Flowers for Dan

While Don's Mom was visiting, as mentioned here previously, she bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers to take to her late husband at Westminster Memorial Park Mortuary. We took them on Monday, the evening before she was to leave, but a sign warned that flowers are removed weekly on Wednesdays. We drove to the site and decided that indeed the grass needed mowing and the flowers looked like they'd been there since Mother's day. We couldn't just leave them for one day and let the beautiful bouquet get scooped up. So we took them home with plans for Don and I to place them after the lawn had been mowed. We then went to her brother-in-laws memorial and left flowers there.

Joan had to leave Tuesday morning so did not get to see the flowers in place, so this posting is for her.

Then, for Memorial day, Don and I took another, all-be-it less elaborate, bouquet that we put together ourselves, this weekend.

Don's MBA Graduation, 5-20-2007.

You've seen the reception, now here's the graduation.

First, though, I wanted to mention that after my previous post a couple of people commented on my great camera. This only concerned me because, if they thought I was referring to just one camera rather than two, they surely thought I was overdoing it on constantly mentioning the camera. I just want to explain, that I wasn't bragging about my camera, I was distinguishing the two cameras from each other. In fact, in one of the shots with the smaller Coolpix Nikon (still referring to the previous post), you can see the D70S on the table near Don.

Now, according to "Weather Underground" the temperature for May 20, 2007 in Fullerton reached a high of 70 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 60. Still, I feel confident in stating that between 7:00 a.m., when we arrived at Cal State Fullerton and 12:30 p.m., when we left, the mercury indicator was hugging that 60 mark. We'd anticipated that the cumulus bulk of the moisture overhead would dissipate, and had dressed accordingly. Don's Mom and I had jackets, but after the first couple of hours we were coveting the blankets we saw draped around a few shoulders and couldn't blame one otherwise scantily dressed lady for using a bath towel as a shawl.

Don had warned us that we needed to arrive at 7:00 a.m., but my mind had re-written these words to "*leave* at 7:00 a.m." Hence, the morning began in a flurry of activity when I woke Don at 5:58 a.m.. Still, we managed breakfast, and we were all fashionably attired, out the door, and over to Cal State Fullerton no more than 5 (or so) minutes behind schedule.

Once out of the car, Don zipped his graduate's gown up and Joan handed him the lei she'd brought him. We rushed toward the staging area on the track, Don disappearing briefly into the Men's room, and the three of us pausing long enough for Joan to pin Don's medallion on. You may think it tacky of me to mention the bathroom stop. Well, I know. I just wanted to make the point (in case a graduation organizer happens upon this page) that if he hadn't stopped on the way, the entire graduation experience would have been miserable for him. They should point out to students as they hand them their tickets to the graduation that it's a long ceremony and people, especially the graduates, will have no opportunity to leave once things begin. Apparently there was a short break between the University ceremony and his own College of Business and Economics ceremony for the 2,000 students in the College of Business and Economics to use one of *three* portable toilets!

Now, as long as I'm critiquing the event, I think I'll take this opportunity (in case some would-be graduate attendees happen on this page) to suggest things that members of an audience should not do if they don't want to be remembered by thousands of perfect strangers as completely selfish morons.

1. Do not stand, no matter how short you are, just because there is room to do so, if there are any seats behind you that could be blocked. Not even before the ceremony begins, because some people may actually be trying to watch the pre-ceremony portion of the event being projected on the overhead screen.

2. Do not tie balloons to flowers and set them on the empty chair beside you so that they rise to just the right level so as to block the view of those behind. In fact, don't bring balloons at all, leave them for the party after.

3. When the announcement is made to turn off your cell phone, turn off your cell phone.

4. If you forget to turn off your cell phone (maybe you were in the bathroom during the announcement) and it rings, tell your caller you can't talk and will call them back. Just because your graduate is not smiling down at you from the screen, doesn't mean that those around you will also be more entertained by your call than by the event.

5. One or two good belts of laughter, or inordinately loud comments to your friend beside you is acceptable, after all this is a celebration, but try not to repeatedly get within whispering range of the people in front of you just before you erupt.

6. Do not let your child repeatedly slam into the row of chairs in front of you, playing patty-cake games with your other child.

7. If you do rise from your seat during the ceremony, even though you've been instructed not to, try to avoid smacking into the heads of the people in the row in front of you.

8. Don't play Norma Rae. A graduation ceremony is not the venue for your political views.

OK, that will do it. You're probably writing a note to yourself that you won't be accompanying me to any special events, because I'm just no fun. You could be right. Despite these minor impediments to my power to enjoy the experience though, it was WONDERFUL to be there for Don's graduation, to hear the speaker, and watch Don walk on stage!

OK, from the beginning...We step from the car. Don puts on his gown and his Mom, Joan, gives him his Orchid lei.

Ready?
Yep!

