Commencement

Yesterday was graduation day in SCT. We had the fortunate situation to be invited to five different parties. I don't think that's ever happened to us before. We were able to get to four of them: three graduation gatherings and a Derby party. Much fun was had by all, and Moose did remarkably well though we were gone for about seven hours (poor Chester had to stay home, but he had a good run/romp across the vast rear lawn after our arrival home in the evening).

I also received the final grade from my "Multivariate Statistics in Educational Research" course. I'm not one to brag about or even discuss my grades very much, but I'm very pleased with the outcome. I'm also pleased with the fact that from here on out, my "grades" are just going to be "S" for Satisfactory. Better than the other option of F. Ironic how we get to the final stages of the doctorate and there are no more letter grades.

For over 7,000 graduates here at LMU, graduation marks the "commencement" of other things like moving to new life stages, starting new jobs, starting graduate school programs, etc. For me, this time of year marks the fact that "I'm next." I plan to be among next year's graduates. That's pretty cool, and it's high time. I may not be entirely finished with the dissertation this time next year, but the goal is to be close enough to participate in the graduation festivities and defend the paper in August of 2007.

Already I've changed my work schedule so I have Mondays off from Good Little Graduate Assistantship duties to focus on my own work. This is good: Sundays aren't nearly as stressful that way. In fact, life in general appears to have become more simple as a result of commencement. It's just me, my computer (may it work flawlessly at least for the next 18 months), and my books & articles to get this work done. Time to get to work.