Graduated
It’s been a long time since the last update and much has happened. I graduated, ‘found’ a nice girl, and placed an order for a new car!
My graduation was mixed but the euphoria of having completed 4 years of college overcame the bad.
The main discomfort was the cold and rain. The one day of the week when it’s in the thirties and pouring has to be the day I graduate. Just great. Why couldn’t I have had Sunday’s weather a day early? This meant we had to cram into the gym for the ceremony. Each graduate is allotted 3 tickets for family members; luckily, I got an extra ticket from Amanda so my parents, sister, and brother could all see the proceedings in person. Also, the rain forced my roommates and I to have our post-graduation BBQ inside our apartment which got a bit cramped at times.
Other annoyances occurred when it was my turn to get my diploma. Firstly they mutilated my name. How you get “Barnet” from “Barnhart” I have no idea. Morons. Such a silly thing, but I was so mad I forgot to move my tassel from right to left and fumed for a good few minutes. Secondly, I graduated with “Distinction” and not “High Distinction”. I’m not one to grip over awards and honors, it’s achievement that drives me, but I couldn’t help remembering my two crappy project mates. The short of it is that it was enough to rekindle old rage that only half the group had contributed; nothing irritates me more than unattained potential. I felt somewhat better because one project mate didn’t graduate (he sure didn’t put the work in to deserve a diploma) and I ignored my loser advisor as I walked by.
Really, those are my only complaints not only for graduation but the last few days. Not bad, eh?
My family must have had the absolute best seats at graduation. I was looking around for them a bit as well walked in and I was a bit saddened not to see them. Imagine my surprise when I got to my seat and looked up and saw them waving wildly right in front of me! I didn’t think it was possible for my smile to get any wider but it sure did. My father gave me two thumbs up, my mother waved giddily, Russell snapped pictures (they’ll go up soon), and my sister beamed.
The speaker, Dean Kamen, was quite good. Riding in on a Segway was a great touch. He touched on several points: Engineers are humble and that’s not a bad thing. However, engineers must do a better job of marketing their profession and improving the opportunities for all people in engineering. (FIRST is one of Kamen’s attempts at this). I very much agreed with this part of the speech as it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a few years, especially after recently finishing Manifold: Space. Also, of course, find a problem you care about that will benefit humanity as a whole and stick too it. I have a lot of problems but yet to choose one and form a plan to solve it. I’ll work on this—I promise.
Finally having a piece of paper that proves I’m a trained engineer is one more layer of snow on my ever growing snowball, gaining mass as it accelerates downhill.
Even though it was indoors the BBQ was great. Everyone had a good time and enjoyed chatting with the various families. I absolutely love how cool my family is; I get so many compliments about them. The BBQ was also nice because we’ve got a ton of leftovers and finding something for a meal is really easy.
Girl
I’ve known Becca for two years now through the track team and she’s been a great friend. In the past few days that friendship has developed into something more. She’s fun to be with and nice to look at. Being that I’m new/bad/cautious at this I’ll leave it at that.
Car
I decided to stop screwing around with individual dealers trying to find the GTI with the options I want and placed an order with CarsDirect. I’m hoping to hear from them any day now. once I settle on the car and get it’s VIN I’ll (sticking with the online theme) be off to Geico to get insurance as they’ve the cheapest rates.
Moving
It’s getting time to move myself to Connecticut and many of my friends are moving soon to. I helped Becca move into Amanda’s apartment today; Amanda is moving to Ohio at the end of the week. Chuck’s, off to a new apartment in Worcester with Heather, Brenden, and Jon. Damon’s moving to Boston with some of his friends. It’s a time of upheaval; a time of new prospects and sad partings.