<p>mootmom: You rode a bike across the US???!!?!! If I had a hat on, it would be off to salute you! I love stories like that, and I’ll bet you had lots of adventures.</p>
<p>:) Yes indeed, I rode my bike 4500 miles across the US (and had never been west of PA before the trip: it was indeed amazing) and my dog Terra sang at Carnegie Hall in “Sonata for Piano and Dog”. 
Those are the most cool things about my life, I guess, so I thought I’d include them. I see y’all noticed. ;)</p>
<p>That is indeed very very cool. I didn’t know they had dog concerts in Carnegie Hall! I played there once though (flute…all humans…not as cool)</p>
<p>Cheers, you have a problem dog too? S3 brought one home last year after working at the some animal shelter. Had I known that every kid who works there brings home an animal, he would not have been permitted near the place. The puppy he brought home was from a litter that was put down at the shelter because they all had mange, and this little guy would have suffered the same fate except S insisted on bringing him home. And we already have a ridiculous number of animals here. We needed a mangey dog like a hole in our heads, but S cried, begged, pleaded, and I gave in which meant weeks of dips, isolation for the pup and misery for me, as this was not something a kid could do. Wasn’t even sure I could do it–had done it once before years ago and had sworn would never do it again. Puppy was truly the cutest little mutt I had ever seen with the most engaging personaility. We all fell in love with him. Well, he hit puberty and before you could say “fix him”, he was starting dog fights with the rest of the gang wreaking total havoc on us. He is currently on prozac and behavior modification, like a few others in our gang were some years ago, and I swore I would not go down this path again, but what to do once they have your heartstrings. He has run up thousands in vet charges–just had his eyeteeth filed so when he bites the other dogs, he doesn’t do much damage. He’s had his butt whipped by the other ones every single fight, but he just won’t give up. I am certain these dog stories are why D’s fiancee’s family does not want to visit us. He was here for one of those “gang” fights and he knows about the mange as well. I’m sure his family thinks we literally live in Dogpatch. All I can say is that I doubt we need a security system with these dogs.</p>
<p>Animals: we currently have two dogs, a horse, and a pot-belly pig named Harley. I’d be willing to bet we’re the only one on CC with a pig in our backyard. In the past, we’ve had as many as four dogs at a time, several pygmy goats, and a flock of chickens and roosters.</p>
<p>Me: attended SUNY Oneonta for two years, transferred to and graduated from Syracuse, did my MBA at San Diego State. Originally from NY, have lived in San Diego since marrying my husband 20 years ago. I’m currently a freelance business writer and editor.</p>
<p>Husband: B.S. from Pepperdine, M.S. from National University. Currently works in naval research.</p>
<p>Daughter: junior at a Catholic college prep school an hour’s drive from our home, probably will end up going to college outside of Calif. Looking for a small liberal arts school with heavy “quirkiness” factor. Equestrian facilities would be a plus so she can take the horse off our hands. Possible majors: history, art, sociology/psychology</p>
<p>Son: freshman at same school, football player interested in physics, politics, and classical languages. Last night I overheard him telling Daughter that he hopes she goes to a college that he could also go to - they have always been extremely close and it is starting to hit both of them that they will be splitting up in a year and a half.</p>
<p>My life sounds boring in comparison to some of you out there!</p>
<p>Me: Catholic female, attended QUEENS COLLEGE of CUNY; BA in Psychology; MS Educ plus Prof License School Psychology, QUEENS COLLEGE; did doctoral work in Educ. Psych at Fordham Univ. Graduate Center NYC…school psychologist for 32 years in Special Education.</p>
<p>Husb: Catholic male…attended QUEENS COLLEGE of CUNY; BA in Psychology; MBA Business Statistics from Hofstra Univ. Long Island, NY. Is a civilian regional manager for US ARMY Corps of Engineers, Ft. Hamilton Bklyn NY.</p>
<p>We live as a family in West. Co NY. But here is the kicker:
Have 3 brilliant children…a son who in his HS Sr yr made the final round of the US Physics team…graduate of Harvard in comp scie and East Asian Studies…speaks, reads and writes Japanese; a son graduate of PENN in engineering, now attending Wharton for a Professional Certificate in finance and accounting after completing an project management Professional Certificate at Drexel Inst. of Technology. He just loves to go to school! And finally, a daughter currently a freshman at Carnegie Mellon who went in as a chemistry major and is now leaning towards PHYSICS…don’t ask. </p>
<p>So my point is…apples sometimes fall VERY FAR away from the tree.</p>
<p>Okay, here we go:</p>
<p>H and I both grew up on Jersey shore.
