Worked hard today. If I was single I think I’d be in bed for the night by 8 pm.
Older D has quite a few irons in the fire job wise. She will receive an offer from the company for which she is currently interning. But she doesn’t like the job and they have a huge turnover rate. She will end up with 3 to 5 offers and all seem low paying and less than ideal. But she just needs a year or two of experience to be able to get the next job.
Good Morning. Hope everyone had a nice Mothers Day.
MP are your D’s job offers in the area where you live or where she goes to school?
My big news is that S will not be returning to his school this fall. He made the decision to attend the school in London (LSE). He is technically taking a leave of absence which allows him to return in good standing next year if things don’t work out. It was a very difficult decision as he likes his school and his classes, was active and involved there and made a lot of friends. He just feels he needs to be somewhere less rural. Also the program in the school he will be attending is one of the top in the world. I hope he is happy, but my brain is still adjusting.
Wow, FallGirl. That IS big news. My nephew, who is graduating from an HYP school next week, did a summer program at the LSE . I’m sure not what your son is doing as it sounds like your son would actually graduate from LSE? (and I don’t know the specifics anyway of what his program was). But I know he did like it and enjoyed his time in London. Sounds like it is good that your son is taking a leave of absence so he keeps the option open of returning. Hope you’ll be able to get to London for a visit. Good luck to him!
Hope everyone had a nice Mother’s Day!
@FallGirl, that sounds exciting. He will undoubtedly learn a lot from the cosmopolitan-ness of London as well as from the LSE curriculum.
ShawSon called and said he had created an algorithm and he and his professor think it is meaningfully faster and better than the state of the art, created by Google. He has been working hard on it (going to bed at 7 AM) for a few weeks. The professor, who is a big gun in the field, was very impressed and ShawSon is very proud. The Prof asked him if he wanted to join the PhD program, which is very hard to get into add it is the best in the world.
ShawSon’s friend, a former gf of an easy coast friend, posted a picture of her with ShawSon on Facebook and we started getting inquiries – is this a new gf?. ShawWife told Bin and he said he had to be very careful of posting things. He goes hiking about every other weak with the magnetically beautifully one and she posts pictures of them doing things like hiking in the redwoods. It is strictly platonic but he says he gets flack from the women he is dating (non-exclusively). I guess they are wondering a) if he has a gf already; or b) how they can compete with her?
ShawD joined us for a party and then dinner on Saturday night. She told us she is thinking about becoming an NP in the Navy. We are not sure what is appealing about this, though they will pay her grad school tuition, But we wonder if she is nervous about not getting a job because she hears the first job is so hard to get. She does, as she points out, like structure. She had also been researching jobs as an NP in the state department and the CIA, both of which require 5 years of experience. ShawWife is scared about her going to such a sexist organization and wants me to dissuade her. I’m not sure it is a bad thing off bad for her, but that’s not my way even if it were. What do you think about this as an option?. One concern is that she might be in a different group of folks than she might meet here.
Had a nice, relaxing weekend with D. As expected, S called yesterday for Mother’s Day; also as expected, he called because D texted him a reminder. Oh well, I’ll take what I can get. He told us he is now NOT going to the AF Base in the Azores - the AF has changed staffing requirements. He doesn’t know where he will be going; perhaps to S. Korea. I’m bummed – the Azores sounded like a reasonably safe place to me.
shaw – as you may recall from our S’s AF journey so far, adjusting to military life can be very difficult. IMO, the whole “your life is not your own” concept is a huge change. As for finding the first job – no nurses in our family, but our very good friend’s D graduated in 2011 as an RN. Passed her boards on the first try, high grades, etc., etc. She kept saying she didn’t want to work in a nursing home, so spent a year working part-time at the local CVS as a pharmacy tech or some such while sending out tons of resumes. Every place she applied said she needed experience. She finally bit the bullet and took a job at a nursing home, Turns out she loved it, she got the necessary experience, and after about a year she moved to the cardiac unit at a hospital. If she had just taken a nursing home job in the first place, she’d be a year ahead of where she is now.
Wow, the LSE. Cool. But so far away!
Older D definitely wants to stay in the city in which she goes to school. That is why I am concerned about the low starting salaries…o want her to be able to afford to live there, off our payroll, in a relatively safe location.
Thanks CBBB. I will relay your son’s example to ShawD if things go far in that direction. ShawD has gotten job offers as an RN but was only applying for part-time (which is apparently harder for a first job) and is loving her current job. She did meet a professor of geriatrics at one of the medical schools here, who pretty much said “please talk to me when you are ready to look for a job as an NP because we really need them.” But, I think she was a little taken aback that she had done so well in school, so well in clinicals, her preceptor loved her and wrote her a glowing rec and the preceptors hospital didn’t interview her for a single position.
D2 brought lunch and flowers up: first time I’ve had one of the girls here for Mother’s Day in 5 years, so that was kind of nice. Long talk about the program, research, life – and the new guy in her life (he’s 2 years ahead of her in the same program). Then went for a long bike ride in the hills–flowers and scenery great; and we saw no one for 3 hours. Seems like LA doesn’t know these hills exist, and we aren’t telling them …
Hi all,
We are back from Italy. 24 days is a long time to travel! Overall it was a good trip. We are not tour people–even with just 5 others in our group. I think I could manage 3 nights but that is all. D joined us for 5 days and that was fun.
The food was interesting as it is mainly traditinal Italian and some was great and alot was just OK.