Tracie: "Oh good! You *did* remember your medallion. We were worried you'd forgotten it and we'd decided not to mention it!"
Joan: "Here, let me help with that."

Don departs to the staging area while Joan and I find a seat and wait for the event to begin.
The chairs you see here are the first group of chairs. There is a gap between chair groupings for people to pass through. We decided to sit at the front of the second grouping so that we could leave our chairs easily if necessary to relieve cramping or what have you. So this is the view from our chairs. That screen up there will have projections of the event as it occurs.

But will we be able to see the screen if this lady next to the wheelchair who has recently arrived doesn't sit down?


Well, sometimes we can see the screen--part of it at least.

This poster was hard to read. All I really saw was "USA" and magazine photos pasted on that I couldn't see.

Between my zoom lens magnification, and perhaps too fast of a shutter speed, I got lines in these screen images that you didn't see in person. Sorry about that.

In between showing us the students in the staging area, they project things about the various Colleges. These are a few shots I caught about Don's College of Business and Economics.





This one is hard to see because they superimposed an emblem over a classroom.


And now back to the students filing in.



Good golly! Would-ja *look* at all those students!
Yes. No mirrors. No funny camera tricks. There's really *that* many students!

And they are still filing in!

This poor girl finally got some coffee to get warm with. We saw her pass by a few times earlier and had attributed her posture of shoulders pulled up to her ears and arms folded over her chest to the ineffectiveness of the backless mini-dress.

Hurray! The commencement ceremony begins!
A little Honor Guard action from the ROTC.

An extremely admirable rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner", sung by Sean Saclolo.

Introductory remarks are made by Chandrasekhar Putcha, the University Faculty Marshal.




Cal State Fullerton's President, Milton A. Gordon, welcomes the friends and family of these 9,676 undergraduate and graduate students being honored today.

CSU Board of Trustees is represented by Moctesuma Esparza (producer of such films as "Selena" and "The Milagro Beanfield War").


Robert Palmer, Vice President of Student Affairs says a few words.

Kristin S. Crellin encourages students to stay involved with Cal State Fullerton through the Alumni Association of which she is the President.

Greetings from the Chair of the Academic Senate, Diana Guerin.

Greetings from the President of the Associated Students, Heather Williams.

And a conferral of an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters goes to Dan Black (Apparently a dedication had also honored him on September 15, 2006; with the Science Labratory Center on the Fullerton campus being renamed Dan Black Hall in recognition of his generous gift of 4.2 million to the College of Natural Sciences and Mathmatics. I believe they aslo mentioned an ongoing support of $75,000 a year.)


The Commencement Address is conducted by Dr. Lucy Jones, Scientist-in-charge for United States Geological Survey (USGS) earthquake activities in Southern California. Her speech is interesting, and entertaining as she jokes about the people who think scientists know but can't tell anyone when the next big earthquake is coming. She reports having once received a letter, "I know you can't tell me when you expect the big one, but could you let me know when you are sending your kids out of state to visit relatives".

After the first ceremony is over and students rise to break into their various disciplines around campus. Don's College of Business and Economics is the largest group so they/we aren't leaving.


Crowds of people leave the area, but Joan and I are surprised---no, *shocked* at how many have stayed behind.

Back to people-watching.
Excuse me. Mam? How much for the blanket?


The lady did finally sit down, but now her family has moved the baloons. The balloons are substituting for her; obliterating our view of the screen. Grrrr.

Guests are all discussing how busy the restrooms are, so when Joan returns after her long trek across campus to find one, I head off to the library. When I return everyone is seated, grads and guests alike, and the ceremony has is under way. I'm not sure how much I missed and I am now realizing just how cold and achey I am. So I seem to be a little short on photos for this half. Most of the time is given to the calling of the student's names to come up on stage for their degrees. When Don is called I jerk the camera up and actually press the shutter button down in time....but there is a slight delay and this picture of his chin is all there is.

Thanks to the forethought of Don's Mom, who picked up a couple of items on her bathroom run, here's what Don brought home to remember it all by. This first one is a shirt with all of the 2007 graduates names. Apparently 2X was the only size offered because they needed that much room for the names.

And the 2007 Commencement book.

CSUF College of Business & Economics Reception

Well, those pictures that I feared I'd lost of RSABG (Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens) did reappear on their own, so I'm going to be brave and load lots of photos at once again.
Don's Mom came to visit from North Carolina to watch Don get an award at the Dean's Graduate Reception on May 14th and his Masters on May 20th from Cal State Fullerton's College of Business and Economics.
The reception was held in the Garden Cafe, part of the Titon Student Union Center. The weather was perfect, the horsedourves were tastey, and the speeches were short, well spoken and inspiring.
My brother, Vince, and his wife, Sharon, arrived awhile after we did, and one of Don's fellow graduates, Lauren, also joined our party.

