One of the biggest challenges in our Twitterverse will be the lack of electronic devices and ticker tape news 24/7 on your sabbatical.

As a diehard WCC accustomed to juggling an iPad, Macbook and iPhone (not to mention your professional devices) you will want to have your WSJ subscription converted to paper form and sent to your temporary address.  Yes, you can receive subscriptions at Club Fed.  You can remain in the loop on all things WCC so that when you depart you can pick up where you left off.

You will soon find that mail call is one of the highlights of your day.  Friends of F can send paperback books, magazines, cards, etc.  Sadly, no homebaked goods are allowed, so Grandma’s recipe butter crescent cookies will need to wait until you are back home.

You will also have access to a government monitored email but no access to the internet.  That being said, while you have to pay for email (minimal charge) you can get your electronic “fix” by spending hours in email (if you so desire).  Skype is also available should you wish to see family and friends but keep in mind they will be seeing you as well.  If Khaki is not your best color it might be best to stick with electronic and snail mail correspondence.

In terms of snail mail there are some basic rules, like you can not receive hard cover books from an individual but can receive hard cover books directly from Amazon.  I guess they worry that your crazy Uncle Harry will try to smuggle you a few of his happy pills in between the book cover.

You will also have access to a Library.  This is where Club Fed is not like your undergrad experience.  The books in the Library look like they were donated several decades ago….you will now find where all of those encyclopedias ended up!  More recent additions are limited to James Patterson and Stephen King novels.

To maximize you experience it is recommended that you stock up on all of those NYT Bestsellers you never got time to read due to your work/travel schedule.  You will have more down time than you have ever had and given your OCD tendencies it’s best to fill it with biographies, historical reference books and an occasional nobel prize winning tome.

If you are in need of Legal advice, there is access to a small Legal Library, but it’s probably best to ask around as you will find a plethora of Legal WCCs in your midst.  Judges, Lawyers, Probation Officers, etc. will all be sharing the same dorm and their advice is free and probably more relevant to your situation than the outdated information contained in the resource room.

Entertainment?  Beside the daily goings on….each dorm has a room full of flat screen TVs tuned into different channels that  you can access via your MP3 player.  Be prepared, TV shows are selected based on a general consensus.  You may not find that everyone shares your love of Downton Abbey but that a version of Bravo’s Housewives is on regularly.

For some odd reason many of the requests are for Crime shows (CSI, Locked Up, Dawg the Bounty Hunter).  Not sure if people are looking to see relatives featured or are riveted with the (inevitable) outcomes.

Movies are also shown weekly, normally the ones most recently released on DVD.  You can either watch in your dorm TV room with a nice bowl of microwave popcorn or can walk across campus to a theatre-like setting set up in the gym (another disclaimer, not all Clubs have a gymnasium/theatre but if your Park Avenue Law Firm was worth the six figures you paid you should have a theatre).