<p>Gwen: </p>
<p>S has had a MacBook Pro and loves it. It’s the smallest one (15", I think) but we opted for the sturdier Pro version b/c he puts it in his backpack and lugs it with him to classes, etc. That would be my concern with the Air, whether it would be rugged enough to be slung around in a backpack.</p>
<p>oldfort: </p>
<p>I LOVE what your D wrote! It’s so lovely. I’m one of those people that is NOT a big picture-taker. I want to be “in” the moment, not taking pictures of the moment. I believe in taking mental pictures.</p>
<p>So we ordered the textbooks for next year for my oldest son. He only needs books for 4 of his classes , and only 3 were listed so far. But we ordered those three for $175 and sold back some books from the past for $150. I must say, textbooks have cost far less all along than I had imagined. :)</p>
<p>PN, what site do you use for buying/selling books?</p>
<p>My S12 has had a Macbook Air for about a year and a half and carries it (in a small case) inside his backpack to school every day and hasn’t had any problems. He is insisting though that he needs to upgrade to a Pro when he goes to college - I’m not exactly certain this is the case but he’s saving all his money (confirmation, birthday and graduation all within a month) to get one. </p>
<p>My other son isn’t an Apple geek so we just got him the basic, cheapest Dell recommended by the college and paid half the price and he hasn’t had any issues. </p>
<p>S12 wimped out of Physics C. He’d been self-studying EM (had Mechanics at the local college) but the only thing you can validate at MIT is Mechanics, with 5’s on both C exams and he felt he probably wouldn’t get that. Instead, he plans to study over the summer and take their ASE (Advanced Standing Exam - validation test) for Mechanics during orientation. He did have Music Theory yesterday (self-study) and when I asked if any of it was hard, he said yes, the “music” part. Don’t think that exactly narrowed it down! Off at AP Gov today which is his last one!</p>
<p>Oh, and tennis is in full gear here. I’m a bit perplexed on why they would schedule conference this week with AP’s still - guess if you have Lang tomorrow you can’t compete? Anyway, in addition to after school matches (still 3 remaining) he has conference tomorrow all day (missing class), then subsectionals next Mon/Tue and sectionals Wed/Thu. Friday I was planning to pull him to drive down to Indy for the long weekend to look at houses so effectively he could end up not going to school at all next week! Following week (Memorial Day) is senior exams and grad practice and that’s it! The train is accelerating into the graduation station!</p>
<p>Thoughts on birth control:</p>
<p>I’ve really loved the IUD I’ve had for the past several years. It’s a copper-based one (sorry, I can’t remember the exact name) that lasts for 10 years. Of course, should I lose my mind and want to become pregnant, I would have it removed.</p>
<p>One of the questions I typically asked on our college tours was, “Are free condoms available?” </p>
<p>There wasn’t a school that didn’t provide the condoms. We tease that our S intends to be on the “Condom Scholarship”.</p>
<p>I’ve advised S that condoms should be used for oral sex as well (sorry if this is getting intimate, but we are parents) because of the risk of herpes transmission. Do our resident docs agree? Or is this unnecessary?</p>
<p>911- not just herpes, but HPV- it causes oral and throat cancer.</p>
<p>Thanks, vlines!</p>
<p>One last thought on birth control:</p>
<p>Although “Plan B” is available over-the-counter, it is expensive ($45-50 per pill). I would not want my D (if I had one) to rely on this.</p>
<p>Eyemamom - hoping all goes well and that you have an uneventful and speedy recovery.</p>
<p>Am told AP Bio didn’t go so well yesterday. Our school insists on trying to teach it block-style in one semester and never quite manages to cover all the material. Guess what material was “featured” on the exam? Yup. With a 5, he could’ve gotten credit for BIOL SCI 1XX, which wouldn’t have helped him at all, so he’s not heartbroken. US Govt. today.</p>
<p>Since no one reads the instructions on a box of condoms, we might consider giving the lecture about how they’re “for the duration” as opposed to “just in time.”</p>
<p>there are instructions on condom boxes??</p>
<p>vlines - I’ve mostly used Amazon because it’s just so easy. There have been a couple times the school bookstore has been cheaper (on some really small paperbacks he needed for his freshman writing class, for example). And at least once I used a different site (for a big expensive book on constitutional law). We look up the books needed on the school bookstore website and then start shopping around. We have bought used several times. S takes a lot of math classes, and I think those books are sometimes a lot cheaper than some big science class text books. And occasionally he’s had books that cover two semesters.</p>
<p>His school usually gets textbooks listed very quickly. He only has one class that isn’t listed yet for next semester.</p>
<p>Ok, maybe they’re in the box. I don’t remember–haven’t had a need for them in a while. :)</p>
<p>Hey everyone, I’m feeling badly that I think people mixed up oldfort’s D2’s speech excerpt (so lovely and moving) with my mention that my D was auditioning for graduation speaker.</p>
<p>oldfort shared with us on 4/16 that her D2 is speaking at graduation, so happily that fine paragraph is from a speech that will be delivered for sure.</p>
<p>My D’s second audition (yesterday) went very well, she thought. Four students were auditioning for two places. She is hoping to learn the outcome soon (maybe today or tomorrow?)</p>
<p>Re condom instructions:</p>
<p>Incredibly, the condom itself refers the user to the inside of the carton. Not so convenient, but I suppose it’s b/c of the instructional cartoons.</p>
<p>weatherga- at least the graduation speeches have not been mixed up with the conversation on std’s and condoms!!!</p>
<p>weatherga, then congrats to your girl…for beautifully expressed sentiment.</p>
<p>SteveC, my girl felt good about AP Bio yesterday, not feeling so confident going into Govt today. Good luck to your son.</p>
<p>Hah, vlines! It seems everyone has tastefully refrained from combining those topics via the edit notices.</p>