Parents of the HS Class of 2009 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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<p>congrats to arabrab D!
I agree that the provision of meals suggests long days ahead though :wink:
I will keep you in my prayers re wildfires…I take it you ident have a lot of precipitation again this year?</p>

<p>I have bulbs pushing their way up but i also had a few more inches of snow Friday night! I am getting eager to get some yard work, painting and whatnot done out doors, but spring weather seems delayed here this year…then again, last year was soooo early, perhaps I was spoiled!</p>

<p>I discovered yesterday that mch and I have different vision as to the build-out of the studio would go in terms of layout. I think today we should try to sort that out before having the builder out :wink: I’m at a clear disadvantage here because at one point mch studied architecture. So you know he’ll have a blueprint a the ready while I scratch out my vision in crayons ;)</p>

<p>Mcson just finished making a digital “chip tune” version of his alma mater’s fight song. I’m pretty sure the institution itself would not be especially impressed to hear its storied song sound like something from Mario Brothers :wink: obiewan must learn to use his powers for the good :slight_smile: Then again, they taught the fool how to do it!</p>

<p>Hope everyone’s having a happy st. Patty’s day!</p>

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<p>Congrats to arabrab’s D and sending the good vibes to dte’s D!</p>

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<p>DTE, good luck to your D on her interview and congrats on the job acceptance to Arabrab’s D. I have enjoyed reading the college class of 2012 thread on how it’s going one year later for those grads. It’s helpful to hear about a spectrum of outcomes, including some of the nuanced good and bad together in one job. </p>

<p>Yesterday, we started to clean out S1’s room to turn it into a more generic space. We are boxing all of his stuff up and putting it in the attic. His bedroom was full of posters, a surfboard and snowboard leaning against the wall, books, trophies, and clothes overflowing every shelf. A desk bursting with stuff: seven old cells phones, notebooks from every class he has ever taken, high school notecards with Spanish vocabulary words, etc. He is such a packrat, I don’t know how he manages now with owning next to nothing. It’s a little sad, but I want to do everything I think a stager would tell us to do before calling in an actual stager and paying her to tell us what we already know needs to be done in terms of neutralizing and decluttering. I changed out the wild bedding to a nice quilt and bought plain white valances for the window treatments.</p>

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<p>Congratulations to Zetesis’s D and arabrab’s son!
NYC, place where my son will go.</p>

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<p>OMG - what a week! I went to visit D2 last week and had probably the best outcome possible. I was late for the game despite landing in plenty of time because apparently it was Texas week (all public schools off and all kinds of ski deals so the car rental line was, I kid you not, an hour and a half wait long!) Still not sure what it was all about but D was very teary on Friday afternoon for some reason and when I asked her what was wrong, she mostly said little BUT she did give me a long hug, had a nice little cry and then immediately changed the subject to something innocuous. So maybe it was just a need to let some stuff go.</p>

<p>She got to play in both games - and got a great pic on the website, but otherwise, when it’s that late in the game and you’re up by that much (and you and your defense are all pretty much coming in off the bench) - it’s not always pretty. :slight_smile: I had hoped to go shopping for a dress for the wedding, but there was a snow storm on Saturday that had the game rescheduled to Sunday. And I will never again book a 6:30am flight when the airport is any further than 10 minutes away! tStill, the tailgate was a lot of fun and my only mistake seems to have been not adjusting my raisin oatmeal cookie recipe for high altitude. I didn’t figure out the problem until AFTER quadrupling the recipe, but they still tasted delicious and we’re completely devoured. I did try one more time and made a fifth batch, but those turned out dry and although plumper, didn’t taste right. I am sure there is a standard trick based on the elevation, but what I read on the internet didn’t cut it.</p>

<p>Had to reorder D’s bridesmaid dress. It’s not that it didn’t fit exactly, but it was never going to fit as well as it could/should because frankly, her gifts were overflowing and nothing was going to change that - and it was clear it left her feeling uncomfortable. So an $80 dollar rush charge plus $20 for shipping for out of state… plus a new dress. I would go back and look for a refund but the requirement is to see D in the dress and well, that’s not going to happen. </p>

<p>I swear this has been the most stressful week ever. I arrived home on Monday and the cleaning company that had come so highly recommended from my brother (the owner lived across the street from him), in a word, sucked. I spent a king’s ransom and the misses are just too long to list, especially given the priorities I had specifically requested. Add to this, they scratched my wood floors and broke one of my favorite pitchers that I had just unpacked and hand washed to use in staging. Long story short, for the first time in my life, I cancelled the check. </p>

