Baby seals: @2muchquan, there has to be something you get out of living in a place where it’s below zero for months at a stretch—and if all you get is dark humor, at least that’s something! :))
Camping: As I tell people, if we humans had been intended to go camping, then the good Lord would never have created the Holiday Inn. :))
handwritten vs. email thank you notes
To me, it’s all about the content (where writing is concerned). I suspect that ebook people like me prefer email thank you notes (or don’t care either way.) But I know people who see ebooks as a demon scourge come to take away our precious “real books!” And I get it. I can appreciate the touch and smell of paper, as well as the beauty of cover art. I certainly don’t want to force people to go my way, but I don’t want to go back to paper either. One time the media did affect my reading experience. I read Gutenberg’s Apprentice and sometimes felt like my Kindle was kind of a traitor – “A pox on your old-fashioned ‘printing’!” But sometimes I felt like it was the next the next step of evolution in a long and amazing line.
Anything to this theory? Do ebook readers tend to go with email thank you notes and paper book readers with hand-written ones?
@snoozn I hate ebooks. I have a small library worth of books. I love books. But, thank you to colleges, since all communication is through email, an email thank you seems appropriate. I think the important point is to thank them for their time.
I’ll have to be a one data point of debunking 
I like paper books, but I like emails. Paper books I like for the physicality of the reading experience. Emailed thank you notes I like for the ability to save them forever (I don’t keep paper stuff and I get sad having to toss cards eventually). Also I hate having to remember stamps.
If I really want to say thank you to someone, I’ll paint them a tiny little postcard sized picture and leave it in their mailbox (or fedex it). Both girls did picture thank you notes when they were little, as well.
To me, I think the receiver of the thank you is important. If you are thanking someone who regularly communicates via email, email is fine. Though I think an email should be more detailed/longer than a handwritten note. If you are sending a thank you to people who do not deal with email regularly, I would go with handwritten thank you.
Thanks for all the essay trauma-bonding. I spent the rest of the day getting the last of my books ordered and getting organized (class starts for me the 19th, woot). H looked at the BoD for 2 mins then stuffed it on a shelf. Then there was ice cream.
As my last act as admissions manager and cruise director, I did hop over to the school this morning determined to solve the Great Transcript Mystery. The registrar was there, and informed me that no transcripts will go out for any reason until Sept 20. I was pretty baffled, as school starts this week. She insists that no college really needs it even if they tell parents they do, and it will be fine. I’m stumped. It wont matter much for Bama, but TAMU has (as I understand it) rolling EA admissions for COE until Oct 15, so S may just be screwed there. Whatever.
Thank you all for taking the time to respond to my thank you note question.
Many good thoughts. I love receiving handwritten TY notes but the rest of my life is ruled (organized?) via email. Not an e-book reader.
I will probably ask him to write out the notes, but who knows if anyone will be able to read them. His handwriting is SOOOO tiny.
Thanks again!
** Today ** Its the first day of band camp. It starts to feel back to the grind. S17 had to be at school at 8 AM this morning.
** Public Transfortation ** Yes both my “kids” know how to use public transportation despite growing up in a very suburban area without very good public transit. But they know how to use public transit because we use frequently when traveling to big cities. And I keep the kids involved in the ins & outs of how to use it. And D12 went to college in a city that had a good subway system. She used it frequently but was timid about using the bus system and that restricted a lot of where she went to walking or subway.
Wow @flatKansas … Super cool that the registrar knows SO much about the college application process and keeps a mental track of all the deadlines. :-S
I added a tab to the google doc with app user names and passwords with essays and status. Not helping.
system essay prompt words Status
UCAS Personal Statement 4000 not started
Common App Choice of 5 650 not started
UC #1 choice of 8 350 not started
UC #2 choice of 8 350 not started
UC #3 choice of 8 350 not started
UC #4 choice of 8 350 not started
@eandesmom 20 miles a day is a lot to pack if you aren’t used to it. I know a long distance through hiker and while they often regularly hike 20 miles, they typically build up to it after a week or more. And they typically carry very light packs. S17 hiked 100 miles (11) days this past month. Should have had him in boy scouts. 
Starting to get concerned…S has been away all summer working as a camp counselor. Communication has been sporadic. Last night informed me that he has not been able to make any headway on essays. Claims both lack of time, and more importantly…writers block. Based on his original list, he has over 20 essays to write. Not sure how he will get all this done. He has 4 AP’s, job, and Student Body Officer. I am thinking he will need to shorten his list. The only good thing is that he has two applications in at the two schools that are safeties…This is going to turn into one stressful summer…Oh well…
I’m always posting too early to make one huge big post.
