<p>Z, D2 is doing chemistry in California? Is this her first or 2nd year of grad school? Getting the right PI for lab sciences is critical to both happiness and career options. Does she have to choose in her first year?</p>
<p>ShawSon is juggling – he calls me to review his thinking. He said, “I’m most likely to make an error of judgment in the first quarter. I’d rather make an error in choosing a course that is too easy even if that means I’ll have a very hard quarter later. An error in choosing a course that is too hard could have serious consequences.” So, he’s going to drop down from the PhD level course to the Masters level prerequisite to the PhD level course and take the harder course later. His freshman advisor helped him greatly by saying, “Take an easier schedule. I want you to learn to succeed here.”</p>
<p>kmc, you finished a relatively polished draft of the book? Fantastic!</p>
<p>Shaw, yes she’s just starting her first year in her PhD; she could have been at your son’s school, or across the bay, but much to our surprise she picked the school closest to us (here in the Pasadena area) … Getting the right PI is indeed critical: she knows that more than ever after a difficult year in what she described as a “toxic” lab. And yes, she does have to choose the first year. She’s got some folks she can get information from (friends who have been through the program, an undergrad prof who is an alum, etc.), and I think/hope she’ll exploit those sources.</p>
<p>CBB, good luck with the bookcase. In a stubborn mood a few weeks ago I drove home with a full-sized outdoor patio couch lashed to my roof because the store wouldn’t deliver on a Saturday I am accustomed to lashing down my kayak, so I wasn’t worried it was going anywhere, but it certainly makes driving feel like an adventure!</p>
<p>Shaw, you and I were probably crossing paths in the Bay Area last week when I was on vaca My gf is not an early riser, and I tend to get up at six wherever I am, so it actually didn’t take that much effort to get through the first round of editing. It made me realize that if I hired one more person at the shop, I could likely get a couple of hours of writing in daily were I so inspired.</p>
<p>The deadline of mcson’s birthday helped enormously. Recovering journalists have difficulty working without a deadline ;)</p>
<p>Howdy – got back very late last night from an absolutely gorgeous vacation up in the Tetons/Yellowstone; probably the most spectacular weather we’ve ever had up there. More photographers hauling around ginormous lenses than you can possibly imagine; the aspen were at their glorious peak. </p>
<p>We also noticed something fascinating: Yellowstone has become a huge draw for Chinese visitors. Quite literally dozens of tour buses, each with leaders carrying brightly colored flags, quite a mix of generations. The older teens/twenty somethings were wearing some seriously nice (and expensive) clothing and shoes, and everyone had either nice cameras or iPhones or iPads. And everything that could be photographed was, including warning signs. Far more Chinese than any other group; positively dwarfing the more typical senior citizen bus tours we’d seen in years past. (On the other hand, not much has changed in the US: despite the multitude of visitors, there is hardly any information available in any language other than English.)</p>
<p>So we canoed and walked and walked some more, and now I feel like I need (am owed?) a vacation from my vacation. But other than a poorly planned 13 hour drive back due to a key exit being closed for bridge replacement, it was a great trip. Well, that and ending up with an “old house” room at Old Faithful (one of the original rooms) with a glorious cast iron tub…that could never produce more than about five inches of moderately hot water. Other than that it was out of a movie set and overlooked the geyser field to boot. </p>
<p>There was cell service, but no internet, so today and tomorrow will be digging out. Cheers!</p>
<p>Glad you had a great time at Yellowstone! I worked there one summer during my college years in the Old Faithful Inn. I worked in the smaller Indian craft shop overlooking the geyser (is it still there?) that sold all the expensive authentic jewelry, pottery and rugs. We would walk some of the expensive pieces at the end of the night to the safe across the lobby, accompanied by a guard. Some of the belt buckles alone were worth thousands at the time. Your post brings back memories. The Tetons are beautiful too.</p>
<p>I’m looking forward to a return trip to Yellowstone. I went there when I was ShawSon’s age. I remember this huge highway running through the park and if you hiked in a couple of hours (which we did and went backpacking), you saw absolutely no one. There is a hike there I would love to do some day but will have to strengthen my back first. It is a 3-4 day backpacking loop which passes 75 waterfalls. The Tetons are memorably great. </p>
<p>One of my clients has offered to take me and one of my colleagues and spouses on a tour of Yellowstone with a geologist who specializes in guiding tours there. Would be next summer.</p>
<p>I remember one of our (half a dozen) trips to Yellowstone, where we spent the night at the Old Faithful Inn, with a view right on the geyser. It was great, because after hours pretty much everyone, except those of us staying at the inn, left the area. It’s a fun old inn to stay in, but I don’t remember anything about our bathtub!</p>
<p>We have friends who are long time rangers at the Tetons. H used to work as a ranger with them at Mt. Rainier back in the day when he worked there a dozen summers as a seasonal employee. Those made for some pretty nice summers …</p>
<p>hi–am back from our trip to Chicago and FT. Wayne. Totally sketchy internet and many of my posts, texts and emails sent from my Aunt’s hospital ended up in the outbox but not out.
