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I'll be out of commission for a while. In case I am not up to sitting in front of the computer next week, let me wish good luck to all the EA/ ED applicants and send my congratulations to parents for having made it thus far with your sanity more or less intact.

By Hautbois (Hautbois) on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 11:44 pm: Edit

Gee Marite, I hope you aren't out of commission for health issues or some serious issue. Somehow it sounds that way to me. (And as a typical mom I'll now worry a bit.)

I'll miss reading your thoughtful posts.

All the best to you--

By Marite (Marite) on Wednesday, October 22, 2003 - 11:50 pm: Edit

Thanks, Hautbois. I have every intention of being back in front of the computer after a short hiatus.

By Momcat (Momcat) on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 01:01 am: Edit

See you soon, Marite. Best wishes till then.

By Aparent1 (Aparent1) on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 08:09 am: Edit

Be well, Marite. Talk to you soon.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 02:00 pm: Edit

Take care, Marite. Hope to see you back soon.

By Momoffour (Momoffour) on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 02:13 pm: Edit

Will be thinking of you.

By Sac (Sac) on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 02:16 pm: Edit

I'll miss our "conversations". Good luck and "see" you back here soon.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 04:11 pm: Edit

Marite, Take care --- we'll miss you while you're gone.

By Over30 (Over30) on Thursday, October 23, 2003 - 11:38 pm: Edit

Will miss your sage advice.

By Kissy (Kissy) on Friday, October 24, 2003 - 08:05 am: Edit

Take care, Marite-

Godspeed

By Sluggbugg (Sluggbugg) on Friday, October 24, 2003 - 12:07 pm: Edit

Marite, I made you some sluggcookies for the trip. Now, don't forget your jacket, and did you remember to take your cell phone? Come back before it gets dark... --s.bugg

By Kiddielit (Kiddielit) on Friday, October 24, 2003 - 01:38 pm: Edit

All the best, Marite.

By Medprof (Medprof) on Friday, October 24, 2003 - 03:05 pm: Edit

When you are back, I hope you get help around the house. Don't try to do everything yourself too quickly. Take care.

By Perry (Perry) on Friday, October 24, 2003 - 08:33 pm: Edit

When you return from your luxury cruise, drop a line to everyone.

By Marite (Marite) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 05:50 pm: Edit

Dear all:

I'm baaaaack!
Thank you all so much for your kind wishes and prayers. As you surmised, I was due for surgery. It was a tough decision, since there was no actual evidence that it was necessary, but I decided to go for it. It turned out to have been the right decision. I will still have to undergo radiation therapy, but I am mobile, and getting stronger everyday. My house is turning into a bower of flowers, my S has developed some housekeeping skills. It's nice to be alive.

It was poignant logging on to CC again, and hearing Rowan's account of his fire-induced homelessness at the most crucial time during the application process, Soozie's account of her family's struggle to spend time with her dad while carrying on a normal busy schedule and coping with college applications, Carolyn's search for her missing horse, and so many other events that happened while I was out of it.

Again, thanks to all, and my own best wishes to all the applicants. May you end up going to the college which will best fit you.

By Perry (Perry) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 06:12 pm: Edit

Welcome back Marite. You were missed on this board. I very much hope that the treatment proves highly effective. You continue to have our very best wishes.

By Over30 (Over30) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 06:48 pm: Edit

Marite - welcome back and we'll all send you virtual flowers (and home cooked meals), and real "best wishes."

By Aparent1 (Aparent1) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 06:56 pm: Edit

Marite, welcome back. More virtual flowers and every blessing coming to you from here...

By Hautbois (Hautbois) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 07:11 pm: Edit

Marite,

Welcome back! You have been missed, to be sure.

I will continue to pray for your recovery and clean bill of health.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 07:19 pm: Edit

Welcome back...and more virtual flowers for you.

By Momoffour (Momoffour) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 07:37 pm: Edit

Sometimes when I am at the end of my rope I mutter to myself that I hate my life. You just reminded me how foolish that thought is and how much I have to be thankful for. I'll be thinking of you and hoping you continue to grow stronger everyday.