<p>Since they had also cleaned the majority of the carpets (except for the new one obviously), I hadn’t had the opportunity to truly review the work, especially because I had thought they were coming Tuesday and so I was basically trying to get stuff done while they were cleaning elsewhere. But the photographer was coming on Thursday and here it was Tuesday, stager was coming for final “tweak” on Weds. So… after calling another carpet company to come reclean the stairs (they were HORRIBLE), I then stayed up until 3:30 am on Weds morning re-cleaning (or cleaning for the first time in some places) the entire house. I basically had a small breakdown come weds afternoon when I realized how much more I had to do. Fortunately, H had to go out of town and so I pulled an all-nighter to be ready for the photographers on Thursday. Realtor arrived at 8:30 am and the photographer arrived at 9:30 and stayed until close to five taking pictures. I have to admit the house looked pretty awesome and I cannot wait to see them! </p>

<p>While I was only SUPPOSED to have the playroom/project room remaining, a lot of that organization went undone due to the non-cleaning cleaning people and I put quite a bit in random boxes and stuffed into my storage room (since they werent taking pictures of that. I started organizing that all yesterday-which actually worked better than I would have expected. As I said to my realtor on Thursday morning - My H has been extremely supportive - of me doing all the work! But in seriousness, he wouldn’t be very helpful and has been great in taking on dinners, running to the grocery store and mostly just staying out of my way with little to no opinion. And of course, he gets to deal with the reduced payment to the cleaning people. It’s not like they did nothing, but the misses were huge. They bid the job, not the hours it would take to do it. And my time is worth something. I did however send a detailed email on what all the issues were. </p>

<p>I feel asleep Thursday at 6pm, woke up on Friday at 8am and basically could barely move a muscle all day Friday. But again… the pictures should look awesome. I could have cancelled, but am glad I didn’t because the sunshine on Thursday (unexpected to boot) was absolutely glorious with a little fresh snow that had the yard looking fresh, but had melted off the driveway and walk so no shoveling necessary! Small miracles.</p>

<p>Have not spoken to S at all… however D’s team is going to his neck of the woods for their spring break - not exactly spring break material - and so he is supposed to go and visit her. She cant’ leave the hotel with him and the game is in the middle of the afternoon when he has to TA a lab. As for the honors… I THINK it will work out fine for S in the end in not taking on the thesis. Two of the three profs on his committee actually were thrilled he kaboshed it and snapped him up for other work saying they would gladly write his recommendations. He’ll graduate Magna AND because he’s not taking a full load gave us a nice refund on the semester. But since he has moved off campus, I haven’t heard much from him. But with wedding, house selling, travel… I don’t have time anyway!</p>

<p>Congrats on all the good progress on the job front, and NMN - i too am jealous of your remodel. So much more satisfying than making a house look good for someone else to buy! Both our front door and back door neighbor boys were accepted to the state flagship for Med school, so who knows how that works (one went there for UG and the other went to Madison - so maybe the affiliation helped? who knows). But I do know that the jobs S’s friends are getting (and their pay) are making S quite anxious.</p>

<p>Well… this is quite the book. Ordered one of those little St Joseph saints to bury under the for sale sign and apparently it is set to arrive on Tuesday, which is also this particular Saint’s feast day as well. This good be a good omen, if I was catholic and knew what to feast upon! :)</p>

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<p>Moda - glad you got through that, got to see your D play and that the house looks good! Sending the vibes for a quick sale! Just don’t forget where you buried St Joseph.</p>

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<p>Good luck with the sale process and wow, what a lot of stress.</p>

<p>We had a lovely dinner last night with an old business acquaintance (more the former as we were partners in a loose partnership years ago) and his wife (who we knew but not well) who sold his house in the burbs now that all his kids are gone and bought a brownstone downtown and stripped it to the bricks and did an elegant (and likely very expensive) renovation. He now can walk to the private equity firm office in 10 minutes. The wife turned out to be very interesting and a bit lonely as, unlike him, she had lots of friends in the neighborhood. She admits that most were friends of convenience – acquired because she dropped off kids at the same time as someone or had one kid with activity … – but misses seeing people she knows when she goes around town. One interesting thing. He has been extremely successful as a partner in a successful PE firm. None of his kids picked upwardly mobile jobs (selling expensive jewelry but not on commission; game development and design, which could end up OK economically; organic, sub-scale food production, and I’ve forgotten what kid number 4 did). I suppose it is hard to predict where they will end up, but they are getting married and starting to have kids. I didn’t ask how/if the parents are supporting those who are never going to do well economically. I don’t know her background, but he has said that his parents had very little money.</p>

