Graduation

Thursday evening (immediately after I got off work) my Mom, one of my brothers, and I drove five hours to the university where I have spent the past two years working on a master of science degree in geography. We spent the night in a Holiday Inn downtown. Friday morning we ate breakfast at the hotel, then went to the university bookstore for me to retrieve my hood for the ceremony, and then looked around the geography building. They got to meet my advisor as well as another professor on my committee. Then we drove over to the museum on campus and looked around there. They have many interesting exhibits: ancient Egypt, Native Americans, geology and fossils, decorative artifacts, and a temporary exhibit on three Cherokees who traveled to England in the 1700s. After that, I drove them around a bit, showed them the waterfront park, and then went to my old apartment to get some more of my stuff that had aparently surfaced. My old roommate had already gone home for Christmas, but his new roommate - from Iran - was there and helped us get some of the stuff into the car. Next, we drove back over to downtown and looked around Market Square. Finally, it was time to head to the arena to get ready for the Graduate Hooding Ceremony, which began at 6:00.

After unproprietously changing into my regalia in the parking lot, My mom and brother headed into the arena to find some seats, while I headed into the depths of the place to figure out where I was supposed to go. I met up with a couple of other geographers who were also graduating with their masters degrees, so we were able to sit together in the Arts and Sciences section. I also saw a couple of geographers who had volunteered to help with the event.

The whole thing last about an hour and a half. I marched across the stage fairly near to the beginning. The bulk of the ceremony was taken up by persons receiving their doctoral degrees. They actually had their major professors walk across the stage with them and hood them. Hopefully in about four or five more years I will be in their place receiving my Ph.D. in geography.

After the ceremony, we drove to a wonderful Italian restaurant that I had only been to once before. It's called Naples. My brother had spaghetti with marinara sauce, my mom had fetuccini alfredo, and I had pasta supremo which consisted of a lot of different ingredients such as noodles with herbs mixed in to the actual noodles themselves, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, sausage, meatballs, pepperoni, olives, pimientos, and more. It was delicious. The bread and garlic butter were also delicous. For dessert, my brother had a blackberry sorbet (fantastic!), and my mom and I shared spumoni (ice cream with three flavors - pistachio, black cherry, and chocolate).

After the wonderful meal, we hit the freeway out of town for our five hour drive home. We arrived home around 1:00 AM and I promptly headed to bed. It was a wonderful, albeit quick, trip, and I really enjoyed spending time with my brother and mom.

On the drive back my brother and I were able to further discuss our book that we're writing about our travels in South America. I think the ideas are really coming together and we should be able to pull it off in the not too distant future. I do hope it will come to fruition - it should be an exciting read at any rate!

Today, I slept late, then got up and ate some leftovers from the Italian restaurant. I sat out by the pool reading all afternoon in this high 60s/low 70s degree weather we're having in December. A week until Christmas, and it sure is warm outside. I almost felt like jumping in the pool! Anyway, I did finish a very interesting book I've been reading - The Pentagon's New Map: War and Peace in the 21st Century by Thomas P.M. Barnett. His view of the world divided into Core and Gap, the need to advance the frontiers of globalization to shrink the gap and defeat disconnectedness, and optimistic view of the future are quite compelling. I can't wait to read the sequal, which I'll try to do real soon - The Pentagon's New Map Blueprint for Action.

After that I went to visit my grandparents. They fed me leftover bar-b-que, beans, coleslaw, bread, and apple pound cake. And later on the fed me some raisin egg bread. My mom and aunt were there too. Tomorrow afternoon, my aunt wants me to come over and then we'll walk across the street from her house to play Christmas music on the piano for two of her elderly neighbors.

This evening, we (my brothers, mom, a number of friends, and more) went over to some friends of the family's home where we made Christmas cookies, had pizza, and visited. It was nice. I'm now back at my apartment for the first time since Thursday morning and will hopefully go to bed soon after reading for a while. Church will come early in the morning - but I think we'll be playing a lot of Christmas music! Fun stuff!