OT: Prayers, please!

[UConnChapette]

Prayers needed!

My son has a lot of stress and worries on his plate at the moment - finals and a decision on which job offer to accept.

He just found out that one of his roommates, who is the lead teaching assistant for a class at Georgia Tech, received an anonymous emailed death threat just after final grades for that class were posted today. I pray that this is just a po'd student blowing off some steam with an empty threat, but you never really know these days. Apparently the GT police believe it is a serious enough threat to give the roommate an escort around campus for the remainder of the week. Of course, they can't be there in the dorms, and his dorm has about 8 entrances so they really can't guard them all anyway.

Please, if you are the praying type, say a prayer to keep all of his suite-mates (4 in total) safe as well as the rest of the GT community, and for the person making the threat to regain rational thought and not follow through in any way.

My son is quite understandably shaken up, and the roommate is frightened, as well as angry. I gave my son permission to use the credit card I share with him to get a hotel room if he feels the need. I would feel better if he did, but he doesn't think it is necessary. He has the GTPD on speed dial on his phone, which is on him at all times, and will immediately call them if he sees or hears ANYTHING suspicious. He plans on hanging out for the rest of the week at the College of Computing. The CoC kids have been known to study and sleep there the week of finals.

A mother's worry never ends!

Thanks!

 

[Icebear]

Chap, Your son and you have my prayers and blessings. May he find peace and focus in the midst of these difficulties. PB

 

[UConnChapette]

Thanks, Ice!

 

[winlots]

UCC - all the best with that issue. If you are much of a regular here, you'll have no trouble imagining what my wishes are for the quasi-humanoid who issued the threat.
I have a good feeling that you are headed for a very Merry Christmas. Stay well and confident.

 

[meyers7]

Will do.

 

[OneTrickPony]

Thanks, Ice!

If you want my cell number send me a private email...your son can call me if he's in trouble...I'm about 10 minutes away.

 

[ChicagoGG]

Double ditto on prayers and good wishes....Hope he can head home soon??

 

[Sonny44]

Done.

 

[Samanthabrown3]

Hope the threat is passed and someone talked down the anonymous e-mailer.

All of them--and you--are in my prayer.

And did we all miss the fact that your son has job offers to contemplate? A nice dilemma in this day and age!

I know it will all turn out well.

 

[Vowelguy]

What a friggin idiot. That kid better be the one praying because if s/he gets caught, he will be expelled, possibly jailed, and have a hell of lot more problems than a mere bad grade.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Hopefully, it is not real, but it is disturbing. The Boneyard is with you, Chapette.

 

[UConnChapette]

Hope the threat is passed and someone talked down the anonymous e-mailer.

All of them--and you--are in my prayer.

And did we all miss the fact that your son has job offers to contemplate? A nice dilemma in this day and age!

I know it will all turn out well.

I am considerably calmer tonight. Not completely worry free, but with the GTPD on his phone's speed-dial, and all of his roommates taking great care to make sure their dorm suite doors are closed and locked at all times I am less worried They were able to determine that the email address came from a server hosted in Canada, which makes getting at the owner of the email address more difficult than a US hosted site. Those darn Computer Science majors are pretty savvy about learning the tricks to hide their identity, or at least make it harder to find it out.

I agree that the one making the threat is an idiot. Even if it is an idle threat, it is still a threat meant to instill fear not to mention against the law. Nothing like compounding your problems by an impulsive act of stupidity. I hope they are able to identify the person.

Two more days on campus...then he is off to a company paid holiday party in California Saturday night then home to CT on Sunday.

Thank you all for your concern, prayers and words of comfort. They are much appreciated.

Indeed, there are job offers to decide upon. One company needs an answer by Friday. Nothing like adding a LOT more pressure to an already stressful time. But the picture is becoming much clearer on that. The one that needs an answer Friday is a mega corporation - one that EVERYONE knows and many of you are using their product right now . My son commented to me yesterday "I am already feeling lost in the corporate culture" after his potential team lead failed to call him for a scheduled teleconference to answer a few last last questions about the position. The other company is much smaller, and much more informal - and responsive. Benefits are much better too. That is the company he did his internship with last summer, that he currently is working for part-time, and that is flying him out for the company holiday party this weekend. I believe he has already made up his mind, though he may not quite realize it.

