Parents of the HS Class of 2009 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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ShawSon will be coming home after exams. His undergraduate advisor just let him know that he was going through a brutal divorce (and thus did not work on their joint paper). He is such a sweet and delightful man. ShawSon is going to go and visit him. Then we’ll all go up to our house in the Laurentians.

MP, one of his HS buddies was visiting him this weekend. He’s a brilliant kid who handles digital video design stuff (and probably lots more). He has agreed to join ShawSon to be on his team when he starts the next company. So there is at least one HS relationship still kindled. ShawD’s new roommate is her BFF from HS. The BFF just adopted a rescue dog, so ShawD can co-parent. She now realizes how ill-equipped she would be to have primary responsibility for a dog (going to school full-time and working full-time).

ShawSon now has a girlfriend. Short, petite and light brown like the others, but this time Asian. He can’t pronounce her name (dyslexia meet Asian language). Hopefully, she gets how unusual he is. We’ll meet her in September.

Plus, his current mentor confirmed that his proof for some kind of algorithm is correct and shows that the algorithm is significantly better than the state of the art. The mentor says ShawSon also came up with a new method and thus doesn’t want him to publish the first paper until he tries applying the method to other important problems to see if it leads to publishable results elsewhere (otherwise, the mentor says, others will get the credit for those applications).

So he’s feeling pretty good about himself.

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Way cool, Shaw!

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Good morning. Glad to hear there’s lots of awesomeness to go 'round :wink:
Well, except the back bear that is :wink: Fall girl, if you go down to the woods today…jk

Soooo, after way too much debate, mch has indeed decided its in his interest to have his distal bicep reattached to the bone :wink: Emergency surgery has been squeezed in for Thursday due to a last min cancelation by another patient yesterday, and we’re all dreading it to varying degrees.

Apart from 4 month rehab, mch will be out of commission in terms of driving and swimming for a good few weeks, and possibly out of commission in terms of programming for a spell, which is longer than he feels he can afford given a complex data application he alone is writing on a deadline.

But the specialist said his window to even get the surgery was closing this week (due to nature of the injury…basically, his best shot was to have had surgery immediately after it happened back on July 4th) and at the end of the day, even though he’s turning 60 and its not his dominant arm, I just don’t think having reduced strength for the rest of his life would suit mch, being the stubborn independent goat he is :wink:

I had to work really hard to keep my mouth shut and let this be his own decision.

We only even got into the uber specialist because a friend/client pulled some strings (the same one he blames for the hot tub injury to begin with…her and I were drinking in the pool and hadn’t put the cover back on ;).

After the MRI, the surgeon was initially certain he needed the surgery. But when he met mch and tested his strength, he was really surprised and said he had way more strength and function than he should, and as such, given his age, he could decide not to proceed and live with the reduced strength.

We pay a lot of people to do things around here, but at the end of the day, when you’re managing a few acres of wiley nature, you need your strength :wink:

At any rate, send mc-crusty some light. He is a very recalcitrant patient on a good day with a tail wind :wink:

Fortunately for mcson, but not for me, he is up north visiting his Dad. So were kinda at half staff, which had me working into the wee hours last night :wink:

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KMC - hope everything goes well. My H has his distal bicep tendon reattached in Dec. All is well now but this winter was tough with his limited ability and the amount of snow that we had. :slight_smile: Good luck!!

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Sending the light to kmc H.

Safely made it through a morning dog walk.

S returned home Monday night. Have not seen him much as he seems to have plan with friends every day. I will be dropping him at Metro tomorrow to catch the train to see D in NYC.

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best of luck with the surgery.

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Good luck to your H with the surgery, kmc.

Glad you got through your walk, FallGirl. Any more sightings of bears?

We are going to a bed and breakfast near Shenandoah National Park this weekend to celebrate our 35th anniversary. The place was actually recommended to us by our S!, who stayed there recently with his GF. Cool your son has a girlfriend now, shawbridge!

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I heard something about another siting yesterday but didn’t see it on the HOA FB page.

Enjoy your weekend, sevmom. let us know if you like the b & b.

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Thanks, FallGirl! It has 5 stars on Tripadvisor and my son really liked it (and it has a nano-brewery on site and we both like craft beer) so should be nice. I do like b & b’s. Usually, the breakfasts are so good.