By Sac (Sac) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 07:45 pm: Edit

Great to have you back Marite, as well as to hear that you made the right decision and the surgery went well. Good luck with your radiation and your recuperation. In addition to everything else you have given your son, sending him off to college with cleaning and cooking skills is no small feat.

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 08:41 pm: Edit

Dear Marite,
I'm so glad to hear you are OK - I have been keeping you in my thoughts and we all missed your humor and insights around here. Welcome back!
Carolyn

By Sluggbugg (Sluggbugg) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 10:43 pm: Edit

Well, you know what they say, Marite...Anytime a large herd moves through a civilized area, there's a lot of sh!t to clean up. Welcome back!

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 11:37 pm: Edit

Marite, I am glad to see you back here and up and about I hope. I am sorry for all you have gone through and only wish you the very best for a speedy and healthy recovery. I hope you keep getting pampered a bit as you deserve it. I have missed your posts here as well. I am coming down to your neck of the woods on Mon/Tues. to take my daughter back to Tufts. As you know, Cambridge is my old digs.

Thinking of you and wishing you healthy days ahead!
Susan

By Momcat (Momcat) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 12:33 am: Edit

Welcome back, Marite. Here are some virtual chocolates to go with the virtual flowers.

By Kissy (Kissy) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 07:30 am: Edit

Welcome back and hang in there!

By Nyugrad (Nyugrad) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 08:19 am: Edit

All the best wishes to you. A speedy recovery with years of good health to follow.

By Marite (Marite) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 09:22 am: Edit

Soozie:

I wish you could stop by with your D! I live one stop away from Davis Square on the T. If there is a chance you might be able to drop by, let me know how we could communicate. I am getting stronger every day. Don't make me laugh, though, my insides are still painful.

I met Laurence Bacow, the Tufts president, earlier this month. He is truly impressive and very nice. I got the feeling that Tufts is in very good hands. I understand that he's had great success at fund-raising (unlike the previous president).

I raised one point that I've read on CC: that Tufts is perceived as being full of people whose first choice was Harvard, a sort of Harvard wannabe. He said that may have been true in the past, but no longer. Currently, Tufts is the no.1 choice for more applicants than can be accepted. That's a wonderful situation for Tufts to be in, and for its students, too!

Take care.

By Massdad (Massdad) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 09:25 am: Edit

Marite,

Welcome back. I'm glad to see someone holding down the other side of the Charles!

By Marite (Marite) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 10:16 am: Edit

Massdad:

Much as I appreciate access to world-class hospitals on the other side of the Charles, I am glad to be back on my side! The sun is shining, the leaves are still on the trees on my street. It's a gorgeous Indian summer day. It reminds me how much I like living in the New England area.

By Mom60 (Mom60) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 11:25 am: Edit

Marite
Welcome back. I am glad things went well. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

By Mauretania (Mauretania) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 11:44 am: Edit

Marite,
I'm relieved to hear that you're okay. Welcome back and I look forward to reading your posts to this board.

By Digmedia (Digmedia) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 12:08 pm: Edit

::::hugs from everyone here::::

see how many more friends you have than you thought....

Happy Halloween.

By Xiggi (Xiggi) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 02:38 pm: Edit

I had to break my self-imposed hiatus from this board to wish you a speedy recovery and, more importantly, thank you for all your kind and wise words to us, the younger ones.

Well, here we go!

Ces quelques mots pour vous dire...

Que mes meilleurs voeux
Et mes plus chaleureuses pensées
Vous accompagnent aujourd'hui.

Que votre guérison soit rapide!

Christian

By Marite (Marite) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 03:06 pm: Edit

Xiggi:

Thanks so much for your kind words. I'm particularly impressed that you've managed to get the accents. I wrote a long message to my siblings to explain what had happened and ended up writing it in English rather than French because I still have not figured how to type out accents after all these years. I normally don't worry about their lack when writing in French, but I wanted to make sure I was clear. Your example tells me I should be spending my convalescence learning at last how to type French accents.

