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[Travellin Dave]

I know Tony's been through poughkeepsie?

Just recently. My daughter is considering Marist College.

Transferring?

No, my other daughter who is going into her senior year of high school.

Didn't realize they were that old...how time flies!

[A Friend of Charlie]

I know Tony's been through poughkeepsie?

Just recently. My daughter is considering Marist College.

So nice of the kids looking at all these pricy private schools.

Truth is the private schools usually offer more money anyway.

Truth. My oldest son's academic achievement got him interest from Columbia and Harvard early in high school. The brutal amount of extracurricular, non-academic effort that would have been needed to translate into acceptance from either university didn't suit his personality or interest. But if it had, it would have been far less expensive for me to send him to Harvard or Columbia than to the state schools he ended up attending.

He sounds a lot like my oldest.

My wife says Christian is on the Autism spectrum, and she's in the business of making such assessments, so I take her word for it. Most people wouldn't see that in him, but the symptoms are there for those of us closest to him to see. He values structure, and disruption aggravates him. He hates change. He is very introverted, and despite the fact everyone who knows him considers him charming, social interaction quickly tires him to the point of shutting down. He tends to be averse to public display of affection, in fact he shocked me a couple of nights ago when he gave me a hug after I helped him retrieve his motorcycle when it broke down. He's a self-educator, and his teachers were often dumbfounded at the quality of his academic work because they were constantly battling him to get his nose out of unrelated books and "pay attention" in class. Carol and I had similar misperceptions, because we so infrequently saw him doing homework. It was only when he got an award for being in the top 10% in the nation academically his senior year that we figured out he was getting all his homework done at school, even in his heavy load of AP classes. He started college in the Engineering program at University of Idaho, a prestigious program, but that all ground to a screeching halt when he figured out that what Engineers do is mostly project management and oversight of other people who actually do the things. He wanted nothing to do with that. He wanted to do the things. So he came home and switched to computer science.

He manages the condition well, and has gotten far better at it since high school. But when he was in high school, the thought of all the extracurricular activities and public-service efforts that are required to even hope for consideration by Ivy-league schools frankly horrified him, and he told me so in no uncertain terms. I was mostly smart enough not to press it, and let him make his own choices.

We guide them but hope that eventually they will make the decisions and be happy with them.

[A Friend of Charlie]

I know Tony's been through poughkeepsie?

Just recently. My daughter is considering Marist College.

Transferring?

No, my other daughter who is going into her senior year of high school.

Didn't realize they were that old...how time flies!

The twin boys are the youngest and will be starting 8th grade in the fall. Time flies, indeed.

[Travellin Dave]

Morning, muchachos.

How goes it, Bret? Things still messy at work?

It's always messy, but we have completed our side of the work needed to load the Chart of Accounts for this biennial. That's the work that has buried us for the past 10 days.

Big sigh of relief!

[Travellin Dave]

Today is National Hot Dog Day!
Grab yourself a wiener!

[Travellin Dave]

Wiener lull?

[Travellin Dave]

I know its Wednesday, but Carnitas Taco's anyway.

[A Friend of Charlie]

Today is National Hot Dog Day!
Grab yourself a wiener!

Hmmm. Maybe after the baseball game.

Wish us luck!

[LuvTooGolf]

I know Tony's been through poughkeepsie?

Just recently. My daughter is considering Marist College.

So nice of the kids looking at all these pricy private schools.

Truth is the private schools usually offer more money anyway.

Truth. My oldest son's academic achievement got him interest from Columbia and Harvard early in high school. The brutal amount of extracurricular, non-academic effort that would have been needed to translate into acceptance from either university didn't suit his personality or interest. But if it had, it would have been far less expensive for me to send him to Harvard or Columbia than to the state schools he ended up attending.

He sounds a lot like my oldest.

My wife says Christian is on the Autism spectrum, and she's in the business of making such assessments, so I take her word for it. Most people wouldn't see that in him, but the symptoms are there for those of us closest to him to see. He values structure, and disruption aggravates him. He hates change. He is very introverted, and despite the fact everyone who knows him considers him charming, social interaction quickly tires him to the point of shutting down. He tends to be averse to public display of affection, in fact he shocked me a couple of nights ago when he gave me a hug after I helped him retrieve his motorcycle when it broke down. He's a self-educator, and his teachers were often dumbfounded at the quality of his academic work because they were constantly battling him to get his nose out of unrelated books and "pay attention" in class. Carol and I had similar misperceptions, because we so infrequently saw him doing homework. It was only when he got an award for being in the top 10% in the nation academically his senior year that we figured out he was getting all his homework done at school, even in his heavy load of AP classes. He started college in the Engineering program at University of Idaho, a prestigious program, but that all ground to a screeching halt when he figured out that what Engineers do is mostly project management and oversight of other people who actually do the things. He wanted nothing to do with that. He wanted to do the things. So he came home and switched to computer science.

He manages the condition well, and has gotten far better at it since high school. But when he was in high school, the thought of all the extracurricular activities and public-service efforts that are required to even hope for consideration by Ivy-league schools frankly horrified him, and he told me so in no uncertain terms. I was mostly smart enough not to press it, and let him make his own choices.

Definitely sounds like someone on the spectrum.

[LuvTooGolf]

Quick Draw

[A Friend of Charlie]

Today is National Hot Dog Day!
Grab yourself a wiener!

Hmmm. Maybe after the baseball game.

Wish us luck!

We lost 3-11. Playoffs start next Monday.

[LuvTooGolf]

Today is National Hot Dog Day!
Grab yourself a wiener!

Hmmm. Maybe after the baseball game.

Wish us luck!

We lost 3-11. Playoffs start next Monday.

Oof

[Travellin Dave]

Wrapping up the evening with a Kudzu.