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kmc, good luck and healing thoughts to your H AND you. No matter what, your posts are quite entertaining.

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Best wishes for the surgery, kmc!

Sevmom, we spent our first anniversary at Shenandoah – but no B&B brewery on site! Sounds great.

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Thanks for the well-wishes, all!

RM, what a coincidence…supposed to be a somewhat rare injury.
Mch hasn’t had surgery since appendicitis when 12 so this is a wee bit nerve-wracking for us both :wink:
I welcome any and all tips!

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KMC - H asked the surgeon why it happened (happened while he was lifting a sheet of plywood up onto his table saw) and the surgeon said it’s because you are getting old. Surgeon could use some bedside manner classes. :slight_smile: He was right at the 2 week mark when he got his fixed (re-attached). He really wasn’t in much pain. Couldn’t drive for a few weeks and most of the winter couldn’t lift anything heavier than a 5 lbs or so. Weeks of physical therapy. He’s fine now though and back to lifting anything he wants although after this I have noticed that he rough cuts the plywood outside and carries the pieces down to his work shop instead carrying the full sheet down and then lifting it up and cutting it in the basement. :slight_smile: Guess he CAN be taught new things.

Tips: He needs to follow what the dr. says. Yup if he is at ALL like my H that is going to be a difficult thing for him to do. However as the surgeon told my H - do you want to have to have it done again?

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Thinking of Mch and km today.
km, take food and entertainment for waiting. Just as soon as you decide to leave the waiting area to get something or use the restroom the doc will want to talk with you…

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Just had to share the good news- Barnes and Noble is opening not too far from me!

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Hi all.
RM, that doing-as-told thing will indeed be the issue here.

That said, surgery went very well, very clean fix doc sez. I attribute some of this to my 87-yr-old FIL, who insisted on praying over the surgical team before they started :wink:

As a former pastor who had hospital privileges until just recently (he’s retired 3 times now :wink: people kinda let him do what he wants. But I think its always a bit sobering to hear someone pray for your “hands to be steady and your talent to be amplified” :wink: McH and I weren’t sure how his Iranian assistant felt about holding hands for a xtian blessing, but he was a god sport and went along with it :wink:

Being a tough guy, mch did not opt for a post-surgery nerve block, and it was further noted that after surgery he also seemed somewhat more lucid than yours truly :wink: I think there’s some kinda voodoo going on here!

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Thanks for the update! Glad the surgery went well.

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Really glad to hear that the surgery went well.

We had a great early morning treat of having coffee on the back deck watching the birds, the creek and assorted kayakers. Totally pleasant.

Also – bags of books & stuff out for the charity pickup. It is not fast, but we’ve gotten almost 40 bags/boxes of stuff out this summer. There is certainly lots more to go, but I’m intent on getting more of the clutter stuff gone. I tried that Kon-Mari method for folding clothes, and found I really, really like it. Finally I can see exactly what I have in my dresser. The master closet is looking a little empty on my side – I was pretty brutal in getting rid of things that I never seem to actually choose to wear. DH is still hanging on to frayed shirts and a pullover that looks like it was designed for Where’s Waldo, but that’s on him.

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Oh, arabrab, my H (the potential hoarder) must have 50 t-shirts that he wears to work out in. Many have black streaks across the chest (from weight training); I don’t think he paid a cent for any of them…you know, all from events, hand outs, lost and founds, etc. He refuses to part with any of them. He has them lined upright in boxes in older D’s bedroom. I have pretty much begged for him to part with the worst of them…aren’t 14 ratty t-shirts enough for anyone?! He also has about a 3’ high stack of sweaters in her room…mind you, we’re in Texas so most are never worn. Any space I clear out, he takes up. It’s a true downer for me, but then I tell myself that it’s the ultimate first world problem.

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km, love the imagery of the prayer. Nice. Glad to hear things went well.

mp, sigh, I also do not understand. We recently cleared the garage, a huge purge, and H had 3 handsanders that were exactly alike. Wanted to keep two but settle for one. I have assured him he can go and buy anything he actually needs should he find something missing.

arabrab, I did the same but not quite as good as you and have plans for the next rainy day to do another round.
Have not missed one item so far.