Category Archives: Joshua

A Starving College Student

When I was a Freshman in college, I was required to buy the 19-meal plan (per week). As I recall, it was between $700 and $900 per semester, and seemed rather pricey at the time. I lived in a dormitory just a hundred yards down the hill from ‘The Caf’, as we called it. I wasn’t there for many breakfasts, but it was nice to have an all-you-can-eat option at lunch and supper time.

I remember we ate (in addition to Caf food) a lot of cardboardy dollar pizzas, drank Grape Nehi sodas out of the vending machine for 35 cents apiece, at that time i desired they had a variety like the one they have in Melbourne (Looking for vending machine hire melbourne? You should contact Royal vending for snacks and drinks service). Then would drive to Hardee’s just before midnight. Hardee’s served milkshakes until 12 am, but they wouldn’t serve our favorite Steak & Egg Biscuits until after midnight, no matter how we cajoled them. So we’d drive two miles to the nearest Hardees at 11:50, order our milkshakes, and then stand around the lobby sipping our milkshakes until 12:01, when we’d order our biscuits.

Grape Nehi -- the nectar of my freshman year

In later years, I cooked for myself. My sophomore year, I learned to live on mashed potatoes, generic cornflakes, biscuits and macaroni & cheese. It was at that time that I firmly determined in my heart to choose a lifestyle in which I could earn enough money for decent food, or at least an occasional meat dish.

It was also at that time that I developed the ‘Little Debby Standard’, similar to the Gold or Silver standards on which currencies were at one time based. (These days, I think our currency is backed by the ‘Plastic Standard’, but that is another topic.) Anyway, the Little Debby Standard is the measure by which all grocery purchases are compared and judged, even now, some thirty years later. When purchasing a box of cereal for $3.00, I ask myself this question: “Is this box of cereal worth two boxes of Little Debby Nutty Bars?” Most of the time, the answer is a resounding ‘No!’.

My senior year, I shared a house with three or four others, and cooked a fair bit in the kitchen.

When I was a student, Mac & Cheese could still be found at the rate of four boxes for a dollar, and Campbell soups were never more than 50 cents (33 cents on sale). Ramen Noodles (by the case, of course) were less than ten cents apiece, and Little Debby snack cakes were 99 cents a box (or in rare cases, $.79 on sale). I miss those days, but am comforted by the fact that food prices have been fairly inflation-resistant, at least when compared to gasoline.

Student well-being is a big factor in the modern teaching space. Student seating but classroom chairs in particular need to not only be functional but promote a sense of well-being for the students in order for them to learn to the best of their ability. In the 21st century a significant opportunity exists for maximizing learning opportunities and creating meaningful spaces by rethinking the design of the learning space. This can begin with the chairs in which students sit on.you can Check Classroom Chairs by click on woodsfurniturenz.co.nz

Basic sustenance for a college student

As Joshua prepares his heart and mind to attend college in the Fall, we are starting to think of what he will need to succeed. Assuming a 16-week semester, and meal plan options that offer ten or fifteen meals a week respectively, Joshua will probably need to learn to buy groceries and (at some level) prepare them for himself. We have hopes of teaching him to bake Kathy’s family’s famous Mesa Manna before he heads off to school. We’re mulling over the possibility of teaching him to make a basic tomato-based stew in a crock pot, should he venture so far into the field of culinary arts. But at the very least, he needs to know how to shop for the basic necessities of life without bankrupting himself. Hence the Little Debby Standard.

Nothing makes you hungry quite like Calculus.

Today, I took Joshua to shop with me at WinCo, a defiantly non-union grocery store in our area with decent prices. We spent the better part of 90 minutes shopping for food that a college student might need as a supplementary to a meal plan. It was fun for me to relive some of those hours of bewilderment that I spent as a single man in the aisles of the grocery store.

