Hurricanes on Multiple Fronts!

I wasn't writing much because I was knee-deep in preparing for one of the most difficult things a mother like me can do: Getting my kids ready to leave home.  Michael had graduated from college, was accepted by the Peace Corps, and had an assignment in Nicaragua. Katie had been accepted to the New York Film Academy.  My little unschoolers were ready to go off to explore their dreams. Unfortunate for me that they couldn't do this a little closer to home, but...roots and wings, right?

Sue's Meticulous Plans

So my little house of cards was set up. After shopping and packing and prepping - and lots of tears from mommy - we had a plan! I'd take Katie to NYC on a Thursday, we'd stay together for a day or two, find the grocery stores nearby, practice on the subway, etc. She'd check in on Sunday, I'd fly out on Monday. I'd be home in time for some last minute time with Michael, who would fly out of Austin on Tuesday morning at 6 a.m. Short, fast, do-able.

Slight glitch. I had forgotten about Alyssa's first fashion show with Avenue Five. It was scheduled for Friday night. Luckily, Priceline was lovely and simply changed my departure date to Saturday morning. We'd all go together to the fashion show, along with family, friends, & Alyssa's boyfriend's family. We'd pack ahead of time and be ready to go out the next morning, 8 a.m. That would leave one day for Katie and I to figure it all out, but we could do it. Packing it in was our style anyway, right? Crisis averted.

And what is bad when you build a little house of cards? A breeze.
My breeze had a name:  Hurricane Irene.

 We had been watching the hurricane on the news, but it seemed so unlikely that it would hit NYC.  We looked at it as an adventure that Katie would be sharing with her roommates, and they'd always remember that they were the group that blew in with Hurricane Irene. It was starting to look a little ominous that I might not be able to get back on Monday, in time to see Michael off, but I *could* get Katie settled before the storm arrived. Michael had traveled before, so that's how I prioritized it. Still, I wasn't that thrilled with the idea of missing him.

As we were all dressed and walking out the door to the fashion show, Katie received a text from the dorm in New York: "Evacuating residents. Registration/Check In for Sunday is CANCELLED."

I could regale you idioms like "best laid plans of mice and men" or other such things. But my brain was on overload.  I picked up the phone and called the dorm, "Really?? I just spoke to someone there saying that the kids COULD check in, changed the flight, etc." They were really patient with me, because I must have sounded like a lunatic wanting to send my child INTO a  hurricane!  I was like a hurricane in reaction to a hurricane! We knew that the mayor had decided to shut down all public transportation. Our car service emailed saying that if you can get here, we will drive you anywhere that's available. But the dorm guy said, "Listen, it will be very unlikely that you'll even GET a flight to come into JFK tomorrow at all. But if you get her here, we'll take care of her. Everyone didn't evacuate. And it is the north end of Manhattan."

 So we stuck our head in the sand for a couple of hours.

We went to the Fashion Show, unsure of what our next 12 hours would look like. How does one predict the path of a hurricane anyway? The show was awesome. Alyssa did some great work on the models. We skipped going out for dessert afterwards, and just ate ice cream at home with the family, Grandma, and Josh.  Turning on the computer, we discovered that the dorm guy was right, all flights to JFK were cancelled.

Ron could see that I was dangling from the end of my rope. So he sat on the phone for hours, first  trying to reach Priceline, then trying to figure out the best flight to rebook.  I tried to cancel the pricey hotel I was going to stay in, but because I used a service to book it, they couldn't unbook it. I had visions of being charged anyway.  Suffice it to say I have no extra money laying around. I canceled the car service and rebooked it to the later date Ron was able to get.

The next morning, I could get the booking service for the hotel. They were working from their homes because they had all be evacuated. No charge, no problem. Whew.

So after all of this chaos and drama, everything worked out. Just like a hurricane - crazy wild when you're in the middle of it, then the next morning, the sun comes out, and if you're as lucky as we were, it looks like nothing ever had happened.

