Sunday, January 25, 2004

I'm at Starbucks with Rob Reed. The weather is horrendous. We barely made it here alive. In fact, we did a crazy thing we've never done before. We got to our train station and barely missed our train. So since the station is outdoors and freezing, when the next train came, going the opposite direction, we got on and rode it a couple of stops then got off and rode the right train back in. We saved ourselves standing in the cold for no reason. Pretty funny. I suggest this method to anyone else who has to wait in the cold. It's worth it. We got on the same train we would have anyway. You could also just ride the train until you get to a station that is indoors.

So the big exciting news now around these parts is that Rob is going back to school! We finally actually put some decent effort into something this past week... we've been looking at graduate programs for him while he's been job-searching too because hey, why not... there's not going to be a better time than now really... it's not like we'd ever be able to pay for school without student loans anyway, so why not start now? So he contacted a professor in Computer Science at Tufts and for the first time (he has contacted other area schools as well) the person actually got back to him. Right away. And was extremely helpful. Turns out they have a program which is pretty much just what he needs - it's a post-baccaleaureate program in Computer Science which is perfect to prepare for going for a Master's and/or PhD in the field if you don't have an undergrad degree in CS (as he doesn't). He just needed one course (an intro to computer science) as a prerequisite and it turns out he still was able to get into that class for this semester... it started on Thursday and he was there for the first class. He has decided to take one other class too, a Math course, which would fill a requirement in the post-bac program. So he has been to each class once and they seem good. Both professors are really nice and down-to-earth. So hooray for Rob Reed! He even got approved for his student loan for this semester on Friday so everything is working out. He may start classes for the post-bac program this summer or this fall, depending on what's offered and probably on the advice of his professors.

The other good news is now that we know how all this grad school stuff works because of figuring this mess out, I know what to be prepared for when I go back. Of course, I have to finally decide what it is I want to do. But in the meantime I may be able to take a night class or two if I am sure they would be relevant to future studies.

Tufts is funny. Their mascot is an elephant and their sports teams are the "jumbos". There is also something there - maybe a school paper or something - called the pachiderm. I have no idea if I'm spelling that right - probably not but I'll let it go. So we may have to allow ourselves a little treat of some Tufts gear... a hat or something.

I'm very proud of Rob Reed! He is doing his homework right now, as a matter of fact. Good job Rob!

2:00:46 PM  

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