<p>Mine too. Only took an extra 2 hours due to wintry conditions on the road.</p>
<p>S made it home last night after a little delay. As he made it to the airport the grad student ta’s from his computer class changed parts of the assignment due tomorrow that he had already finished. Apparently these ta’s go rogue and the assignment is constantly changing and prof seems to have handed the reins over to them. It’s driving him nuts. He was ticked to have to stay up hours last night here redoing a project he said already worked and was fine.</p>
<p>D’s flight was delayed 3 hours but it is now in the air. We’ll still get to go see Catching Fire tonight, just a lot later than we planned! She is NOT in a good mood after sitting in a very crowded airport for 3 hours though… this is the text I got:</p>
<p>"So I get up to the bathroom and the whole area is super full but I can’t hold it and while I’m there I find a driver’s license (second one of the day) and a boarding pass and turn them in because I’m a good person. I get back and somebody took my seat. Everything sucks and it’s not even karma.</p>
<p>Nobody else lost their seats because they left their stuff on them, which is not something you’re supposed to do in an airport given the whole 9/11, fear of bombs thing. I should just go report all the unattended luggage because they’re cheating at life."</p>
<p>Yeah, she’s not in a good mood. She says she’s never coming home for Thanksgiving again.</p>
<p>So comforting to have DD’12 home. Her siblings miss her so and just celebrated every minute together. Not enough of her to go around. I enjoyed just watching her laugh. She flies back in the morning to finish up the semester. I take what I can get.</p>
<p>S is back at school and we just booked his flight home Dec 20. Amazing the price difference from Thanksgiving, and not Thanksgiving. It was good to see him though of course his priority was girlfriend and friends, plus I had a house full here. He was glad for the break. Just talked to him a minute ago and he sounded thrilled to be there and no homework to do.</p>
<p>D had a 6 am flight this morning so we were up at 3:30. I also booked her flight home for December 20th. Prices were a little lower than Thanksgiving, but if she had been able to leave on the 18th or 19th, it would have been much cheaper. I wish she didn’t like the T, Th, 2:40 classes… they are always the last finals of the week.</p>
<p>We dropped middle son back off today, then continued home to find youngest has been accepted to his first (and only) choice, Eckerd. Next fall we should have an empty nest. It’ll be different.</p>
<p>Eyemamom - my guy is also flying home on the 20th, though we booked his flight quite a while back. If flying Southwest, it’s possible our guys will be on the same flight. Less than 3 weeks!</p>
<p>Yay on the acceptance! I know that was a real nail biter. S is flying us air. So how are you feeling?</p>
<p>Hi all. I hope the thanksgiving weekend was good for all of you. </p>
<p>H’s dad died the friday before thanksgiving. He went peacefully in his sleep. He had been going downhill almost weekly, so we were not that surprised, but it is untimely whenever a death occurs. We had a whole to do over whether to tell our D right away because she had a big exam on Monday, and would in any case not be able to come for the funeral, which had to be done asap. As luck would have it, I was in the shower, she called, and he was on two phones, and she heard what he was saying to EMS at his dad’s house, so she knew. She managed to get her work done for the exam, and maybe it was better that way. I don’t know. She was of course disappointed that she did not get to see him before he passed, since we were supposed to be together at thanksgiving. </p>
<p>Our 2012 opened with MIL’s death in January, and now 2013 is closing with FIL’s death. Combined with D’s departure for college, we have really taken a beating emotionally. I guess life is full of these things, as the mother of one of friends died just a couple of days before FIL, and this does seem to be the age for this, at least for us. Some of our friends have their kids coming back home post college, which is a whole different thing (both good and not so good it seems). Additionally, we have a whole issue with our business that is ongoing and not great.</p>
<p>I know that we have had times when things went smoothly for a long time, and we felt happier, but now, I feel that we are going from one hurdle to the next. </p>
<p>We do have our blessings, and I am trying to feel grateful for them. </p>
<p>Good luck to all the students who have finals coming up in the next couple of weeks.</p>
<p>anothermom2 - so sorry about your FIL. My father passed away few weeks after D2 went back to school. She managed to come home for the funeral, but she was very depressed about it for a while. Your FIL was blessed to pass away peacefully in his sleep. It is never easy when there is a passing. My mother is still in mourning. She is having a hard time with my father passing so unexpectedly. All the best to your family.</p>
<p>Next few weeks going to be very stressful for a lot of our kids with finals and papers. Good luck to all.</p>