Michael's flight to D.C. wasn't canceled, and I was able to take him to the airport to go off on his adventure.  While I have received a couple of emails from him since then, his last text to me as he was boarding the plane from Miami to Nicaragua was, "Off I go, into the wild blue yonder..." Air Force people will know that line. Mothers do not like to hear that though.

 
Katie got to spend more time with her boyfriend. We left on Wednesday, and got her settled. We checked out a few grocery stores together, ate at some cute cafes, and then I came back the next day. She figured out everything else  on her own, no problem.
I, on the other hand, cried in the car all the way back to JFK airport. The driver kept looking at me in the mirror, but stayed silent. Probably for the best. 

I love my kids. I love their sense of adventure. I KNOW where they get that! But sometimes I wish we could scale it down a bit. Don't some kids just move out into an apartment nearby? Would that have been too much to ask???

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know.

Michael's Graduation

 

Today, Michael graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas State University!

His degree is Mass Communications - Journalism
with a minor in Anthropology.

We are so proud of him!

He had a wonderful experience at Texas State, even though it started out a little rocky. He was always on the Dean's List, he joined a bunch of clubs, worked on the school newspaper, even hosted his own radio shows on the school's radio station. It was a fantastically successful experience!

Looking on with disbelief!

With Alyssa and Katie

On the Big Screen in the auditorium

New York City (Day 1)

This is our 4-day trip to NYC. Our primary goal was to see where Katie wants to go to school and get it all set up. Additionally, I wanted to take another trip with Michael before he leaves for the Peace Corps, and since the last NYC trip was primarily theatre-focused, to let him find more fun in New York. And, since Alyssa didn't make the first trip with us, I wanted her to have the experience as well.  But because my memory is terrible blogging seems to be the way to go.

Up at 4 a.m. Two cars to get us to the airport. With our boarding passes already printed, we got through with no problems. Actually, Alyssa found that she had gotten through with a tiny pocket knife in her purse! And they did want to check Michael and Josh's carry-on bags - they're such suspicious-looking characters!  But mainly, we slept on the airplanes. American airlines, connecting flight at O'Hare then on to LaGuardia.

Carmel Car Service - great service. With 5 people, it was cheaper and faster than the Super Shuttle (@$16/person). We had a minivan for $50, plus the $6 toll and the tip. We made it from LaGuardia to Times Square in under 30 minutes each way.

Marriott Marquis
2nd time at this hotel on Times Square. Didn't splurge on the Times Square view. Still, the 42nd floor let's you see pretty far - glimpses of the Hudson River, John's Pizzeria, Jersey Boys, American Idiot, and the Golden Hand at Madame Tussard's! Lovely room. Really convenient for tourist stuff.


Hell's Kitchen Flea Market
Not very big, so not too great. Josh found some great boots, but they were too small. Still it was a fabulous place for some NY people-watching. Many were all decked out in their VERY extravagant Easter "bonnets."





Junior's.
 It started raining and we ran across the street to Junior's for sandwiches. We were running late so we got them to go. Not that great for the money. Probably because we had to carry them a little ways before we ate.  Waiter comments from Bubba Gumps were that we should only get our cheesecake from Junior's and get our Pastrami Sandwiches from Katz.

Squeezed all 5 of us into a regular sized cab (after a little begging on my part), $5 to get us to The World Comedy Club on 53rd. Good news, we had a coupon for $10 each tickets. We knew we had to have a 2 drink minimum, but we were a little surprised when the bill came - $82!  Bottle water - $10, Beer $16-18, Soda $20. They let us bring in our sandwiches from Junior's, and the 90 minute show was funny. Good first night entertainment!

Found The Food Emporium on 49th & 8th on our walk home from the Comedy Club. Picked up fruit for next day breakfast....even though we ate most if it that night! The rain had stopped while we walked, storm rolled in again afterward.

Walking back toward hotel

A rainy night in Times Square

Still busy there, even if it rains!

Just back from the Comedy Club!

NOTHING is ever simple

“Professor Garbor, I have some bad news. I never checked the expiration on my passport and it expired months ago. So we’re working on getting a new one and it looks like I’ll be on the flight on Thursday, instead of Monday. I am soo sorry. Is this going to mess everything up?”