Bad Mom Confession: I’m terrible at writing thank you letters and have done a terrible job at teaching my kids to do so. When I do it’s either phone calls or emails. For business or college thank-you’s I would send a email or printed letter.
I love my e-reader. LOVE it… read on it constantly. Love that I can carry 100’s of books with me easily. I also love real books, bookstores, the smell of books and have wallpapered my house with books. And anything that has pictures, graphic novels for example I still buy a book. My kids don’t have e-readers.
To add to the QOTD, is driving the more common choice if you live in the western US and is public transportation more common in the eastern US? I have lived in the west most of my life and I don’t think twice about jumping in the car to go 30+ miles for something (including work). When I lived in Tennessee, I would get the strangest looks and comments when I wanted to go to dinner in Knoxville, the nearby city. (Not that there was public transportation there, just that people didn’t travel far.) “You’re going to KNOXVILLE for dinner??? That’s soooo far away!” It was a 30 minute drive max. I think westerners have different mindsets when it comes to driving and distances.
^^^^^
I don’t mind driving 30 miles for dinner, but around here 30 miles might take you 2 hours with traffic at rush hour. Brutal.
In my experience, @mtrosemom, no. I grew up in northern VA and my dad drove about an hour to work in DC. My friends and I would drive 30 minutes to get to the mall at Tysons for movies and shopping and think nothing of it. I used to take ballet lessons that were an hour away. All of the above done by driving. Now living in the Bay Area, 1 hour commutes (previously me, and now my H) are common and he drives because it would take a lot longer by public transportation. We do use public trans (BART) to go into SF and it takes about 40 min. Maybe it’s just Tennessee, lol!
QOTDs:
moving: We have lived in the same house since before the kids were born. Yawn…
public transportation: D17 has been riding public buses since the 6th grade and took her first flight (a non-stop) at age 15. We live in the west and public transportation is limited. When we travel, we try to use public transportation as much as possible, assuming that it makes sense in terms of cost and efficiency.
thank you notes: Call me old school, but I think that a handwritten thank you note sent through the post is a classy gesture and is likely to be remembered. That said, most people are probably fine with an email.
e-readers: I love real books and own a lot of them. But I also appreciate an e-reader when I travel or when my spouse is trying to sleep and I don’t want to disturb him by turning on a light.
Essays: I think that a “Why X college?” essay may happen today.
I hear you @BigPapiofthree! I was looking at our schedule, which we are behind on (not horribly, but a bit), and thinking to myself: Hmmm, I guess she’s OK with all the schools I put on her list, because this is getting real now! She did add AmericanU the other day, not knowing a ton, and maybe one or two are likely drops…but the others are all hers now! Makes me a little nervous…
Glad to hear S is not the only one who is behind on essays. He is still at his summer program for another week, and then his dual enrollment classes start 1 week after that. And he is scheduled to take his drivers test at the end of August. Since he hasn’t driven at all during his 6 week summer program I have a feeling he is going to prioritize driving practice over essay writing, so I doubt he will even have a single essay draft done before Labor day. September and October are going to be crazy busy!
Public transport: DC21 is quite independent, and takes the bus “downtown” to LGBT meetings and to meet dad for lunch during the summer. DS17 hasn’t taken the bus, because he prefers to bike everywhere. We have taken subways and buses lots in cities we’ve traveled to. I’m happy to take subways, but don’t really like buses. I will make sure DS has Uber set up on his phone before he goes to college.
Thank you notes: I haven’t been good about enforcing them on the kids. Our family mostly does gifts in person for Chrismas and not much for birthdays. I have an aunt remaining who doesn’t do computers but no other older relatives. DH’s family and my sister are all electronic. We haven’t done any college visits with more personal attention than a brief meeting with the departmental secretary in her office, and I don’t think that rates a thank you note.
E-readers: I avoid reading on paper, because the font is too small unless I remove my contacts. I love reading with the Kindle app on my iPad mini. People say that they like actual Kindles better because they don’t need charging. But, I would charge my iPad daily anyway, so it’s fewer devices to carry for me.
Driving distance: We are out west, but not in a big city. Everything is about 15 minutes away. That’s my standard allowance of time to get anywhere. 30 minutes is Far. Driving in LA is always cause for an “I’m sure glad we don’t live here” comment.
Pause on essays: We are leaving on vacation (with lots of rain in the forecast…), so I don’t think any essay work will get done until we return in about a week.