Approaching Stanford (literally) - Page 4

Morsmordre · 08-04-2009, 02:09 PM

I second the above post.

Baten · 08-06-2009, 08:52 AM

haha thanks for the late response! In the end, i'm just bringing my mac and i am bringing over my stuff in suitcases. the only difference is that i'm flying in on the 14th and rather than paying for a rental car my mom decided to just pay for supershuttle to and from the hotel, cab fare to my dorm and just enjoy the margerite shuttle for the rest of the time she's there. (and since she's only staying till the 16th i think that makes sense.)

for big stuff, i'm going to go shopping here and see which ones i like and order them over the internet to be sent to my dorm after i arrive. that may end up being inconvenient but i don't see any way around it unless i shop the night i fly in or the morning before i go to my dorm.

a stanford student friend of mine sat me down and told me in simple terms that my life would be hell if i didn't get my bike from the campus bike shop so thats where my own next paycheck is going (ugh.) since i'll have the bike all four years and get free repairs after heavy usage i think it'll be worth it in the end.

thanks for the advice! i'm glad to already see someone else from MD coming over.

hpfan018 · 08-06-2009, 09:20 AM

I was considering getting a bike from Target or purchasing a used bike but was also advised against it. Even when I thought about it, if I bought it from Target I'd either have to ride it from the store to Stanford and potentially get lost, or walk out of the store with it in a box and assemble it myself (which could be potentially disastrous) or somehow pay someone to transport it from the store for me assembled. Whereas I can order from the Campus Bike Shop, have it at the campus waiting for me and get a rental bike to use for free for ISO. So a chunk of my money went into that. The free repairs is an extra cost though. I was under the impression that it was free. I already had to pay the extra $75 for the security package, I couldn't afford the additional $150 for the "free" maintenance, particularly when it's coming out of my already dwindling savings. I'll walk with my bicylce pump and pump my own wheels when they're flat and hope that nothing else goes wrong with my bike for my 4 years at Stanford.

brendanww · 08-06-2009, 12:54 PM

^ My roommate last year from boarding school lives in Berkeley, so I am shipping all my stuff to his house a few days early and renting a car to take it to Stanford :-) However, it seems that other people can do this too through the bed, bath, and beyond. In the ASSU mailing, it said on the advertisement that they would accept shipments from all students, even non-customers, before move-in day.

Olive_Tree · 08-06-2009, 04:33 PM

I know there has been some debate on whether MAC's are best for Stanford students but will other types of laptops (Dell/HP) work as well? My parents are dead set against a MAC, mostly for financial reasons, and feel a Dell or HP is better for me especially since I won't take any computer classes at Stanford and will be using the computer for research. Is this a good idea?

walkyu · 08-06-2009, 06:17 PM

That's perfectly fine. Bring your cheaper Dell/HP and expect it to work just as well on the network. If you have problems, Stanford has a very robust computer support network (including Resident Computing Consultants who live in the dorms), PCs included.

For the record the vast majority of the campus machines are iMacs or Mac Pros. Most of the iMacs are Boot Camped and dual boot into Windows and OSX.

Baten · 08-16-2009, 06:27 PM

hmmm...i didn't know about bed bath and beyond. (my mom saw that mailing and immediately trashed it... she considered it spam mail.) i'll look into that cause the less suitcases the better.

as for the bike and the service package - i emailed the bike shop and they said i'd be able to buy that package at a later date. i'm hoping it'll be the same price. but regardless, i'd like the time to buy my bike, re-earn my money ans then buy the service pack.

brendanww · 08-17-2009, 09:53 PM

^ The ad wasn't very clear, but it seems like it's worth looking into. How much stuff are you bringing though? I am only having to mail one package and that is if I conclude that I want to bring my guitar to school. If you are good at folding, you can pack quite a lot in your carry-on.

The bicycle question is more difficult. The selection at the Stanford bike shop is not that great. I am thinking about using yelp to find a good store nearby, purchasing a bike there, and riding the new bike to campus. Either that, or I could just take off the wheels, take off the steering wheel, and pack it into a rental car.

Any 12ers have advice about bike shops in the Bay Area? I have found two shops with great reviews on yelp: VeloTech and Front of the Pack. I am wondering though if I'll be able to get better deals in S.F.

Baten · 08-23-2009, 09:41 AM

My one local 12er friend just adamantly told me to get a bike from the campus bike shop. I only want something that'll work and maybe even looks not that good because of the first two weeks of school when people from outside the area commit bike theft. I did look up bike shops around Stanford and this is what I found:

bikes 94305 - Google Maps

The only other bike shop that compared price wise was the Cardinal Bike Shop. Everything else seem waaaaayyy out of my price range.

Olive_Tree · 08-29-2009, 06:07 PM

So does having a wireless campus mean that I don't need to sign up with an internet provider (like AT&T) in order to have an internt connection?

bluebubbles · 08-29-2009, 06:21 PM

Baten, interesting about the bike theft, does most of it really occur during the first 2 weeks?

walkyu · 08-30-2009, 04:53 AM

Wireless campus means, free wireless internet for any registered Stanford affiliate. AT&T covers wireless phones, not wireless internet.

Bikes on campus are a bit odd. Many people go to Walmart/Target to get a bike, and those tend to have varying degrees of durability. But they're super cheap. Some of my friends broke them in the first quarter, others still have them. Really depends on how much abuse you give. I personally bought one from the Cardinal Bike Shop, just because I wanted a better bike to get around. It still serves me well, though I would advise you to find the lowest reasonable price.

As for bike theft, I've found that very rarely do locked bikes get stolen. Lock your bike to a rack (lock your front wheel and frame into the rack), and don't buy a super nice racing bike either.

Also, be absolutely sure to buy fenders. Maybe not immediately, but by the first rain. If you don't, you will have a nice trail of rain water on your back and front. Pretty easy way to tell frosh actually.

inev · 08-30-2009, 04:00 PM

Is 2 hours battery life enough for a laptop? I'm thinking of buying a new laptop, and I'm not sure if it's enough battery life. Are plug points available everywhere?

bluebubbles · 08-30-2009, 04:10 PM

^ Nope, definitely not enough. You want at least 4 hours or else you might as well get a desktop. I can also imagine that plugs aren't always readily available.

Baten · 08-31-2009, 12:44 AM

fender??? please explain. i have no idea what that is...obviously i'm not a bike person. ^^