I don't believe in Revisionist History. So while Michael's trip to Belize was wonderful in many ways. it wasn't perfect - not the trip, not the days leading up to it, not the people involved.  But if you're reading here, you'll know I'm going to simply tell it the way it happened.

Michael is a lot like me. He's a People Organizer. When he first starting seriously planning his trip to Belize with his Anthropology class, he set up a Facebook Group. This would allow pre-trip information and post-trip pictures to be shared easily. No one would become a bottleneck. He posted reminders they had received at meetings, so no one would forget important deadlines. Everything seemed to be going smoothly.

Airfare was purchased a month in advance, suitcases were nearly ready and we were sitting around on the last Sunday afternoon before Michael was to leave. Julie, her boyfriend, her kids, her dogs, plus Grandma, plus our five. The topic of passports comes up and how the prices have risen significantly.  Julie and her ex-husband had traveled extensively and she was certainly the most "in the know." As we’re all chatting, Michael flips to his own passport.   The color drains from his face. He goes upstairs to show me, “Expiration: 2/28/10.” In all of his prepping for the trip, he never thought to look at the expiration date!  His plane for Belize was to leave in 48 hours - possibly without him now.

But we're all problem-solvers. So Ron grabs the laptop and I gets on the PC, quickly looking at passport renewal information. Many of the sources look like it might take a month to renew - 2 weeks at the minimum. Finally, we both stumble on “Same Day Passports.” And they have an office in Austin. Interestingly, they boast that they are available 24/7. So I find the number and Ron makes the call. And, on a Sunday night, a man actually answers the phone. Ron describes the situation and the man thinks he can get a passport for Michael by Wednesday. Ron and Michael would need to be at their office on Monday morning at 8 a.m.

As solutions are being found to the passport problem, I move to the airline issue. The roundtrip air flight was booked through Orbitz. Finding the itinerary, I look to see if anything is available on Thursday and what the costs will be to change the flight. With only 4 days advanced planning, the available flight is only $100 more! Tack on the “change of flight” charges and the Orbitz charges and we’re at $280 more. But Michael now has a seat on Thursday morning flight. There *were* some Wednesday night flights, but since he’d have to take a water taxi for the first time, it seemed best to not do that at night. Plus, if there was a glitch at the passport office, we’d be frantically doing this all over again.

Next, Michael needed to reach his teacher. The first numbers were not working. So he dug through is suitcase to find alternate contact numbers. His teacher was already in Belize and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to reach him. But, success! Professor Garber answered the 3rd number.

To say that Professor Garber is laid back, is an understatement.

Dr. Garber

“Maaaan. Shit happens, ya know? Especially when it comes to traveling. It won’t be a problem. We’ll probably still just be setting up! Call me if it changes, but we’ll look for you on Thursday."

A few more pleasantries were exchanged and that was that.


Monday, Ron and Michael went to Same Day Passports and completed the paperwork for the passports. The total charge was going to be $525. This would get the expedited passport to us on Wednesday morning. If there was a snag and the expediting is denied, we would have to pay an additional $290 but we could have the passport by Wednesday night. At this point, we had already invested about $6000. If we had to add another thousand to it, it’s better than walking away leaving $6000 for nothing. So we did.

Michael and Ron came back. Ron went back to work and Michael went back to house-sitting. (He was in the middle of a weeklong house-sitting for a house FULL of pets in the nearby neighborhood) With passports on the brain, Ron started looking up the regular costs, so the rest of the family could have passports. He noticed that there were extra steps if the applicant applied for a passport before reaching age 16. Michael’s expiration date was one month before his 21st birthday, so it seemed likely that he HAD applied before he was 16. So Ron called SameDay Passports, and she pulled up the date for the original passport issue date. Sure enough, Michael had completed the paperwork at 15, before he went to Japan. This meant they had completed the wrong paperwork at Same Day passports.

Nothing could be done locally to fix this.

