My D said everyone in her Dorm area has colds. I guess all these kids bringing their viruses from various parts of the country/world to fresh hosts.
I never went home for Thanksgiving. The group that stays bonds.
International Auditor. I knew someone who had a specialty in retail auditing and he was sent to the middle east several times for short and mid term auditing assignments. Since he only spoke English he was limited to the assignments in his specialty where he could work under another auditor. If he could have spoke the local languages he could have taken longer, more diverse assignments and possibly been the Managing Auditor. The money was very good.
My Dās classes are still on track. Some Profās extended the the due dates of last weekās assignments without moving this weeks. Her Calc 2 class never missed a beat though as the Prof just had the students watch a an online version of the lecture she had planned for Monday.
@CaucAsianDad While watching the UF-Tennessee game on TV, I tried to find your daughter in the band, but they kept showing us the UT band! ~X(
We dropped DS off for move-in, convocation, and the start of orientation yesterday. Iām happy and excited for him! But the house seems so quiet when DS21 is at school. =(( I took a look at my empty social calendar and texted people about doing lunch this week and next.
Heās doing orientation this week and classes start next week. He doesnāt find out what House heāll live in permanently until after the first week of classes. So, his current dorm and roommate are temporaryāthough they both seem nice.
@Ynotgo We can sense the same quietness coming. Both of our boys move in this weekend. Looking forward to going through LA 4 times on the 405. Not.
Very strange week here. H is travelling for work - so within 1 month - weāve gone from a house of 5 and a dog to a house of 2 and the dog. Looking forward to this weekend when D16 will come home with BF and another friend and a couple that we are close friends with whose daughter is at the same school as D16 will visit Saturday evening. It will be nice to cook a big family meal.
Happy Rosh Hashana to all who celebrate. I tried to get S17 to go to Hillel for dinner tonight but he said services are required first. I had been so hopeful, especially since he had asked me to send him two kippot.
Iāve gone from being the āgo toā person for admissions info to being a travel agent. Seriously, I have started a log to keep track of all the trips between the four of us. Had a major stress attack earlier because I couldnāt find DSās Thanksgiving reservation confirmation on anyoneās email. Finally called SW, and it appears I combined 2 email addresses so the confirmation was sent to no one. Ended well once I called the airlines - turns out the price decreased so I got a nice credit. :)>-
Just catching up and laughing at all the things our children are calling home for!
We had a successful drop off in Paris and had the chance to meet and get to know some of the kids/parents. S/O and I went on to enjoy some time to ourselves exploring Paris, Normandy and London.
What was the most fun and interesting was that we met several other people who were traveling because they were also taking their kids to Uni. For example, while eating at a restaurant at the Philly airport (waiting to leave for Paris) we happened to sit next to a French couple. It turned out they had just dropped their son off at Wharton and were heading home. We met up with them a couple of days later in Paris and they took us on a night walking tour, out for drinks and dinner, we had a blast!
This one is for @VickiSoCal - I met an American woman in the elevator at my London hotel, asked her if she was enjoying her stay, she said she just dropped off her son at St. Andrews.
We had about 3-4 similar incidents striking up conversations with strangers.
Well, I miss my daughter but Iām trying to focus on myself, getting back in shape, kicking -ss at work, organizing the house, etc.
Son seems very happy and doing well in his classes. He is in a dance team for homecoming. They put him in the first row paired with the Sr. girl that is in charge of their team. He gets to perform in front of 4000 people in a competition. This is too funny because my son has never danced in his life. He has made some contacts in the local business community and is working on marketing some items for one store owner (odd since he is pre-vet and this is clothing).
He said the girls have started calling him āColumbia Cutieā because of a jacket he was wearing. His gf is taking him to her home for the second time this weekend. He has his first actual party Friday night. Lots of little things going on with him. He says his new gf has all my best qualities and she makes him love me even more! Awww.
@jmek15 I have been using TripCase for several years and am very happy with it. By now, there must be several itinery apps available. I send all travel confirmations to trips @ tripcase .com and they get added to my ātrips.ā I āmanage tripsā by combining items and naming them with who/when/what, e.g. DS2 Thanksgiving.
