71 responses to “College night.”

1. 

   Sherri said on October 11, 2012 at 1:09 am

   On the college front, one of the things I’ve found interesting is which colleges send a lot of junk mail. I’m not talking about the colleges my kid signed up with at a college night, but ones that just got the info from the College Board and started sending out lots of mailers. Pitt, University of Chicago, and Yale are among the leaders in our household, which seem like an odd combo being sent to a household in the PNW.

   Now off to prod her some more on the actual college apps…

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2. 

   JWfromNJ said on October 11, 2012 at 1:53 am

   I don’t fault Taylor for pulling out of the south side. I think they remain a good school, albeit very bible banging, and a good value for students and parents.

   Been a day from hell on my end. I got an order of protection for my 13-year old against drunky the neighbor, who I HOPE is crippled by the DT’s in the county jail. A deputy told me he is being a $hithead there and was four-pointed for a few days. It’s too bad, he’s a great gardener and landscraper who will make a great yard trustee.

   I have to testify at his pending bond hearing, the state’s attorney subpeoned me – he has the best criminal defense lawyer in our community. That shyster is getting a piece of my mind because he has a 14-year old daughter and if someone pointed a gun at her he’d be outraged. I intend to make his life hell too. And you guys know I can.

   I’m going to ask the f-face’s mommy and daddy for $50k to move because otherwise there is no way for him to return to my street. He can’t be within 500-feet, at Publix (the country’s best supermarket), near our church, or near anywhere I may work, so pretty much the whole county. JTMMO I need guidance, i know he could roll up here and kill us before the police do.

   The prosecutor says he is 99% sure the judge will not reinstate his bond but I hate the dammed 1% all the time.

   On another front, my family just landed an insane windfall and I plan on buying a new VW Passat with cash in about six weeks. Anyone have one? Anyone have a great VW dealer because I have thought about buying one elsewhere and taking a road trip back here.

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3. 

   Dexter said on October 11, 2012 at 2:04 am

   I never understood the system for need-based scholarships. My daughter got a $5,000 scholarship, renewed three times, from the place I worked. She had to beat out a helluva lot of kids for that scholarship and I was very proud of her. This was in 1996 and she went to Ohio State U, main campus in Columbus.
   We helped move her into the dorm for her freshman year and I was shocked, six girls in a tiny room with bunk beds, not enough room for anything but tiny desks. She made it through that hell for one year and then got other housing.
   One of her roommates was the daughter of a medical doctor, make that two medical doctors. Since her parents were immigrants from India, the kid got some sort of special tuition rate, and barely had to pay for anything. I’m just throwing this in at risk of sounding like some sort of racist, but I just did not understand how and why the system worked like that. I worked almost every minute of overtime I could get, and OT was plentiful, and we still were always getting more student loans for her. I also had a niece then, the daughter of a single mother, and she got excellent high school grades and got a full ride scholarship to Otterbein, a private school near Columbus. Good for her…well, good luck getting Kate into Michigan; it’s really tough to get in there for the local Michigan kids without legacy points.

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4. 

   Dexter said on October 11, 2012 at 2:11 am

   http://www.amazon.com/The-Reuther-Brothers-Walter-Victor/dp/0814329950/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1349935737&sr=8-2&keywords=the+brothers+reuther

   I bought this book back in 1980. It’s a great tool to learn about the union. I bet no one here buys it. I understand. Who cares anymore?

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5. 

   Dexter said on October 11, 2012 at 2:13 am

   Wrong book linked above…don’t know wha’hoppen…
   http://www.amazon.com/The-Brothers-Reuther-Story-Memoir/dp/0395275156/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1

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6. 

   alex said on October 11, 2012 at 6:33 am

   When I saw this, I laughed so hard I just about had to wipe the Santorum out of my eyes.