In the meantime, here goes, without accents but with hearfelt thanks,

Depuis que j'ai fait la connaissance de CC, j'ai fort apprecie votre generosite. Vous vous etes repandu en conseils, et vos opinions sont judicieuses et bien informees.

Que le succes bien merite couronne vos efforts, et que CC continue de beneficier de votre participation.

By Xiggi (Xiggi) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 04:14 pm: Edit

Merci!

Unless you plan to type extensively in French, the keyboard shortcuts are appropriate. If you use it frequently, you may prefer to switch to a different keyboard instead, and even check into buying the foreign language dictionaries from M'soft. Another option is to buy a "cheaper" word processor package in the language you want to use. There are plenty of offerings available. No links are allowed here but googling "french word processing or french writing tools" will yield a lot more than needed.

In the meantime, this is the poor-man version:

Keyboard shortcuts for international characters
Press
CTRL+` (ACCENT GRAVE), the letter
à, è, ì, ò, ù,
À, È, Ì, Ò, Ù
CTRL+' (APOSTROPHE), the letter
á, é, í, ó, ú, ý
Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú, Ý
CTRL+SHIFT+^ (CARET), the letter
â, ê, î, ô, û
Â, Ê, Î, Ô, Û
CTRL+SHIFT+~ (TILDE), the letter
ã, ñ, õ
Ã, Ñ, Õ
CTRL+SHIFT+: (COLON), the letter
ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ,
Ä, Ë, Ï, Ö, Ü, Ÿ
CTRL+SHIFT+@, a or A
å, Å
CTRL+SHIFT+&, a or A
æ, Æ
CTRL+SHIFT+&, o or O
œ, Œ
CTRL+, (COMMA), c or C
ç, Ç
CTRL+' (APOSTROPHE), d or D
ð, Ð
CTRL+/, o or O
ø, Ø
ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+?
¿
ALT+CTRL+SHIFT+!
¡
CTRL+SHIFT+&, s
ß

Alternate PC Method
To type accent marks for Windows programs you must hold down the alt key while typing in the following numbers: 128=Ç 130=é 131=â 133=à 135-ç 136=ê 137=ë 138=è 139=ï 140=î 144=É 147=ô 151=ù

Be sure to use the number pad on the right side of the keyboard while holding down the alt key.

PS One package to check is Grammatica. I copied and pasted your file and in 30 seconds, the text is duly amended to reflect the vast majority of the accents. In this case, it did not know "generosite" but recognized "couronne" as the appropriate verb.

Depuis que j'ai fait la connaissance de CC, j'ai fort apprécié votre générosité. Vous vous êtes répandu en conseils, et vos opinions sont judicieuses et bien informées.
Que le succès bien mérité couronne vos efforts, et que CC continue de bénéficier de votre participation.

By Marite (Marite) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 05:16 pm: Edit

Xigi:

Wow! Thanks! I use several foreign languages in my writing, French being the more frequent, so I have not bothered learning to type in any of them. I also do not use my spell checker because it drives me crazy challenging foreign words.
But now that I have your poor man version of a French keyboard, I no longer have any excuse.
Thanks again!

