Today we went to Erin’s graduation, which was held at the Grand Hyatt near Grand Central. Before the ceremony it was utter chaos, with grads and family / friends / others running around like chickens with their heads cut off and trying to take pictures, coordinate post-ceremony rendezvous, etc. Here are some pictures.
The ceremony itself was very efficient and the guest speaker – Melanne Verveer, the U. S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues – had a very nice speech.
I was even able to get some good shots of Erin. And unlike the countless others who decided to blatantly disregard the “stay in your seat and take pictures after the ceremony” instructions, I actually showed some respect for the other graduates / attendees by staying put.
After the ceremony there was a nice reception at the hotel with food and drinks. It was a bit of a madhouse, though, and at times looked more like farm animals rushing to their troughs to feed. Some people have no shame when it comes to free food – a few even used the buffet tables as their headquarters and more or less ate straight off the serving plates. Perhaps some were simply trying to recoup some of the money they had just invested in their children’s education.
Later in the afternoon we headed to a second reception specific to Erin’s department. It was held in the Woolworth building, which is in Lower Manhattan not far from the World Trade site. This reception was much more tame given the smaller size and reduced appetizer presence. And there were a couple of student speeches that were very nice.
For dinner I headed off on my own in order to meet up with my good friend Shannon from business school. It was great to see her again, reminisce about old times and catch up on new developments. She’s definitely winning on the new developments front, as she recently welcomed her first baby into the world. Here’s a picture of Scarlett – definitely a cute baby girl.
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