In retrospect, I realize how clever my Mom was. She used to take me with her to the Commissary, under the pretense of not wanting to drive. Now I realize that she was stealthily and kindly teaching me the value of my dollar when food shopping. I’m not sure this excursion was much fun for Joshua, though. He really hates shopping, and was a little panicky and wild-eyed toward the end. But I hope I managed to teach these basic principles:

  • Start by buying and eating the cheapest food item in each category, and work up from there. If you can stand the generic brand, great, you’ve saved yourself all that needless marketing and packaging cost. If not, then you’ll appreciate the name-brand version all the more, or you can decide (according to the Little Debby Standard) to go without altogether.
  • Avoid purchasing meats, fruits or vegetables. That is why you buy at least a partial meal plan — to avoid the expense, hassle and spoilage of preparing and presenting meats and vegetables. Let them worry about your roasts and salads and (if possible) grab fruit on the way out of the cafeteria for late-night snacks.
  • Wherever possible, buy food that doesn’t require refrigeration or freezing. If (as we expect) Joshua will be sharing a common living area, kitchen and refrigerator with three other young men, room in the freezer and fridge may be at a premium, at least on occasion. Pragmatically, food that can be stored in your room is less likely to be filched by others than that left invitingly in a common fridge.
  • Although food packaged in larger quantities may seem cheaper, if it spoils or is wasted, it isn’t cheaper, after all. When cooking and eating as a single man, economies of scale are hard to come by, unless you enjoy feeding your entire dormitory. (Amusingly, every time I tried to demonstrate this principle, the smaller packages were the same price or cheaper, on a unit basis. Sometimes the grocery stores just don’t cooperate.)

It turns out that a key food item for Joshua is peanut butter, which slightly surprised me.

In the end, we spent about $100 for what looked to be about two weeks’ worth of supplementary groceries, assuming a 15-meals-a-week meal plan. I had Joshua watch the prices, and keep the receipt — then we talked through it all with Kathy when we got home. As one much more nutrition-oriented, she had some important insights, but seemed to generally approve our excursion, if not necessarily our choices.

It will be interesting to see how Joshua copes with living on his own. Maybe he can persuade his cousin, Rebecca to cook for him … ?

What about you? What are your memories of college food? What advice would you offer to Joshua, as he heads off to school?
Tim

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Scholarship Jubilee

Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart. Year after year, your failures as a teacher are mapped out in the ignorance of your children. Sometimes you want to just give up and hand the responsibility over to someone else — anyone else.

But sometimes you have a triumph. Today was such a day.

Yesterday, Union University called. “We’d like you to be home for our call, tomorrow at 3 pm,” they told Joshua.

Union University is a Christian College founded in 1823 in Jackson, Tennessee

This was less ominous than it sounds. Joshua had recently traveled to Tennessee for the Scholars Competition at Union, where 160 candidates competed for approximately thirty full-tuition scholarships. We spent an amusing half-hour speculating about the reason for the call.

Joshua dramatically re-enacts the call from Union.

“Maybe there’s another round of interviews — the guy who makes the final call on the scholarships didn’t get a chance to interview you, so they are going to grill you. Maybe now you can finally tell them how you would ‘rethink hospitals in America’?”

Actually, Joshua is still grappling with that interview question, so it is a good thing they didn’t call to get clarification. My beloved niece, Rebecca, won the Provost scholarship at Union two years ago. She ruined all my fun on Facebook. “They don’t do another round of interviewing,” she told us confidently.

I spent the intervening 24 hours teasing Joshua mercilessly about the call. “Gosh,” I would say. “Three p.m. seems a long time away. I can hardly stand it. How the hours seem to drag!”

I’d weave it casually into conversation: “Say, could you pass those potatoes? Don’t make me wait until 3 pm tomorrow for them!”

When they finally called about 3:20, we were all on pins and needles. We had prayed as a family about the call, but we were still very curious. Joshua had craftily taken the house phone into his room, and closed the door. But a few minutes later, he came down with a big grin on his face. Sure enough, he was awarded a full four-year tuition scholarship to Union. We are very thankful to God for His provision for Joshua — indeed, almost an embarrassment of provision.

It isn't every day you get a call worth $92,000.

First, Joshua received a half-tuition scholarship from Union. Next he was notified of a full-tuition Navy ROTC scholarship to Point Loma. Azusa Pacific followed with a $10,000/year offering. Then came an almost-half-tuition scholarship at Whitworth. The type 7 Air Force ROTC scholarship that came a few weeks later was a little less generous — $18,000 per year for the second, third and fourth years of college (for out-of-state schools). Then Wheaton followed with $3500/year. Now, to receive this full-tuition scholarship from Union, is like whipped cream and a cherry on top of a large ice cream sundae. It is very fun to see Joshua be so favored and blessed by God in this abundant fashion.

