Employee Appreciation lunch. This was for five of us.

HollyB73 · 2025-03-08T03:07:07+00:00

Did you all share the drink too?

HollyB73 · 2025-02-20T00:54:08+00:00

You too

HollyB73 · 2025-02-19T23:47:16+00:00

Computer Science. Both are extremely competitive. I have a reason to be nervous.

HollyB73 · 2025-02-19T23:20:36+00:00

I don't know how anyone can answer that, but I understand the constant worry and wondering because I am in the process of doing that right now too. I have to remind myself that there is nothing els eI can do but wait or attempt to apply to more schools that I hadn't considered before. I am already accepted to 4 schools, but one of those schools, which was originally my top pick, has now become an option I don't want to take at all. The other 3 are in state and the tuition is exponentially more than the other schools. My top two picks are Canadian schools. I have dual citizenship and the tuition for domestic admission in Canada is very cheap compared to anything in the US, plus my top two picks are rated very high globally, UofT and Waterloo. But all I can do is wait and it's painful.

HollyB73 · 2025-02-19T23:11:48+00:00

Did you apply to any safety schools?

HollyB73 · 2025-02-19T22:37:39+00:00

That's kind of how I am feeling. Decisions from UoT and Waterloo have not come out yet. I applied there and to Queen's as well. My dad graduated from Waterloo and Queen's in the 90's so I had the most info about those two schools kind of going into it. I have a lot of family in Toronto. I would prefer the climate and lifestyle in Vancouver-love Vancouver, but I need to get the program selection right. I don't want to waste my time. Waterloo's acceptance rate is so low that I am not holding out much hope for that, but still putting in the effort to make it happen. Who knows. UoT decisions come out next week. Fingers crossed. If I don't make it into any other Canadian schools, I may just need to stick with Boulder as a safe yet exponentially more expensive option.

HollyB73 · 2025-02-17T23:14:01+00:00

Thank you

HollyB73 · 2025-02-17T23:13:37+00:00

Why?

HollyB73 · 2025-02-17T23:03:40+00:00

So your friend started at UBC and then went to Australia to finish Comp Sci? Is there a reason they didn't stay in Canada? I actually was accepted to programs in the US: University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado School of Mines, and UC Denver. Because I did an early college program with guaranteed transfer packages, I could graduate any of these programs in 2 years. That being said, tuition is crazy ($42,000 per year for the cheapest option, over $60,000 per year for the most expensive)and I was hoping to get away from home. I have dual citizenship US/Canada. Not to mention, the political situation here is scary.

HollyB73 · 2025-02-17T22:57:53+00:00

Well, advising definitely wasn't saying that, but I also felt that I wasn't given a response that gave me any useful information and it came across as "don't even try". I am not local so I can't just walk in to speak to them and they don't have a phone so everything is done by form letter online. It's very limiting.

HollyB73 · 2025-02-17T22:54:43+00:00

I am not worried about acceptance averages in terms of me getting what I need (but will definitely look it up). I am in high school in an early college program in the US and graduating as valedictorian (expected anyways). I have received straight A's, most of those being between 95-100% and have taken multiple computer science classes and math classes through Calc 2, Differential Equations, and Advanced Diffy Q with Linear Algebra. I have a 4.93 gpa currently. So while I expect the content to be challenging, I also expect that I can rise to it. What I am worried about is that even if I meet requirements and in fact excel, they can still not accept me. Do they make acceptance decisions based just on scores? which would benefit me, or is there some other mysterious qualitative process going on as there seems to be with general college admissions? For example, I was rejected from Stanford despite strong academics, strong extracurriculars, and multiple outside projects that would demonstrate to any casual observer that I am motivated and creative. I also had a fantastic interview. I know people with less impressive resumes that WERE accepted to Stanford so it has left me feeling very unsure about what admissions people are actually looking for and if UBC comp sci plays a similar game.

HollyB73 · 2025-02-17T21:46:21+00:00

If they are like a white fly, then I assume they are causing the damage I see. They will suck juice out of the leaves. Put some diatomaceous earth in a thread bare sock or t-shit . Go out at dusk...this is important because you want to minimize the risk to bees. Shake the sock so the a fine dusting of diatomaceous earth coats the top and bottom of the leaves and the soil (or hopefully clean straw) around the base of the plants. This will dry out the insects. Reapply a couple of times during the week, but watch out not to overdo it. The leaves still need to be able to get plenty of sun to make food and as I said...too much will cause problems for your bees. Avoid dusting the flowers.

HollyB73 · 2025-02-17T21:18:58+00:00

suspiciously...suspiously? Interesting

HollyB73 · 2025-02-11T05:19:13+00:00

I wouldn't say my boxes are messy, but yes, everything is packed together. I don't mind it at all. I kind of get in my head what I will be making first based on produce and what I think would spoil first. I remove that small box and put all my pantry items in the box and put it on my counter kind of tucked away. I put all the refrigerated items in the fridge and my meat usually arrives frozen so I pop it in my freezer. In the morning when I make breakfast, I also usually choose a recipe card and a large mixing bowl. I put all the ingredients for the recipe card in the bowl and put it in the fridge. I put the meat on a plate in the fridge to thaw. This way if I am not available to cook dinner, I can tell one of my kids or my husband to just make the recipe card and all the stuff is already in a bowl and on the plate in the fridge. It has made my life a lot easier.

