telecommuting today

Mugen apparently likes my laptop case as much as I do.

heading home

Bye for now... although I hear there's a nursing shortage here too. Perhaps we can talk them into moving back out.

Airport farewell Monday afternoon

And one more cocktail for the road

Teresa Receives Her Diploma!

Saturday afternoon Teresa graduated from the OU College of Nursing with more than 300 other nursing graduates. The ceremony took place at a huge baptist church in Moore, OK.

When nurses graduate, they often recite "The Florence Nightingale Pledge" which was printed in the program for this event. It's essentially the Hippocratic oath of nursing. As I understand it Florence Nightingale, the famous nurse who drastically improved healthcare conditions during her career in the 1800's, became known as "The Lady with the Lamp" by the soldiers she helped due to her long hours, caring for patients into the evening. As a result, the candle or lamp has become a symbol of nursing.

Side-note: as I was confirming the information above I discovered an interesting coincidence - Florence Nightingale was born May 12, 1820 the same day as this ceremony, 187 years ago.

Teresa and her fellow graduates walked into the church carrying the votives below.

And the crowd goes wild.

And here she is with her diploma, wearing her nursing pin; what a huge accomplishment! After years of hard work, giving up her vacations, evenings (and perhaps a little of her sanity) to make this happen, she earned her Nursing BSA.
We're so proud of you, Teresa!!

Teresa's Graduation!

More than 6000 people graduated from OU last night. Teresa's the one waving in the middle.The lines for guests to get into the stadium were crazy.
But eventually we made it in. Here's JJ and Sherri on the left (Teresa's good friends from Texas) and of course Tim on the right.

I may post some of Dick's photos later.

And they began their entrance into the stadium. I don't know what it is about bagpipes that makes an event so dramatic, but they were pretty darn cool.
We think Teresa is probably somewhere in this group that entered on the northwest side. We'll have to zoom in and find her. Check out Dick standing there in the empty section of the bleachers with his camera, trying to find her.
More photos of the ceremony


We skipped the end of the ceremony (and the associated traffic) but caught glimpses of the fireworks from the car on our way out.

Happy Birthday Dikdik!

After a delicious Denny's breakfast (I know, sooo bad - don't tell my weight-watchers friends) we did some thrift shopping.

Teresa the lovely flower. And do you see those perfectly maincured nails? She must have a big night coming up or something (tonight's part 1 of her graduation events)

This guy looked cool standing amongst the old telephones. And so "Oklahomaish"!

Yep, that's a Johnny Cash 8-track.

And this next one, taken at a dollar store, is one of my favorites of the day. I was going to shoot this grouping of cake toppers because I thought it was unusual to see so many of them together in one place. But as I was taking the shot I realized that one of the grooms was decapitated.

Tonight we'll be heading to Teresa's graduation event. Looking forward to telling you more about that shortly.

OK!!

Ohhhhhhh-klahoma...
Yesterday Dick and I started our Oklahoma trip to celebrate our birthdays, mother's day, and Teresa's graduation.

Teresa: Class of 2007 (yay!) in the car right after picking us up at the airport.

We ate at Santa Fe steakhouse, where I had my first prickly pear margarita. It was both pretty and yummy.

Here's Tim with his (strong) drink.

On the way back to the house, Tim & Teresa took us on a detour so we could take photos of this asphalt manufacturing plant that Teresa had seen earlier. This thing was crazy-looking with all the huge rusted tubes. Dick and I were thinking it would be great to get closer and shoot some other angles of it. He took this one with my camera because I had the fixed 50mm lens that would fit it all into the frame.
Here's a nearby water tower

We were just about to get back in the car and head home when we noticed railroad tracks across the street. The more we looked, the more interesting stuff we saw. Here's a sofa next to a deserted train platform. I don't have any idea what that big tank in the background is all about.
"Face down"
Dick got some great shots here with his camera.

I was definitely not wearing the right shoes for trapsing through rocks and mud - but it was worth it just to see what was back here.

On the way back, Dick got out one more time to take some more shots.

Saturday Night in San Clemente

My work colleague Greg (left) and his friend Paul (right) invited me to sing a few tunes with them last Saturday night.

Dick and I headed up to Antoine's in San Clemente and enjoyed some good food and good music. After I finished my delicious chicken & rice soup, Greg and Paul called me up to periodically sing a standard or Norah Jones song.

Some friends from work soon showed up to show their support, enjoy some good food and drink some excellent wine. It was great to be able to do some low-pressure performing for friends. It's looking like this gig might be a recurring one, which is really great. I'd love to have the chance to sing more often.

When the show ended a bunch of us left Antoine's and headed two doors down to Duke's where we played some pool and had a few more drinks... but don't worry, I was the designated driver and had my second and final glass of wine of the evening at Antoines.

Dick and John (hopefully he got what he was looking for in there)

Debbie and John looking especially adorable, even after a few drinks

Jillian, me and Debbie

Wyniece being shocking with James

Brian (Wyniece's husband) being appropriately shocked

so much sass in one place.