BJ's Graduation Party

Yesterday was BJ's graduation party. It was a perfect day, the weather was warm, the sun was shining, everything was right except that the pool wasn't ready yet. Since it's so early in the season, it wouldn't matter if it was open, it would be too cold to swim in anyway. Between the volleyball court by the creek, the hot tub and the fire pit, there is enough to keep us all entertained.

As people started to arrive, family grouped together at two tables, our friends grouped together at another, and BJ's friends took up pretty much the whole back yard. The half barrel of Heinekin was flowing, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We cooked up 15 pounds of tenderloin steaks and 15 pounds of chicken breasts. I made different side dishes; potato salad, seafood salad, pasta salad, calico beans, plus all the fixings for chicken and steak sandwiches. We had bowls of fruit, chips and dips, salsa, and a veggie platter. But the best part was the wonderful graduation cake from Rich's House of Cakes.

It's hard to gauge a party when hosting it. I barely had 5 minutes with any one group but I think it all turned out well. I drank tequila with the boys and Pat, one of my co-workers joined in. All the laughing, conversation, food, and drinks were flowing well. As everyone departed, I had wished I could have spent more time with everyone. Luckily for me, Jeff is a wonderful host. He kept everything going as did BJ.

As it got later, BJ's core group of friends were still in the back yard. We hung out in the hot tub with the neighbors and had a nice fire going. As it got later it was time for us to retire. Jeff and I headed up to bed but one of BJ's friends, Eric followed. So we all had a drink in bed together - as crazy as that sounds. We kicked Eric out so we could get to sleep.

When we got up in the morning, we found Josh and Mark sleeping in the living room. It was way early for them so I went outside and started cleaning up so there was less noise in the house. I finally finished cleaning up the back yard - and the fire was still smoldering so it was good that I went out there early - then I went inside and scrubbed the floor. Jeff and I put all the garbage in the truck and hauled it directly to the dump, there was too much to wait till garbage day.

BJ got up and made his friends breakfast. It was a wonderful bonding time for all of us. It's very difficult to think about BJ leaving for a new job in a new state soon. But for this day, the party was a great time and I am glad we could make it happen for him.

BJ Graduates - for real

It's been so long since his journey through college began. After spending the first year of school at UW-Oshkosh in the pre-engineering program, it was already time to transfer into the engineering school at UW-Milwaukee. And after three years there, BJ's decided to work a co-op job for the city of Waukesha, then spent a summer working as an intern for the city of Kenosha, he still is a few credits shy from graduation. At the end of the co-op, he completed that last semester of schooling and luckily the city of Waukesha gave him a part-time position so he could make some extra cash during school. Anyway, 6 years later he is finally done. Working at the two city jobs gave him a broad understanding of new construction, constant repair of old construction, city government and politics, and government workers - both good and not so good. I've always said that whether an experience is good or bad, as long as you learned something, it was worthwhile. He learned alot. He learned about good managers and bad employees, contractors, developers, engineers and the work that they do, and how to work with them all. Unfortunately for the young, a little disillusionment comes with working. Especially when the dream and the reality are somewhat different. His experiences gave him a good start and now he has a job with a company whose goal is to be the largest construction company in the world. They are already extremely large, he had to interview in Vancouver, WA for a job assignment in Winterhaven, CA. He is smart and I am certain that success is well within his reach.

The graduation ceremony was a wonderful celebration with all the pomp and circumstance to be expected. It was a thrill to see him walk in with all the other graduates. We were so proud. As he headed across the stage to get his degree, we all screamed. Bailee, Lauren, and I were definitely out-shouted by Jeff. He was just beaming with excitement for his son. After the ceremony we went to Port of Hamburg to meet up with BJ's friends. A nice group of them stopped in. BJ decided that we would go for dinner at Celito Lindo's, a nice simple place with good Mexican food. We all had a great time drinking margaritas and congratulating him on his success.

BJ and The Order of the Engineers

Today we attended the Order of the Engineer ceremony as part of BJ's graduation and entry into his career as a civil engineer. This was a nice event held at UW-M and included all the engineering disciplines. Each discipline had a speaker that talked about their specialty and how important this event was as they enter into their area of expertise.