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<p>If we get a chance to move where I’d like to live, I’d likely run into MORE people I know than where I live now - probably the result of having sent the kids to the school we did.</p>

<p>H&I were talking about this exact thing, Shaw. But in our case, it’s that it seems his mother actually resents her children for having or enjoying anything she doesn’t. H put it best, she is probably the only parent in the world who hopes her kids do worse off financially than she does. Not sure what that’s about, but I’ve seen it firsthand, so I know it’s true. For example: It’s fine for her to have a weekly cleaning person but when I used to have one come in twice a month she’d say stuff about how hard her son works and that it seemed indulgent. I had three young kids, she had tennis! </p>

<p>In any event, I do worry about older D a little… being a teacher isn’t exactly high paying and will she work when she has a family? Probably, but who knows. Her “H” is a graphic designer (and while he has a job now, they are looking to work in San Francisco or nearby - nothing cheap about that!). S’s goals - medicine at this point - USED to be a good profession, but who really knows how that might work out based on health care in this country. And let’s just say that being self-employed has it’s perks and pitfalls… while there is always a tide to earnings, income this year has not exactly kept pace with the most expensive year in our lives!</p>

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<p>Wow, Moda, what a week! Cheers to surviving it in tact!</p>

<p>Shaw, one part of me could have totally gone the route of your acquaintances. For a while before discovering this house, I was on a penchant to buy a well-appointed condo downtown. It was a unique, recovered former brick factory on the river that had two interior courtyards, one side with a pool, one side with a wooded area. There was a health center in the basement and a pub, salon, coffee house, etc. on the main floor. I’d had in mind buying one of the business suites on the main floor plus one of the residential suites above. I could have walked anywhere from there.</p>

<p>Mch was the one who was completely opposed to the notion of condo living, so we ended up going the opposite direction. I enjoy it here so much I have to wonder if it was just the idea of the other that appealed to me, and if I might not have liked the reality :wink: So perhaps it’s a good thing mch was stubborn about it :wink: Hard to tell.</p>

<p>Mcson has been recording in the studio pretty much non-stop for the last several days, in part for his senior thesis, but also for an animation, an interactive performance, plus for his girlfriend’s play that he has sound designed (extra-curricularly.) As busy as he is, I can’t help but notice he’s happiest in this state, so I guess whatever his economic prospects, if its in this field the tradeoff s will be worthwhile for him.</p>

<p>He continues to be the go to guy for production posters around campus and just took a small commission for another, which he seems delighted about, so perhaps he’ll find some kind of creative niche one day that puts all these various pieces into play. He admitted yesterday that he enjoys his environment so much that he’d be freaking out right now with graduation coming if it weren’t for the fact he’s staying another year while mcgf graduates. Which does make me wonder how that move across the country will go next year, but we’ll see when the time comes. </p>

<p>DTE, sendin the light for your d’s interview!</p>

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<p>Back from a trip to Florida with S to see my parents and enjoy the sunshine. Sort of dread going to work today - I did a very good job of staying away, so now have lots to catch up on!</p>

<p>Zetesis, what wonderful choices your D has! My D’s bf is also trying to select his program next year (different schools) - it’s nice when they have such amazing options and they are trying to decide between incredible and fantastic!</p>

<p>Missypie, I hope you survived your choir experience! Sounds like some of it could have been fun!</p>

<p>Arabrab, congrats on D’s job!</p>

<p>Downtoearth, hope D1’s interview goes well!</p>

<p>Modadunn, your post wore me out! Guess I won’t complain about recovering from Florida.</p>

<p>D is headed overseas tomorrow evening for her conference. This is her spring break. She said there are lots of friends on campus because many are working on their thesis. The cafeteria is closed during spring break - she didn’t want to buy a lot of groceries since she’s leaving; sounds like her diet has mainly been Special K!</p>

<p>Speaking of diet, need to get back to diet and exercise. Was doing pretty well before the trip. So easy to fall off the wagon!</p>

<p>S is home until Saturday. We were discussing future spring breaks and like his sister, this will probably be his only time home. Choir goes on tour every other year, which takes care of sophomore and senior year. Spring of junior year he plans to study abroad. We are enjoying having him here.</p>

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<p>Wow! So much going on with all of you!</p>

<p>Congrats to arabrab D! So nice to hear of the success of “our” kids!</p>

<p>Good luck to dte D. Sending good interviewing mojo her way.</p>

<p>Moda…a hex on poor cleaning company! So sorry you had so much work to do. Sending the good mojo your way too for selling the house.</p>

<p>cq…ahhhh…so envious of your warm vacation. Lots of snow this morning. Bitter cold and strong winds this afternoon. Gotta love our MN spring! No bulbs showing around here.</p>