   I’m still dumbstruck by the Frontline program on the candidates. To see Romney vehemently defending his pro-choice bona fides (and in doing so, delivering a knockout punch to his opponent in the Massachusetts gubernatorial debate) in contrast with his current anti-abortion stridency is enough to make me puke. I noticed in the last few days he has tried to convey to moderates and independents that he won’t pursue any federal anti-abortion measures as president and then walked that back when the base started getting its tits in a wringer about it.

   I underestimated him as a debater because I’d seen him looking so wooden and forced during interviews and on the stump. When he’s been prepped for a debate, though, he’s a Teflon cyclone.

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7. 

   Suzanne said on October 11, 2012 at 7:08 am

   I never could figure out college scholarships either. One of our kids did very well in that area, the other got nothing. Same parents with the same income level for both. And it’s really small comfort to get financial aid for half of your $50,000 tuition bill. I know we don’t have an extra $25,000 sitting in our bank account…

   I’m still mulling over the Frontline program. I was bothered by the Mormon stance that the US is somehow hallowed ground. And I was struck by the fact that Romney is probably very good at running a business but how different that is than running a country. If you need to lay people off to make your business profitable, you don’t worry about what happens to those people. As head of a country, you have to be concerned about ALL the people in the country. It’s part of the job and I don’t think he gets that.

   It also gave me the sense that Obama is still very much a work in progress and will probably make a fabulous ex-president.

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8. 

   ROGirl said on October 11, 2012 at 7:11 am

   Alex, I think it was a big mistake for the Obama campaign to underestimate Mitt’s ability to perform well when scripted and prepped. His willingness to lie seems to be limitless, but he’s not dumb, either.

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9. 

   Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 11, 2012 at 7:44 am

   JW — inertia is the strongest force in our criminal justice system. Everyone has 12 hours worth of stuff to do in a 7.5 hour day, and you prioritize based on the squeaky wheel protocol. So your best response is to keep squeaking. Not screaming, because then they might stereotype you in a different sort of “ignorable” file, but steady, cheerful, firm, faintly angry with an overtone of reasonableness squeaking. To the state’s attorney, county prosecutor, sheriff’s office when you make your first establishing call on the CPO, sheriff or other jurisdiction when you report the first, second, and third violation, and so on. And don’t take it personally when they try to fend you off, just nod, smile through clenched teeth, and tell them “yes, I know, but I will continue calling each time I see him in violation. I know you’re busy, I know you’ve got very serious work out there, but this is my child’s life at stake, and I have an order from the court that I must request your attention to.”

   Because, JW, the hard fact is that almost everyone comes at “us” with a facefull of “this is the worst injustice on the face of the earth, and I insist you do something IMMEDIATELY! about it” — and the reality is that most of them, two days later, are “yeah, well, that was a misunderstanding, and I’m really not so . . . ahhh, is this going to take any more of my time?” So you get major reinforcement to nod your head and let stuff ride, and see where it stands next Monday.

   If you convince them that you’re not nuts, and you’re not going away, and you’re a source of solid, useable information, you will get to a point of common cause with them. At first, you’re just one of a hundred people in their jurisdiction with a CPO, 90 of which don’t even care a week later about it because they’ve invited the person back into their home or bed or life in general. And 5 of the other 10 are calling based on chain-yanking for a variety of motivations. It may take some time to convince law enforcement that you’re in the five percent that they need to watch. And keep the state’s attorney or county prosecutor on notice, and make sure you have their attention, since they’re thinking about the next case before they’ve got the file closed on the current motion, and the stack of pending files on their desk back in the bullpen.

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10. 

    Jolene said on October 11, 2012 at 8:09 am

    If you need to lay people off to make your business profitable, you don’t worry about what happens to those people. As head of a country, you have to be concerned about ALL the people in the country.

    A key point, I think. When Mitt became bishop (i.e., the pastor of his local congregation), he began to learn about the lives of people who aren’t just like him–people w/ marital health problems, financial problems, academic problems, job problems, you name it. He has been quoted saying around this time, “I had no idea people lived like this.” Obviously, he learned a lot in that role, and he’s undoubtedly learned more since. And, to be fair, there are many stories of him helping people in ways that went well beyond the demands of his role as as pastor. But I still have the sense, as I said in my comment yesterday, that he thinks the world would be much better if everybody would be just a little more like him.