That way all the air tickets, rental car and hotel confirmations are right there for me to see. It is also useful for college visit trips when you have to book several hotels for one night each and combine driving and flying. I can check what leg of the trip still needs booking.
I often check southwest fares for the ones I booked way advance (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc) and get easy credit by changing the flight to the exact same schedule but with different price.
I keep trying TripCase because so many people love it, and it keeps not working for me and my needs. My go-to for travel planning is actually Google Calendar (with several different calendars if Iām coordinating lots of people), which I like even more for its robust time zone support than for the ability to see overlaps and gaps at a glance. (If I still used a Windows machine I might try Calendarscopeās network version, given past positive experiences with their standalone product.)
I have trip case for work and trip it for home and prefer trip it
Google Calendar automatically puts reservations into my calendar so they magically appear but a few donāt appear. Havenāt tried to fight it yet.
With TripCase, it cannot interpret some emails, and I have to enter such items manually. That is fine with me.
I started using TripCase because my travel agent sent my itinerary that way. Looks like in 2013.
I will try TripIt @endesmom.
I found it amazing that a parent was not ashamed by saying this, I guess Iāll assume she doesnāt realize that todayās definition of sjw is not the same is it was in the '60ās.
Just got back from dropping D17 off for new student orientation. Sheās thrilled with her choice and excited for whatās to come.
I have to say that I, too, was beyond impressed with everything I saw and heard ā the school prides itself in bringing in a student body that is not only super-bright and high-achieving, but also quirky, irreverent, inquisitive, supportive, and collaborative. The administration truly encourages intellectual exploration, is making a concerted effort to support and grow their programs in the arts and in the humanities, and is 100% committed to diversity and inclusion.
Itās been an atypical week for us. D17 usually texts a couple of times a week, and may make a brief mid-week phone call aside from our Sunday check-in. This week, though, sheās been trying to figure out many āadultyā things and Iāve had not one, but two multi-hour phone conversations with her.
The springboard topic was course signups for next semester, which open on Monday. Sheās been thinking a lot about whether she wants to change her music minor to communications or astrophysics, or drop it completely in order to have an opportunity to explore the different liberal arts areas that interest her without ending up on the five-year plan to an engineering degree.
Sheās also struggling with how to get her GIās office to play nicely with our insurance. Sheās got to get all of the approvals and co-pays lined up before her infusion, which is due in a week. Weāve been helping her with it as much as we can, but itās been a real eye-opener for her and sheās begun thinking about what level of insurance sheāll need when she looks for a job, as well as how to manage her medication schedule if and when she wants to take an internship out of town or spend a semester abroad.
The really wonderful thing is that she has asked for my advice and she is taking it seriously, but I know that sheāll make her own choices and solve her own problems. I became convinced of that when, instead of calling her doctorās office, she drove there and sat down with the case manager and then refused to leave until they had contacted our insurance and provided all of the information needed for approval. (Proud mama moment!)
The other cool thing is that in the long, rambling conversations I got to hear more about her teachers, her friends, and her struggle to stay away from the cafeteria dessert bar than I ever thought I would.
Itās nice to know that I havenāt completely lost touch with the teenager who would curl up on my lap for a cuddle and a chat.
āI became convinced of that when, instead of calling her doctorās office, she drove there and sat down with the case manager and then refused to leave until they had contacted our insurance and provided all of the information needed for approval. (Proud mama moment!)ā
^^^ That is a serious level of adulting that I can say with GREAT confidence that a LOT of adults themselves have seriously not mastered. They refuse to engage in that level of responsibility when it comes to their health insurance. She is to be applauded for sure.
Also, the struggle to stay away from the dessert bar is awesome too. D and I had many talks about self-responsibility and eating when on campus and so far Iām pleased to say she has tried to implement most of them and is self-regulating without obsessingāwhich is the main goal of balance and eating IMO.
Anyway, good job to your D and I sincerely hope her infusion goes well. This is such great life experience for them to learn about health insurance and the necessity of going out of your way to understand and define things that are needed.