<p>N hope it is not serious and they can help your H quick.
I am alwasy a sucker for a happy ending, and yes the director has a bipolar son, who has a cameo in the film. He goes to a special school in Conn.
The older I get te more claustraphobic I feel with the snow. Used to be enjoyed a good snow day indoors. I miss the sun here in the NE
I will check out Argo as it isnt shown around here. I missed Lincoln too.</p>
<p>Yeah, I saw one of those “The Making of…” documentaries for Silver Linings and the director spoke at length about his son. It seems as though all the cast was crying at one point or another during the interviews. I thought I heard that the author was a CT MS Language Arts teacher, so although I haven’t seen the movie, I’m reading the book now. It is heart-breaking.
On a happier note, H has been working in Chicago for a while and so instead of his coming to snow-covered CT, I flew out to the windy city on Friday for the long weekend. What a fun town… we’ve seen the Picasso exhibit, listened to some (too) late night blues, thoroughly enjoyed the gorgeous architecture of the city, had some delicious steaks, went to the car show and generally had a fun time! Back to CT tonight. 
And sevmom, I sent you a PM re: DC.
northminn I hope H feels better!!</p>
<p>Hi, woody, I responded to your PM. Glad you’ve been having fun in Chicago! I think it’s a great town and thoroughly ejoyed the couple of visits I’ve made.</p>
<p>NM - I hope your H feels better soon.
Woody - Glad you had a good time in Chicago it’s one of my favs. Hope you can make it to DC.</p>
<p>Not doing anything exciting today, but really enjoying the day off.</p>
<p>Booked my trip to DC in April. Can’t wait to see those who can attend face to face.</p>
<p>Just got back from kayaking in a mangrove forest(?). Beautiful birds. Very relaxing. Back to the snow tomorrow. Lovely area here (Sanibel) and I love the weather relative to Boston, but I’m not sure there’s enough happening here for ShawWife and definitely not enough good artists. We’ve got to take a trip to Miami at some point where there are supposed to be artists, but it may be a little urban feeling.</p>
<p>Ooh, we love the Sanibel area. But we are birders, so Florida has a lot to offer. Do you know what birds you saw? We need to add the Mangrove Cuckoo to our list, but they’re really hard to find …</p>
<p>Z, I’m not a birder but I asked and they said a tri-colored heron, a grey heron, ibises and a grey bird that was sort of ibis-like. Plus some hawks, not clear of what persuasion.</p>
<p>HR sent S2 paperwork on Friday to fill out and fax back relating to the background investigation. They may be doing background checks on multiple candidates, but the process is moving forward and looks promising so far.</p>
<p>Over the week-end, H and I went to Smithfield and heard a talk by one of the original Tuskegee airmen that was being given at the museum. This gentleman serviced the planes, so not one of the pilots, but went to Obamas second inauguration with all the still living members of that group. It was a very moving account of life as a black man in the 1940s. When in Texas for training, he was shown an oak tree and told that anybody who misbehaved would be hung. An audience member asked if he received a heros welcome after the war and he answered, I was a boy when I was drafted at 18 and I was still a boy when I got home. When asked to clarify, he said he was called Hey, boy the same as before.</p>
<p>TA, the fact that they are proceeding with the background check sounds very promising. I continue to hold good thoughts (or mojo) for S2. The talk sounds very interesting; I suspect in some areas of the U.S. that discrimination is still alive and well. </p>
<p>Friday I went to spend the day with D. We had a great day; lunch at a local kebob place, which was very good and most importantly, fit in my diet followed by shopping and coffee. She is hard at work on her thesis and several other CS projects. My mother had a minor outpatient procedure Thursday and a followup procedure scheduled at the end of the month. I can’t believe she is 70 and doesn’t have a regular physician; I noticed during pre-op that her BP was high and suggested she check into a physician for routine care. We’ll see how that goes; my mother can be stubborn at times.</p>
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<p>As you know, I didn’t grow up down here, but many people our parents’ age were raised with that kind of attitude. The extremely sweet mother of a friend says that her parents taught her that African Americans weren’t really people…more like animals. The lady herself was a long time kindergarten teacher in a very diverse district and loved all the kids, but lots of people have had to depart a lot from the way they were raised to get to their current attitudes.</p>
<p>What the heck are we doing on Page 2? Gotta move us up where we belong. My daughter was also home this weekend. She has been in her high school beginning her student teaching for two weeks now and loves it. Thank goodness. She is teaching ninth grade US History. Graduation is 3 weeks from yesterday. It has flown by.<br>
I have a bad cold and am getting ready for a nice afternoon nap. Cancelled a 5pm appointment, called hubby and asked him to bring home supper. We’ll see if he remembers. If not, we have eggs or a frozen pizza handy.</p>
<p>S2 has the verbal offer, with written package to follow. It will be contingent on various items still outstanding including passing the physical, but the most significant hurdle (the actual offer) has been cleared. This job should be an excellent fit for him. S2 is thrilled and I couldnt be happier for him.</p>
<p>Whoo-hoo!!! So glad to hear this!!</p>
<p>Great news, TA! Congratulations to your son!</p>
<p>TA – what fabulous news!! Is he planning to accept, or is he going to wait for the other possibilities in March? I have goosebumps!</p>
<p>TA…I just got goosebumps when I read your post! Now I have tears! I am so thrilled for him and you!!! HOORAY! Wow…what a happy day and a relief I bet, too. 
Hope you can celebrate!</p>
<p>Great news, TA. Break out the bubbly!</p>
<p>Congrats to TA S2! I’m sure you are thrilled and relieved. Hope the rest of the process comes off without a hitch.</p>
<p>He is absolutely going to accept. He bought two bottles of Champagne and has friends coming over to his apartment tonight to celebrate with him. He is very excited. </p>
<p>This job is a fabulous fit for him. One of my big worries was once he got a job whether or not he would like the job. I don’t worry much about that with this position. He would be good in the field, but that work often requires very long hours. These guys are up sometimes for three days straight with only a couple of hours sleep in a truck. That would work fine for S1 but is not good for S2. He needs his sleep. This job will be a mix of field and office but have regular hours, with very little travel (maybe ten days a year), so that is huge. Some of the field jobs just let the kids learn by doing and S2 was stressed over that issue in particular. This job has lots of training and teamwork and supervision built into it. I like that offshore rigs seem more complex than onshore rigs so the level of engineering expertise needed is presumably higher. Many of the onshore jobs will take any kind of engineer and train them up but this position required his petroleum engineering training specifically. He will be living and working in a small town, which is another benefit. He is not a big city person.</p>