy is in bad shape. At least, this thought came to my mind when I heard the news.

Yesterday I learned that someone had entered my classmate's room on the first floor of our dormitory in search of valuable items. The burglar had gone through all her suitcases scattering jewelry, family pictures and underwear all over the floor. After a brief discussion with the college's public safety officer, we decided that the violator must have been an outsider. At this time of the year students prop the dorm's doors open to move in and out of school. That must have given the robber a perfect opportunity to sneak in and look for valuables.

Today I found out another friend's belongings violated. This classmate had left her sealed and labeled cardboard box in front of the student storage area where international students are allowed to store during the summer. Two days after she had placed the box there someone had decided to help themselves to her clothing and computer monitor.

These incidents, together with the many student emails announcing thefts, scare me. Stealing has definitely been on the rise on campus and the most obvious reason for it seems to be the economic downfall. Right?

Best things in life are free

I had spent the whole day helping people to pack, carry suitcases and move out their dorms. It hasn't been my first time doing it and, I hope, it won't be my last time. After all, this is what friends are for--to sit on suitcases while you zip them and to push cardboard boxes down the stairs while you catch them from underneath.

Late in the afternoon a graduating friend needed my assistance moving out. Only she didn't put it this way. She wanted me to help her track down a pair of brand-name boots she had lent someone. The boots were worn only three times, forgotten in the room and probably thrown away by the cleaning staff. She went berserk when she didn't find them. We looked through about seven trash bags full of rubbish and liquid wastes. The expensive boots were nowhere to be found.

Then, she decided, it would be funny but plausible to find the boots in the basement of some other dorm. So, she dragged me from dorm to dorm in search of the pair of boots while picking up other abandoned items there. Soon she acquired a fancy scarf, Armani Code perfume and a pair of black shoes. I went home to take a shower and wash away the dirt from the trash dive.

Less than two hours after we had parted, she asked me for help again. Only she didn't put it this way. She offered to meet me in one of the dorms because it had lots of new and expensive things. There was this brand new CD player that I needed to check out. Oh, and also, she was almost done packing and ready to move out. Although I was not interested in the CD player, I was still interested in helping her move out. So, I went, sat on her suitcase while she was zipping it, and carried her bags across the college campus.

A couple of minutes ago she thanked me for all I had done and offered me a bag of scarves. "I really don't need any of this," I responded and my heart sank as I realized she really didn't get it. I needed no objects to be her friend.