<p>Wasn’t it me a few pages back saying smugly that D had figured out the summer storage thing all by herself with something called CollegeBoxes? So she is 48 hours away from them picking up her boxes, and NOW it occurs to her that she has stuff like a study pillow that won’t fit into one of their boxes?! She texted me a pic of the pillow, saying “How do I get this home?!” I called her and calmed her down - she is a little overwhelmed by how long it takes to pack all this stuff (she still has one paper to finish) and trying to figure out what she needs at home for the summer. I’m rapidly moving into “worst mother on the planet” status for forcing her to do this on her own :(</p>
<p>Bummer…D took herself to Health Services this PM. Chest congestion really has not improved since February. Cough persists. They’ve ordered mono screening and chest xray. Should I mention that I have been telling her to do this for the past month? i guess she thinks it’s much better to wait until finals week to look into these things.</p>
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<p>Yeah, my drill team D suffered with a horrible cough and chest congestion, claiming she had NO TIME to see a doctor…until it reached a crisis point the week of officer auditions.</p>
<p>Son just called after being told by one of the bookstores that they aren’t hiring because they are way overstaffed. That is the same store where sometimes ONE of the 10 cash registers will be manned. I guess “overstaffed” is in the eyes of management.</p>
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<p>I’m trying to remember how old I was when I finally realized my mother was right more often than not, and started to take her advice? I’m afraid I have MANY more years to go with both Ds :o</p>
<p>I remember that my friends and I would get so sick in college because we would ignore health issues for so long (and little sleep, etc.)</p>
<p>D called today. The interview that she had scheduled when she comes home was canceled today. They have shortened the number of days that they are interviewing and the last day that they are interviewing is the last day that she has class 8.5 hours away from home. No way can she make it. She has been looking but jobs are hard to find and so far this was the only interview that she had. Hopefully something else will come along…</p>
<p>Good luck to all on the job front. A builder/friend today referred to “these times we are living in” with more than a little chagrin in his voice. And he’s one of the fortunate, highly skilled ones whose usually got a backlog of projects.</p>
<p>Re: summer jobs…
S has his old maintenance job but has been non-stop applying for other things via craigslist, websites, etc, ad infinitum… today he got a call back for an internship that relates to both of his majors. Can I call on positive thoughts from my '13 parents to help him in the next step - even though he’s an '11??
PS D’s chest film was negative and no mono. Good news but she still is as sick as a dog!</p>
<p>My D is being organized and has been packing ahead of time (comes home a week from today). When she called for Mother’s Day, she said she was freezing because she had packed all her winter stuff, thinking since it was May, she wouldn’t need it anymore. </p>
<p>She’s 1310 miles away - but we had a cold snap too, so I knew just how she felt! Her younger brother has been wearing flip flops and shorts to school with a sweater. I would think his legs/feet would be cold!</p>
<p>So if she had procrastinated packing she would be warm?</p>
<p>Yes, best wishes to woody’s S’11 on landing the internship and/or another desired job!! Also, that’s great that D’s test results are negative. My D’13 has also been battling something for the past month. Not fun, especially in the midst of a slew of papers and exams.</p>
<p>Just found out D’s schedule for the summer. We will pick her up on Thurs June 10, she has one day at home and starts her summer job at the lake on Saturday. Her return from the lake is just as tight. She will work her last shift on Tuesday Aug 31, have one day at home and we drop her off back on campus on September 2. Looks like I will be dealing with the packing again this year. D will come home for 2 days every other week during the summer so she will be able to do her own shopping etc. I was hoping for two weeks with her between the lake and the start of school but that is just not to be. I am willing to sacrifice the time for the blessing of a summer job and her campus jobs. I know how scarce jobs are. Good luck to all your job searching students.</p>
<p>Wow, engamac, that’s a tight schedule. RM, hope that opportunities come up. That’s really unfortunate about the interview schedule. Woody, good luck to your son. I like his determination in pursuing opportunities even when he already has something lined up.</p>
<p>Lots of transitions this month. S2 will be moving into his house this Sunday. One of his housemates has money to burn, which is a red flag for me in terms of how costs might mount up. The three roommates recently bought a huge flat screen TV they found second hand on e-bay, which is not an insignificant amount of money for S2. I already think they are consuming too much house for a student, but am staying out of it. We pay S as if he is in the dorm on a meal plan, so it’s his business how he manages his money. I see a lot of lessons, however, coming his way soon. I hope he finds a job because he is going to need it.</p>