New instructions: Ron had to call the State Department in Houston to make an appointment. We had no idea whether this would be the next day or weeks from now. Luckily, he got an appointment for 1 p.m. the next day, Tuesday. I had to get to Same Day Passports to pick up the passport and the other paperwork that was there for them to TAKE to Houston. They close at 5 p.m. but agreed to stay a little late since it was their error. What time was it when Sue found out she had to go across town in rush hour traffic? 4:55 p.m.

So with paperwork in hand, Ron and Michael trekked to Houston Tuesday morning. They found their way, with the help of Katie’s GPS, without problems. As they were chatting with the man completing the paperwork at the State Department, Ron and he discover that they KNEW each other. Both were stationed together at Sheppard AFB. That’s all fine and good, but now he has to get someone else to come swear Michael in, since he “knew” him. At this point, what’s another few minutes?

But the Same Day Passports people were again incorrect when they said he would be able to leave the interview with his passport. In fact, it would take 24 hours. And they could not mail it to us, they would have to pick it up there. So, that meant Ron and Michael would have to stay overnight in Houston. This turned out kind of fun, since I found online that the Museum of Natural Science was actually easily accessible to where they were. And, Tuesdays are open late until 8 p.m., so they were able to spend a decent amount of time there.

Is it too soon to say maybe luck is changing? As I type, it’s Wednesday morning. We are waiting for the 2:30 pick up time for the passport. And, if all goes well, they’ll get back tonight and Michael will board his plane Thursday morning for Belize.

Just to toss a few good things out:
- Michael was really lucky his teacher is laid back and not caring if he arrives late. This trip is for credit that he needs for his upcoming senior year.
- We were lucky to get a flight on Thursday, and it was only $100 more. I thought the point of reserving your seats way in advance was to keep costs low? Hmmm.
- Same Day Air returned all our money, and going to Houston to do this looks like it will cost a fraction of the “convenience” of doing the passport thing in Austin. Of course, we had to add on gas (but they took the Prius!) and hotel fee. But still, it’s not going to come up to $1000. More like a $500-$550.
- Ron and Michael got to have a little time at the museum together in Houston. They have similar interests so that works.

Katie and College

For years, Katie has vacillated about what she wants to do for college. Or if she even wants to go.  She liked the idea of Conservatories. And really liked the idea of living in New York.  She would read the bios on the playbills, see where the actors studied, and explore their option online.

Katie is still 18 but has spent most of her teen years pursuing acting, dance and voice. She has coaches and teachers and an agent. She drives all over Central Texas honing her craft. So we were in no big rush to "do college." She just didn't feel like it was a good fit.

She hadn't studied traditional subjects, so she felt like she'd be pretty far behind, if she tried to test for college placement. But last year, she started looking at other universities, like NYU or Carnegie Melon.  Since neither of these options are inexpensive, we decided she might want to take community college to knock out the basics and then she could just take the upper level courses at the university that fits her.  After all, who needs Carnegie Melon's College Algebra? or NYU's U.S. History?  Unsure of what plan to pursue, she thought it would be wise to keep all doors open. So she took the College Placement Test for community college.

The Compass Test, as it is called, has 3 sections: Reading, Writing, Math. She started with the Essay. She had to write a persuasive essay about whether freshmen college students should live in the dorm or be allowed to live off campus. Weird topic, right? But it just so happened her brother had JUST started college and had the exact dilemma when he found that all the dorms were full! So, she passed the essay with flying colors.  She didn't pass the questions section for writing, however. Nor did she pass all of the parts of the Reading section. And she didn't pass any of the Math - but we didn't expect much differently in this area. Actually, by the time she got to the math, she kind of blew it off expecting she'd need developmental classes for it anyway.

So, a less than stellar performance on the Compass. However, she was glad that her online writing had given her enough practice to do well on the essay portion.

Time passed. She worked on more shows, took more lessons. She back-burnered the whole "college thing." But this year, over Christmas, she decided she wanted to look at it again. It turns out, she was dreading the whole re-test option. When we saw a counselor at the school, she said Katie could retest, or she could just accept what she tested at and take Developmental courses. This option really made Katie happy.

