<p>good morning ks… cinnamon and raisin please</p>
<p>psychmom. Enjoy the show</p>
<p>p56, I am a big reader too, I send a lot of books to my sister and now I have the Kindle which cuts down on the volume of books in the house. I like the idea of new books also and I could buy them for my son, I just want him slightly involved in paying toward school.</p>
<p>acm…do you like your kindle?. my son bought me a sony e-reader and it just doesnt “feel” like a book…i just cant get used to that feeling</p>
<p>Our school system has DARE. I have to say, I think giving kids information on things they are bound to encounter is really important - whether it’s drugs, drinking, sex, dangerous situations, credit cards, etc. I’m all about information, so I think the concept is a good one. But the information has to be correct and informative, and what little I know about DARE (I haven’t really researched the program), it sounds like it offers a very black and white, no tolerance approach. I’m curious now - I’ll have to look it up online and see what they say. My older boys disliked the program - not the intent behind it, but the implementation. They felt that the facts were exaggerated and a hard sell. There might have been good information there, but there was also alarmist misinformation, and so they lost trust in the program. My sister in law (who has a 4th and a 1st grader) says that DARE is now teaching her kids that caffeine is bad and they’re giving her a hard time about her coffee. </p>
<p>We go with the idea of drinking responsibly and being frank about things with our kids. They know that there is some alcoholism in our family back a couple generations and that lives can be wasted by the stuff. They’ve also seen people act stupid at night and sick in the morning at some events they go to, and that has turned them off. And we’ve talked about people we know who have had things go horribly wrong when it comes to drinking and driving - from one friend landing in jail with a DUI on his record, to a relative of a friend being killed by a drunk driver. I went out to dinner with my oldest last night and had a beer and a half (didn’t really like the microbrew I ordered second), so i just asked him to drive home, saying there’s just no reason to drive if you’ve had a drink.</p>
<p>parent56: Just got them…nice and warm…enjoy! ;)</p>
<p>p56, I love my Kindle, because I can order books on the beach even in Mexico! I still get “real” books too sometimes because I like the feel of a book and I like to read ahead because I don’t like surprises and it is much easier to do that with a real book. I drive my friends and family insane because I read for a little while and then read the ending then I go back to where I was. I can’t figure out why that bothers people so much! </p>
<p>Pinot, we’ve always had discussions about alcohol, drugs, sex etc. in our house and S knows our family rules and we also have alcoholism in my family so that concerned him about drinking too early. We had a discussion about drinking in college just yesterday, he knows his dad and I don’t want him too and we all know it is difficult to forbid and have him obey. He’ll be 19 in October and I think it would be unrealistic of me to think he won’t drink at a party, he is deathly afraid of hangovers so I hope that restrains him, but as we all know one drink often leads to two drinks and then the third seems like a marvelous idea! Rowing practice in the am will be a good thing!</p>
<p>Thanks for the warm bagels, ks. And thank you for the coffee, parent56. Yay, now I don’t have to make breakfast!</p>
<p>No textbooks here yet. D can’t register for classes until she’s on campus at the end of August.</p>
<p>LIMOM: Me either! Enjoy. :)</p>
<p>About drinking, DARE and cynicism - I’m a parent who wishes the legal drinking age were 18. I say this as my S heads to college where illegal drinking is rampant (as it is in most colleges) and where college administrators seem to accept this illegal activity as a normal fact of life. I applaud those colleges that have called for lowering the legal drinking age.</p>
<p>payfor i grew up in canada when the drinking age was 18, no problems… my argument for lower the drinking age is…if you can enlist in the army, vote etc, at 18 you should be able to decide about drinking/not and smoking/not (alabama has a 19 year old smoking age, 21 year old drinking age) they should all be one age imo…ie if you cant legally drink until 21, then raisee voting and enlisting to 21. or lower all these things to 18</p>
<p>thank you ks…</p>
<p>p56: You’re quite welcome. :)</p>
<p>We don’t even register for classes until two or three days before classes start. I can buy my textbook ahead of time for Arabic (thought it will be new anyways), but since I won’t know my IHUM or PWR [freshman requirements] placement, I will probably have to buy those books at the book store. I’m glad I’m not taking any science or math classes… that would stink. I only need novels for these classes, which I can buy and receive a little later - plus they’re usually very cheap.</p>
<p>p56, I thought I’d be the last person on Earth to like the Kindle, but how wrong I was. I enjoy the feel of books and thought I wouldn’t adjust to something mechanical. However, I LOVE my Kindle, almost as much as my Keurig coffee machine. (Actually, I love them the same, just in different ways, like my kids!) 
As acm says, the books get downloaded in less than a minute, and it’s fun to search and read the reviews before committing. You can even sample a chapter before buying, and there are good deals, too. (Many classics are 99 cents!) Also, I like being able to change the font size…I am just at the point of needing reading glasses, and I find there is less eye strain while reading. My main criticism of the Kindle is that it doesn’t have a back-light; I use one of those clip-on thingies when necessary, and it’s annoying. (I believe the Sony one does have a light, so you’re good-to-go there.) When my laptop mysteriously is thrown through the window…errrrr, I mean, breaks…I am going to check out the iPad, which I hear is a good value because it serves as a reader and so much more, and is the reason why both Kindle and Nook lowered their prices (not sure about Sony). For now, I take my Kindle wherever I go!</p>
<p>ps: Thanks for the good wishes!</p>
<p>KS and LIMOM: Waving hello!</p>
<p>applicannot: I always thought you were a girl!</p>
<p>Now what’s all this about a micro-fridge pet? Soon I’ll be writing, “I thought I loved my dog and that the micro-fridge pet would be too mechanical, but…”</p>
<p>psych, i guess i should give it another chance… btw oldest son loves his iPad.</p>
<p>LOL!!! my oldest does a photojournal (a picture per day) and i just went to the site to see his pictures for last few days… his picture for 7/7 is piles of his books on the floor!! as bad as mine</p>
<p>Good morning all!</p>
<p>psychmom - Enjoy the show!! My D took a class with John Gallagher Jr. and he is the sweetest young man and so talented! Have super fun!!</p>
<p>I believe our dorm shopping is complete except for the mattress pad. I have no idea yet about textbooks but we are well stocked with new dance clothes and shoes and I ordered my D a new Ben Nye make up kit 34 days to move in!</p>
<p>My B, SIL and 2 nieces came over last night and we had great fun talking all things college. One is a rising HS junior and the other is a rising HS freshman. The junior wants to go to A&M (woop) and the freshman to UT. But we talked about being open and looking at other options and of course I told my SIL about CC!! </p>
<p>Hope everyone enjoys a very 
weekend!</p>
<p>Thanks, mountain mom! I’ll look out for him.</p>
<p>Another Kindle fan here. I love it - I agree with everything PsychMom said. I carry my kindle everywhere. I also subscribe to several magazines and the NY Times on it. There are a few things I don’t like about it - for example, you can’t just flip through the book looking for something (but you can bookmark and highlight as you go through the book). For that reason, I still tend to buy hard copies of reference type books. Also, you can’t lend books out, which is something I enjoy doing. Other than that, it’s great - I’m a bookaholic and, quite frankly, was running out of space. This has cut way down on the piles of books floating around my house.</p>
<p>psychmom - Will y’all stage door? I would think this cast would be great there. Two of the other “boys” (Gerard Canonico and Brian Charles Johnson) were also in Spring Awakening as well and all the SA kids were great at stage door.</p>