Pace it is
05/05/13 08:23
It's amazing just how uninvolved Evan has been in the college selection process. It has been a battle as well to get him to pay so much as a visit to the schools to which he was accepted. He was willing to go to some but not others. His only requirement seemed to be that it be "urban." The deadline was fast approaching and it seemed that our visit to Pace University just outside NY City did the trick for him. We would have liked to see him go to Emmanuel in Boston but he did not get accepted. Our second choice was probably Merrimack but I think that reminded him too much of St. Thomas so that didn't work out. Nancy is beside herself with Pace since it is so far away and she did her level best to steer him clear of that choice but without success. She harped on the commuter population, the fact that we never got a chance to see so much as a classroom when we were there, and that the graduation rate was sub-par. Nancy even sought the counsel of Dr Rosman but misled him on the UNH information so took his advice with a grain of salt. It is true that at the end of the day you have to respect the choices made by your child since they get to make such choices and agree to live by their decisions. We put Evan on notice though that his grades must be reasonably good or we would not continue to pay for his schooling. As much as we want him to enjoy his college experience, we must insist that he gets grades that will qualify him to do something when he graduates. Graduating with 2.0 GPA will do him no good whatsoever.
Nancy would have preferred as well that he go into a medical field of sorts whether that be an X-Ray tech or other. These are up and coming professions that will be at the epicenter of tomorrows economy. I think we'll know after his first year as to what direction may or may not suit him. He is in a program where for that first year he will have more than enough support to get him started on the right foot. I do think that Evan's problem has never been his ability but rather his willingness and discipline to do the work required to get the good grades. He knows in his own mind that he can do it but fails to follow through as he should. Maybe that boy just has a screw loose. I guess we'll know sooner or later. Well, while I'm on the subject, here is a good example. He took my car to school on several occasions and got a warning each time that his car would be towed if he failed to get a parking sticker. So, he asked me last Friday if he could take my other car perhaps thinking that since he switched cars that he could get away with it. Well, that car came hime with a big orange sticker as well. It was just such a WTF moment. He couldn't bring himself to buy a sticker after all this time? I told him that he couldn't use the car again until he brought home the sticker. Period. Oh, let me be clear about one other thing, I told him. If you do not have a summer job by the time you graduate school then I will be taking the X Box away. I'll be damned if we're going to put him through college while he is making little or no effort to supplement his own income. It just isn't going to happen.
We've been taking Mrs G here and there with us on our weekend jaunts. It's good to get her out of the house now that Mr G is no longer around. We went to Ron Jillian's in Hampton last night for Italian food which she seemed to enjoy. She is settling a bit after the passing of Mr G some weeks ago and is managing to keep busy. She has neighbors stop by from time to time dropping off marinara sauce, asking for information about local real estate, etc.. These are the same kind folks who clear away the snow in the winter from her car and otherwise keep an eye out to see that she is managing all right. I am doing my part by doing this and that around her house and today we will visit Home Depot where she expects to purchase a door for the front of her house. She had asked that I repair the lower section of the door and my recommendation was that she replace the door and be done with it. We went to look at the doors and the idea grew on her rather quickly. There is nothing more satisfying that having a nice new door and I can attest as much since I have replaced a few in my day. I did insist that she avail the services of their technicians to install the darn thing since it is really a job to get that done. Not difficult, but time consuming. She seems to have weathered the emotional aspects of her husband's passing and has now moved on to managing her own life. It is surely a chore that she knew would come one day but just didn't realize that it would come as soon as it did. Life is just full of surprises. Who knew.
Nancy would have preferred as well that he go into a medical field of sorts whether that be an X-Ray tech or other. These are up and coming professions that will be at the epicenter of tomorrows economy. I think we'll know after his first year as to what direction may or may not suit him. He is in a program where for that first year he will have more than enough support to get him started on the right foot. I do think that Evan's problem has never been his ability but rather his willingness and discipline to do the work required to get the good grades. He knows in his own mind that he can do it but fails to follow through as he should. Maybe that boy just has a screw loose. I guess we'll know sooner or later. Well, while I'm on the subject, here is a good example. He took my car to school on several occasions and got a warning each time that his car would be towed if he failed to get a parking sticker. So, he asked me last Friday if he could take my other car perhaps thinking that since he switched cars that he could get away with it. Well, that car came hime with a big orange sticker as well. It was just such a WTF moment. He couldn't bring himself to buy a sticker after all this time? I told him that he couldn't use the car again until he brought home the sticker. Period. Oh, let me be clear about one other thing, I told him. If you do not have a summer job by the time you graduate school then I will be taking the X Box away. I'll be damned if we're going to put him through college while he is making little or no effort to supplement his own income. It just isn't going to happen.
We've been taking Mrs G here and there with us on our weekend jaunts. It's good to get her out of the house now that Mr G is no longer around. We went to Ron Jillian's in Hampton last night for Italian food which she seemed to enjoy. She is settling a bit after the passing of Mr G some weeks ago and is managing to keep busy. She has neighbors stop by from time to time dropping off marinara sauce, asking for information about local real estate, etc.. These are the same kind folks who clear away the snow in the winter from her car and otherwise keep an eye out to see that she is managing all right. I am doing my part by doing this and that around her house and today we will visit Home Depot where she expects to purchase a door for the front of her house. She had asked that I repair the lower section of the door and my recommendation was that she replace the door and be done with it. We went to look at the doors and the idea grew on her rather quickly. There is nothing more satisfying that having a nice new door and I can attest as much since I have replaced a few in my day. I did insist that she avail the services of their technicians to install the darn thing since it is really a job to get that done. Not difficult, but time consuming. She seems to have weathered the emotional aspects of her husband's passing and has now moved on to managing her own life. It is surely a chore that she knew would come one day but just didn't realize that it would come as soon as it did. Life is just full of surprises. Who knew.