The Developmental courses are each broken down into 3 parts. For instance, Fundamentals Reading, Dev.Reading I and Dev Reading II. She would need all three parts of the Math. But she would only need the last section of Reading and 2 of the 3 for Writing. If she completes the Reading soon, she can take other classes while continuing to work her way through the Math courses.  So she signed up for Developmental Reading and Writing. (By the time we got there, most of the developmental classes were full.) She will only need one more Writing after this, and her 3 Developmental Math courses.

I think it's interesting that you can complete all of the high school reading, math and writing in 3 semesters at Community College. It seems like a much better use of time. At least it has been for Katie and Michael.

So, Spring 2010, Katie is enrolled in College. She starts mid-February.
She's excited.

Texas State - OVERBOOKED!

Earlier, I wrote about Michael going away to college. Well, the "living in the dorms" part didn't happen. Texas State had a record number of students this year and in the first time in history were unable to house all freshman and sophomore students in the dorms, as is their rule. We were so bummed. This was going to be a big part of Michael's experience. Since he didn't know anyone, this would be a way to meet a lot of people. No sense in talking about all the reasons to live in a dorm, because it ain't happeninBut we adjusted and went down to San Marcos to look for housing for him. After consulting several real estate advisors, we settled on Cabana Beach Apts.

Cabana Beach Apartments looks like a resort! They have roommate matching and it's totally geared toward the college students. Friday night pool parties with free food from area restaurants, Wednesday night Wii games, shuttles to campus, etc. Hopefully this will all work out.

Michael just spoke on the phone today with his 2 roommates - Rob, a Senior majoring in International Affairs, and Clinton a Junior in Mass Communications (Radio/TV). I think it would have been better to have other younger roommates, but seeing these boys' majors reassured Michael that all will be well.

He moves in on Aug. 22nd. He's already told me that he'd prefer to just say his goodbyes here at the house, load his car, and head down there on his own.

Sigh.

OK. I can take it.

Roots and wings, right?
That's what we're supposed to give them.
Keep reminding me, ok?

I love this painting. I just found it on the web!

I might have to go BUY it!

Sending Michael to College

Our experience with Michael and college isn't traditional. Not much about his upbringing was - so why start now, right?  Michael was just accepted to a 4 year University (Texas State) with no SAT test, no ACT test, and no formal studies as a child.

So how did this happen?

Michael was unschooled. At about 14, he thought he'd like to take college classes. So he did some of the workbooks from the Key2 series. Algebra wasn't coming up really in our day to day lives, so he worked on a few of those.

Then we found a website, number2.com, which offered free test prep. What i liked about it was that the program taught you FROM the answers you give. If you give the right answer, it showed the work (in case you guessed) and if you did the wrong answer, it showed where it *thought* you went offtrack. Overall, it was good.

We looked over a few spelling rules - he never really got very good at spelling, in spite of being quite a reader.


Don't read into this though. We often found something more exciting to do than work on these academic test preparations.  We suffered through a lot of guilt for not doing. We had uneasy feelings that this wasn't going to work because of a lack prep. But, we thought he should just press on and see what happens.

Michael took the Accuplacer test at Vernon Community College. He did fine on the math and reading but failed the Writing component.  The topics for the writing section are outrageous, IMNSHO. This one was about the "No pass, no Play" rule. He had never heard of it. So he ranted about why people should be able to do whatever they're good at, etc.

I hadn't shared the simple 5 part paragraph formula. I hadn't showed him that when you write a Persuasive Paper, you cannot find something good in the other person's position. He did that in the paper. It was more like how he would be if he were just talking to someone about the topic.  So, afterwards, we took at topic and I showed him how to work that formula. Then he tried an example. Then he took the test the next week and passed. That was it.

Plain and simple.  Thus began our path to college.

He took a few classes that Spring. More at Austin Community College once we moved, always being sure to choose transferable classes. He did really well in the classes - and even got an A in English Composition!

Then, after completing 30 hours in community college, he was accepted as a Transfer Student to Texas State University.  He'll start in Fall '08, live in the dorms, etc.  I'll keep you posted!!