<p>Zim,
please don’t be shy about posting! It’s how we learn about each other.</p>
<p>Missypie… You’re right about it being worse for the worrier I suspect. My heart goes out to the entire family and I will keep hoping for good news to come from you!</p>
<p>I tried to find an update on the kid that was on the 60min piece, but no luck. It just could be I wasn’t relentless enough.</p>
<p>Son has not yet taken me up on my bribery, but did tell me some girl on the second floor cut his hair when I saw an ad for some kid who cut hair in another dorm. Being able to trim hair has the possibility to be a huge money maker in college if you were any good at it.</p>
<p>Zim, your son could start looking for his internship opportunities now. While many industries will not hire interns until the summer between their junior and senior year, I have seen internship opportunities in engineering that are available the summer after your freshman year (need to have taken 30 credit hours). I do not know the advertising sector. The application process for finance and engineering jobs (which are the sectors I know) begins in October. If your son knows of specific companies where he has interest, he can go to their web site which should have a section labeled “careers” or something close and a subsection for students/new grads that lists the internship opportunities as well as the jobs for new hires. Obviously, large firms are more organized in this regard than small firms.</p>
<p>Odessa-girl is home for fall break. Happiness indeed!</p>
<p>Wide awake…H lobbying for healthcare in DC and D2 called late to say she is sick…sigh… can’t sleep so I am drinking wine…so much for my diet! ;)</p>
<p>NM – red or white? I just read that white is harder on your teeth than red. (Erodes the enamel more.) Honestly, what’s next on the “not good for you” list? Enough already!!!</p>
<p>Zim, love to hear from you. I read an article in Newsweek about violence in your country(against white farmers who won’t give up their land). It’s nice to hear from a real person who sounds like she is living a normal life. Do you feel safe?</p>
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<p>I am bracing myself for the headline that reads, “Bran, the silent killer!” any day now.</p>
<p>It was red! 
Was wide awake for a long time. Tried reading and finally fell asleep around three. Oh well…I can nap this afternoon if necessary.</p>
<p>Zim…I really enjoy your posts. Sounds like your S is adjusting well and staying in touch with you. Hope he finds an internship! :)</p>
<p>Great to hear the updates. thinking positive for those not feeling well/kids not well. </p>
<p>TheAnalyst – thanks for asking re: son & his major. We did talk, briefly. He basically said: “I’m handling it.” I’m trying to force myself not to start researching for internships/summer jobs in archeology. I think I have to literally tie my hands down – even started an email to a local museum to inquire, then deleted it. Seems committed to exiting comp sci. Guess we’ll see. He’s young & I respect his desire to find something he loves & explore his options. When else do you get to do that? When you are working a job w/three kids & a mortgage?</p>
<p>I’ve been following but not posting much this week. D2 has been home all week with something - mostly just a low grade fever that comes and goes, and exhaustion. She seems a little better today which is a good thing, because we are scheduled to fly to Boston tonight for Family weekend with D1. </p>
<p>missypie - don’t know anything about ECMO, but your “voice” sounds a little bit relieved so that’s a good thing. I am keeping you and your friend in my thoughts until you tell us he is out of the woods.</p>
<p>zim - don’t be shy and stick around I love hearing about your life and your perspective on this experience we all share.</p>
<p>oregon and shawbridge - Maui and Paris? Really? I am so jealous.</p>
<p>I expect to get a much better sense of D1’s college life this weekend - we talk frequently, but the conversations are always brief and never satisfying. I know she is excited to see us - she posted something to that effect on my FB wall this morning. Right after she posted “PLEASE TELL YOU DID NOT DO THIS” when she saw that I had joined the CC Parents group on FB. Oh, good, I still have the ability to embarrass her, even from a distance. hahaha.</p>
<p>missypie, keep us posted on your friend. I hope he’s on the mend. And I hope everyone’s sick folks are on the mend!</p>
<p>Jolynne, my college senior is letting me research job opportunities for new grads in systems engineering (with an international focus). He is in Rio this fall so is missing the on-campus recruitment opportunities and feeling overwhelmed on how to overcome that disadvantage. It is very addictive to do those searches. I probably went through 300 companies to find 20 amazing job application links for new grads that look like a good fit for his background and skill set. I am making myself stop now so he can catch up with submitting his resume and hopefully get some phone interviews. In the meantime, I am finding a surprising number of internship possibilities for our freshman just by accident. I did not realize internships were offered for freshman but find that in engineering at least, they are out there.</p>
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<p>Remember the scene from Sleeper?</p>
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<p>I think your attitude with respect to your son’s exploration is very healthy. </p>
