…and this is a 
Hello from St Cloud
Category: Personal
Posted on: May 12, 2007 1:00 PM, by PZ Myers
It's a bit of a travel day for me again—I'm in St Cloud, sitting in a coffee shop for a little while, before heading off to the SCSU campus for…ALARIC'S GRADUATION! My oldest son is graduating with a double major in Economics and Political Science today. One less set of tuition payments to make, at last.
OK, it's also good that he's going to be a free and independent adult, and isn't going to need me for anything anymore.
Comments
Not need you for anything anymore?!?
Oh... That's rich. Dad's have a wisdom that sons always need no matter how much they learn.
Anyway, congratulations to Alaric. Go forth and prosper, young man.
Posted by: Dan | May 12, 2007 1:11 PM
That's funny, PZ. Hearty congratulations to Alaric, in any case.
Posted by: Russell | May 12, 2007 1:12 PM
Good for him. Although those sound like the majors of choice for a swarmy Republican. Hope he's representin'.
Posted by: jeffk | May 12, 2007 1:19 PM
Not need you for anything anymore... what DO they put in the coffee in St. Cloud?
Posted by: Karen | May 12, 2007 1:45 PM
PZ, I'm gonna have to disabuse you on this, "...and isn't going to need me for anything anymore".
You'll be helping out financially, providing free storage, etc, for at least another twenty years. Or is this generation not like generation X?
Posted by: Richard Harris, FCD | May 12, 2007 1:46 PM
Yeah? What about when he has to move back into the basement?
Posted by: Basement Student | May 12, 2007 1:48 PM
Double Major! I'm jealous. My parents made me graduating 'on time' and 'beating my cousins' conditions for them helping financially at all. Because of the shitty scheduling and insane general education requirements (more credit hours than any other university in the state at that time) at the small, cheap university I attended I ended up graduating with one major and without a minor because finishing my minor would have taken another 9 credit hour semester. (General education courses, plus major course, plus minor course came to 135 credit hours, I graduated with 126.)
Posted by: Sandy Michaels | May 12, 2007 2:01 PM
I am well aware that some kids end up moving into Mom & Dad's basement after college graduation, but I took a solemn vow never to do that. I've kept that vow, too! (Anyway, how could I move into a basement that is crammed with all of my grammar school, high school, and college stuff?)
Posted by: Zeno | May 12, 2007 2:23 PM
he's going to be a free and independent adult, and isn't going to need me for anything anymore.
Aha ha ha, you funny. ;)
Posted by: Ali | May 12, 2007 2:28 PM
Michele Bachmann had a few interesting observations about Global Warming in a debate last year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wX1UnAtynU
Yesterday in the Minnesota House, Bachmann's pal Rep. Mark Olson weighed in with biblical insights on global warming:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p73of-wudU8
Posted by: Avidor | May 12, 2007 2:58 PM
Congratulations to you both!
Posted by: mojojojo | May 12, 2007 3:00 PM
Econ and PoliSci? How's he going to earn a living? If I were you, I'd keep his bedroom ready.
Posted by: LCaution | May 12, 2007 4:01 PM
Wonderful! Congratulations Dad, one down and two to go!
And Alaric, congratulations for learning how the world wags and what wags it. Now get out there and change it, already!
Posted by: weemaryanne | May 12, 2007 4:04 PM
Truly with those majors he is well qualified to ask "Would you like fries with that?"
Dem' just jokes ...
Posted by: Richard | May 12, 2007 4:32 PM
Not need you? As long as you have a washing machine and he's single, he'll need you.
Congrats, Alaric!
Posted by: Rugosa | May 12, 2007 5:14 PM
Ha, I wish it was that simple in today's job market. When I finished my Master's of Library Science degree the same week that most cities in my home state voted no on renewing their library millages, I tried to do the flipping burgers thing, only to be told by multiple managers that I would just leave when a job in my field came up and it wasn't worth the time/money to train me so I couldn't have the job.
Posted by: K. Engels | May 12, 2007 5:39 PM
A minister, priest, and rabbi were discussing when life begins.
The priest insisted "life begins at the moment of conception".
The minister said "I must respectully disagree, life begins at the moment of birth."
"You're both wrong," said the rabbi. "Life begins when the last one graduates."
Posted by: O-dot-O | May 12, 2007 6:20 PM
Congratulations, Alaric! Now go out there and conquer Rome! Seriously, get your horde together.
Oh, and PZ, "OK, it's also good that he's going to be a free and independent adult, and isn't going to need me for anything anymore." BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'll give you my parents' number so they can laugh at you, too. Job market suuuuuuuucks.
Posted by: Bourgeois Nerd | May 12, 2007 6:46 PM
Congrats to Alaric on graduating
Posted by: OptimusShr | May 12, 2007 6:56 PM
PZ, you are mentioned again today in a Dawkins article:
How dare you call me a fundamentalist
The right to criticise 'faith-heads'
[...]
You can't criticise religion without detailed study of learned books on theology.
If, as one self-consciously intellectual critic wished, I had expounded the epistemological differences between Aquinas and Duns Scotus, Eriugena on subjectivity, Rahner on grace or Moltmann on hope (as he vainly hoped I would), my book would have been more than a surprise bestseller, it would have been a miracle. I would happily have forgone bestsellerdom had there been the slightest hope of Duns Scotus illuminating my central question: does God exist? But I need engage only those few theologians who at least acknowledge the question, rather than blithely assuming God as a premise. For the rest, I cannot better the "Courtier's Reply" on P. Z. Myers's splendid Pharyngula website, where he takes me to task for outing the Emperor's nudity while ignoring learned tomes on ruffled pantaloons and silken underwear. Most Christians happily disavow Baal and the Flying Spaghetti Monster without reference to monographs of Baalian exegesis or Pastafarian theology.
[...]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1779771.ece
Posted by: CalGeorge | May 12, 2007 8:14 PM
'Grats to Alaric and parents all!
And flipping burgers is likely better than thawing frozen turkeys on the evening shift, which is what I did with a squeaky clen new chemistry BS. I wish I'd taken a smidgen of economics in there now.
Posted by: Coragyps | May 12, 2007 8:21 PM
he's going to be a free and independent adult, and isn't going to need me for anything anymore.
What? He doesn't need to borrow the car anymore?
Woo hoo!!
I vaguely remember this old Woody Allen thing when he was young and still doing stand-up comedy.
The whole buildup to the joke was he was just a kid and he just got kidnapped.
My parents immediately sprung into action, and rented out my room....
Or words to that effect.
Posted by: Graham | May 12, 2007 9:07 PM
"Life begins when the kids leave home and the dog dies."
(Or cats in my parents' case)
Posted by: khan | May 12, 2007 9:09 PM
Congratulations, Alaric! You know, after all your hard work, you deserve a present. Like a trip to the Galapagos. ;-)
I want everyone in the world to come here!
Posted by: Kristine | May 12, 2007 9:49 PM
Congratulations to you and your son. That is quite the milestone.
I didn't have kids, but my favorite/first goddaughter graduated from K-State in December and I cried all the way through it. She got a degree in hotel/restaurant management, but she's going to stick around in Manhattan until the end of the summer just go gather her wits and figure out what to do and where to go (and she has a reasonably good job there).
Posted by: Paula Helm Murray | May 12, 2007 9:54 PM
Actually, what happens now is you get a brief period of rest before the grandchildren start popping out and you're back on babysitting duty again.
Posted by: Martin R | May 13, 2007 5:45 AM