<p>kmc…sometime I would love to hear mcson’s music. If he ever puts anything on youtube let us know!</p>

<p>Hoping missypie survived the choir directors!</p>

<p>Went OOS to visit D1 this weekend. So nice to get together. She has lost about 30 lbs since the wedding and seems very happy.</p>

<p>The contractor wants me to get up to the cabin ASAP. Having a little snow storm at the moment so will try to get there tomorrow. Rushed home from being out of town yesterday just in time to host Bunco at my house last night. Made soup, two salads, and picked up bread and cheesecake. Nice to enjoy dinner and wine with friends. This morning I was trying to make a terrarium in a big apothecary jar and as I was placing rocks in the base I broke it! :frowning: Darn!</p>

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<p>Moda, you are a beast! Making dozens of cookies, staging, cancelling checks…what a woman! NM, you too…cooking and building and terrarium making.</p>

<p>The national honor choir in which D participated sounded terrific. She’s glad she did it, but everyone I talked to agreed…where was the fun?! She did her best to meet new people. I am so behind at work, even though I worked quite a bit from the hotel. I made myself take care of the first 4 urgent matters before I checked CC.</p>

<p>I worked on taxes yesterday (after a brief nap.) </p>

<p>Arabrab, congrats to your D on the job!</p>

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<p>kmc, what I wish someone had told Junior me? As an aside, I think it’s terrific that you are partipating. I knew so little about what careers were out there (other than the typical doctor, nurse, teacher, cop, firefighter.) Seems like many kids just are aware of the “public servant” categories, and whatever their parents do. Even when I started law school I had no idea that there were people who do what I now do.</p>

<p>What to tell them?</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Become as proficient in as many types of software as they possibly can, if not in HS, then continuing ed classes at community college or whatever. Older D took the required year long tech class in HS, but now as she looks toward interships, lots require a lot more advanced skills. No matter what your major, many employers are going to assume proficiency in whatever software they happen to use.</p></li>
<li><p>Start to acquire the professional wardrobe…guys are easy - a suit, navy blazer and slacks, a couple of dress shirts and ties. Girls are a little more difficult, but watch for sales and collect coupons. You don’t want to have to turn down an interview or other opportunity because you don’t have the clothes or shoes.</p></li>
<li><p>Be the millionth adult to tell then to watch their social networking trail.</p></li>
<li><p>When they are trapped at a family or other social event with only some “boring adults”, ask about their jobs. Don’t let the adult get by with, “I’m in insurance.” Ask in detail what they do and what their path was to get there.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>MP, I particularly like point 4. Ties to my book project. How do you learn about career paths vicariously. </p>

<p>I tried to get ShawSon to learn software. He doesn’t like to unless he has to, but can figure out what he needs to. His startup uses Javascript, so I’m going to suggest that he learn it over the summer. I doubt he’ll ever be in a position where he codes, but understanding it by doing it once is always useful. </p>

<p>He applied to 5 schools, didn’t complete the application to the 5th when they asked for more information. He’s gotten into three. One, U of Chicago, says they need to hear back in 6 days is the 2nd choice. Yale hasn’t yet told him one way or another (but they don’t have to until the end of the month) would be the 1st choice. But, both are part of Plan B for the startup. Would you write Chicago and ask for an extension? For how long?</p>

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<p>shaw, when does he expect to be able to make a decison on whether or not to pursue the start-up? I assume that would determine how long he might need for an extension, if any.</p>

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<p>TA, I think the true answer to that question is when he closes his first Series A round. There’s one person investing on behalf of a well-known guy who says he’ll put up $50K if ShawSon can raise another $100K. $50K of that is done. So, he’ll only need $50K more. I’ll send something to my friends as probably will the father of one of the other kids. Shouldn’t be too hard to get, I wouldn’t think, as the idea is potentially very good. But, this stuff takes time.</p>

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<p>It sounds like he could ask for an extension until the end of the month. He may have to end up enrolling somewhere and then withdrawing if the funding for the start-up comes through. I think it is fairly common for students to have graduate school back-up plans while they continue to job hunt, so I’m sure the schools have factored in a certain attrition rate from their acceptances.</p>

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<p>I like your post, Missypie…where are those green things when you need them. </p>

<p>And now some more good news… D was offered a job in her major, in the sub-specialty in her major that she has wanted to work in since she did her college apps!! She’s a cool customer but I can tell she is so happy about this opportunity. The firm is in New Haven and the project that got her hired is in NYC. We live right in between, so we’re thrilled!</p>

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<p>Woody, that is fantastic!</p>

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<p>Congrats to woody’s D!</p>