 

[CL82]

Done. I doubt it much more than a college kid being an idiot, but everyone is right to take this seriously. I know you'll breathe easier once this over though. Tough to have to sit and worry about your child's safety.

 

[Tonyc]

Prayers are easy, I say them all the time. God Bless

 

[UConnChapette]

UPDATE: My son is safely on his way to California after finishing his finals today. He will be home in CT on Sunday. He is looking forward to "Santacom" in San Francisco tomorrow and the company holiday party tomorrow night. I am just relieved he is safe.

And he has made his decision on jobs, telling Microsoft (oops, the Seattle company) thanks, but no thanks and opting to spend the first few years of his work career in the Palo Alto area. Still negotiating the details of the salary/stock options but he sounds very relieved to have finals, the threat to his roommate and the job decision behind him. An excited about his job choice. Which makes momma happy

 

[Icebear]

I was thinking of you today as the news drifted out of Newtown. I was concerned for how it was affecting you given your own events this week.

I'm glad that he is safe and away from the stress point and will say an extra prayer of thanks for all of you tonight.

 

[UConnChapette]

Thank you for the concern, Ice.. Once you become a parent, any sort of atrocity committed against any child hits you harder than before you had children. I remember being fixed to the tv with the baby Jessica drama in the 80's. I felt concern for the child and parents, but in a detached kind of way. I had not yet had my first child. Since my first son was born, any loss of a child - even in a natural form such as illness - hits me so much harder. Yes, my children are grown. But once a parent always a parent, and the empathy I feel for these families suffering through this horrific loss is a very real sense of loss for me. I cannot possibly feel the full measure of pain they are feeling in their hearts, but my heart is broken nonetheless for the senseless act of violence against the most innocent of souls.

 

[Icebear]

Thank you for the concern, Ice.. Once you become a parent, any sort of atrocity committed against any child hits you harder than before you had children. I remember being fixed to the tv with the baby Jessica drama in the 80's. I felt concern for the child and parents, but in a detached kind of way. I had not yet had my first child. Since my first son was born, any loss of a child - even in a natural form such as illness - hits me so much harder. Yes, my children are grown. But once a parent always a parent, and the empathy I feel for these families suffering through this horrific loss is a very real sense of loss for me. I cannot possibly feel the full measure of pain they are feeling in their hearts, but my heart is broken nonetheless for the senseless act of violence against the most innocent of souls.

Absolutely true, even to the point that I have been in situations where the family directly suffering a loss deal with a tragedy better than others in the situation you describe. I attribute that reality to the fact that the one family's loss is already real and experiential and for others who only know the fear of a possible cannot conceive of the experience and the level of its impact. Human beings can be amazingly resilient in the midst the worst chaos and true disasters on the otherhand the horrors of our imagination know no limits. Thus the culture of first responders who completely focussed on the task at hand and rush into World Trade Towers and/or stand between others and threat very real threat of harm. For me the emotions of yesterday were centered on the loss of a dear childhood friend Rick Rubleman who lost his life in the workplace shootings at the CT lottery offices choosing to confront the shooter to protect some of the employees and of course the shooting by my handicapped cousin who took her own 7 year old handicapped daughter's life in an irrational fog of despair trying to spare her torment at school because of her own pain of similar abuse at school as a child.

 

[UConnChapette]

He is home! Though he spent some time up in the air circling Bradley last night so the air space was clear for Air Force One to take off. While I am still feeling so sad for the grieving families, my world is a little bit brighter with him home safely.

I have told my husband I want to forgo gifts to each other this year and instead make a donation to one of the funds to help the Sandy Hook families and first responders. We have no needs that are not met in our lives, so rather than spend money on more needless stuff, it will be put to much better use helping those whose needs are so much greater.