Me, started at Washington College, transfered to UMich. BA English, from there, started Doctoral Program at UM, got as far as MA English, stopped temporarily (hah!) to have child no. 1. College counselor and English adjunct.</p>
<p>H, UMich BS in Bio and Philosophy, MD from UMDNJ, pediatrician on mobile van.</p>
<p>D: BA gov’t, Wesleyan '04.</p>
<p>S: Freshman, Columbia, thinking English.</p>
<p>One dog, several kayaks, live in North NJ, would like to move to South Jersey near water.</p>
<p>Oh, too late to edit, but let me add that kids both went to very ordinary public school.</p>
<p>Garland, do I recall a post somewhere mentioning that your H was thinking about leaving medicine for teaching? My spouse is seriously burned out on medicine, and a career change, after 20 years, looks very desirable. Any comments you might like to share on the topic would be welcome. Maybe this would be more appropriate on another thread, or even another board.</p>
<p>Briefly, yes, he’s “burned out” by worry, frustration, and ridiculous hours. Is supposedly working part-tme now, but it never works out that way. He’s taking courses to get a teaching certificate in secondary science, but also looking at possible ideas for a job that would combine his knowledge of medicine with education and advocacy (but no more “on-call nights”!)</p>
<p>Hey Carolyn,</p>
<p>So far you are still the only one with a pot bellied pig ,</p>
<p>Education- BBA Baruch College -CUNY, MPS- Cornell (ILR), MA- Educational Psychology, NYU, back at NYU finishing up advanced certificate for professional certification for guidance and counseling</p>
<p>What do I do for these few pennies they throw at me: 20 years same company- Financial Analyst, HR- People development, Training Programs, and Workplace Learning, </p>
<p>Single parent of 2 Children -1st child- Product of the NYC public school system , currently Freshman at Dartmouth still chugging along the pre-med route (this week’s interest neuoro psych, still debating whether to be a classic major)</p>
<p>2nd child 4- legged border collie, lab, corgie mix (really long body with really short legs) with abandonment issues, won’t walk more than a half block from home. Still trying to figure out how watching the super G on the olympics resulted in a dog. I can relate to Cheers, $60 to adopt dog a few hundred dollars worth of stuff to bring them home. But hey, she’s smarter than a lot of people I know. I find her giving me strange looks as I LOL during my guilty pleasure- American Idol</p>
<p>Sybbie, Our border collie mix also had severe abandonment issues. If we left her alone in the house, she would start tearing up furniture and scratching through doors. She couldn’t stand it when family members were in other parts of the house where she couldn’t see them. Once, she actually managed to remove the door panel of my husband’s car when we left her in the car for 10 minutes. When we finally got another dog (or 2), she calmed down considerably. I think she felt happier having someone she could keep an eye on even when her people weren’t around.</p>
<p>Our pig has issues too…but we have learned to work around them. :)</p>
<p>She’s good with the furniture, but gosh does she cry when you leave and if she hears you outside of the door. She’s afraid to get into the car. </p>
<p>I used to joke around about the secret lives of dogs until I saw the 20/20 report last year on their secret lives. Mine probably has some to share with a good therapist</p>
<p>Hmmmm…another trend? CC parents tend to be long-married types with neurotic dogs? </p>
<p>Thanks for the idea about filing his teeth, JMom. We live next to an Independence House, a communal house for intellectually disabled adults. A few of the men take turns walking the Damned Dog. One of them used to take DD on long, long treks. Out to the airport and back, that kind of thing. DD developed abandonment issues after a car horn incident and now refuses to go further than the corner park.</p>
<p>Loved your story kirmum.</p>
<p>Yup. Long married types, but no pets here. Wish I had a dog, though.
My husband works in Pharma research and I as a techie in an investment bank.