    There’s a chance he’s right about that, but I doubt it. Even if he were, though, it’s a poor basis for policymaking. He can’t help all the sick and disabled people in the country with bedside visits or cooking meals to deliver to their homes. He can’t reduce unemployment by making phone calls on behalf of unemployed individuals to the proprietors of firms he happens to know. And I just don’t see the policy solutions in any of his pronouncements.

    Even worse, he seems to have a vision of American strength and American virtue that date from the immediate post-WWII era. That, I think, is a flawed and dangerous perspective, one that, along with his general lack of experience and expertise in foreign policy, leaves him prey to the neocons who, despite their failures in Iraq, haven’t had the good grace to slink off into the shadows and stay there.

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11. 

    brian stouder said on October 11, 2012 at 8:31 am

    Yesterday ended early for me, but Deborah had a post about her daughter discussing politics with dad (and defending her point of view with verve! ) which moistened my eyes.

    Honestly, the evening of the first debate, I thought the president did OK; he made no gaffes, and gave voice to no flat-out falsehoods.

    It was clear that the challenger had utilized a different approach, and that the challenger had a little better evening overall – but only just. Chris Matthews to the contrary notwithstanding, that remains my view.

    Tonight’s VP show will be interesting, and I will give the post-debate yappers a half hour (at most), and then forward we go.

    And when we pass through election day and it’s all over – then we’ll know who really “won” these debates, right?

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12. 

    JWfromNJ said on October 11, 2012 at 8:34 am

    @jtmmo – I did give the deputies crap because they have been out here a dozen times since the neighbors initial arrest and the same overfed donut monger apparently likes him. i pointed out that barring my intervention the deputy in the first case would likely be dead, he was pinned down and the defendant was trying to cuff him.

    I have lived in communites where the cops would back each other. This disgusts me. and I am friends with our sheriff.

    I have bigger fish to fry this week, but i have pano breading and a spice rub for this washed up NFL asshat.

    JGW

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13. 

    Peter said on October 11, 2012 at 9:19 am

    My son’s a senior in high school, so it has been a sobering experience, to say the least.

    The silver lining in my not starting a college fund for him until last month is that if I had started one way back when, it wouldn’t cover diddly anyway. That and if I had started way back when I would have used College Illinois and I would have had better returns if I went to the track.

    Dexter, the comment that surprised me was yours about the Indian doctors – schools that we visited would have fallen over themselves to get one of those because most likely they would pay full freight.

    My problem is that my son is really set on becoming a pilot – look out below, Pilot Joe – and tuition is a minor problem compared to flight fees. The good news is that two of the schools he’s looking at include flight fees with tuition to figure out grants, and the public schools he’s looking at will match Illinois’ public tuition rates for out of state students.

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14. 

    Connie said on October 11, 2012 at 9:49 am

    My experience is that scholarships and financial aid are two different things. At least they were at Butler. Within weeks of her acceptance she had been notified of several merit based scholarship awards that appeared to be based on GPA and SAT scores. They covered half the cost for all four years. Financial aid happens in the Spring and includes grants and loans. Our annual cost at Butler was lower than our annual cost would have been for Purdue.

    IU grad school graduation is in December and there appears to be a job offer for a low paying grant funded job in her specialty. In Traverse City.

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15. 

    Julie Robinson said on October 11, 2012 at 9:53 am

    Look carefully at the financial aid packages to see how much of the “aid” comes in the form of loans. What looked like a good number may not be that great when you subtract the loans.

    Our daughter worked in the admissions department while a student at Valparaiso, giving campus tours and calling prospective students. Valpo had courted her aggressively, calling to ask about life events and sending her a CD of the famous chapel choir. I thought that was pretty amazing until she told me that every contact with a prospective student was jotted down, along with notes that enabled them to call and ask how the band tour had gone, for example. Well, duh Mom, of course they write it all down. (Not that she said that to me, she is far too nice!)