Thank you all for your congrats to D for her published article. DIL has an interview with her state med school and this is just so great. (Mod–any more news for yourS?).</p>
<p>We had such a good time in Chicago! It was my 8th or more time but H had never been. It was also absolutely the first time I have been when I had money (!-great also!). We stayed at the Palomer on the 17th floor with windows on two sides. It was very quiet with good lighting.</p>
<p>MP–thanks for the heads up and we loved the architectural tour. Loved it completely. The Sable restaurant was connected to our hotel and so great we went twice. Loved the Bean, and Millenium fountain.Had a wonderful evening at Second City! All just great except that I was freezing. As I am always hot and it was suppose to be warm I had nothing appropriate. Nonetheless, Chicago was very rewarding. H had not wanted to go and came back thrilled.</p>
<p>Then on to FT.Wayne in a tiny little itty bitty plane. I loved it! Always do. Poor H could not even stand up walking to his seat. But as they have a 1 and 2 seat pattern we each had our own seat. </p>
<p>My aunt was not doing well at all and we went immediately to the ER. We then spent 4 nights at the Hampton Inn that was 1/4 mile (and our view) of the very nice and new high tech hospital. But it was a long 4 days with no real plans and no real leadership for her care. It was perfect that we went when we did as between H and myself we were able to talk with the docs and family. Just today (4 days later) both Aunt (who I will miss terribly) and family have agreed on Hospice. H and I are so relieved as there was no quality of life going to happen in the future.</p>
<p>Actually found good to Ok food. Found out you cannot buy a bottle of wine on Sundays. They have passed the same sex marriage law but now have a stay on the ruling. When I got on the plane to leave I felt like I was escaping! I knew when I was 17 that I would leave. I do believe being a devout reader is what allowed me to have some vision and being so afraid of the poverty I was raised in gave me my drive.</p>
<p>I am catching up with all of you and your D’s and S’s.
kmc–you must be young to still be working so hard!
Shaw–I doubt I will ever fly again without thinking of you! My rear hurts after 4 hours–how do you do it!?
MP–hope your S is doing great. As for your D–we were amused as we live in tattoo and piercing land, that we did not see one of any in Ind. At our local hospitals, as well as our police force, there are every kind of piercings and tatoo sleeves as well. </p>
<p>All others, am reading along and hoping your D is loving her new house, your S is finding his way in grad school and so on. But Mod–I am way too angsty to live day by day waiting for my H to decide where to live. When I built this house 12 years ago we agreed that I would design and build it and he could pay for it and live in it. (all good natured). He does a good job between 2 choices for a veto. It worked for us. I am glad you have the Nook. Could you stay over the winter if necessary?</p>
<p>I don’t know about young, but I’ve got the “foolish” part down cold ;)</p>
<p>I haven’t gotten to Chicago this year, which is idiotic considering I live relatively close. Your post made me hanker for a getaway. Funny how one vacation gets you thinking about taking more…</p>
<p>Arabrab, Yellowstone sounds fab too. Never been there either. My bucket list at this point will outlive me :)</p>
<p>Promote Yellowstone higher on the list, kmcmom. It is truly amazing. We go every three-four years. and each time it is special. </p>
<p>Zetesis – my favorite time at the Inn was very early in the morning. Kind of magical. </p>
<p>Shawbridge – it is still true that once you get away from the road (and the boardwalks) there is hardly anyone around. One morning we got out before breakfast for a geyser walk in a normally busy area, and that was very peaceful with just a small handful of people. By mid-morning you could drive by and see hundreds of people there. </p>
<p>Oregon, I usually fly business class internationally and first on longer domestic flights. Or I purchase extra legroom coach seats. I work on most flights. I always try to get aisle seats so I can get up and walk. My sister has a list of which specific seats I like on particular planes. None of this makes it great but it can be less bad. </p>