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 11:36 pm: Edit

Marite...I got back to VT tonight. I hope you are feeling better day by day and back to normal really soon. Normally when I do college visits with my daughter, I am with her most of the time. However, since this is a second visit and involves an overnight stay with a student and things like attending certain classes and meetings with professors and what not, most of that it not appropriate for me to be at. So, I likely am gonna have some free time and am staying at a hotel alone as well, which is rather weird for me! This weekend, I will be finalizing my daughter's schedule on campus and talk to her about when/if I will be joining her there at any point of it. But for sure, I will be on my own in the evening and likely for a good part of the day. We are arriving in time for her to go to a 6:45 PM class and I will drop her off and leave. This is Monday, btw. We will take off after school that day. She is pretty booked up on Tuesday all day and is trying to fit in a few other things. I have to figure out when I would ever join up with her but it may not be til the latter part of the afternoon. So, I likely will be free all AM and for lunch and so on. I have to get in touch with Ariesathena from this forum and maybe see her too! I would love to stop by and meet you and have an in-person posting chat! And actually, since I have not been able to participate here that much lately, I still need to chat with someone about the whole graduating early thing cause my younger daughter who is the age of your son (or the grade anyway) is really pressuring me about graduating early, and her dad is also into it and I never have been (she is already ahead in school). I don't want to get into all that jazz now but maybe can post about the issues sometime here....cause I know you are in similar boat and I think it might be Perry who is as well. I gather you live in Cambridge, somewhere near Porter Square based on your comment about the T. I will have my car and I know the area pretty well as I lived in that area for six years between going to Tufts and going to Harvard and living in Cambridge for the first four years I was married. I am staying at a hotel where Mass Ave. meets Rt. 16...on the border of Cambridge and Arlington....where I stayed last time with my daughter when she visited Tufts. It is a new hotel...actually I will have this whole suite thing...pretty cool all alone.....I could use a day off....LOL. I would be happy to drive over to cheer you up or bring you something. Problem is...I have no idea how to arrange this as I am not keen on posting my email here and do not know yours. A few parents on here know my email. I wonder if any know yours. If any forum friends here have emailed me in the past, and know Marite's email as well, can you send her my email address? Maybe that will work. Hmm...let me know any other way to do this. I am sure my daughter would enjoy meeting you, particularly as you are from France and she is VERY INTO French. She speaks it pretty well and is now doing an indep. study for French 6 as she exhausted the high school offerings. I know she was able to communicate quite well when staying with French families in France and Quebec City and also when traveling all summer in Europe she tended to be the interpreter in the group. She really loves French and wants to continue in college and also study abroad, but just not major in French. I am not sure yet if there would be time for you to meet her, likely not unless at the end of Tuesday before we drove back to VT that evening. I do not want to get back too late as she will have all that school work to do in the car from missing school. It is over three hours away.

About Tufts and your comments above...I know I read people posting about Tufts being thought of as a place to go if not admitted to the Ivies but I beg to differ. I think there must be some who feel that way for this comment to pervade. However, there are tons of kids applying ED there so obviously many choose this school over others. I have spoken to those who have chosen it over Ivy. Even in my own day, I applied ED as did my husband, as it was a first choice. Not sure about myself, but I feel certain he could have gone to any Ivy but liked Tufts. When I was just in Philly at my parents, I met a relative who I did not realize has two grandchildren, one who just graduated Tufts and one currently attending Tufts. He told me that the one going there now chose it over UPenn. My own daughter does not give a hoot about prestige of Ivy. True she has applied to some Ivy league schools, only cause these schools met criteria she has for college selection and she also craves challenging learning environments. However, I feel if she were to order the schools on her list in terms of favorites, the Ivies on her list would not ALL come out on top. For example, Tufts is one of her two first choices at the moment and therefore preferable to a few Ivies on her list. For her, it is about finding the right match. I realize there are students out there into the prestige factor as I glean from reading student posts on these forums. My daughter also is not one to compete with others (besides in sports, though even then tends to root for others as well), rather she tends to compete with herself. So, what will be will be. Personally she loves Tufts and it is coincidental to me that both her dad and I went there as we never ever suggested she look into it or care if she chose it. It was on her original list of 30 schools she chose from perusing college guidebooks and the more she investigated, then visited, the more she found it fit so much of what she wants in a school. Isn't that what it is all about? Now, as I visit campus as a parent....when I did last Nov.....I looked at the school again and felt like I was 17 all over again cause really, I think I would pick this school again if I were a college bound student....it still appealed to me for the same reasons it did back then AGES ago, lol. I would like to think that the students there are not bemoaning that they are not at an Ivy but are there cause they really love Tufts and wanted to be there. I am sure my daughter can ascertain this impression after spending a night with a bunch of kids. I will ask her what they had to say on this matter.