    She was also considering IU, and got squat for personal attention there, even though her tests and grades automatically qualified her for honors studies. I’m sure it made a difference in her final choice, and fortunately Valpo was the right school for her.

    JW and Jeff, what an eye opener. I hope I never have to use what I’ve learned from you.

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16. 

    Bitter Scribe said on October 11, 2012 at 9:59 am

    I wonder if the guy who passed out religious tracts on Halloween also left them in lieu of tips when he ate out. I’ve heard of “Visible Christians” (to use Barbara Ehrenreich’s term) doing that. What a persuasive way to bring people to Christ.

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17. 

    Joe K said on October 11, 2012 at 10:06 am

    Pete,
    It’s a long road and doesn’t pay much to start, but its about the coolest job you can have. Tell your son to never let anyone try to talk him out of it.
    Pilot Joe

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18. 

    Julie Robinson said on October 11, 2012 at 10:09 am

    Bitter, that’s horrible. Underpayment of just wages is the same as stealing in my Bible. After reading Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, I start at 20% and usually go higher.

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19. 

    MichaelG said on October 11, 2012 at 10:11 am

    Peter, U of Ill used to have an excellent aviation program. Don’t know if they still do. Also Purdue and N or S Dak. The private places like Embry-Riddle have aid packages.

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20. 

    Prospero said on October 11, 2012 at 10:11 am

    Cristopher Walken reads Honey Boo Boo. This man is a national treasure. I am looking forward to Seven Psychopaths. Best movie title since Snakes on a Plane.

    Jolene@10: Very well said. Bolton and Abrams. Holy shit, this country needs that shit less than Bork on the SC or a few more holes in our heads. It’s entirely possible the next four years will see four justices replaced. RMoney would cook that goose permanently.

    And Alex, lying your ass off is not debating, but stupid people will misconstrue it as such. The President’s error is to overestimate the rationality of Americans. RAther than rational explanations, he should have mocked Willard’s bogus tax argument by saying “Read my lips”. The lie about taxes and the lie about Medicare are both flagrant and transparent, but I guess it’s like Tom Petty says “You believe what you wanna believe”. Willard will do what he said and double down on Shrub, and accomplish what Shrub was prevented by term limits from finishing, i.e. burying the USA, lying for the Lord.

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21. 

    Bob (not Greene) said on October 11, 2012 at 10:37 am

    Peter,

    One of my sons is also dead set on being a pilot and he ended up at Eastern Michigan, which gave him the best deal out of all the schools he applied to. The flight fees are, indeed, an eye-opener, though. He says he’s planning the check out the Naval ROTC program (it’s a joint program with University of Michigan), which would cover the flight fees, but of course has other strings attached.

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22. 

    Joe K said on October 11, 2012 at 10:39 am

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/ct-oped-1011-goldberg-20121011,0,1298001.column
    Good read.
    Pilot Joe

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23. 

    Prospero said on October 11, 2012 at 10:54 am

    The travails of filthy rich McMansion owners. Agonists and ecstasy. Pretty damned funny.

    Some cops for Mittens to fire. Doesn’t that well-known war criminal Shrub W. Bush live in Houston now that the Crawford ranch is no longer politically expedient.

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24. 

    coozledad said on October 11, 2012 at 10:55 am

    Cleaning up the mess that powder-nosed drinkard made. One impressive jobs report after another:
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/11/1143036/-First-time-unemployment-benefit-claims-fall-to-lowest-level-since-February-2008

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25. 

    Dave said on October 11, 2012 at 11:08 am

    My daughter’s brother-in-law is a graduate of the University of North Dakota aviation program, he spent three or four years being a storm tracker, flying and tracking storms, and is now a pilot for United Express. He doesn’t make a great deal of money but all he ever wanted to do is fly.

