Saturday, August 27, 2011

Poem for Saturday and Maryland Move-In

Listen To The Mustn'ts
By Shel Silverstein

Listen to the MUSTN'TS, child,
Listen to the DON'TS
Listen to the SHOULDN'TS
The IMPOSSIBLES, the WONT'S
Listen to the NEVER HAVES
Then listen close to me --
Anything can happen, child,
ANYTHING can be.

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Though the official move-in day is Saturday, we spent Friday afternoon moving most of Daniel's things in at the University of Maryland, which decided to allow students to start moving in because Hurricane Irene is expected to disrupt everything severely on Saturday. My father took Adam to play tennis and out to lunch while my mother came with us to help us lug Daniel's things up four flights and set them up in his room, which is bigger than the one in which he stayed at orientation but is not air conditioned. We met the R.A. for the floor -- an aerospace engineer who plays the guitar and has hair as long as Adam's used to be. There's a little convenience store only a few yards from his dorm and the agricultural school farm is nearby, though it's a bit of a walk to the library and engineering school.

We came back in the afternoon, collected Adam from track, and went to get haircuts, then went to my parents' house for dinner -- cornflake chicken (and "chicken"), potato pancakes, chocolate roll. Then we grabbed a few things at the food store in preparation for the hurricane, since the local power company left everyone in the area phone messages warning us that everything in our refrigerators may be doomed, and watched Torchwood all together after I raced out with Adam to take photos of the toads he spotted while walking the neighbor's dogs. I am enjoying the Trek alumni turning up on the series, though I suspect none of the rotating guest characters will live long enough to share the screen for more than a couple of minutes. I am ridiculously sad at the news that Google is getting rid of Slide and shutting down Superpoke Pets. But hey, the Orioles beat the Yankees!


Daniel and Paul set up his biggest priorities, his computer and TV.


My mother and I worked on mundane matters like making the bed and putting his clothes in his closet and drawers.


Though move-in officially starts Saturday, the university invited students to come early to avoid terrible weather.


As you can see, we got rather sweaty and disheveled in the not-air-conditioned dorm room.


Here are my parents and kids after dinner.


And here are the deer and fawns we saw en route to dinner with my parents...


...the frog by the neighbor's pond...


...and the toad Adam spotted across the street.

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