OBW Company E

I enrolled Nick in a week-long college 'camp' named Ohio Business Week, while despite having been around 35 years, I had to check and make sure it wasn't a scam.  SFS mentioned it, but no record of alumni attending (although one kid was there that Nick knew when we arrived as an associate, Connor.) I'd hoped a week in a dorm away from home, and with 120 other HS seniors, would be good for him.  The results are better than anticipated.

Dropping him off, the whole operation looked sub-optimal, and a bit poorly organized.  I was hoping he'd connect with the tall blonde girl in front of us, but told him to at least make friends with some smart Asian kids if he wanted to win (seems smarmy on the surface but I wasn't far off from the reality). After sending his bags up to his dorm room, he marched off to his first session of the first day, no need for an escort from his mother.  He was relatively quiet for the first couple of days, but sent a few texts, like, "Not to sound like a bad person, but I'm in the same dorm as an <odd guy> or something, I have zero idea how to react, feels like I'm in a David Attenborough documentary."  That kid's name was Sam, and by the end of the week, they were solid roommates, who had spent hours comparing stories and notes, and a key reason Nick concluded dorm living isn't so bad. (Helped that they had A/C, it was 95 degrees here all week.)

By day two, he responded, "The product my company chose is the hardest to market, I hate where we are going, it's an over-complicated electronic pillbox."  He had other ideas, and sketches, around lubricating oil products and power-assisted hedge clippers, but the team decided, and he committed to the plan. He'd also concluded by this point their cafeteria pizza was the only edible food, and breakfast was irrelevant since he slept thru it anyway (once).

It was day three when he felt the momentum, and called me (not text) with an update. They had elected an Indian girl as CEO and he loved her (he didn't want a title for himself, "I just do what she tells me, it works better").  He'd been assigned all the visuals, creating hand sketches of the product and all of their materials, and created the product mock-ups in PowerPoint for their presentations. Later I learned the presentation boards were mostly his content, which I could tell from his notes. He'd found his place in the company, and was thriving.

Later on we'd heard stories of how the other ten companies had battles within their teams, were up late arguing, struggled to come to decisions. (They had some good-looking CEOs, apparently from some privileges households... didn't matter.  Nice lesson here.)  Nick told us they had no such issues inside his Company E, which is probably a contributor to their success.  Their biggest distraction were two teenagers that had the hots for each other inside the team, which Nick pointed out during the closing presentation, 'Couldn't you tell Victoria wasn't wearing a bra to get his attention?"

On Friday evening Brandi and I attended the closing ceremony, where several categorical awards were presented, and the organizers acted like an over-hyped rally. Despite the awkwardness from the outside looking in (today's society values some things that are just cringe moments for us older folks), the kids clearly committed to the week and learned alot.  Sitting there hearing Nick's company win Best Digital Ad and Best Marketing Materials, along with best cheer (where Nick was in street clothes when everyone else was in suits, because, he did 'the worm' on stage), we trudged along anxious for the exit.  Then his company won Best Overall, based on peer voting, and while I wouldn't have predicted it, I see it now.  Ask Nick what he was presented as recognition, and he'll tell you 'a block of wood', which was a nice plaque. But true to Nick, the minute it was over, we hustled for the door, pictures unnecessary, and were the first car to his bags and off campus in a hurry.  This will be a great memory for him, and a great resume builder.  Did he get the contact info of any of the other kids so they can stay in touch?  Nope.

May 2024

There's been a high number of posts about Nick's driving over the past two years, but that's where the excitement is, and he's come along to the point where I trust him completely. (Unlike the white pickup here in town that's been terrorizing people and almost ran me off the road before rebounding out of the ditch on Consear, and leaving his taillight behind.) For the first time out with just his mother in the vehicle with him, I got a margarita in her before a doctor's checkup, so she couldn't drive, meaning Nick had to drive them.  All went well. He's also done his first solo Taco Bell run.  So the common theme to motivated driving is: Mexican food.

Nick had a piano recital this month, where he played two pieces: the theme from Poirot, and Toccatina by Kobalevski.  He modified some of the music to fit the timeframe of the recital, and is now playing second-to-last as one of Mrs. Rutter's more senior students.  