    Two of our children went to small private colleges which, with loans, scholarships, and our help, worked out well. We learned then that the small private schools would make such offers, there was nothing like that for the large state schools in state, anyway, and that included even the very top students that we knew. Our youngest is a graduate of IU with a double major in communications and Spanish, he’s now down in (is it Beb who lives in) Nashville working for a company that analyzes computer data, making little money, and guess who’s making the monthly payments on the loans? Our pension, after my wife reached 60, became more generous and it’s not infringing on our living but still, these are tough times for young college graduates and the parents who continue to help, long after my parents or in-law parents helped either of us. I truly don’t believe Mittens has any clue, despite his experiences as a active member of his church, what most people have to do day to day. And oh, that church. . .

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26. 

    Prospero said on October 11, 2012 at 11:11 am

    How in hell does this make any sense at all? Total disarmament makes more sense, before some Salafist nutjob gets ahold of a nuke in the Ukraine. Seriously? $660billion? That is fracking nuts. And that missile defense shit? Shooting a bullet with a bullet. Yeah, sure, that’ll work, even though every test has been an abject failure. Product of Raygun’s Oldtimers.

    Ultimate dog-shaming.

    Nice, Joe. Jonah Goldberg pulls a RMoney and misquotes the President. That guy is a fracking nitwit. Nobody ever claimed the Shrub tax cuts caused the recession. They caused the deficit and the natdebt every GOPer is so het up about, along with credit card invasions and occupations, and the corporate welfare Medicare Part D. Acting like a grown up, the bama administration included those costs in its accounting, and voila, le deficit.

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27. 

    basset said on October 11, 2012 at 11:21 am

    I understand that Middle Tennessee State, in Murfreesboro just outside Nashville, has a reputable flight program.

    And Traverse City is quite nice this time of year. January, not so much.

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28. 

    Prospero said on October 11, 2012 at 11:57 am

    This looks pretty entertaining.

    I’m curious. Do GOPers expect everyone to believe Obama was President when the Great Recession arrived

    Bush and Obama on jobs, the bikini chart doesn’t lie. And GOPers have deliberately killed jobs all the while. The bastards are treasonous.

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29. 

    coozledad said on October 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    Jes’ sit back and let ol’ Muffy tell you how to git that ‘hacky sack’ body all the Regents University professors ladies lurve.
    http://gawker.com/5950879/paul-ryan-has-already-lost-the-debate-based-on-these-workout-photos

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30. 

    coozledad said on October 11, 2012 at 12:25 pm

    One of the commenters at Gawker says the backwards hat identifies Ryan as “that cocksucker from planet gym”.

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31. 

    alex said on October 11, 2012 at 12:44 pm

    In case anyone was wondering why the Ohio Secretary of State, Jon Husted, was being so blatant in his voter suppression efforts — some numbers that should be great cause for optimism here in NN.C-Land.

    As for Ryan, he looks I a homo if I do say so myself. And if anyone would know it would be moi.

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32. 

    Sue said on October 11, 2012 at 12:46 pm

    Cooz @ 30:
    If this were a shoot for a local WI publication, I would assume he’s going for the “Isn’t that Aaron Rodgers a NICE young man?” demographic. Because you can’t pose like that in WI unless you’re Aaron being jokey, or you’d be asked to take your yuppie shit back to Chicago.
    In a national publication, honestly, I don’t know what the hell he’s thinking.

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33. 

    John (not McCain) said on October 11, 2012 at 12:48 pm

    “After reading Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, I start at 20% and usually go higher.”

    Amen. After reading many blog comments on tipping from the general public and noting how many were from total asshats, I figured the Golden Rule applied. Given the sheer volume of jerks, every server in every restaurant MUST be stiffed at least once a day. If that happened to me, I’d be praying to god somebody would come along and make up for it, so per the GR I have to tip a ridiculous amount.

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34. 

    Prospero said on October 11, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    Some shit to think about while Willard is lying his ass off about taxes.

