Parents of the HS Class of 2009 (Part 1)

<p>Good luck to everyone in the path of the snowquester! It’s staying wel south of us, which seems odd, but I’ll take it!
Okay, I must learn of this Right Left Center game. I love a good game ;)</p>

<p>One zany game we played with mcson at Xmas (then at a Xmas gathering we had) was Cards Against Humanity. Might not be appropriate for a retreat, depending on the attendees, but it was hilarious and a hit with all who played. Think it’s only available online.</p>

<p>Got a date with a hot tub and and evil hill so gotta run!</p>

<p>Wet snow falling here in NoVa and expected to continue all day. Not planning to go into work today, (but me being me having a major case of the guilts). H is scheduled for knee surgery tomorrow so I won’t be at work in the AM, maybe will be going in later.</p>

<p>Wells at least I may be solving the library book issue!</p>

<p>As always, stay safe everyone (and your families).</p>

<p>Snow wasn’t too bad here. 10 inches total. The roads are clear this morning. Good Luck to all the kids traveling for interviews!</p>

<p>No snow where I am but S1 and his buddies just had their flight from DC to Las Vegas cancelled. Not traveling for an interview at least but still a bummer. It was his first trip to Vegas. Not sure if they’ll still try to go or not as it was going to be a quick trip and already they’ve lost at least one day.</p>

<p>Congratulations to your daughter,missypie!</p>

<p>All is well so far! D got herself to the airport; said the roads were manageable, but glad she had left an extra hour for the trip.</p>

<p>Her plane made it out on time. So assuming her connection in Vegas comes off without a hitch, all is well so far as travel goes.</p>

<p>She noted that when she gets back to school (after spring break, which starts this Saturday), she has six weeks left in the semester. That translates to six in her college career. Can’t believe it.</p>

<p>Z, glad your D’s travel is going well so far. Good luck to everyone else traveling. And visiting grad schools. And having interviews. And having surgery.</p>

<p>The Grassy Knoll was re-sodded yesterday. </p>

<p>I was so touched a few minutes ago. Our firm hires kids from a HS for students with special needs to rotate in and out of office services functions (stocking office supplies, etc.) While getting coffee, I encountered two of the students - one was the supervisor (an alum of the program) - and the other was in training. What touched me was that the kid in training was so darned careful in doing his work…counting everything, stacking it neatly. I can’t imagine that any of my kids would do the same job as carefully. It would be such a wonderful world if everyone found the level of employment exactly suited for their abilities.</p>

<p>The sun is shining and the snow melting even though it is 27 degrees.</p>

<p>D2 called for a recipe from one of her favorite restaurants. She surprises me that she likes to cook nice meals at school.</p>

<p>I am home by myself tonight as H is at his retreat. Looking forward to nice evening by myself. Will most likely read.</p>

<p>I have posted on a couple of other CC threads today and I certainly understand why many of your avoid other threads. I made some innocuous remark and someone replied, disagreeing quite emphatically. How can some people have such strong opinions about everything, and then be willing to get snippy over them? Glad to come home to the Class of '13 thread.</p>

<p>I know, Missypie. Some people are so snarky on the other threads. They already don’t like each other from comments on a completely different thread, and bring their relationship and disagreeable personalities over to a new thread. I think part of it is being unknown on CC. People can say and act however they want to and basically get away with it. I love our thread, where people may have differing opinions, but still are supportive and loving towards one another. And congrats to your daughter on her cheering accomplishment.</p>

<p>c-q, I missed what your D’s bf is up to? Can you share??</p>

<p>Send some good karma this way…
D made some cold calls to some firms in January 2012 and had some informational interviews. All very nice and good experience for her. Last week, out of the blue, one of the firms called her asking for resume and portfolio. She’s interviewing with them next week! </p>

<p>Fingers crossed…it’s in a subspecialty in her field that she is VERY interested.</p>

<p>^ sending the good vibes for your D, woody!</p>

<p>Good luck to woody D! Sending good karma her way!</p>

<p>sending good job mojo to woody d!
early meeting today, so just a quick hi!</p>

<p>Woody, that’s great! Crossing fingers and toes for your D.</p>

<p>Wonderful news, Woody!</p>

<p>D’s bf is reviewing Chemistry PhD program acceptances to decide where he’ll be next year.</p>