<p>Offering hugs to you anothermom2 <<<>>> - and to you too, oldfort <<<>>> - and hopes that 2014 will be a smoother year for your families. It is definitely tough when people we love pass.</p>
<p>I’ll echo the good luck to all with finals and papers - and travel home at for the holidays.</p>
<p>As for me and my health issue? All is being put off until August after we drop youngest off. Hopkins refuses to accept our health share and we’ve never been wealthy enough to even contemplate 100% payment up front - which they insist upon. There are several other places to choose from who don’t appear to have payment conflicts, but none that are quite so convenient to get to for 2 months all at once (the length of their recommended path). After we drop youngest off, my time will be far more free to travel and I’m kind of looking forward to picking a place we can explore at the same time - albeit having to stay within a range to return daily. URoc is an option… but we’ll see. I wouldn’t want middle son to be “saddled” with mom around during his junior year.</p>
<p>So… I don’t have to worry about it for 9 months. In a way, that’s nice. I will admit to feeling no more “love” for JH though - just billing - the doctors were fine.</p>
<p>I am keeping the health issues on this thread only (not at all the 2014 thread). I don’t want anything to derail the ups and downs of application year on that one. On this thread we tend to deal with a whole lot more - for better or worse.</p>
<p>Switching topics, are anyone’s students figuring out next summer yet? Middle son plans to apply to some research options in Germany, and if that doesn’t work out, he hopes to volunteer on the Mercy ship… either would fit his personality very well (not that I know much about either, but…from what he’s told me they would).</p>
<p>Congrats, Creekland & son, on the acceptance! </p>
<p>Anothermom2 and OldFort, very sorry for your losses, especially difficult before and during the holidays. </p>
<p>In answer to Creekland’s question about summer plans , my son has already arranged to return to his paid internship in the summer and they offered him a good raise and pushed the paperwork through HR already so we’re very happy. Beats last year when we were on edge until the last minute. He is doing real programming there, feeling quite professional.</p>
<p>On a fun/trivial note, what do your college kids want for the holidays? Mine wants a tablet… to transfer work from class to laptop… but which one is the question?</p>
<p>Yay for Creekland and Son! Congrats on the acceptance!</p>
<p>I’d like to hear your opinions on what if anything S should do.</p>
<p>He’s taking a computer class with the head of the dept. However, the grad students are really the ones in charge of the class, prof phones it in and isn’t available to meet and hasn’t given a crap at all. Most times the project is constantly being changed. For ex. when he came home for Thanksgiving he got an email as he got on the plane that changed the scope of the project due at noon the next day. He had to stay up a few hours and make the changes, even though he said the project worked as it was.</p>
<p>When he got back he found out their last project of the semester is due during finals week. All projects are supposed to be due before finals start. His very valid concern is he could finish it early, but if they once again change it, like they have nearly every project, he needs to be focusing on other finals. </p>
<p>He usually just takes crap and doesn’t speak up. He’s tried talking to the ta’s and the prof and they don’t listen or care according to him. Keep in mind, he’s a cs major and will have this guy next semester as well. </p>
<p>He wants to talk to someone else about what’s going on in this class. What would your advice be?</p>
<p>If the project replaces the final for that class, then I’d assume a due date during finals week was fine and resign myself to possible late changes.</p>
<p>The project is not the final, it’s just the last project of the semester. He also has a final for that class, and his others as well.</p>
<p>If he has an advisor in the department, I’d talk to his advisor and ask for advice.</p>
<p>I’d go the adviser route too… that’s a really sticky situation - esp since he has the same prof again next semester. I hope it works out well for him.</p>
<p>My experience is that these type of profs have a bit of an ego trip about trying to make their class exceptionally difficult without actually having to put much effort into the content. The response to complaints is usually something about how it is helping to prepare them for the real world, which is just a load of……Meanwhile I would suggest studying early for the other finals to leave time for the inevitable last minute change to the final project. At least net semester he will know what to expect.</p>
<p>Eyemamom, I agree that it certainly doesn’t hurt to talk to the adviser, but I doubt there is much that can be done to alter the professor’s behavior. I would agree with 1012mom, that it’s more about anticipating the change and studying early for the other finals to leave oneself as much wiggle room as possible. As with most difficult people, one cannot change them but only one’s own reaction to them.</p>