    And if you actually read what Windsock Willard said in “winning” the debate, it’s clear his mind is on vacation and his mouth is working overtime.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCpekvOkwNM

    If silence was golden, he couldn’t raise a dime. If talk was criminal, he’d live a life of crime. Mose lives just down the street.

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35. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 11, 2012 at 1:59 pm

    Um, the photos were taken in December. Of 2011. Having said that, I sure wouldn’t have done that even if I had no intent of pursuing an elective office, which I ain’t. And doing a Murph doesn’t take a video, and the earbuds would fall out. Show me a candidate who does a Murph, and I’d at least look with favor on the rest of their record.

    Biden’s team has probably already got the Haldol in his lunchtime soup, unless they went with the “wind him up and turn him loose” strategy, in which case it’s a six of Red Bull. It should be an interesting evening on all sides.

    Huzzah for 20% tippage, a platform we all can agree on here in NN.C-land. Dorothy and I will remain mute on what our respective local post-secondary experiences cost per annum, but JH isn’t too far out in front.

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36. 

    coozledad said on October 11, 2012 at 2:03 pm

    Joe Biden vs. Another Douche:
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/11/1143140/-Can-Joe-Biden-deliver-in-a-debate-Yes

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37. 

    Peter said on October 11, 2012 at 2:13 pm

    Thanks for the tips, Joe, Michael, and Bob NG. Just so you know:

    – U of I no longer has an aviation program
    – We’ve looked at Purdue (it’s my sister’s alma mater..) but it isn’t his first or second choice, which are
    – SIU Carbondale and North Dakota, both of which have admitted him.
    – Still waiting to hear from Western Michigan (but boy is that airport far from campus) and Embry Riddle Daytona.

    And Joe, plenty of people have tried to talk my son out of it. Someone told Michael that only two or three people out of 100 make it to be a commercial pilot, and Michael told him that it’s kind of a shame that the other 97 are just wasting their money.

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38. 

    Sue said on October 11, 2012 at 2:42 pm

    Speaking of tips, of the waitstaff variety, anyone going to be in Milwaukee on Friday?
    https://www.facebook.com/events/410251245697067/411330112255847/?notif_t=plan_mall_activity

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39. 

    Prospero said on October 11, 2012 at 2:47 pm

    VH-1 Classic is showing It Might Get Loud tonight. Excellent movie.

    Fundagelicalictament thang RMoney supporter:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCpekvOkwNM

    Willard’s indentured servants, the coal miners.

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40. 

    Dorothy said on October 11, 2012 at 2:49 pm

    I think those statistics are easy to find somewhere in the Web, Jeff, but I won’t go around bragging about it, either. All I know is I could certainly never have afforded to go here, even in 1975 when I got out of high school. It’s a wonderful school … someday I might take enough classes to have a degree from here. When I’m retired perhaps and can use the employee mostly-free tuition that’s available. Then again I might be so happy to have hours and hours of free time ahead of me, going to classes would sound like torture. I’ll wait and see. The older I get the less and less it bothers me that I don’t have a degree.

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41. 

    Joe K said on October 11, 2012 at 3:05 pm

    Peter,
    Sound like he has the “right stuff”
    Pilot Joe

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42. 

    Little Bird said on October 11, 2012 at 3:20 pm

    Happy Birthday Deborah!

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43. 

    Dorothy said on October 11, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    It’s Deborah’s birthday?! How about that – on 10/11/12! Happy birthday Deborah!

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44. 

    Deborah said on October 11, 2012 at 3:44 pm

    I’m 62 today, this was the day I had planned to retire initially, I told my husband when I turned 62 that was going to be it. I moved the date up to the 5th because of my husband’s teaching schedule for fall break so he could spend some time here in Santa Fe too. A lot of you have already wished me a happy birthday last week in conjunction with my retirement, so no need to repeat. We are going up to the foothills of the Sangre de Christos in a bit to check out some hiking trails I read about last night. They range from easy to strenuous, we’ll start with easy since I’m still having my usual altitude issues. It takes a few days for me to adjust.

