<p>I got D to start clearing out some things to make way for a dresser to go in and help the clothes situation in the room she shares with her sister and it inspired her to go through all her papers, etc. She didn’t keep much, we set aside some items for her “box” (with all the highlights of her school years - I was sad to realize it is officially complete) and some we saved for her younger siblings who will likely never want to crack open her study guides but I’ll be optimistic :)</p>
<p>Brooklynborndad, Two of my BIL’s and my SIL are RPI grads. It’s a great school and if my son had been interested in one of their majors, it would have been his first choice. Her next year sounds so interesting, I wish her the best of luck.</p>
<p>acm, One of my favorite things about being in MA last month was wearing my Northeastern t-shirt and running into people who also have an NEU connection. Down here, just about no one has heard of Northeastern. Or people think they know it but they are actually thinking about Northwestern. Which is actually really nice because I never feel like I’m bragging; we’re just a super enthusatic parents!</p>
<p>Of course, we’re doing our part to spread to NEU gospel! Car decals, t-shirts, sweatshirts, insulated cups, mugs, and I picked up about 20 NEU pens at orientation which I’ve given to all our friends. When I give them to people I say, “Welcome to the cult!” We’ve earned the nicknamee “Massachusetts Aggies” because down here there is a lot of visible Texas A & M pride. Go, Huskies!</p>
<p>Oh, my, “Massachusetts Aggies”?? As a MaineLonghorn, I can’t tell you what a negative connotation that phrase has! ;)</p>
<p>pugmadkate - We’re heading to New England for vacation on Friday and my youngest son, who is a hs junior, has a tour of Northeastern on Monday. My FIL is a Northeastern grad.</p>
<p>Hello, everyone! I’m going to go back and read tons of posts, but I just got home after a full day of traveling and I am exhausted but really excited, both because I missed my dogs and my dad and my house AND because my housing assignment finally came! </p>
<p>I got one of the houses I really wanted, so I am thrilled, and my room looks like it’s in a good location - first floor, close to both the bathrooms and laundry without being too close to either and (the best part) I have a roommate whom I can’t find on Facebook (yet) but we have separate closets! My only real worry about having a roommate was closets, because I like to keep mine way organized and I don’t really like other people to touch it without asking me (I remember what I was wearing on special occasions like most people remember smells or conversation.) It’s weird, but it’s pretty much the only thing I’m anal about so I’m really glad it worked out that way!</p>
<p>Glad to hear you got your housing assignment, t_c. I am guessing r6l with soon post about hers too :D</p>
<p>I need to start reading my freshmen reading book. It’s been sitting my purse for a while and I haven’t been in the mood to touch it. I recently re-read the Harry Potter series and was getting all reminiscent about middle/high school. But Walden does need to be read!</p>
<p>Good evening.</p>
<p>Two pieces of good news. First, we will be back from our NM vacation in time to attend the mixer for new Northwestern U students and their families who live in the LA area.</p>
<p>Second, a letter from the incoming USC president Max Nikkas came out that says the 17 year athletic director Mike Garrett is stepping down, being replaced by former USC QB, USC Trustee and businessman Pat Haden. Further, he enumerated a number of major changes in the athletic department. It was a well done letter, and if the new people hired do what he’s saying, it will send a very strong message to the entire athletic department and the NCAA. It’s what the doctor ordered and I’m happy to see that the “house cleaning” and reorganizing has been done very thoroughly, from my perspective.</p>
<p>:cool: 
</p>
<p>Jc40 Hope you are enjoying the VA food.</p>
<p>CaD Isn’t getting sore the pointe of taking ballet… sorry, that was really bad, but I couldn’t help it. :)</p>
<p>PMK/MLH My company was talking me today about becoming a Massachusetts Redneck, i.e. have this VA boy work in Framingham. You never say never, but right now that is not at the top of my list.</p>
<p>Re: Credit Cards for Tuition D1’s school did not charge a fee, so I put everything on the cc and racked up the frequent flier miles. Alas, D2’s school does not accept cc payments at all… fee or no fee.</p>
<p>Re: Distribution List Thanx again to MLH for doing the real work. Again many apologies if someone ended up in the wrong bucket. I just feed MLH’s list into a spreadsheet and with a little help, let it generate the lists. I wish I could claim that there was more thought that goes into it than that. definitely helps when my memory fades… that takes all of 5 seconds for me. Gotta agree with everyone about the variation in schools… not just a bunch of cookie cutter kids all headed to The University of X.</p>
<p>re: Kids and Water Both D’s have been lifeguards at the local pool. They have an external auditor come in every so often and, among other things, unknown to the guards, throws a fake baby into the pool that immediately sinks. The guards have X seconds to spot the baby and rescue it. All of the guards hate it when an audit happens on their shift.</p>
<p>I think that I successfully scared D2 by watching A Beautiful Mind with her last night. Not sure she wants to go off to Princeton anymore. 
