most full 48 hours in a while

TBen received his diploma today! Yesterday was the hooding ceremony (see video immediately below) and then we had a GREAT dinner with family and friends.

awww, my graduate

all the physics graduates

Then we came home, and Becca slept over, and right before bed, at about 10:45 PM: THE KITCHEN FLOODED! Yes, icky kitchen sink water backed up in our kitchen and made a HUGE mess. We went through the BBB plumbers for Boulder County and NO ONE was willing to come out! Eventually someone gave us another plumber to call, in Denver, who had to send someone from Castle Rock (about an hour away when the weather is good and there’s no traffic, which was the case last night). The plumbers got here at about 12:15 to take apart the sink and snake the drain. BTW, this drain had already been replaced on Tuesday this week when on Monday night the PVC pipe had cracked and slowly leaked already! So, thankfully had just hadn’t had time since Tuesday to put all the cleaning things back under the sink so nothing was ruined by sludgey kitchen water. It was gross. The guys had to snake the mainline all the way to the street and then Ben cleaned up while I took a quick shower and then he did the same. Becca left early to go shower at the gym at school before heading into the lab because we all looked like zombie people in the morning!

In spite of all the drama in the kitchen, and the fact that my dad still had Ben’s poofy hat (which he needed to be allowed to process today), I got to a Weight Watchers meeting this morning, Ben got there in full regalia in time to process with his classmates, and my dad and Ben’s parents all got good seats (though no together) for the big convocation.

The ceremony was lovely, we started with a moment of silence after the color guard presented the colors for the victims of Newtown, CT, and it was lovely how personal the winter convocation was compared to the HUGE spring one. Pat Mason, a baritone, voice professor, award winning performer, award winning educator, and all-around awesome guy gave a great speech about how homework and time in the practice room really do prepare you for real life. I wish I’d had a chance to take a class with him, but everything he teaches is oriented to vocal studies from what I recall.

Anyhow, I know you’re all just here for the photos, so here’s Ben at the big graduation and a cute shot of me at the end.

shake your tail feathers!

sitting through convocation

getting hooded 2.0

yey, grads!

my grad.

shaking the chancellor’s hand

diploma!

undergrads in the stands, PhDs to the left, and masters to the right

recessing

recessing

mountain view outside the stadium

probably my last photo with Ralphie in a while

And now, it is time for some quality time with my pillow. Tomorrow we’re going to the bank to take care of stuff in the morning with my dad before meeting his friends for lunch, and then wandering around town trying to find Ben a graduation gift. I got my own wife-of-the-graduate/channukah present today, some beautiful amethyst earrings from our favorite jewelry store in town. :)

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