    Those Ryan photos are stupid, what an idiot show off. The red backwards hat is particularly pretentious.

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45. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 11, 2012 at 3:46 pm

    Sangre de Cristos, mmmmmmm. Say hello to Chimayo for me.

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46. 

    LAMary said on October 11, 2012 at 3:46 pm

    I think my alma mater, University of Denver, is running about 40k these days.

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47. 

    Suzanne said on October 11, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    Indiana State University in Terre Haute has an aviation program, too, that I hear is good. And it’s the cheapest state school in Indiana.

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48. 

    MarkH said on October 11, 2012 at 5:05 pm

    Exactly right, LAMary. My son looked at DU and it is 40K. He (and we) had to settle on Metro State. He’ll finish a two year degree and move onto a 4 year college from there.

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49. 

    MichaelG said on October 11, 2012 at 5:09 pm

    Giants won game 5. The radio guy says it’s the first time a team has dropped both home games and swept three on the road. Wonder how the A’s will do against the Tigers tonight.

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50. 

    MichaelG said on October 11, 2012 at 5:12 pm

    My daughter went to Austin Peay which is a small state school in Clarksville, TN. Her hubby was in the Army and stationed at Ft. Campbell. I don’t know what it cost but it wasn’t much. It was also ten years or so ago. We just gave them money when they needed it, and they didnd’t need much, no specific payment.

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51. 

    MichaelG said on October 11, 2012 at 5:13 pm

    Oh, and the school’s cheer was “Let’s go Peay”.

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52. 

    MarkH said on October 11, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    So, MichaelG, you’re saying the pronunciation is “peee”. 🙂

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53. 

    ROGirl said on October 11, 2012 at 5:34 pm

    Happy birthday, Deborah.

    The Ryan photos look like they should be from the Onion. That they’re not is just too funny.

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54. 

    Deborah said on October 11, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    We’re already back from the hiking trails, it was kind of a bust as the parking lot to the state park was completely full and you have to have some kind of pass to park there anyway. Live and learn, we’re going to REI nearby to get the scoop on how you get the pass. But what an incredible drive up there, even more gorgeous than I imagined. The quivering Aspen were radiantly golden, next to the deep green of the ponderosas it was breathtaking. Quite a bit cooler up there too. It’s only about a 7 1/2mile drive from our place.

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55. 

    LAMary said on October 11, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    We’re doing the community college to university route too. What’s killing us is the budget cuts in California make it ridiculously hard to get the classes that are required. My older son is taking classes at two schools at the same time right now.

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56. 

    Catherine said on October 11, 2012 at 5:43 pm

    What happened when Ryan posted the photos on Facebook: http://www.lamebook.com/

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57. 

    LAMary said on October 11, 2012 at 5:50 pm

    MarkH, you have to admit, DU is a very nice campus. Not 40k of nice, but really nice.

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58. 

    Deborah said on October 11, 2012 at 5:53 pm

    Jeff tmmo, Chimayo is a big disappointment now. We went in May after not having been there for a couple of years. It is completely commercialized now by the Catholic church. It used to be so rustic and sweet, now it is surround by a three ring circus. So sad.

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59. 

    Sherri said on October 11, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    I grew up in Clarksville, TN. The pronunciation is indeed “pee.” Austin Peay was a governor of Tennessee from Clarksville. I went to high school with one of his great grandsons.

    For you sports fans in the crowd, Fly Williams, one of the players from the great book Heaven is a Playground, played college basketball for a couple of seasons at Austin Peay. The little bandbox of a gym they played in back then only seated a couple of thousand, and he packed the house. Seeing him play ball is one of my best sports memories.

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60. 

    LAMary said on October 11, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    I think the word for what Ryan looks like in those photos is douchebag. My teenager would certainly call it that way.

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61. 

    Julie Robinson said on October 11, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    Maybe that wide-eyed look convinced his teacher he didn’t throw the spitball when he was 10, but it’s inappropriate for a candidate who would be one heartbeat away from the Presidency.

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62. 