We also caught a Mud Hens game one evening, Nick agreed to join me in exchange for a pizza at Papalis. 

And we snuck in college visit #3, although Defiance College over-hyped their engineering offerings... the entire college of engineering has eight students... so it's likely removed from the list of consideration. We did get a nice meal at the local bar (like eating wood chips) and a walk around in a downpour of rain.  Nothing to see here.  We had an impressive view of northern lights this month from home, so that was one evening of entertainment.
Finally, Miranda and Robin came by in a mom-exchange, and Nick hung with Myles for a couple hours, which isn't more than two guys ignoring each other on their tablets.

Brandi got her garden prepared for the summer, so we'll have one stalk of asparagus to eat, heavily seasoned with many spices from which to choose.
Whether it's driving a vehicle or hands on a keyboard, just don't ask him anything that involves identifying his right from his left (such as, "move right or you'll crash into something", as he swerves to the left.)  He does know for sure that junior year of school is over, and we're onto the senior steps, one last year of high school at SFS.

April 2024 - College Visit #2 - PSU Altoona

Our second college visit was to Penn State at Altoona, a smaller campus with specialized programs.  Nick wanted to see the Rail Transportation Engineering program, so of course after sending three separate communications to prepare they weren't ready for us, and we'll need to go back again later. We viewed the 2024 Solar Eclipse with school-issued 'glasses' while on our tour, peeking around the young tour guide Brandon who was hopping around like he was on fire himself (nerves, I assume.) OK campus but old and tired, the Engineering Director is a good guy, and the lousy cafeteria food is expensive, those are the main takeaways.

We made the five-day trip into an adventure visiting local family, trekking thru heavy rains and flooded roads on Wednesday to arrive in the evening and get our first duck (a drink at Primanti Bros.) Our hotel was a little tight with two beds, but we made it work with minimal difficulties (not counting the traffic light out front that hated us.)
Thursday started with Brandi and Nick visiting the local train museum and seeing the famous Horseshoe Curve in Altoona where we stayed. Then lunch with Aunt Val and Uncle Vito at their restaurant, where we swapped car photos, caught up on the gossip before we saw everyone else, and had a good meal. Day one of pizza.
Friday was early dinner with Andy, Michelle and Grandpapa, who is more limited now, getting around with less ease. The new place on Washington St in Huntingdon was good food, and good company. Nick and I rode with Andy out to see a 1955 Ford F-100 that was a military bid spec vehicle at a guy named Travis' home. Rough shape, but an interesting story, I'll share the find when I see the F-150 guys later this month for the P800 clinic in Long Beach. It was an eye-opening experience for Nick to hang with the locals. Caught a movie in the evening as the theater was walking distance from our hotel, the latest Ghostbusters passed a couple of hours.
Saturday we spent four hours with Bobby and Jeanette at their home, just chatting at the dining roon table, before heading to Paesano's for dinner to see everyone else.  Nick made pizza with his Pap, ice cream with Grams, and we saw the rest of the gossip firsthand. Day two of pizza.

Sunday was one more visit with the grandparents, first the Perows, the Grandpapa Nicholson. Nick and I hung on the porch while Brandi chatted with her family, then he and I walked the campus at Juniata College, and saw a little soccer, then four innings of the baseball team against the Wilkes-Barre Colonels. Last day of pizza, please make it stop.

Brandi got to make a stop at the candy store in Tyrone as we wrapped up the weekend, loaded up on $35 worth of penny candy.  The drive home after the PSU school visit was against the eclipse traffic, I estimate a four-hour backup on the Ohio Turnpike going east as we headed home west. 

Photos here from Spring 2024.

March 2024 - College Visit #1 - Indiana Tech

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.

Photos here.

Energy Matters on WGAU

I took a short trip around the south for work, with a workshop in Nashville for the aftersales team at Nissan, a stop in Pinehurst to visit family, and then swung back south to Athens for a weekend.  While in GA, I was invited onto the Energy Matters radio show on WGAU by my colleague from work, my first time on radio.  The fun is keeping up, four segments of eleven minutes each, no prep, the time fills fast.  Here's a link to the show that day in podcast form where we discuss cars, and then specifically alternative powertrains in commercial vehicles.  Link here to Episode 276 from March 2024.