Schlepping Gear to OOS School

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We are on our second hard drive on a new Dell lap top and have had numerous virus problems. Is this a common problem when the campus is on ethernet links???

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<p>It <em>shouldn't</em> be. The campus should have a firewall and a network anti-virus program. </p>

<p>I assume your D knows not to open unsolicited attachments and has security settings to protect against macro viruses in Word. Does she have an anti-virus program on her laptop? Does she keep the definitions updated?</p>

<p>I asked my H, who works in college tech services. He said your D MUST run the Windows service pack and all security updates before she goes anywhere else on the Internet when she installs a new hard drive. Without the service pack and security updates, her new drive is vulnerable to the security faults that allow her to be re-infected, sometimes in as little as 2 minutes! </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>texas, it was moi who said that if it doesn't fit in your car it won't fit in the room... and we learned that the hard way, dragging stuff up four steep flights of steps in an unairconditioned dorm on a hot August day... only to take half of it back that night.</p>

<p>if your kid is used to not sharing a bedroom and having an entire closet (and for some families.... a private bathroom or half a bathroom) the culture shock on that first day can be intense. The stuff at Bed N Bath looks very appealing spread out in a store the size of a football field, but trust me, your kid will be claustrophobic staring at it all, along with the roommates junk all year.</p>

<p>The furniture, microwaves, coffee pots, etc. can all be bought online a few weeks into the semester once your kid decides what s/he needs.... but there just isn't room in a lot of dorms for all the appliances and bean bag chairs the stores put into their "Dorm Life" sections.</p>

<p>Bravo, blossom!</p>

<p>I'll just add "online or on sale."</p>

<p>If you have an IKEA around, get the bedding there. $2.00 a sheet. All the ideas above are wonderful! I just know that no matter what, the bedding goes with her - the last thing you need is to be exhausted and have to run out and buy some. Make the bed FIRST, so after that busy, busy first day, the student can just crash, and not worry about making the bed - which they won't.</p>

<p>It's true if you can't fit it in a car it probably won't fit in a dorm. Last fall we moved our daughter to school about 5 hours away. We got her stuff, my husband, myself and her sister in a Honda Civic. Granted the computor moniter was between me and my younger daughter in the back seat. When we unloaded I couldn't believe the U-hauls and trailers some people brought. I did see quite a lot being packed back up to go back home as there was no room in the dorms. After first semester my daughter changed schools from Berkeley to the East Coast. We flew on Jet Blue as they allowed 3 checked pieces of luggage a piece. Boxes counted so she shipped her computor that way. Worked out fine I used the packing bags that allow you to remove the air with a vacuum for her comforter, blankets, etc.</p>

<p>All the advice here has been sound. Just one additional word - make sure you have all the bedding with you, so you don't have to run and buy it or pick it up, and make the bed first, before you do anything else. You can always put up the shelves later, etc., but it gives you a place to sit comfortably when you need a break, and even if everything isn't finished at the end of the day, when your child is tired, there is someplace to crash without thinking about making the bed when you are exhausted.</p>

<p>We didn't do the major shopping until we had checked out the room. The meant we spent D-3 traveling across country and D-2 and D-1 checking out the room, making trips to the mall, setting up bank account and cell phone, etc., so that D-Day itself was as low stress as it could be...which is to say, not very low.</p>

<p>The cost of shipping and the logistics of getting stuff from the campus post office to the house [dorm] just made that notion look undesirable very early on.</p>

<p>Fwiw, D and roommate made contact by phone several weeks in advance, did girl-stuff like coordinate colors and otherwise reasonable stuff like divvying up who would be responsible for getting what.</p>

<p>We had to return only one item...a long mirror meant to hang on door...when we discovered that the inside of one closet door did, in fact, have a mirror already affixed.</p>

<p>I agree about having the bedding with you; nothing says home (in a dorm) better than a bed. Both my children like everything washed before wearing; that includes linens for their beds. We also put fabric softener in everything, so I have made my kids a bit fussy about their laundry!</p>