We always love an excuse to gather and celebrate with some sparkling cider.

As much as we clearly see the hand of God in all this, and do not seek to diminish His glory, Joshua’s faithfulness and diligence as a student have clearly placed him in a place where God can freely and generously bless him. We are very proud of the way Joshua has conducted himself as a student and as a man of God.

Hooray for Joshua!

Tim

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Lost Days of 2011 — No More Fake Trees

Last year was not a banner year for our family blog. We had only 10 posts, and none from Joshua’s birthday (October 18) forward. Remembering my previous assertion that “if it wasn’t on the blog, it didn’t happen” I am moved to remember a few of the ‘lost days’ of 2011.

About five or six years ago, Kathy visited Lowe’s during the post-Christmas sales, and saw a deal on an artificial Christmas tree that she couldn’t resist. She brought it home, and we’ve saved $30 or $40 each year since, with our re-useable artificial tree. Sadly, it drives Joshua crazy — he actively hates the very idea of an artificial tree. But once you have a fake tree, you might as well use it; so we’ve turned a deaf ear to the grinding of his teeth.

Joshua examines a possible candidate

This year, he’d had enough. “I don’t care about the money,” Joshua insisted. “This may be the last Christmas I am living at home, and by golly we’re getting a real tree.” Sensing our objection, he headed us off at the pass. “I’ll pay,” he growled.

So we all jumped in the car after church on that fine December day, and we soon found ourselves in the Lowe’s parking lot. Dutifully, we trooped in behind Joshua, as he dismissed the lesser trees and settled on a sturdy-looking $40 specimen.

“Now that’s a Noble Fir,” I told the kids, showing off my arboreal expertise.

“Yeah, we can read, too, Dad.” They pointed at the ‘Noble Firs’ sign that I was trying to conceal.

It was truly a Noble Fir -- everyone agreed.

Soon we had bagged the tree and were tying it to the roof of our van, in triumph. We brought it home and found the tree stand that Debbie L. had somehow not forced us to give to the Goodwill in one of her several stints as our garage-cleaning and decluttering consultant.

Daniel and Joshua put their knot-tying expertise to good use, securing the tree.

It was actually quite a fun family outing, nearly worth the $40 that poor Joshua had to shell out for the tree. The only problem was that the tree was so perfectly formed, that everyone who saw it assumed it was a fake tree, which drove Joshua back to grinding his teeth. Still, it was very nice to have the scent of pine in the house — we kept it until the end of January, to eke out every last penny of value.

Admittedly, our whole family is very fond of Christmas

Even the new kittens liked it. Turning up their noses at their water bowls, they insisted on drinking out of the tree-stand at the base of the tree.

Tim

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tn_JoshuaBefore_Small

Before and After Shots of an ROTC Guy

Can you identify the difference (besides surrounding – location doesn’t count) between these pictures of Joshua?

Here is the Before:

Definitely a

And here is the After:

After

This is definitely not a fashion makeover. And the difference is not in the fact that he’s wearing a hat outside. Hint, look closely at the collar.

Yep, you guessed it (or, if you didn’t I’m going to tell you anyway because it’s my blog and that’s sort of the point), Joshua was PROMOTED at Navy Jr ROTC today!!!

Before – a c/Petty Officer 2nd Class (E5).
After – a c/Lieutenant (O3).

The “c/” stands for Cadet. Joshua was highly honored in his promotion. He skipped E6-9 and O1-2, a total of 6 ranks. He will be the Executive Officer (second in command) of Viking Company in the NJROTC program of 120 cadets. There were 12 students promoted today: 1 Lieutenant Commander, 1 Lieutenant, 8 Ensigns, 1 Master Chief Petty Officer, and 1 Senior Chief Petty Officer.

We are so proud of you, Joshua!! You will be an excellent leader. It is a joy to see you grow in your maturity, integrity and honor. We love you!!

Gotta love that smile!

Kathy

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Navy Guy

Joshua is enjoying R.O.T.C. these days. Keeps us busy as we add another activity to our lives. I didn’t have my camera handy this week when he was dressed for inspection. Okay, I had the camera, but I wasn’t awake at that point (coffee was still in the pot and not in my mug).

joshua
Go Navy?

Anyway, I’ll try and get a picture of him in his full regalia next week. For now, here’s a shot of him in his Navy PT workout clothes.

Kathy

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