College visits are underway, our first one was to Indiana Tech in Ft. Wayne. Brandi scheduled it for a Saturday, so as not to disrupt his school days, then snow was forecasted and we snuck out on a Friday night. Awesome dinner at Salvatori's, an Italian joint on the north end, couldn't have been better. And nearly a good night's sleep, except for me roaring briefly at the cheerleaders partying in the hallway at 10 PM.
It was a visitation event, roughly 100 families or so gathered for the tour. Nick's selected major is Mechanical Engineering, one of three colleges at IT. It was a sunny but cold tour, our guide Haley was outstanding (and chatty), taking us through several buildings, including the dorms (where we temporarily evicted four co-eds and their Dots Pretzels). Ever prof was passionate, and the equipment was impressive. Nick lit up at the mechanical areas of the new facility, dreaming of what he could do with a million-dollar 3D printer. Afterward, he impressed a prof at the tables by explaining thorium energy, and bragged about the cafeteria food, which from what I could surmise was pizza and chicken nuggets (Gen Z food.) Given the reasonable driving distance, the small campus, and the facilities in Nick's area of focus, IT is a real possibility; we have more homework to do, more visits, and Nick will be focused on his GPA for the coming weeks, as things get real.
Before returning home, we stopped a railroad historical society about ten minutes outside of Ft. Wayne, where the project manager Andrew, and one of the 80 volunteers, Tom, took us thru the facility, where Nick hopes to volunteer while he's at school a year from now. I must admit, the idea of him learning in the IT environment, and applying it in this train 'garage' where they refurbish real locomotives, it's an applicable skillset, and real impact. I can see the vision better now.
This was the month for the 'socks of terror', which was a simple shipping error from Amazon, a package that was not ours, but Brandi called the local Sheriff, who came out, and filed a report, all while I was in the shower. Nick and I discovered a new pizza place in Dundee, River's Edge, and we've already been there twice. He was able to repair a taillight bulb in his car while I was gone on a work trip, in between his fling tests in G-Mod, I assume, and eating his Chernobyl-grade peeps leftover from Easter.