Ok...I really hope we find a way to connect....that would be fun.
Susan

By Marite (Marite) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 11:21 am: Edit

Soozie:

I should be free all day Tuesday, so you could certainly come over and have a chat.
Like you, I prefer not to post my email or other information. The best thing to do is for me to call the hotel where you will be staying. If you can post its name, I can find out its phone number. You might tell the reception a name or nickname for me to leave a message for you. As you may surmise, Marite is a nickname. That will be the name under which I would leave a message.

I do look forward to meeting you and your D if possible. My S has school until about 3, then he goes to math section from 6 to 8. Not that he is an entertaining host, but it might be nice for your D and my S to meet, even if the D who is in the same situation as he is not the one coming.

Take care. Hope to see you on Tuesday.

By Xiggi (Xiggi) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 12:22 pm: Edit

My meeting at Cambridge ... this reads like s spy novel

Just a thought for your email dilemma: why not create a temporary (and free) email at yahoo or hotmail? Use it today and then forget about it!

By Marite (Marite) on Saturday, November 01, 2003 - 01:36 pm: Edit

Xiqqi:

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll let Soozie decide how to proceed.

Where are you applying? If you end up in my neck of the woods, you may find yourself my personal technology advisor!

By Marite (Marite) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 02:38 am: Edit

Soozie:

I'm going to email Ariesathena to give her my email and other infor. Do check in with her. We can then establish direct contact. I do look forward to seeing you on Tuesday!

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 11:54 am: Edit

Marite, hey, I just got online to give you the hotel info. but now read your latest post and that is great that you know Ariesathena's email cause I was also about to email her about meeting up as well, so I will go via that instead of the hotel now. I told my daughter about you and I know she would be fascinated to meet you in general but also cause you are from France. As of now, her Monday evening and all day Tuesday are pretty full and we are going to try to meet up with Ariesathena as I think my daughter would get a lot out of meeting a current graduate and she lives right by the university. By the time everything is done, it will be dinner time and we should try to head back to VT as it is over three hours away and she has to do schoolwork on the ride back and it is a school night to boot. So, on this trip anyway, I think I will just meet up with you and we can talk ""parent-talk". I also told her about your son and she is very impressed that he is taking math and science at Harvard at his age. She is an advanced math student and is starting a distance math course via Johns Hopkins this week, but even though she is accelerated in that area beyond the norm here, it is not as far ahead as your son! I am sure she would have enjoyed meeting up with him. So, I will email Aries now about our meeting and she is free to give you my email address and I can get yours from her as well. Right now, if you feel up to it, and want a visitor, I am open on Tuesday up till 2 or 3 in the afternoon, when I likely will meet up on campus with my daughter to do some things there, after her more structured things are done that do not include me. I am staying pretty close by too and like I said, you live in the locale of my former life (way before kids). Ok, will be in touch via email before I leave town. I will give you my cell phone in the email too. I am not leaving til after school tomorrow.....so it's a date!
Susan

By Marite (Marite) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 03:29 pm: Edit

Soozie:

Do email Ariesathena (her email in her profile). Hoping to have you both over for lunch on Tuesday!

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 03:44 pm: Edit

Marite and Soozie:

I got Marite's emails... sorry, have not been checking in on this thread much, so I missed this conversation! Tuesday works beautifully for me, lunch time or so. Either of you may email me (in profile). Marite, I'll reply to your email and give you more of my contact information. Very much looking forward to meeting you both!

-Bridget

By Ariesathena (Ariesathena) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 03:49 pm: Edit

P.S. I have a meeting at work on Tuesday, but I can work around that for seeing you both.

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Sunday, November 02, 2003 - 05:27 pm: Edit

Aries..I emailed you earlier today about meeting with my daughter and myself late in the afternoon. Give me a hollar. And if you could exchange my email with Marite so I can set up with her, that would be great....
I was going to meet with Marite earlier in the day but if you want to join that, super. But my daughter is still hoping to meet you and as mentioned in my letter, the late afternoon for her is best.
Susan