<p>On the “Isn’t life ironic” end of the spectrum, ShawbridgeSon called me yesterday to ask about getting a ride home for the weekend. Unfortunately, I’m in the UK and his mom is in Canada. While I’d be able to drive him back, I’ll be in the air on the way to New Jersey when he wants to go home. As much as I would enjoy seeing him and am happy he wants to come home, I wonder if he would be better served by spending the weekend with kids at school. I think that he hasn’t found the close friends he had at home (one of whom is taking the semester off to recover from health problems he developed during his freshman year and is living at home). And, while he is definitely socializing at school, he hasn’t done that broadly (e.g., no interaction with the local women’s colleges except for a debate tournament). But, I don’t think I’ll suggest it.</p>
<p>: helps herself to “deep fat, steak, cream pies and hot fudge”
: agrees with SB that JS is handling exploration with aplomb and sympathizes/empathizes with the “must sit on hands” phenom…</p>
<p>Shawbridge, you son’s sense of timing is catlike…you know, never come when you call but when you’re reading or on a notebook or otherwise unavailable can’t get them out of your face : ) At my s’s school, they had suggested during parent orientation that we discourage our kids from coming home before Thanksgiving in order to help them bond more closely and fully integrate into the campus. That went out the window last weekend when s. went through breakup AND learned that all his new friends were going home for the 4-day break. Maybe Shawson just wants the midterm relief of sleeping in his own bed and some non-dorm food in his diet. McSon said while he misses us, what he misses the MOST is his own comfy bed and home cooking. Insisted on taking food back with him and asked me to bring frozen hm stew with me on PW next month. So while I get what the U. was trying to tell us (re waiting til TG), I think after 7 weeks most kids so inclined may yearn for their beds, folks and tlc, social integration notwithstanding : )</p>
<p>i’d give just about anything to get my son home for a weekend - (Although I get what you’re saying Shawbridge and agree that I might be less than available in your case just so he has a “down” weekend at school in which to find entertainment especially because he’s had other things to come home for including debates etc). THing is, son has a cold which he got almost immediately way back in Sept that has clearly turned into some kind of sinus infection that has him sniffling all the time. It is driving me nuts but he has felt like this for so long I don’t think he even recognizes what it would be like to feel 100%. He won’t go to the health center. I asked him about getting the H1N1 vaccine and he said a kid he lifts with is currently under quaranteen under suspicion of H1N1 and at this point for him to get the live vaccine (nasal spray which is available) might do more harm than good. So I need to ask… while this sounded like it makes sense, Is this true? Seriously, sometimes he gets a little too much on a molecular level for me and he could be talking complete jibberish and I wouldn’t have a clue! Plus… how is it that a guy who is giving serious thought to becoming a doctor will refuse to go the health center to get healthy?</p>
<p>So, here’s a kid who had tubes in his ears twice from about 18 months. Had his tonsils and adenoids removed at 4 and is largely still suceptable (sp messing me up but you get the idea) to ear nose and throat issues. Thing is, his roommates dad is an ENT specialist and had I ever met him before PW, I would have said… give S an RX! Since I dad never met the guy before, of course, I did not. 
How do I cajole, convince son to get some drugs at this point? I am planning on calling the health center later this afternoon to find out exactly what they can and cant do, so that when I tell him the process he can’t say, it doesn’t work like that. But at this point, they are having the free flu clinic and I don’t want to call until the rush is over I imagine. I don’t want to do it for him, but I have enough practice at being told I don’t know what I am talking about that I want to know what I am talking about before I tell son to go… but still… there must be a better way to convince him that this is worth his time.</p>
<p>Modadunn, he must have the male “never seek medical attention” gene. Seems like, except for Shawbridge S, there are only two male health genes: </p>
<p>never seek medical attention; or
be a huge baby </p>
<p>I don’t want to be* too *sexist here, but it seems like females are more rational on health issues.</p>
<p>PS… so you know my bribe email? He didn’t even read it far enough to know I was paying him for his answers! Maybe I will get an answer later this afternoon.</p>
<p>And oh… he did just mention that his two best friends in his suite both have downed computers and are using his. Not liking that one much.</p>
<p>its hard when you cant keep that mother eye on him. I hate that. My D gets colds and then ear infections we are meticulous about it because of her hearing loss. Se is following on this thank goodness. Men are so different.
My friend with info on Seoul is calming me down. says it is pretty westernized and has he has many contacts. family there. I feel a little better about that. Kids go everywhere these days not like when I was a kid.
Missypie not to be a creeper I looked at some past posts I must have missed, not sure what your friend has. I think if someone asks no contact that should be respected. i know I ask for what I need and whan I cant deal I need that to be respected because its all I can deal with. Just send a card and explain you care and are respecting info given. Sorry this has prob already been addressed.</p>