Son is a freshman at Swarthmore in PA. No major, yet.</p>
<p>Wish I had a dog,</p>
<p>Ya want mine? ;)</p>
<p>She’s a nice dog, come, bond with me for the 6 am and 10 p.m. walks (flashbacks of babies come to mind)</p>
<p>Okay, me next (should have gone first maybe wouldn’t sound as dull ):</p>
<p>Education: BA Univ. of Pittsburgh - Administration of Justice. Can you still major in that? Have worked as a paralegal for many more years than I care to recall. Love to snorkel, swim, read. (still live in pittsburgh… not a happy day for us Sunday). Waiting until kids leave to try my hand at childhood dream of horseback riding (can’t afford to board 2 horses and scared to death of D’s crazy horse - see below).</p>
<p>H: No college. Mailman. LOVES his job ; ) Also high school basketball coach. Married 18 years - childhood sweethearts ; )</p>
<p>D1: Accepted so far EA UM and RD Southwestern Univ. Still waiting for the “big ones”. Wiser and more mature than me.</p>
<p>D2: Seventh grade. The one that drives her parents crazy. Oldest D really had us fooled about raising kids. Plays basketball and barrel races. She is living my dream : ) </p>
<p>Animals: 1 cat, 2 dogs, 1 crazy horse named PORKY. Horse dresses better than I do… if you have never owned a horse… well… imagine shopping at Saks 5th Avenue for a 1200 lb. woman : )</p>
<p>Sybbie, I’d love to have a dog. Husband is the adamant one. I’d love to have had a dog when my son was little. Ah well…one of these days…</p>
<p>momsdream - note below, another teen parent<br>
I am one of the newer ones on CC, but here’s our info.</p>
<p>Me: BA, Wellesley Econ. MBA, Stanford. Also Master City&Regional Planning, UCB. (Should have used “overeducated” as my username). Was VP, Marketing at FAO Schwarz as “final” job before semi-retiring when S born (too much travel). Have been real estate broker since then.</p>
<p>H: UNH, BSEE. Got MSEE at Jns Hopkins “Evening College” while working at first-post college job. Was “prom night dad” before I met him, so we have a grandson one year older than our son(!). Being a teen dad is what really catalyzed him to grow up. Delayed college one yr.to get his young family on solid ground. Wonderful career in defense electronic in Silicon Valley (start up co., as well as Boeing, Ford Aerospace and GTE) before retired at 45 (goal had been 40). </p>
<p>S: EA Tulane with DHS merit scholarship. He and we proud and thrilled. Also applied RD Stanford. Waiting, but not expecting a yes.</p>
<p>grandS: we have now moved on to helping him w college apps. Graduated HS 2004, did nothing re college. Not the academically advantaged kid that most S/D’s of posters are. B student at mediocre school. Doesn’t even have all course requirements for most colleges, although close. Didn’t even get started on process until H had heart-to-heart over holidays. So focus is on late deadline,high acceptance rate schools. Highest hope: UNH (he is NH resident).</p>
<p>Life: Both of us grew up East Coast. Met in Calif where we had both migrated. S born when we in early 40s. Moved to small NE town for “kinder gentler” life and place to raise kid in 1989. Chose community w top-notch schools and have been very happy.</p>
<p>What we’ve learned in this process: how critically different it is to have parents who have made education a priority, chosen community for quality of schools (or chose private for similar reason). Cf our S (and S/Ds of most posters here) vs gS. We love our D(my step) but she was out to lunch on process or even checking in with gS on whether/what he wanted. She is happy to have us stepping in to guide/support/shepherd, so “it’s all good.”</p>
<p>Alrighty . . .</p>
<p>Me: Spent first 21 years of my life in the same apartment, BA from Wellesley (music and English), MME (music therapy) from University of Kansas, grad cert (management) from Radcliffe. Lived most of life in Greater Boston (except 10 years–ID, KS, IA, MD). Avid wrestling and volleyball mom (kids’ sports).</p>
<p>H: Lived in five towns in four states before college, SB from MIT, MS from Univ. of Idaho, and MPhil from Univ. of Kansas. Works in biotech–business development and technology transfer. Avid cyclist (does century rides in one day).</p>
<p>S: UCLA '05, design|media</p>
<p>D: currently senior in public HS, Pomona '09, currently plans to create major of international cultures and minor in dance</p>
<p>Currently petless but have had three cats, one dog, a couple of mice (from H’s lab), gerbils, hamsters, guinea pigs, and hermit crabs. Would like to get a Siamese fighting fish–they seem to have personalities and to be low maintenance. Trying to figure out when we can retire (or at least get to do stuff we’ve dreamed of doing).</p>
<p>Loved learning about a dog concert at Carnegie Hall. Only performed solo once at Symphony Hall.</p>