Tag Archives: Purdue

Lafayette Vignettes, Part 1: The Astronaut Alumnus

March 14, 2020 By in Indiana, Travel Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment
Neil Armstrong statue!

Why did my wife want to go to college for her birthday? To see Neil Armstrong.

In addition to our annual road trips, my wife Anne and I have a twice-yearly tradition of spending our respective birthdays together traveling to some new place or attraction as a one-day road trip — partly as an excuse to spend time together on those most wondrous days, partly to explore areas of Indiana we’ve never experienced before. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

Once upon a time in 2019 Anne decide she wanted to celebrate her birthday with a jaunt around the city of Lafayette, an hour northwest of our Indiana home. She cobbled together a short to-do list of things she wanted to see, not lengthy but enough for a leisurely afternoon — a bit of Indiana history, a bit of downtown tourism, and a bit of healthy walking.

Continue reading →

Empty Nest Update #3: Handling Our First School Shooting

January 21, 2014 By in Indiana, Mundane Tags: , , , , , , , , 4 Comments
Purdue shooting black ribbon, 1/14/2014

For Andrew Boldt and family. Our prayers and thoughts are with them tonight.

Today during the course of one of our usual workday back-‘n’-forth email volleys, I thought it odd when my wife sent me another, separate email with a new title: “Purdue Shooting”. She knew she’d have my full attention.

Within the same minute that I opened her email, my son the Purdue freshman texted me. In case I heard about a shooting at Purdue, he wrote, he wanted me to know he was fine, even though he’d been in the same building where and when the shooting occurred.

That disrupted my concentration for a while.

In case you missed the news…

Loner Dad’s Long, Proud, Awkward Day on Campus

June 18, 2013 By in Mundane Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

college presentations

Consider, if you will, the following case of orientation disorientation.

This past Monday my son’s college held a special all-day program for incoming freshmen to undergo orientation, hear intros to their respective schools, meet their advisors, register for their first semester’s classes, experience an actual dorm food-court meal, and endure a self-guided campus walkabout to accomplish all the other activities at various buildings, only some of which are next door to each other. I tagged along to multitask the roles of chauffeur, navigator, sidekick, and personal ombudsman whenever he needed to question or vent about something. By and large, my parts were played with utmost competence.

Continue reading →

Indy 500 Festival Parade 2013 Photos, Part 4 of 5: a Salute to the Marching Bands

May 26, 2013 By in Conventions & Events Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , 5 Comments

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

The next five entries (to be posted over Memorial Day Weekend as quickly as time and endurance permit) represent a fraction of the pics my wife and I snapped. In many cases, encores and additional takes of specific subjects may be available if anyone out there is interested in seeing more, or is looking for a loved one who was in one of the many marching bands that day. For first-time MCC visitors, please note my wife and I are relative amateurs, obviously not trained professional photographers, sharing these from a hobbyist standpoint because of fun Internet joyfulness.

No parade is complete without marching bands. It’s right there in the parade regulation handbook: you must invite at least three different marching bands or else your parade will be subject to ridicule and foodstuffs hurled at you overhand.

If anyone out there in Internetland is interested in seeing additional photos of any of these bands, we took extras of a few of them. Just say the word and MCC will be happy to oblige with additional uploading and sharing and such. It’s all part of the service.

First in line: the Purdue University All-American Marching Band. Look closely for impressive baton-tossing action.

Purdue University, Marching Band, 500 Festival Parade 2013, Indianapolis

Continue reading →

College Dropout Prepares to Pass on the Opposite of His Legacy

April 8, 2013 By in Indiana, Mundane Tags: , , , , , , , 5 Comments

This weekend’s main event was eighteen years in the making, an experience I never imagined because few parents want to daydream that far ahead in their children’s lives. Sure, we look forward to a few milestones — first steps, first words, first day of school, all the best parts of the cute years. I suppose some parents dwell on the long-term forecast and begin planning for the arrival of their grandchildren. I’ve taken more of a walk-before-they-can-run, crawl-before-they-can-walk approach when it comes to second-guessing my son’s future for him.

That being rambled on about: Saturday I drove my son up to West Lafayette for a tour of the campus of Purdue University, where he’s been accepted and is scheduled to attend this fall. Needless to say, our family is mostly thrilled (there’s always a naysayer, isn’t there?) and, having seen what’s in store for my former infant, I now feel ten years older than I did last year.

Purdue Clock Tower

Continue reading →

%d bloggers like this: