How about a whiskey off this Forbes's list: forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2015/05/27/10-great-whiskies-for-every-whisky-lover/#405534cb613c. I have not tried any of these. I used to enjoy the drink when I was a young banking exec, but can't stand the smell of the stuff after a rough night 30 years ago.

A lady who provides support services for my office is into making holiday gift baskets. Every x-mas, I look forward to receiving that basket of homemade cookies and candy. Delicious.

Good advice. My ninth grader scored 1330 SAT in 7th Grade, and 1390 SAT in 8th grade. We were told by an admission advisor to back off on testing. She said chasing perfection at this point could be detrimental in the long run. No test or prep this year. We will not start testing again until the end of tenth.

This might be going overboard. But, I had a near "expert" ranking in college. I saved a small chess library for my kid to use one day. Well, my kid plays and likes chess, but has no interest in excelling at chess. If you are interested, I will ship my collection that starts with "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess" to "Modern Chess Openings" , for the cost of shipping. Probably $300+ in books, for maybe $20 book rate shipping. Will toss in a chess computer, IF I can find it. you can pay me after you receive books. They have been collecting dust around here for 10 years.

through my work the past two years, I have been helping a 26 years old college student. When I met him he was into his 6th year as full time student at the local community college. I was very shocked because he had outstanding college grades, and had won a national robotics competition that earned him internships at research institutions better known by their initials. I was further surprised that he had never taken a college entrance exam, even though he graduated from a notoriously competitive high school. He was just languishing at this c.c. He and I started working together on his college transfer. I really thought he had a chance at a top 10 in major type college, with his national competitions, having been published, and some of his work is possibly on Mars. Then came very average SAT scores. I wasn't surprised by his verbal score, but the math was shocking. Oh well. I heard somewhere that some students do poorly on SAT math because they are too far ahead of SAT math. . Then, came a C+ in multivariable calculus that was supper disappointing, because going into the final he was so confident, and was actually being paid to tutor. When I asked him what happened, he said he just blanked. He got rejected by all the elite programs, but was accepted to several UCs. Then I started recalling things about learning disabilities that I read on this particular board. I told him to get to his new school early, and request an evaluation. That because UCs are state school, the evaluation will be free. Well it turns out that he has ADD. Seems funny to say that we are happy to have found out. The school is working on accommodations for his needs. Again, thanks to this board.

Any experience with Physic C. I am waffling between Physic Prep and Thinkwell College Physics 1. thanks

Up until a couple of years ago, I smoked three turkeys at a time in a barrel smoker. My cooking temp was 250 degrees. I had a handful of thermometers-- wide range of variation. But, generally I relied on the two or 3 that gave the same temp reading. I would think that breast temp of 200 is way overdone. I would test the breast and thigh. and when either got 162, i would consider it done. Be sure to very loosely cover bird after taking out of smoker, and let it rest for at least 45 minutes (part of the cooking process) I am cooking in S.Cal., so my coldest day was probably 45 degrees, but even then it took 4-5.5 hours to smoke turkey at 250 One possibility for the wide variance between breast and thigh temp is location of heat source. If heat source is one side, be sure to rotate bird every 40 minutes or so. Also, smaller birds, 12-13lbs, smoked better for me.

Also, scoring is relative to the test pool. April seems a little off season. October would have the kids who prepped also summer, and were into application mode.

Have you considered test prep the old fashion way? Simply, workbooks. I mention this because my 9th grader has been in an online class,or another, year round since the 2nd grade. We are very used to the on-line format. However, when it comes to test prep, it has been all paper--Princeton, Kaplan, Barron etc workbooks. It is much easier for him to use fingers, calculate, estimate, circle, mark-off, eliminate answer choices, on paper. Probably, same reason why most test prep companies recommend taking paper tests, over on-line tests. Also, it allows me to review his mistakes at my leisure, and then walk him through the problem on paper with arrows, diagrams, calculations, so on. I don't have time to go through the on-line materials with him. Just something that has worked well for us for PSAT 8/9, SAT (twice) , ISEE (twice),

Yes. Northwestern CTD. Two summers ago he took vex robotics. Last summer he took Honors Biology. the class was his first high school level class. It was a jolt for my kid who cruised through a very tough--reputation wise-- middle school. The biology teacher taught science at a top Chicago private school. She was also an AP exam reader. The assigned text was a college textbook. It took a week, for him to adjust to the rigor. By the second half of the class he was falling asleep at his desk around 1:00a.m, and sleeping through the night at his desk. According to him, most of the kids that did well in the class were also sleeping at their desks, and passing on the weekend excursions. Ended up being a badge of honor. Even the T.As were saying that this class was more advanced than even CTD AP biology. but he has grown from it. He is a so much more focused student back at regular school. Just giving you the heads up about this particular class, because the class description states that it is an intro class to prepare for AP Biology. Next summer, we are considering the CTD 5 week AP Chemistry class. Also, if you are qualified for CTD with PSAT or SAT scores, when the enrollment period opens around January 1, 2020, you by-pass "talent search", and go directly to course enrollment. The enrollment application will ask you to attach qualifying scores. The popular classes and programs fill up very fast.

Thanks Lori D , for Chortling Bard recommendation. Will use it this summer with my then new 10th grader for SAT prep.

My 9th grader started CTY Summer at the end of 3rd grade. He has taken 5 classes. We afterschool very accelerated math, and summer science at CTY. Most of the science classes that he took were middle school level. He has not taken a CTY summer H.S. class. Overall, the summer program put him far ahead through middle school, and even his freshman year. it is a fun environment. Food is from the college dining hall(s), so probably most diet requirements can be met. The Franklin & Marshall/Lancaster campus seem most popular for teenagers. The Lancaster program has a lots of traditions and some silliness. But two years ago, he did both Lancaster and CTD Chicago. He thought CTD was so much better for teens. He went back to CTD this past summer, but did not want to go back to CTY. A lot of off campus excursions are included in the CTD price. CTY is all on campus. Since your son will be 13 if he goes, I suggest you look at the h.s honors classes. Honor classes are full year classes compressed into three weeks. BTW, if you qualified CTY with the PSAT or SAT, his score probably meets eligibility for CTD and Duke TIP.. ETA. Forgot to add that a bit part of the experience is living on campus. Your son will miss all the bonding and team building experience that happens at night and weekends, if he commutes to any residential summer program. My kid is in contact with friends around the world.

W are using one text as primary source, and another textbook and AP practice guides for additional problems In the other text, he does the odd problems that have answers in back. older edition math books are cheap.

the 9th grader is about 1/2 through Thinkwell's AP chemistry. Thinking about using CTD 5-week AP Chemistry as final test prep.

I am very careful to remove valuables from by car. Still, I had five cars broken into over the last 30 years. The first two were 1990s Hyundais that had easily removable aftermarket radios. As to the other three times, twice they took the ashtray that held parkings coins. The other time, they took the kid's Zucca bag that looks very enticing, but contained only 2nd grade books and hw.