<p>Talking with the new roomate is a necessity. This is a great way to avoid doubles of everything-fridge, tv, stereo, phone, playstation (although my son would think that 2 would be great), etc.</p>

<p>I found moving into the dorm room to be very stressful for all. Child is excited and a bit nervious, mom wants the room to be organized and neat, dad is schlepping boxes, hanging whatever, connecting computer, printer, and tv cables, running interference between mom and child, and running to the store to find diet coke!!</p>

<p>My son's roomate ordered his computer through the school to be picked up on move in day; big mistake! The line to pick up was long; this time could have been spent setting up the room. Then when he got to the room he realized he needed another cable, when back and found that they were out. By this time, we had made my son's bed, connected all electronics, unpacked clothes, set up the desk area, and were ready to attend the first of several meetings. We did have to go to Target to get some storage containers for under the bed, but otherwise we were done. My son didn't want to put out his dodads until we left as I had a habit of telling him where I thought they should be placed!! He was getting a bit overwelmed with the whole day and I knew it was time to take off for the day. My husband and I ran a few errands to get things we thought he "needed" and somethings he really did need and went to dinner with another couple. We returned the next day when we all had rested and helped son finish up.</p>

<p>My daughter on the other hand will be different; she is already shopping for what she wants. With helpful ideas from this forum, and experience from moving with my son, I think I will be more prepared this time.</p>

<p>If you get the right bid they can get stuff like new and lightly used coffee makers. extra towels, posters, books, even clothing sent right to the dorm if they do not have a car to drive to Ikea, Target, etc! </p>

<p>I have a question for those who have gone though it. My son will want to bring a laptop, ipod and portable DVD player, all small and easy to steal. How did you or your child circumvent theft? I was thinking about a locked suitcase under the bed to keep these things in rather than storage containers.</p>

<p>Another question - I am clueless about Cell phones - our contract is up. Should we get a new one here in NY for CA? There are some nice deals lately for family plans. The cell phone people say it is fine to use the cell phone anywhere but of course they want to make $$. I do not want to cell phone shop during move in day. </p>

<p>BTW -this is a great thread! Great ideas!</p>

<p>ebay:</p>

<p>My feeling is that the locked suitcase is probably not practical. The kids just won't put their stuff in it, just as they won't hang up their clothes in closets or put them away in drawers when the floor is so handy! When traveling, I use a lock for my laptop (available for about $30).<br>
The best antitheft device is a locked door room. It's amazing how many students fail to lock their doors.</p>

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My daughter on the other hand will be different; she is already shopping for what she wants.

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She's got a kindred spirit in my d, who made her decision Sunday and has already generated the first draft of what I know will eventually be an exhaustively researched, to say nothing of lengthy, list.</p>

<p>My oldest d, a 10-hour drive away for the past 4 years, rented a storage unit with several friends each summer to minimize the dragging back and forth. Three friends chip in on one of those mid-sized units (maybe the size of a smallish bathroom), and it costs about $40/month each. Since none of them has a car, they trade storage for transportation to the facility, letting the kid who drives them store his fridge/computer/other stuff. If your child does this, it's best for him/her not to be the first person back in the fall unless he/she was also the the last one out. Otherwise, you'll spend an hour juggling other people's belongings while looking for your kid's stuff.</p>

<p>Pokey -- I have a solution to the computer delivery issue. My son is at school in the Midwest -- we live in the East. He was able to move into dorm day before shipped computers were available for pickup at school facility so we solved the problem by shipping from local MailBoxes to one in the area; they called my cell when it arrived there and charged us a minimal one day holding fee.<br>
Frazzled -- I like your idea of kids sharing storage space over the summer. My S stores some easy to shlepp things at nearby relative's but has shipped clothes, CDs, DVDs, etc. back and forth each summer and this is not cheap. I scream and yell at him all the time cuz over 3 years this adds up -- but to no avail.
Also, frosh year we arrived a day or two before move in and bought plastic storage bins, etc. at Target. When we went back to Target a day of two later, everything was picked over and out of stock. So beware!</p>