<p>The same day S2 moves in we will move S1 out of his house. Technically, he doesn’t have to be out until the end of the month, but he gets on an airplane the 24th and is too busy with graduation to move out the 22nd or 23rd. He confirmed he will be living in a hotel in Australia, rather than an apartment. Eating out three meals a day would be the most hideous aspect of this job, in my opinion, but living exclusively out of a suitcase might be the bigger challenge for S. Since he will be on airplanes a lot with all of his possessions traveling with him wherever he goes, he needs to be able to easily carry his luggage and hopefully stay under airline weight limits. I think that means he needs to fit everything in a single suitcase plus a small backpack. Definitely a challenge.</p>
<p>Goodness, I would be worried about that kind of purchase. But then again I worry about almost everything. D’s apartment will be furnished almost exclusively with castoffs from our house and roomie’s parents. We have wanted to make changes to our house now the kids are gone (or so we thought, who knows about SabaraySon) and will finally do so. </p>
<p>Analyst, I wanted to mention that based upon your sage advice D and I had a lengthy Mother’s Day conversation with some planning for the future. She is excited to have a job (which she’s never had before) and will be saving towards summer study in Morrocco in 2011. I think what’s hardest for her is that she is good at so many very different things and enjoys so many different things and realistically there just isn’t enough time to do it all. </p>
<p>And I love the part about “too busy” with graduation. What a whirlwind.</p>
<p>Just spent about 45 minutes trying to catch up on everyone’s posts here. I, too, now have a “worst Mother’s Day ever” story – here’s the condensed version: After having really awful stomach pains for 30+ hours, on Sunday I went to a local walk-in clinic, which sent me off to the ER for an ultrasound of my gallbladder. I waited for HOURS there, and finally got into an ER bed, where they gave me the most wonderful drugs in the world. The ultrasound showed my gallbladder was very inflamed and needed to come out. More waiting, waiting, waiting in the ER bed. Finally got a bed upstairs at 11:00 PM or so. Spent all day Monday waiting for an available OR since I was an “add-on” to the schedule. At 8:00 PM or so a resident comes in and says they won’t be able to do it until Tuesday – but when H grilled him, it’s revealed that I’ll still be an add-on, and it’s possible that I’ll end Tuesday in the same position. H “threw a fit” and lo and behold, the resident comes back in 15 minutes to say a surgeon has agreed to do it that night. As the surgeon told me the next morning, he was about 5 minutes away from having to cut me open since the gallbladder was so inflamed, but he did manage to do it laparoscopically. Finally came home last night, and am resting up for the trip to NC on Friday for D’s graduation. Heck of a way to lose weight – I hadn’t really eaten between Friday night and Tuesday morning. Still not hungry. I guess D will get to do a lot of her own Graduation Party prep for the 23rd. Just glad that it’s all over!</p>
<p>Wow, CBBBlinker! Glad they didn’t have to cut you open.</p>
<p>Great that folks are getting jobs and/or interviews. I guess in this job market an employer can cut off interviews whenever he wants and still have plenty of applicants.</p>
<p>Sabaray, I LOVE the idea of Morocco. I spent a summer in Mauretania in an internship in grad school and found my high school French to be more useful than my Arabic. She will have a fabulous experience. I would be so proud of her. </p>
<p>Hopefully, she won’t make as many stupid mistakes as I made. I ended up spending 12 hours in a closed airport, with just me and about 30 machine gun toting soldiers in a dark, non air conditioned terminal building–no water, which was OK because even the bathrooms were closed. My flight arrived in Dakar at 7:00 am and outgoing to Noakchott was 7:00 pm. Everybody went to a nearby hotel, but because I didn’t have a visa for Senegal I wasn’t allowed to leave the airport. Ahh, the memories!</p>
<p>CBB, I’m glad you are OK. That sounds awful.</p>
<p>CBB, so glad they were able to get the gallbladder out laparascopically. That would have been horrible to recover from.
I had a laparascopic procedure a few years ago and it still takes a lot out of you. Take it easy. </p>
<p>Analyst, the thing that is nice about Morocco is that she would be with other University students; she mentioned that she would have to take something like three courses but most of them would be related to the culture since she’ll have completed the language ones. She would also be taking Arabic 101. After that she would be able to go travel in France for a few weeks before returning. </p>
<p>At least what I have noticed in her peer group of other scholars is the drive to be “ahead” and I probably bought into that a bit too much. Of course if she wants to go to grad school she’ll need to have stellar grades and recommendations but she should also enjoy life. I don’t even know if she wants to continue with the scholars program; there’s a disproportionate number of students from a certain high school that seem to run the show. After first year there’s not a huge tangible benefit and I wonder how much distinction is given to graduates of the honors program. That’s a decision I’ll leave up to her.</p>
<p>CBB–sorry to hear about your ordeal, and on mother’s day 
thank goodness you are okay. I’m sure your d will be glad to do graduation prep as long as her mom is okay…congrats on her graduation!</p>
<p>had a similar experience, wound up in ER day before older s’s hs graduation, fortunately able to convince doc to wait til after graduation to do surgery so I could attend. made me that much more grateful to be sitting there…</p>