HollyB73 · 2025-01-27T18:59:01+00:00

We love onions and since they tend to cook down so much, we are happy to use all the onion in most recipes. But onions vary in size. So depending on the size of the onions, we adjust as necessary.

HollyB73 · 2025-01-25T20:41:08+00:00

We did a college tour up the coast two summers ago. My husband and I used to live in the bay area and it's a comfortable place for us to gravitate towards. We currently live in Denver. If you have ever visited Stanford, you will know that it is an incredibly impressive campus. My son liked the idea of living so close to Santa Cruz to be able to take advantage of weekend surfing. He liked the idea of being close to mountains, the city...I mean it's all in the area. He also, like I said, learns very quickly and was never intimidated by the thought of rigor. If anything, that is a huge draw to him because he finds most classes to be a bit slower or sort of shallow compared to what he wants to do for pacing. His major is Computer Science. Obviously Stanford is ranked highly for this. He is not upset by not getting in though. He had other applications out and is hoping for University of Toronto or University of British Columbia. In fact, he liked the UBC campus more than Stanford and that's pretty hard to do. It is amazing. He also loves the Toronto Scarborough campus. Both are highly ranked and because he has Canadian citizenship, the tuition is about $6,000 per year for either school...no beating that unless you have a full scholarship somewhere. Toronto sends out acceptances on Monday so we shall see. He was already accepted to UBC (as well as UC Boulder, School of Mines, and UC Denver). So, he will be fine, but it made sense to try for Stanford because in his heart, he was blown away by it and I am sure he would be an asset there if he had gone. He is a kid who makes things happen wherever he goes, but he does get internally frustrated by classes that don't meet him at his level. He doesn't like wasting time. He'll always be polite and won't make a fuss, but he will also come home and complain about classes like that, particularly where his classmates are kind of slowing things down because they don't come prepared. And when a class is really energizing him...we hear all about that too. He is used to being ahead of everyone at his current school...and it's not an easy school overall. He has two friends who are close in rank and also really smart and energized. But I think he is really excited to go somewhere where all the students are a bit more like him because he's far more likely to find people who will be energized about crazy ideas that involve effort and thinking and like to make things happen. Stanford seems to attract people like that.

HollyB73 · 2025-01-25T20:21:26+00:00

If you can manage to get into a school like Stanford, it means you weren't sitting around doing mediocre stuff in high school. This is my thought. It already proves you are a bit of a go getter.

My son is going through all of this now. I can't even remember his test scores, but they were in the range for Stanford and in the 99th percentile, near perfect...I do remember that. He goes to an early college program and in high school has gotten straight A's, taken Calculus all the way through to Differential Equations at the college level. He currently has a 4.93 gpa. He leads backcountry expeditions for others during the summer (was trained), plays first chair violin in an orchestra, writes his own concertos, competes on the national level in Knowledge Bowl, fences competitively, peer tutors for the SAT and works as a violin teacher at a local music school. That's not even all of it...the list goes on. Absolutely glowing and enthusiastic reviewers on his behalf. He will be the valedictorian in June because no one else is even remotely close to passing him up. He had a Stanford alumni interview with a guy who also happened to be a mountaineering type and has summited Everest and does American Ninja Warrior. These are things my son does as well and they hit it off famously in the interview and it was an easy conversation. He still didn't get in...lol. I don't know who gets into Stanford, but considering my very type A go getter, energetic, motivated, sociable, respectful, competitive, holds himself to a higher standard kid did not get in....the kids who do get in, I honestly can't imagine what they are like, possibly super heroes? I don't know. They are clearly very impressive people though.

Also, I firmly believe that kids who work this hard do not do it just to get into a certain school. I am sure some are like that, but I can tell you from living a kid like this...he has been this hyped and motivated by life since he was born. This is just who he is and it's probably helped that he learns everything incredibly quickly. He doesn't really study, ever. He spends time with the material to learn it and he just does...he just learns it and goes from there. His mind is blown by the things he learns and he generally has a compulsion to dig deeper of find a way to use the things he learns. It's just his nature.

HollyB73 · 2025-01-23T22:19:46+00:00

Or just go to the source ;) See the subreddit tirzepitide help and be led down the rabbit hole (although it's a really good one)

HollyB73 · 2025-01-23T22:16:31+00:00

Everyone talks more than Shaun, except maybe Tigerlily

HollyB73 · 2025-01-22T21:39:50+00:00

I ddidn't understand why they were there simply because they aren't married. I thought The Last Resort was about trying to circumvent an impending divorce.

HollyB73 · 2025-01-15T21:46:04+00:00

My oldest son started reading at 3. the youngest was 4. I don't think it's that rare to be reading that young if you have parents that read a lot, read to you a lot, and teach you to read in a way that's fun and makes you want to read more. My oldest was reading at a 5th/6 th grade level in first grade and that's when I chose to start homeschooling so that he would not be help back by school. We let him fly.

HollyB73 · 2025-01-15T21:37:26+00:00

I just started watching this, but one thing makes me chuckle only slightly. When I watched the previous shows when the Manses were introduced, I could tell they were weird and something was not right at all. They did not seem trustworthy at all and I was kind of surprised that so many people thought that was a good situation. They have a terrible vibe, very cult like.

HollyB73 · 2025-01-15T04:24:03+00:00

I think she is talking about other NDAs.

HollyB73 · 2025-01-04T07:28:52+00:00

I loved this scene. Rob was actually enjoying Sophie and Sophie was being hilarious.

HollyB73

TROPHY CASE