Upon our arrival, we were instructed that a table had been reserved for us. Woo-hoo! Aside from my own wedding, getting to be at a table of honor was a first for me.

The guide announces that this is the College of Business & Economics (CBE) Dean's Graduation Reception and lists the 22 graduates whose grade point average is 3.85 or higher and then lists all of the 2007 CBE Graduates.

We arrived early, so I had time to photograph our surroundings.
As seen through the lens of the Nikon Coolpix L5, here are the podium and one of the speakers. The music is gentle and makes me want to take a minute by the fountain (oops, no pictures of the fountain!) to meditate.

And this is the podium (yes, again), as seen through the 70-300 mm lens of the Nikon D70S
Behind the podium, you'll notice a table that has something blue on it? Scroll down a notch or two and I'll take you there.

These are the awards!
Don gets one of these!

Speaking of my clever Guest of honor, here he is with his Mom, Joan!

And here they are again.

And, now back to the wider angle of the smaller Nikon Coolpix L5

And lets zoom in with that camera...

Contributing to the charm of the Garden Cafe is all the greenery draping the wall.

And here it is through the D70S

And again...

What about those horsedourves I promissed? Well, they're getting set up over there near the "entrance".

Here, let's take the little Nikon with the wider angle lens over there for some close-ups.

I suppose this isn't much of a close-up actually, but I loved those flowers.

This is the spread. An adequate quaint little affair.
I don't think I got a close up of what was in the large silver pot there, so I'll just tell you now that it was little Teryaki chicken kabobs.

Here on the left we have a fruit plate with pineapple, grapes, honeydew, and strawberries. To the right of the fruitplate is a plate of sandwhich rolls composed of cheese and sandwhich meats--I think. The gentleman is setting down a plate of dinner rolls, and to his right is bow tie pasta with cherrie tomatoes.

Zooming out a bit after some vegetables arrived (celery, cherrie tomatoes, jicama, broccoli, and carrots) and another fruit dish.

Dinner rolls are on the white pedestal with the blue napkin atop and the tastyest dish here, in my opinion, was that dish with the little doe balls covered with powdered sugar on the far right!

Here is the entire spread. The only table excluded here is the one with the water and punch.

These are those doe balls I mentioned. I think they were deep fried thin round shells of doe filled with something remeniscent of whipped cream but a little heavier -- maybe even a vanilla pudding, and the bowl with the ladel in it is a sweet sauce that may have been carmel. It was GOOD whatever it was!

Here's the pasta dish. I don't remember what the green was. It might have been cilantro.

OK, that's the food. How's the action?
Nothing yet.

But in no time at all we were joined by Vince (far right), Sharon (hard to see behind Vince), and Lauren (far left).

There, now you can see Sharon.

Let's try that now with the D70S
Oops, Sharon's gone again.

Here she is.

Wait, time out. I gotta take a picture of that tree right there.
Aren't those leaves pretty?

Here's Don returning to the table with his punch.

Oh! Shhh--quiet! It's starting!

Dr. Mark Stohs, Associate Dean, reminds graduates to network, saying you want people thinking, "Who ya gonna call? No, not Ghost Busters. Fullerton Alumni!"




Chris Anicich is the Graduate Program Coordinator.


Dr. Anil Puri, Dean, gives an inspiring talk and informs the group that the new building for the College of Business and Economics on the Fullerton campus is expected to be ready in Fall of 2008 (Don's program was held at the Irvine Spectrum facility the University was leasing. His last class, this Summer, will be held on what used to be the El Toro Marine Base).



Guest speaker, Mark Murphy ('Cal State Fullerton Bachelor's '81, Cal State Fullerton Master's '84), Chief Executive Officer of Pro-Dex, gives a moving speach advising graduates to remember that integrity is more satisfying than the great cars and the great house, which he does not dismiss as trivial, but places as lower priority demonstrations of accomplishment.
Stating first that various writers, such as Stephen Covey, and Jim Collins have said it all more elloquently than he could, he sugggests to the audience that they follow the advice of these and other great leaders, that if they want to feel good at the end of the road, it won't be the cars and the houses that matter to them. It will be the knowledge that they were not so much influenced by external roles and expectations, as by their own vision. Emphasizing that one must lead from the inside out, and serve from the outside in.



This picture I was feeling pressure to take as everyone waited for me to finish, including the hired photographer. You might want to look for her photos in about a month on the school website considering that I managed to get both the Dean and the Associate Dean at an off moment.


So here's the blue certificate holder. I took this later and lost my good lighting. The specular surface reflected the indoor window-lit sunset conditions that I was in at the time, so unfortunately it looks brown.

And here is what was in the blue holder

And here is what came in the black velvet box.

Then, anti-clamatically for you, but fun for us, Don, his mom, Vince, Sharon and I went to dinner at a nearby Polly's Pies (on Raymond, South of Chapman -- in case you care.)