The Verdict is In

And #2 Son has been accepted to the culinary school!

First he passed all the math and English tests.  In fact, he did better than he thought he would since he gets so nervous taking tests.  It's okay, i tried to tell him, it's basic math and you speak English, you'll be fine, but he was concerned.

He aced the interview and while i did edit his essay a little (for a couple of spelling errors and one phrase that just didn't sound very good), his own words brought his passion to life, especially in the interview process.

The semester will start in January.  It's a 16-month program and he will come out with an Associates Degree in Culinary Arts.  Then he can add just over another year and get a second degree that will qualify him to work in management in restaurants and hotels, come up with business plans for his own restaurant (his dream), and even be a casino pit boss if he ever so desires.

In the meantime, he is still in training for management where he works, and he hopes to continue working after he starts school.  Because he will be Serve-Safe Certified after his first week in school, he might even get a raise, or help with tuition.  While Grandpa's trust fund is there, we do want to get as much other help as possible.  No need to waste help that's easily available, after all.

He's on his way to his dream, and we are jumping with joy!



Today is:

Armed Forces Day -- Mozambique; Peru

Banned Websites Awareness Day -- sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians

Black Walnut Festival -- Stockton, MO, US (tours of the world's largest black walnut processing plant, plus parade, crafts, carnival and entertainment; through Saturday)

Constitution Day/Recoronation of King Norodom Sihanouk -- Cambodia

Do Impressions of Famous People Around the Office Day -- again, i wonder about the intentions of those who start these things

Feast of Our Lady of Mercy -- Catholic Christian
     Lady of Mercedes Day -- Dominican Republic
     La Merce -- Barcelona, Spain

Festival of the Latest Novelties -- an internet generated holiday to celebrate everything from traditional whoopie cushions to some of the more modern and weird novelty gifts out there; a great day for practical jokers

Gallbladder Good Health Day -- seems unsponsored, but there's information about keeping your gallbladder healthy here

Going Forth of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Heritage Day -- South Africa

Independence Day/National Day -- Guinea-Bissau(1973)

Innergize Day -- the day to take time for yourself! always on the day after the equinox, so either the 23rd or 24th, depending on where you live

Mahidol Day -- Thailand (commemorates the passing of Prince Father Mahidol Adulyadej, the "Father of Thai Modern Medicine")

Moose Day -- the day Bullwinkle J. Moose, from Frostbite Falls, MN, US, and his pal Rocky the Flying Squirrel debuted in 1959

National Bluebird of Happiness Day -- US (and no one knows why, but it's supposed to be a day to go spread some happiness)

National Cherries Jubilee Day

National Punctuation Day® -- make sure you are using those punctuation marks correctly! Jeff Rubin can help

National Women's Health and Fitness Day -- www.fitnessday.com

New Caledonia Day -- New Caledonia

Petit Jean Fall Antique Auto Swap Meet -- Morrilton, AR, US (swap meet and the Museum of Automobiles; through Saturday)

Republic Day -- Trinidad and Tobago

Rosh Hashanah -- Judaism (begins this evening; through the evening Sept. 6)

Santa Cruz Day -- Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia

Schwenkfelder Thanksgiving -- Pennsylvania Dutch followers of Silesian Reformation theology

St. Gerard's Day (Patron of Hungary)

St. Rupert's Day (Patron of Salzburg, Austria, where it is an official school and government holiday)

Transatlantic Telephone Day -- the first cable across the Atlantic was completed on this day in 1956
 
World School Milk Day -- UN



Birthdays Today:

Morgan Hamm, 1982
Paul Hamm, 1982
Nia Vardalos, 1962
Kevin Sorbo, 1958
Alan Colmes, 1950
Gordon Clapp, 1948
Phil Hartman, 1948
Linda McCartney, 1941
Jim Henson, 1936
Anthony Newley, 1931
Sheila MacRae, 1924
Jim McKay, 1921
F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896
John Marshall, 1755
Horace Walpole, 1717


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Nevermind"(Album release), 1991
"No More Lonely Nights"(McCartney single release), 1984
"The Love Boat"(TV), 1977
"60 Minutes"(TV), 1968
"Daniel Boone"(TV), 1964
"The Munsters"(TV), 1964
"Love of Life"(TV), 1951
"Once in a Lifetime"(Play), 1930


Today in History:

Prophet Muhammad completes his hijra from Mecca to Medina, 622
The last Emperor of the Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine Empire, Manuel I Komnenos, dies; the empire slips into terminal decline, 1180
The Dutch Republic surrenders New Amsterdam to England, 1664
The first autopsy and coroner's jury verdict is recorded in the state of Maryland, 1657
John Jay is appointed by George Washington as the first Chief Justice of the then six-person Supreme Court, which was instituted by the Federal Judiciary Act passed that same day, 1789
US Attorney General Office is created, 1789
The Northern Daily Times becomes the first provincial daily newspaper in London, 1853
Alexander Dey patents a dial time recorder, 1889
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially renounces polygamy, 1890
U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt proclaims Devils Tower in Wyoming as the nation's first National Monument, 1906
Cathay Pacific Airways is founded in Hong Kong, 1946
The Honda Motor Company is founded, 1948
Forest fires black out the sun over portions of Canada and New England, and a Blue moon (in the astronomical sense) is seen as far away as Europe, 1950
Camp Nou, the largest stadium in Europe, is opened in Barcelona, 1957
President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends 101st Airborne Division troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation, 1957
The United States court of appeals orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, 1962
Swaziland joins the United Nations, 1968
Compu-Serve launches the first consumer internet service, which features the first public electronic mail service, 1979
Periodic Great White Spot observed on Saturn, 1990
Hurricane Rita devastates Beaumont, Texas, southwest Louisiana, and finishing off some of the parts of New Orleans and southeast Louisiana that Katrina missed, 2005
The G20 Summit in Pittsburgh, PA, US, marks the first use of LRAD for crowd control in the US, 2009
Nigeria's government opens two swollen dams and displaces about two million people, 2010