    Prospero said on October 11, 2012 at 6:35 pm

    Stuff Ayn Ryan will not be talking about tonight.

    Sherri, when Dr. J was at UMass I was dating a girl there and spent a lot of time in Amherst. They played hoops in a minuscule bandbox of a fieldhouse. Capacity c. 1500. It’s amazing that visiting teams ever got out of that place alive and intact. The place would be so packed you could pick up both feet off the floor without falling down. Amazing atmosphere.

    Somebody should tell Ayn Ryan that they havve machines for leg muscles too. He looks like a Joe Tex song:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Sdib6gd190

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63. 

    MichaelG said on October 11, 2012 at 6:42 pm

    Yeah, Mark. Sherri’s got it.

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64. 

    Kaye said on October 11, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    In the past year I have learned that if you fit the profile at school is looking for you do not have to worry about the cost. Some small private schools now have a no-loan policy whereby the school will replace any student loans in your financial package with a grant. Sure, tuition at these places is in the crazy-high range to start with but that means a more generous financial aid package in general. All of this to say: do not limit your options based on the initial price tag.

    Also, I now haz a baseball sad. Sorry I mentioned it the other day.

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65. 

    Jeff (the mild-mannered one) said on October 11, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    Oh, crud. It’s been since 1989 that I was last there, so I guess no good sacred site goes unpunished.

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66. 

    Charlotte said on October 11, 2012 at 7:38 pm

    I spent most of last year working with a high school kid I know on college essays and applications — she wound up at Beloit, which turned out to be a great fit for her and she’s deliriously happy there (extra gratifying since it’s my alma mater). Like they did for me, they gave her a buttload of money — it’s costing her parents half of what it would cost them to send her to the University of Montana (and her mom was a flight attendant, so the transportation costs aren’t a big issue for them either). Thirty years ago, Beloit did pretty much the same thing for me — when I told them my Dad wouldn’t pay for anything but the U of Illinois (where I was stupendously unhappy) they made me an offer that came in about $500 bucks cheaper than what he was paying. And they saw me through … so, I’ve been encouraging bright kids I know here to apply to the smaller private schools if that looks like what they’re interested in, and see what kind of package they can get.

    And Kaye — sorry about your baseball sad — as a former Bay Area person, I’m sort of all warm and fuzzy inside — especially the A’s (sorry Detroiters) — Coco! Although I still think the Tigers are a better team for the long run, and since I live with a Bostonian, it’s all about who might beat that team that shall not be named ….

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67. 

    Jolene said on October 11, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    Speaking of baseball, the Nats live to fight anither day? Will be a big day for sports in Our Nation’s Capital tomorrow.

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68. 

    Jolene said on October 11, 2012 at 8:29 pm

    Not sure how I ended up w/ a question mark at the end of the sentence above. Oh, well.

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69. 

    David C. said on October 11, 2012 at 9:23 pm

    15 minutes into the debate. Biden is on fire, and Ryan is babbling word salad. I think his inner Palin is coming out.

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70. 

    alex said on October 11, 2012 at 11:33 pm

    Joe Biden’s laughter is contageous.

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71. 

    Dexter said on October 12, 2012 at 1:36 am

    I am sure Kirk knows this: Marty Brenneman is an old codger who has been announcing Cincinnati Redlegs baseball games since he took over for Al Michaels way back in the very early 1970s. Marty works part time now, but he was there yesterday, calling the last Reds game of the postseason. Late in the game this idiot blurts out “the moderator of tonight’s debate has been announced and it’s Honey Boo-Boo!” And then he laughed his ass off maniacally. I do not understand Marty’s humor. Everybody on that radio station, WLW-AM, must have to pass some sort of loyalty oath to the Republican Party. All of the radio personalities seem to swear allegiance to every repugg. One my one visit to the Montgomery Inn in Dublin, Ohio, our table was under a giant photo of Marty shaking hands with WBush43.

    Salute to the Detroit Tigers, who now move on to Round Two of the playoffs.

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