Our favorite part of the trip was Verena on Lake Como.
mp, the location of the apartment was perfect.
Lots to catch up here–meaning CC and my life!
H went all out for Mother’s day. He has historically not done a good job on special occassions so hopefully this is a new phase that sticks around. D sent a small bouquet of flowers and S texted and I, who never presses him for anything, texted that I hoped he would call later and he did which was nice.
D is in a relationship that looks very promising–fingers crossed–she seems happy and content and so far zero drama.
Oregon, trip sounds great; but you’re right, that’s a long time to travel. Good luck with the catching up. I think it took me ten days to get back on a normal sleeping schedule after our recent travels (about 21 days). Not fun.
FallGirl, wow! What an opportunity for your son. I’m glad to hear he’s been happy at his school, I know he had kind of a rough start.
Spent the day waiting for flights, lots of delays and cancellations, but I got to my destination eventually. There was a fallen solider on my last flight. It was very moving to observe the flag-draped casket and the waiting family and ceremony. First time I’ve been on an airplane where there was complete silence. Lots of us were in tears. Since I’m a mom I had a packet of tissues in my purse to offer to the man sitting next to me.
Shawbridge, I’m wondering if your D is suggesting the Navy as a way to avoid the uncertainty of her future job situation. I know my D and several of her friends have struggled with finding employment after graduation. For many of them, it was their first “failure” (not sure the right term) after doing great in school and finding lots of academic success. It’s scary out there. She has a friend who graduated a year ago, a real superstar, who just now got a job.
Very moving cq. Made me cry.
Hard to find the words c_q…
oregon - glad you liked your trip, have heard Lake Como is gorgeous. Speaking of which I assume you would have reported any George Clooney sightings I hear he has a house there. But that was a long trip, you must be exhausted.
Shaw, exciting tidbit about the algorithm shawson is working on…should I be dusting off Asimov’s Foundation series? 
Exciting news about LSE too, Fallgirl!
Welcome home, Oregon…and belated happy Mother’s Day to all.
Had a nice visit with mom on the weekend and fun planning our girl’s cruise. Nice for mcson’s gf to meet some of the family as well.
So, as some of you will recall, mom has had double knee replacements due to arthritis. For years I’ve been telling her to get a hot tub, as I too have a condition, and know the difference it makes.
So, I also heated the pool up to 90 for their visit in case her bf wanted to do an water therapy (he didn’t 
but in the a.m., mom got up at 6 a.m. with me, did the hot tub soak and then some warm-water pool stuff with me.
She then ran around all day remarking that she felt 20 years younger and felt no pain or stiffness She was amazed.
Did she think I was making it up?
Good grief!
At any rate, I hope this means there’s a future hot tub acquisition afoot. Life’s too short to spend any more time hurting than you have to!
On that note, aquajogging awaits
I needed that dose of reality. I think D is disappointed in her job prospects and I have been feeling disappointed for her. Her GPA is great, her internships have been stellar…then the jobs that are out there are…meh. Her resume looks great and she interviews well, but there has to be a good job available to get a good job. (Forgetting entrepreneurship for now.)
c_q, moving post.
Shaw, I know I could look it up from years and years ago, but remind me of what your son did during his gap year?
MP, post HS, he campaigned in NH for Obama (the first election); completed a co-authored coming of age fantasy novel (alas, his adult co-author would never finalize for psychological reasons so it has never gotten published); took SAT/ACT for first time, applied to colleges. Helped a Tufts professor with research to help teenage and adult dyslexics. And critically, when he was in HS, he was diagnosed with sleep apnea so one of the things he did was have extensive and painful surgery. This was really important.
Post college, he had a "gap year’ as well – he was running a startup.
Thanks, Shaw. After my experience with Son (not being ready for college until 3-4 years after HS), I have such sympathy for the kids (and their parents) who just aren’t ready for college right after HS. I still have no good suggestions for what they should do until they are ready.
MP, your questions is a good one. What would help the kids? I helped organize ShawSon’s year given his needs (surgery, take tests/apply for college) and his interests but in a way that looked good for elite colleges. Not all kids need the last part.
Among my more religious relatives and Jewish friends, quite a number spend an organized year in Israel.
One of ShawSon’s friends is a brilliant kid who didn’t fit in HS. Gifted in video-oriented software (he’s a great programmer), visually very good, just couldn’t sit in HS classes. He took time off in HS and worked at a video production firm (and at age 16 was doing Mitt Romney’s campaign videos). I think the HS ended up giving him credit for a bunch of his work to give him a diploma. Then, I think he worked for a year or two with a salary at age 18 of about $50K. He then went to a very good school for art and design (where his technical skills dramatically exceeded his professors). He has now graduated and is starting a job in Hollywood, though we may try to introduce him to some folks at Pixar at some point.
PieSon got a job, which a number of kids did. If parents could afford it, maybe working in a non-profit as a volunteer getting a real sense of how to work in an organization and how to help folks – hopefully in an area that interests them.
I’d also consider having any kid take a basic course in programming (or more) in that year, perhaps at a community college.
The tricky part in taking for credit classes is preserving the HS GPA. Recall that after a summer at community college Son was on academic probation because he stopped attending one of his summer classes but didn’t drop it. That is the epitome of not being ready… Not an issue of not being ready academically but not being ready maturity- wise. Lack of maturity can also get a kid fired from a job. Maybe taking community Ed classes (eg programming) would be useful.