If she comes home talking about her roommate in the single, I’ll know we’re in trouble. :)</p>
<p>I did gain some insight as to why D2 does not appear to have much dorm shopping interest yet… I don’t want to think about anything back-to-school while it is still July.</p>
<p>mini-rant (just because) The company for which I work gives out around 5 scholarships each year (managed by an external service). Usually the deadline to send in the application is the end of May and they send out an email well in advance of that reminding everyone. This year I was watching and no email, so I went out and looked at our portal and saw that the application was due May 15… this was on May 12 as I recall. Regardless, DW and D2 were able to pull it off and get the application in on-time! No email ever came, so I checked the portal again in June and the deadline had been magically moved out to July 15. Still no problem, I guess people complained that there was no communication and the deadline was extended. Well, we got snail mail yesterday that they had received our application and we will be notified of the results in 8-10 weeks (not days!). Granted, in the general scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal, but at this rate we won’t know anything until at least mid-September. If we knew now and got the scholarship, D2’s work study would be eliminated completely. Oh well, I’ll quit whining now.</p>
<p>A very long day…spent the day doing flood relief. The devastation is undescribable. There are pictures on the internet but even those do not tell the stories of these families who lost so much. Just too tired tonight. Hope all is well.</p>
<p>Home from dinner at friends, kind of lonely here in NC, I am here because it’s what we always do, but feeling like a lousy mom with S leaving for school soon. Seriously does anyone need a vacation? Willing to supply non-virtual Margaritas! Maybe I should go back to Jersey?</p>
<p>pmk - I loved your airplane story. I can remember almost losing my son in church when he was about 2 and started to crawl under the pews. We always sat safely near the back, but I snatched him back with fear that he’d wriggle to front of church if he got started. </p>
<p>Our airplane horror story was when he was 18 months old, as we moved from NY. He was definitely not giggling.</p>
<p>Sad stories: two unrelated toddler accidents in pools in Northern California in the last couple of days. It seems one of them was resuscitated (sp) and it’s not clear if he is going to make it. The other one died.</p>
<p>This is really tragic.</p>
<p>Good Morning!</p>
<p>I have to run to school today to set up my letters to new students. They are due to mail out on August 2nd as soon as I return from vacation. It’s hard for me to believe that I already need to be thinking about the new school year.</p>
<p>acm, Now that my boys are older I find I’m going down to the beach by myself more. I love it for a little while, such peace and quiet, but then it does start to feel lonely. We rented our house for a few years as a year round rental, but once the economy crashed, so did the rental market, so we gave up. I think it would take a little over 4 hours for me to get to BHI, not too bad. If it was earlier in the summer, I may have shown up looking for one of those margaritas!</p>
<p>GSharp - I live in S. Florida now, but I hail from the Framingham of which you speak. Not sure I understand the “redneck” reference.</p>
<p>D is still not interested in shopping for her dorm yet. Maybe because it is still July!</p>
<p>^^^ I would be the “Redneck” :)</p>
<p>hope you’re not bored with me posting wedding pics. but here is short preview video of their wedding. not the full thing obviously…but i love how the videographer mixed in super 8 film and video… i just got the link and watched, so i’ll be back after i stop crying yet again </p>
<p>[Hayden+Matt:</a> cabfare wedding film preview on Vimeo](<a href=“http://vimeo.com/13447800]Hayden+Matt:”>http://vimeo.com/13447800)</p>
<p>Good morning. Nothing to report. </p>
<p>My heart goes out to everyone who has been touched by a swimmer’s emergency. How tragic. :(</p>
<p>Hi guys!</p>
<p>I’m a pretty good guest but I’m just looking for a little lesser known advice. I’m staying with a friend for a week next week, and his parents are excited to have me but of course I’d like to be a great guest. Any suggestions other than be gracious, clean up after myself, etc? I thought about making them a thank you card - they are hosting and feeding me for a week, after all!</p>
<p>If possible, bring a small hostess gift for them, like a box of nice chocolates. Then after you’re back home, write the thank-you note. Have a great time!</p>
<p>Today is the day we tackle the “stuff” situation exploding out of DS room and down the hall and into my office and… note that the operative word here is “we”. I will be the grouchy mom providing the ongoing nagging necessary to move the process along. Fortunately I am good at nagging :)</p>
<p>If you never hear from me again, assume I have been taped up in a box and put in the attic.</p>