Part of the ceremony was to take the oath of the Obligation of the Engineer. It's a creed that is similar to the one taken by medical students that started with Hippocrates. It's not a membership to a club, it's intent is to foster an ethical code to uphold the standards and dignity of the engineering profession and to serve humanity by making the best use of earth's precious wealth.
It goes like this:
"As an Engineer, I pledge to practice integrity and fair dealing, tolerance and respect, and to uphold devotion to the standards and the dignity of my profession, conscious always that my skill carries with it the obligation to serve humanity by making the best use of Earth's precious wealth."

Each graduate is given a stainless steel ring that is meant to foster a spirit of pride and responsibility in the engineering profession, to bridge the gap between training and experience, and to present to the public a visible symbol identifying the engineer.

This was a wonderfully, intimate event with a small group of graduates. Each student was given a certificate of the event followed by hors d'oeuvres and punch. We are so proud of our boy.

Just When I Thought I Was In...

I went to the doctor yesterday afternoon for a physical. I haven't had one in a while and since I recently turned 50, all of a sudden it seemed like an absolute must to get this done, sort of a birthday present of well-being. I left the visit feeling pretty good, my doctor said I was in great shape. It was a great weight off my shoulders to know that I hit the big-5-0 without maintenance medications or strict warnings about changing my habits like many people I know. My doctor told me that I have the bone structure of a 21-year old and my HDL (good cholesterol) is 97. All is well with the world.

Evening came and I was still riding the high of my younger-than -50-feeling. I logged on to my iTunes account and downloaded a new song from The Roots called The Seed 2.0. I recently heard the song in a movie and it took me a while to track down the name of the group and the song. I was feeling pretty hip and trendy and on top of all things new and fresh.

Then my son came home. I touted my great medical report and informed him of my new iTunes purchase anticipating his impressiveness with my ability to stay in touch with all that is new and fresh. I mentioned The Roots in a matter-of-fact fashion like it was yesterday's news. As it turns out, it was yesterday's news. His response was, "Oh, I saw them last summer at the Dave Matthews concert. They are pretty good."

Pop! ....my hip and trendy bubble burst. OK, so it was new to me, not the rest of the world. Old age, here I come - but not without kicking and screaming.

Outside Again

I went running outside today for the first time this season. The temperature was 29 degrees on my weather station when I left the house. I was a little nervous since it's been so long. And as it turns out, I overdressed. I was sweating within the first half mile. The familiarity of my route brought me comfort after a long winter off the trail. It was great to see that the fishermen were right where I left them back in November.

March Madness

I love the NCAA tournament. I fill out my bracket and turn in my 5 dollar bet just like everyone else. The only difference is that I truly don't care how I do, in fact, I can never remember who I picked by the time the first game starts! I took off Thursday and Friday to watch the games and by the end of the second round I have an idea of who's who but I still can't reconcile that to my picks.

Thursday we went to Champp's to watch the games. With all the tv's, it was a great place to hang out. We spent the entire afternoon there and left after the second round. We figured it would be better to be home for the night games so we don't have to worry about designated drivers and we can watch the games in PJ's - nice and comfy.

Friday it was snowing so hard when we got up that we didn't even think about spending the day in a bar. We did go out to get some groceries early in the day since it was supposed to keep snowing even harder by the afternoon. The thought did cross our minds to stop as we got closer to Champps, but we decided that since the storm was going to keep getting worse (and it did) it was best to pack it in at home.

The games were great, always exciting and there's something special about college basketball more so than many other sports. And NCAA time is so much fun. It's become a big part of the coming of spring for us.

The second Friday, we went to a Third Ward Bar called Fanatics. The place was pretty unobtrusive from the outside, but inside was pretty cool. They have a 9-panel television with 6 smaller tv's, 3 on each side of the large one. There are leather reclining chairs surrounding the televisions with curved booths behind them so there's a great view everywhere. Behind the booths are bleacher seats to watch the games. The waitstaff was really nice and the food was decent. The menu was very limited, but that was OK. And the best part was the prices were reasonable, unlike most Third Ward establishments.

Wherever we went the talk is all about the games. It doesn't matter whether chatting with friends or total stranger, everyone is into March madness.