The Graduates

Four days and some four hundred miles apart, Chuck and Sammi each received a master's degree and, proud parents that we are, Laurie and I made the trips for each. 



On the William & Mary campus

On Sunday, Sammi received her Master's in Educational Administration from The College of William and Mary so we made a weekend of it, driving to Williamsburg, Virginia on Friday and home on Monday. We went sightseeing in Norfolk on Saturday and on Monday we stopped at the school where Sammi works, getting to meet her students and colleagues.


At Radio City Music Hall

Chuck's MBA from NYU's Stern School of Business was celebrated at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on Thursday. Needless to say, it was a much shorter trip to get there. 



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Anyone who has ever been to a graduation ceremony knows what the speeches are like. Phrases like "follow your dreams," "do the right thing," and "you'll always be part of the (name of school) family" abound. So the highlights of the two ceremonies had nothing to do with those.

The President of William and Mary told the story of how the college recently adopted a new school mascot. There were many suggestions, many meetings, and much discussion, but he finally opted for a griffin, the mythical half-eagle / half-lion. Having made that decision, however, he was faced with a bigger one: Should the griffin wear pants?

The photo shows his decision on that pressing matter.



The highlight of the NYU ceremonies came in a speech by one of the students. Speaking about the friends he had made during his time at the school, he said that he hoped in ten or twenty years he would still have one of them, "because I would have paid $98,000 for that friend!"

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Laurie and I have both been interviewed a number of times over the years and, invariably, we are asked, "What do you consider your greatest achievement?" Our response is always the same: "Chuck and Sammi!"

My children, you make us proud every day with everything you do!



Sammi shows off her diploma and her "graduation Crocs"



Chuck displays his graduation pin; diploma to follow in the mail



In the World of Wacky News

A online news story from the Huffington Post reports that a man in Wisconsin started picketing in front of a local fish restaurant because they advertised an "all-you-can-eat" Friday Fish Fry and cut him off after a dozen pieces of fish. According to the report, after he whined that they were not honoring their advertising, they gave him eight more pieces of fish to take home with him. He wasn't satisfied with that, so he called the police...who, wisely, opted not to act.

Claiming that someone has to stand up for consumers, the man plans to continue picketing every Sunday until the restaurant allows him to eat all he can eat on Fridays.  Meantime, the Associated Press reports that he has run up a substantial tab at the restaurant.

And people wonder why there's an obesity problem in this country?

First Dunk 2012

Longtime readers of this blog are aware that the opening and closing of the pool each year are celebrated as First Dunk and Swimsover.

Despite weather in both March and April that made it seem like we were in for a very early summer, the pool was not opened until last week. In fact, we took the cover off just as the long-awaited April showers started arriving every day in May.

This past Thursday, with the "Temperature Team" checking in with water temps ranging from 68 to 70 degrees, I decided First Dunk had been delayed long enough. It wasn't a long swim by any means. First dunk is always just that -- I get in, I get wet, I get out. In any case, pool season has officially begun.

One other note: Tommy Turtle has been retired from the "Temperature Team." The perennial pessimist of the group -- he surely would have recorded Thursday's water temp as 48 degrees -- started to disintegrate and had to end his career. No word yet about who will replace him and join Ducky, Swanee, Snorkelduck, Polar Bear Pete, and CPO Sharkey on the team.

Dinosaur Farts?

Maybe the demise of the dinosaurs wasn't the result of a massive meteor crash or volcanic activity after all. According to a pair of British scientists, the giant beasts may have farted themselves into extinction.

The two researchers estimated that the dinos, particularly the plant-eating sauropods, produced 520 tons of methane a year, as much as is being produced today by man-made and natural sources. (Cows and other farm animals produce about 100 tons of methane a year.) They speculate that this was substantial enough to cause global warming, climate change and the eventual demise of the giant beasts.

You have to wonder how future portrayals of time travelers visiting the distant past might be done.  There certainly shouldn't be anyone commenting about how clean and unpolluted the air smells. And, instead of fleeing when they hear the roar of a tyrannosaurus rex, it should be a different sound that scares them.

If nothing else, this theory should result in one change.

In spelling.

Ex-stink-tion.

This, That and the Other Thing

I've noticed in the past week that Domino's is advertising "artisan pizzas" and Dunkin' Donuts in hawking "artisan bagels." In a commercial for the latter, one person asks another, "What does artisan mean?" A good question.

From Wikipedia: "An artisan (from Italian: artigiano) or craftsman is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewelry, household items, and tools or even machines such as the handmade devices of a watchmaker. An artisan is therefore a person engaged in or occupied by the practice of a craft, who may through experience and talent reach the expressive levels of an art in their work and what they create."

With all due respect to anyone who works for Domino's or Dunkin' Donuts, are we really expected to believe that there are "master craftsmen" in your local shop making the pizza and bagels?


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I'm still getting used to not wearing glasses. I find myself reaching for them when I get out of the shower and trying to take them off when I get into bed.

Friends, family and co-workers are also still adjusting to my "new look." And some are trying to figure out what has changed. At volleyball last week, one of the players realized something was different but couldn't quite figure it out. She asked if I had gotten a haircut.

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Despite 70-degree temperatures for a stretch in March and also this month, the pool is not yet open. It was originally scheduled for this week -- truth be told, had it been open already, I would have been in it last week -- but we've had a lot of rain and temps only in the 50s.

So it will be opened up next week, with First Dunk 2012 to follow shortly thereafter.

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According to the counter Blogger has, this is my 200th blog entry. Who would have thought I'd have that much to say?