First and foremost, I take two prescriptions for it-an oral contraceptive and another med which controls my acne and facial hair  Fortunately, the contraceptive pill I am now, as well as the other med, are available in generic form, so they are only $10 a month for me.

Next, the acne.  I’ve used countless cleansers, over the counter products, and prescription creams (Differin, Retin-A, DuaC) over the years.  I’ve learned a few things along the way (such as benzoyl peroxide is a no-no for me).  However, out of all the acne products I’ve bought over the past 15 years, nothing has worked as well as Mario Badescu products-namely the Drying Lotion .  These products aren’t cheap, but they are absolutely, without a doubt worth it.

Finally, we have the facial hair.  Remember how I said that I was on all those prescription acne meds?  Well, if you have PCOS, the irony is that most prescription acne meds prevent you from being able to wax your face, due to increased sensitivity.  As a result, while I like the occasional waxing, I have tried pretty much every other method under the sun.  I first started with facial bleach, which was easy enough to do but still left a visible mustache (and I’m pretty darn pale).  I then moved onto nair, which was very effective, but I once got a chemical burn from it, which turned me off of it.  The best solution I’ve found is a facial hair trimmer.  It’s quick, it’s painless, and it lets me grab that one hair that I suddenly see as I’m headed out the door.  I also tweeze a few select hairs on my chin. I’ve debated laser hair removal, but am not convinced it’s worth it yet.

If you have any questions about PCOS, feel free to leave a comment!

Anyway, I ordered Product online, got it, wasn’t happy and I returned it.  The Company offered a 100% money back guarantee, but they only refunded 50% of my money.   I then e-mailed them about it.  I was informed, in a typo-ridden e-mail which included such gems as informing me that “[company] is the only company that dopes offer refunds for this item,” that I only received 50% owing to the fact that Product had obviously been used.  I replied it hadn’t, but the stuck firm.

I then filed a complaint with the online Better Business Bureau.  They contacted the company.  While I did get all of my money back, the company continued to treat me like a teen who had shoplifted.  I only got all of my money back if I promise to never shop from them again.

Anyway, the point of this entry was to say that the BBB really can work if you have a complaint against one of its member companies.

I also got a peek at the Alice themed OPI nailpolishes at ULTA last week-they’re nice enough (Ulta carries a cute mini-set).  However, Alice seems a near copy of China Glaze’s Dorothy Who?

The best advice I could give anyone applying to college (or anyone, come to think of it) is summarized in Randy Paush’s quote Be good at something; it makes you valuable… have something to bring to the table, because that will make you more welcome. Don’t worry what your interest is, just have one.  Your passion for dance, dogs, stamps is what would make you a great asset to my alma mater.

Also, please be mindful that you are in the information age.  I do google my prospective interviewees.  Don’t put up anything stupid (drinking photos, your relationship drama, if you really want to go to our rival school (just kidding)).

Finally, please know that we are nervous too.  I want my alma mater to be populated by awesome students.  I worry that an awesome applicant and I won’t click, and what if my alma mater loses out on a great student because of it.

With the new glut of college graduates coming onto the job market soon, as well as the ever-increasing number of people who have been laid off, I thought that a review of the three Boston-area agencies I used in 2006 may be of use to some.

The first, and the one which I would never recommend, is AIM Personnel in Hingham, MA.  Aside from some smaller issues, such as being so small an operation they did not have direct deposit, I was utterly underwhelmed by them.  I was hired to work at a local company in a temp to perm position.  After one week, I was terminated.  While this is not AIM’s problem, the way they responded to it insulted me.  The person at the company where I had been temping claimed that a large issue they had with me was that I “never looked anyone in the eye.”  Not only was this claim bogus, but I barely saw said person in my one week tenure there.  The owner of AIM; however, decided to take me to task for this, and suggested a practice talking with my boyfriend.  I’m sorry, I forgot it was 1950.  I asked them to keep an eye open for me, I never heard from them again.

I was pretty happy with KNFT.  While I was doing a routine check-in call (which I highly recommend doing weekly when using staffing agencies, either by phone or e-mail) with them, the rep was able to find me a gig in my field starting the next business day.  I really liked the gig, and communication with them was easy.  However, they did not pay me one week as they claim they never got my timesheet (despite me having the slip from the fax indicating it was sent)-my original contact left the agency, which may have affected this problem.

Although it seemed like I never heard anything outside of horror stories about them, I would recommend Professional Staffing Group (PSG) above the other two.  Yes, their office is frenetic, but they found me a great gig (with hours of me calling saying I was available).  They had awesome communication, knew what was going on at my job, and paid me on time (PSG also lets you enter your hours online rather than fax them, which I think is great).  I would use PSG again in a heartbeat.

My friends have had good luck with numerous other agencies, including Atrium, Adecco, and John Leonard.  I have not used them so I did not include them.

I use the sections as following:

• Front section:  Store coupons, restaurant coupons, ECB’s and the like.
• Next section-items I know I will be using on a given shopping trip-something I’m out of or on sale
• Snacks and candy
• Entrees
• Health and beauty
• Coupons for the grocery shopping I do at work.
• Coupons for pet food

By having my coupon organizer on me, and having my coupons organized, I am much more likely to usu the coupons I clip.  However, the biggest hurdle to using your organizer is to use it-my mother, for example, doesn’t have hers on her at all times.

Aforementioned BigNephew got an iHome-a smaller one than the one he had ogled in Brookstone earlier this year.  Was he disappointed?  No-he was thrilled to have one to put his hard-erned and paid for by him new iPodTouch on (and Auntie Hedy wins for buying it before he even put it on his Santa laist-LOL).

I really like some of the make-up tie-ins I’ve seen around-Sephora is going to have a pop-up Urban Decay pallette that’s Alice in Wonderland themed-it’s due to come our on the 28th of December.  I’ve become pretty disillusioned with OPI nail polish* (I think their stuff isn’t as good as they think it is), but they have some new Alice themed shades.

*FWIW, I’ve become a China Glaze convert.  Better, more diverse polishes, at a better price that are easy to find at Sally’s.  However, I cannot find the Wizard of Oz collection near to me (I really wanted to do a themed nail for when I saw Wicked last week-I ended up doing a vague Boq/Nessa nail with Lubu heels (black with red glitter) and silver tip, by la deco’s silver.