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Show Jhe Utah Statesman ^gg/ei/ Campus Threads Tell someone in a letter to the editor. Write to editor@statesman.usu.edu what are YOU *Drink may be substituted for another side dish, / Sweater wearing? $40 Express G Purse 5/OO Dooney and Bourke ?oV° GREAT DEALS! Belt $ U5 Double D Seven Jeans Com_eSee Nate_ Wilson p^9ianeLar_sen! $40 Downcast Outfitters Service Department Year-end Special i ALISHA SMITH \ Taylorsville, Utah Junior Public Relations Favorite piece, "My boots, because I'm a cowgirl." Up lo five quarts of genuine Molorcrafl oil. Disposal fees and diesd vehicles e>;lra See your Scrvict: Advisor for deUiils. Offer valid with rnnnrvn T^vr-^fvirn Ftnir^s Dor 3I.200.'i \ | I I . * WILSON Ostrich skin boots MOTOR COMPANY $400 Bums Saddle^ Total Cost OH and Filter Change FORD • LINCOLN • MERCURY • NISSAN 3 » Hortfc M*in • Lofl»n, UT • www.wtUoocnator-JoBan-CWn $705 (435) 752-7355 • 1-800-594-8901 ILINCOLN Mercury Software matches roommates BY JIM BAINBRIDGE KRT Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore were randomly assigned roommates at Harvard as freshmen, stayed roomies for four years and friends for another 36. It can work out. Still, you have to figure that for every famous actor who ends up making a presidential nomination speech for his ex-roommate at a national convention, there has to be at least an equal number of roomies who just never seem to mesh. One roommate goes to bed at 9 p.m., the other at 3 a.m. One is shy, the other immodest the life of the party. One studies best with loud music as background, the other needs quiet. Colorado Springs-based General Meters Corp. understands the potential for stress in a system that does not consider such individual differences and is now marketing its own software program to give students a better shot at domestic compatibility. "The program is available online in beta form now," said Fred Emery, General Meters' systems marketing representative. "We're ready to go, and we're in negotiations with a couple of schools already. We just have to be patient. Colleges have to go through the budget approval process, and we've just launched this program." What General Meters has going for it is a lengthy track record working with more than 300 colleges and universities on other high-tech solutions such as for campus identification, access, food service, parking and recreation. The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs uses some aspects of the system, as does Adams State and two of the state's community colleges. For a school using the entire package of General Meters' 14 modules a student, faculty member or campus employee could use a single scannable card to do laundry, get a soda from a vending machine and buy computer discs at the student bookstore before using the same card to gain entry to the dormitory. Price of the one-card program can range from $5,000 to $80,000, depending on how many modules are activated and how many students the school has enrolled. The University One-Card Housing System would serve as the 15th module, allowing students to check out room inventories, housing assign- ments and even start the process of finding a compatible roommate. "Students go online to fill out a lifestyle profile," Emery said, "indicating what time they get up in the morning, what time they go to bed, what kind of music they like, what kind of sports. How they feel about being paired with a smoker. Our questions are geared to develop a sense of someone's attributes and what they do on a daily basis." After the student completes the series of questions and files it, the system culls the 20 best profile matches for the searching student to that of the searching student for him or her to review. All of the survey par- LaBeau's ticipants remain anonymous through the entire process of questionnaire reviews. Even when a student chooses to contact a potential roommate, the e-mail goes through the General Meters system and the e-mail addresses are stripped away. Identities are revealed only when both sides agree that they think there may a compatible match and they meet. If they decide to become roomies they go back online to formalize it. "There are protections built into the system too," Emery said, "so that no males can apply to be in a female dorm and no seniors end up in a freshman dorm." of theBacon Ranch Bur Hamburger Pattie Bacon Lettuce Cheese tomato Ranch eLcu** 165 EAST 1400 NORTH LOGAN (435) 752-2140 Velcro diamonds They keep her stuck on you. D I A M O N D S & FINE JEWELRY 575 East 1400 North, Suite #130 • Logan • 753-3050 University Village Shopping Center, next to Lee's Marketplace Sept. 30 FRIDAY NIGHT ACTIVITY 8:30 p.m.- 11:30 p.m. Come enjoy a night of games and ice cream at the Institute Cultural Center! |