<p>I’m not completely familiar with the process - some he heard from early with acceptances; he has received a couple rejections just recently, and there’s a few he hasn’t heard from yet. I wonder if the ones he hasn’t heard from yet are busy courting their first choice applicants before deciding if they will offer him a spot? </p>

<p>In any case, he’s very happy with his current acceptances. There’s one he hasn’t heard from yet he would consider if he was accepted.</p>

<p>woody, that’s fantastic. I will keep my fingers crossed for your D.</p>

<p>S2’s background check process reminds me of what we went through for S1’s work visa. While I have his addresses (of which S2 had six in seven years) and detailed info on all his part-time jobs, it took some work to track down the dates of every time S2 has been out of the country in the past seven years. I never thought about the need to keep track of vacations, particularly for trips he has taken with friends. Heaven knows S2 had no idea beyond vague recollections of having been one place or another some time or another. The passport stamps provide little clues but not the whole picture. There are lots of hurdles yet to jump for S2’s job to be confirmed, so he may yet be back amongst those who are looking. I hope S1 is keeping good records because I’m not tracking anything for him anymore. I guess people who are not good record keepers simply can’t apply for certain jobs.</p>

<p>That’s exciting news Woody! Sending good vibes your way.</p>

<p>Yesterday they installed the new carpet in the family room… finally a reason to say Im glad we’re listing. I dislike it - looks boring and feels even more so. However, they did a good job on the stairs and because THEY look so much better, the entire lower level looks better. Still looking for towels for lower level bathroom… whatever happened to great towels? Bed, Bath and Beyond is now less about towels than everything else and Home Goods - where I’ve spent the majority of this staging money - is the kind of place where you cannot “think”, you just have to “do” or else it’s gone. Went back to buy a few more wash cloths to make a nice stack in the master only to find every set I had already bought sold out/gone. Weird.</p>

<p>I made oatmeal raisin cookies when I was in Nashville for D’s team using my mom’s oatmeal - which was oven toasted organic. Had used the recipe off the box when mom couldn’t find grandma’s recipe. D said they were the best cookies ever. I’ve been looking for that same oatmeal since I returned and finally found it yesterday at Whole Foods… Naturally. Mom and I think how good they were came from using these oats and instead of regular salt, using sea salt. Not sure why the salt would make a difference, but since I won’t have her perfectly calibrated oven, I will have to go with this. Meant to buy an Oven Thermometer yesterday but forgot but DID remember to buy a cookie scoop. which makes the whole process of tripling a recipe much easier! Im checking my bag tomorrow simply because of baking supplies!</p>

<p>As for S - I honestly have no idea what he’s doing in terms of employment. I know he has friends that are going to be earning upwards of 80K… and while happy for them, realizes that any plan that would have him in the same city (Sloan Kettering), his potential income will leave him the group’s poorest. And that’s the last I heard. I do know, however, that his Professor who he is TAing for has some sort of committee or something that was taking her/him out of town and so he is actually giving the lectures… not sure how I’d feel about that if I was the parent of one of his students, but at the same time S has proven he can be a very good teacher/tutor over the years answering things in a lot of different ways to make sure people understand. This, I have learned, is not an innate skill to a lot of people. They understand it, but can’t explain it. So… he’s got great recs and great grades, but not sure how this is going to translate to a job. He even thought about Peace Corps, but frankly, he has to be off our payroll next year and I don’t think you can do that without some sort of financial help, can you?</p>

<p>Moda, the Peace Corps pays a living wage for the standard of living where the applicant will be living, which will be third world. they don’t want the volunteers living better than those they are helping so he shouldn’t need any parental financial help. It is very competitive to get in, but another consideration is that I think it takes about a year from application to placement.</p>

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<p>If you have TJ Maxx and/or Marshalls, look there.</p>

<p>Congrats on the job interest, Woody.</p>

<p>C_Q, PhD programs in Chem…that would certainly be a wonderful contribution to the gene pool in the Pie household!</p>

<p>H is having his knee surgery right now.</p>

<p>analyst getting back to the book topic from a few days ago, I am currently reading and enjoying Tracy Chevalier’s The Last Runaway. You mentioned that you enjoy mysteries, some authors that I recommend are: Alan Bradley, Louise Penny and Jane Haddam. They all write series books though so I suggest reading them in order. In addition I noticed that the best books thread in the cafe has been bumped up.</p>