<p>One of the sad things about our health care system is the way it sometimes prolongs the agony of the end of life – at great cost to the survivors and pain to the dying person and survivors. Good that this was avoided in your aunt’s case. ShawD has begun her final clinical work for her BSN working at the cardiac ICU unit of a major teaching hospital. She works with the same nurse there for a number of days this semester. Her first day she picked up the report on the patient and said, “How is this patient alive. I have never seen a patient with so many serious things wrong.” I don’t have the details but she was there for 12 hours, I think. She did chest compressions for the first time on a live patient. Very difficult with a seriously obese person but the doctor told her she was doing a very good job. Adjusted the central line. Lots of other stuff. The patient lived past the end of the shift but apparently died early the following day. For ShawD, it was an intense learning experience (at the end, the instructor was apologetic that she didn’t have time to explain things to ShawD, but during the shift, she just kept asking “Have you ever done X before?” If yes, do it. If no, I’ll talk you through it. Others said ShawD got a semester of learning that day.) But, for the patient, not clear there was any real probability of living for the long-term. And for society, probably a waste of expensive resources. Who knows. Sounds like great docs and nurses doing whatever they could to try to keep the patient alive.</p>
<p>Moda, best of luck on moving the house stuff forward. It is not fun living in limbo. </p>
<p>Now that it has hit home that the nest will remain empty, ShawWife has started the process of fixing our humble abode for sale next spring. She wants to go look at a house that is near but not on the river. Very good address – major cataclysms would have to occur for the price to drop. Walking distance to the town center that puts the capital Q in Quaint. We currently live in walking distance of the other, much more functional town center. So, I’ll look. But, I have always wanted to get her in a house on one of the rivers (there are three rivers in the town) or a pond (there are several but she was allergic to the first one that we tried a few months ago).</p>
<p>One other interesting thing. ShawSon’s classes started this week so he’s had four days of classes. He has already received three recruiting invitations from an investment management firm, an investment bank, and a hedge fund. All very well-known. The first invitation was received before classes started. Investments/Hedge Funds are Plan B for him. But, I think we can conclude that even if he didn’t complete his MBA, he’d probably be pretty employable at decent wages.</p>
<p>I suspect ShawSon isn’t likely to have any lack of employment opportunities, Shawbridge. </p>
<p>How do you plan to figure out whether ShawWife’s allergies would be triggered by the new location before you buy? One observation I have had is that at a new place I have no allergies. And then, in a few months, I do.</p>
<p>arabrab, that was a bit tongue-in-cheek. When he was much younger, ShawWife and I were talking about the house in the mountains that we had not bought. He said, “When I grow older, I am going to buy that for you.” Maybe it could be in the Berkeley hills?</p>
<p>With respect to the allergies, she walked around the house for a couple of hours and had some concerns about the lower floor. But, we arranged for her to swim in the pond the next morning and she had a huge reaction. Alas, we are not moving to that house.</p>
<p>No time to catch up right now. Younger D caught a ride home for the weekend, so now I’m actually going to have to look at her with the nose ring.</p>
<p>Well, I’ve had an interesting day. Was supposed to fly to Chicago this morning to attend a conference. You can probably guess I’m not in Chicago! Spent all day at the airport being re-booked on various flights. Finally was booked on a flight tomorrow morning, which has now been cancelled. They offered to either reschedule it for tomorrow night or issue a full refund. Since the conference is over Sunday afternoon I opted for the refund. </p>
<p>That’s aggravating, c_q. I’m glad that there weren’t more people hurt in that fire, but not good to think of how a single point of failure can so thoroughly mess up the air traffic system. </p>
<p>MP – Have you considered getting a (fake) nose ring (or temp tattoo) yourself to weird out your D come Thanksgiving/Christmas? </p>
I am accustomed to lashing down my kayak, so I wasn’t worried it was going anywhere, but it certainly makes driving feel like an adventure!</p>