did you know the Skidshop is on twitter? all the cool kids are doing it.

Oh shit, I’ve been so busy thinking about the similar capitalist critiques in Bertold Brecht’s Threepenny Opera and John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera* that I’ve forgotten to purchase selfless holiday gifts for my parents and those girls from high school I still want to impress. Thank God the SkidShop is bringing in some “expert shoppers” tomorrow afternoon. I always trust experts.

*Anyone who knows anything about this should email me at Editor@SkidmoreUnofficial.com

The Snuggie Trinity

Fluctuating temperatures in the library? Tired of early morning struggles to give your roommate the finger from beneath your covers? Enjoy blindly following the latest internet trend? Have no fear the Skidmore Snuggie® is here!

Never one to lag behind, the Skidmore Shop now offers Snuggies emblazoned with a dazzling Skidmore logo just in time for the holidays. Modeled proudly by the SkidShop’s most faithful, The Skidmore Snuggie® is the perfect accessory for intimate study sessions or chilly nights spent in the window seat. If you stop by the shop within the next 10 days and you can also enter to win a FREE MACBOOK LAPTOP! (details here)

CSGR representative Joe Yanks ‘11 writes in to tell us about The Center’s new hotline and the chance to win free money:

This Thursday and Friday the Center for Sex and Genders will be holding a telethon on their 24 hour weekend hotline phone and you will have TWO chances to win $35 to the SkidShop.  To win simply  be the 20th caller on Thursday and Friday night at 6:30 pm (On the dot!). The hotline number is: (518) 256.1439.    Make sure you save it in your phone!

The hotline is active throughout the semester from Thursday night at 7 pm until Monday afternoon at 1 pm (when the Center re-opens for the week).  You can call the number at any point during the weekend for immediate help (If you’re in an uncomfortable situation, need instant help, etc) or just  have a question or need advice. With the spookiest weekend of first semester coming up, it’s definitely going to be a great idea to keep the number handy!

Just as a reminder as well, if you need any supplies  (condoms, dams, lube, pregnancy tests, vibrators, pamphlets, etc.), the Center is located on the third floor of Case Center and is open during the week, as well as on Saturdays from 2-4 pm. We are student run and anonymous on all matters.

Tomorrow, Thursday September 17^th, is the final day of textbook return at the Skidmore Shop. Students who have dropped classes or realized they do not need certain textbooks would be wise to return their unwanted tomes for a full refund. The Skidhop will have regular weekday hours: 9:15am-5pm.

You will need the following items to return textbooks:

• The books you are returning (obviously).
• The original receipt (probably still stapled to that ugly orange thing).
• The original card (credit, debit or SkidID) you used to purchase your books.
• A polite attitude.

I’m here to make a case for textbooks. I understand that they are expensive and heavy and boring and bulky; and that their value degenerates too quickly; and that you don’t use them anyway, but textbooks also have a certain charm. Something about stacks of textbooks hastily annotated and bookmarked with scribbled-in margins strewn across my desk offers a visual satisfaction—a tangible testament to the studying I have been doing.

Excuse my unabashed romanticism for moment but I like highlighting sentences and reading the name’s past owners so legibly printed on the inside cover. I love watching freshmen girls struggle with books outside Case Center and I love imagining myself offering to carry those books like I’m some sort of smitten archaic charmer. I like tattered covers and cracked spines. I like lining up my musty tomes in height order and proudly displaying titles like “Micro-Economics Unraveled” and “The American Pageant: A History of the Republic.” Textbooks aren’t for everybody but they make me feel like I’m staring in some collegiate Tobias Wolff short story and that is something I want, even if I have to pay for it.

At least that is how I feel until I have to wait on that dreadful buy-back line only to sell $700 dollars worth of textbooks for a miserly $31.25.

You’ve got several choices when it comes to buying your “musty tomes” this year:

The Skidmore Shop lets you purchase online and has lots of used copies to lessen the financial blow, plus they guarantee you’ll get the right edition and all that shit. No matter where you get your books from make sure to check out this little ditty posted on the SkidShop blog earlier this week.

Amazon.com has long been a resource for thrifty students. Look up which books you will be needing here and then dedicate a solid afternoon to finding them in Amazon’s used book marketplace. You’ll save lots of money but the true benefit is all mail you will be getting the first week of school as your  textbooks arrive. The easiest way to publicly affirm your popularity it to be known as the-kid-who-is-always-in-line-for-package pickup. Nobody has to know you are receiving copies of Jefferson’s letters and not care packages from enamored summertime loves.

Or you could just Google around a bit, the internet is full of free textbook resources and places to find cheap books, knock yourself out kiddo.

Friday (4/24) beginning at 11am the SkidShop is having a “Sidewalk Sale” on the second floor of Case Center with free ice cream and slashed prices!!! Tomorrow is also the start of textbook buy back. Stop into the SkidShop during the dates below to sell your books.

The Skidmore Shop is having it’s first Sidewalk Sale ever. We’ll be outside of Case Center on the second floor. We’ve got $5 t-shirts, $1 paperback books and $5 hardcover books. 75% off of a whole bunch of stuff as well as other sweet deals. We have ice cream. Free ice cream. Free delicious ice cream on this awesome beautiful day. For realzies.

Friday May 1 – 9:15AM to 4:30PM
Saturday May 2 – 10:30AM to 2:00PM
Monday May 4 – Friday May 8 – 9:15AM to 4:30PM
Saturday May 9 – 12:00PM to 3:15PM
Monday May 11 – 9:15AM to 4:00PM

SkidShop revealed its big plans for tonight (2/26) on their blog this past week. Today, the shop will open at 2pm and close at 10pm. The odd hours are to accommodate the shop’s huge ART SUPPLY SALE and FASHION SHOW. All art supplies are 25% and 50% off all Grumbacher art brushes and oil paints. YAY saving money and stuff.

Beginning at 8pm students and staff members will be modeling Skidmore apparel as a DJ plays in the Spa, which will remain open until 11pm for the event. The blog post hints at prizes—as is the SkidShop’s M.O. Also Barack Obama will be there.

GOTCHA's inaugural winner

Along with a website redesign Skidshop is launching a cool new contest this week called GOTCHA. A strange money saving hybrid of PUNK’D and Facebook stalking, the contest involves Skidshop’s “secret photographer” roaming the campus and taking a picture of one random student each week who, if they are lucky enough to realize they have been photographed, can come into the shop and receive a free gift. And while it has already seemed to ruffle some feathers on the ACB we think it is a pretty god damn good idea, we just hope it dosent lead to any paparazzi camera smashing ala Kanye West.

Anyhoo bookmark this page and keep checking in to see if you’re a winner.

Tomorrow is Groundhog’s Day and depending on whether that little rodent sees his shadow or not the SkidShop will be offering some sweet discounts.

A unfortunate longer winter gets you 25% off of Skidmore imprinted winter clothing, blankets and stainless steel coffee mugs.

While a shorter winter fittingly gets you 25% off of Skidmore imprinted summer clothing, baseball caps, flip-flops and beach blankets.

If you’ve dropped any classes and still have the textbooks today is your final opportunity to return them at the Skidshop for a full refund. The shop is open until 5pm. Ready, set, go.