Celeste

Celeste's Graduation - May 24, 2003

First off, I apologize for the quality of the photos. It looks like the lens was really dirty and in general they just don't look right. I was also having problems with the camera. I would take a photo and it would take about 30 seconds before I could take another photo. It was terribly inconvenient since I was trying to take pictures of Celeste going up to the stage, shaking hands, etc...

I also have not proof read this, so please forgive any idiocies.

I had a really great time and felt so lucky to watch Celeste graduate with such high honors. I am so proud of her and have a small idea of all the hard work it took for her to do so well. I can't fully know how hard it was for her though as she was a mother and a student.

It was such a great trip. It was so nice to spend so much time with everyone. I knew I would have a blast with Dave, Celeste and Rob, but I hadn't realized how much fun I was going to have with Rob's parents. Sherry and Dan are really great people and so much fun to be around. Next time you see Celeste and she's with Rob's parents go to dinner with everybody. They're good people and I always felt like part of their family.

I'm going to give a chronological run down of the trip. This is for your benefit and for mine so I can remember everything I did. I don't expect anyone to read all of this, but if you're interested have at it.

05/23/03 11:40 PM - I flew from Salt Lake to JFK on Jet Blue. I had never flown on Blue before and it was pretty good. Every seat has a television with about twenty five channels. I didn't spend long watching tv though as I was hoping to catch some sleep. I think I slept around three hours but I'm not really sure. The flight was a total of four hours.
05/24/03 5:40 AM - My flight landed twenty minutes early at JFK. I quickly headed down to the baggage claim to meet David. If you've flown Jet Blue into JFK you know what a dump their terminal is in the arrivals section. It's only saving grace was two guys in army gear with HUGE machine guns. Nothing perks up a room like machine guns.
5/24/03 7:00 AM - Dave picked me up in a loaner BMW. His car was having work done on its removable top. We drove to his house in Westport, Connecticut. If you haven't visited Dave while he's lived in Westport you really ought to. The town is gorgeous. We drove on what seemed to be a main road with quaint single story shopping stores on each side of the road. Despite the quaint architecture, the "little" stores were big names like Gap. It was really great.
5/24/03 8:30 AM - Dave's house was really cool. It's an older home built around 1930. Dave calls it a total dump, but I don't believe he really feels that way. You can call an uneven basement floor and sloping stairs low quality, or you can see it as giving great personality to a home that really sticks out from the monotonous repetitive architecture that most newer homes suffer from. There are so many great things about the house. It has hardwood floors, a screened porch, and trees outside of it that are amongst the tallest I have ever seen. Dave also has a totally kick ass surround system and HDTV. While Dave showered I was immersed in Reign of Fire. The sound is so good. Dave's friend who is a complete audiophile installed the system. He used a Ghostbuster-esque machine to monitor sound levels until he found the exact location needed for each speaker to perfectly recreate soundtracks. I'm jealous...
5/24/03 11:00 AM - We met Celeste and her family at a Radisson hotel in Enfield, CT. You can see pictures of the hotel by clicking here. We were a little late and we had to dress quickly so we could get Celeste to UMASS. We were taking her early so she could have time to get her cap and gown on. While on the way we decided to catch a bite at Pete's Drive In. Dave and I had had deluxe big boppers, winner of Phantom Gourmet's Great Ate award in the burger category. Celeste had the mushroom burger.
5/24/03 12:10 PM - We made it to the Fine Arts Center in plenty of time. Graduation didn't begin until 2:00 PM, so Celeste had plenty of time to apply as many bobby pins to her cap as her newly educated head desired. Rob, his parents, and the children arrived soon after. We were lucky enough to secure front row seats.
5/24/03 2:00 PM - The graduation was good. It seems a lot of people find graduations quite boring, but I'm a sucker for the idealistic messages that are passed on to the graduating students. When you know the person receiving their diploma and know that they really are capable of changing the world, it's quite special to see them enter this new phase of their life. This is how I felt throughout the ceremony. When you only do something once in your entire life you should sit and soak it in, whether it lasts five minutes or five hours. It was a pleasure to do this with Celeste.
5/24/03 4:30 PM - We had dinner at Bertucci's after graduation. I had never been to Bertucci's and it was quite good. Dave recommended the baked tortellini and chicken gartinati so I had it. It was great. We all had such a great time together. It was the first time I spent much time with Rob's parents and I really enjoyed it.
5/24/03 7:00 PM - Most of us headed to the pool after we had a chance to rest at the hotel. Noah, Alex, Dave and I swam, and Robb, Celeste, and Sherry watched. It was fun. They have an indoor pool and hot tub as well as an outdoor pool. Dave and I sat in the hot tub until our heads were uncomfortably sweaty. Due to the heat we started eyeing the outdoor pool. I haven't mentioned the weather, but it rained the whole trip and was cold enough for me to wear my Microsoft jacket whenever I was outside. Like teenagers we started to daring each other to go outside and jump in the freezing outdoor pool. Celeste was more than willing to encourage us to do it so we headed outside. It was so cold out there and there was no way I was going to do it. I couldn't be upstaged by Dave though, so I agreed to do it. Dave and I jumped in and it was freezing! Celeste took a picture of this and I hope she will send it to me. Robb later told me that while jumping in my body started turning to the edge of the pool in preparation to get out before I actually even hit the water. Once in we quickly climbed out. At this point, and I'm not sure why, I decided we should get back in. I think I must have been trying to compensate for Dave being so much braver than me earlier. We both hopped in and swam to the edge of the pool. We then ran to the hot tub which now seemed WAY too hot so we got in the regular pool. We swam for about 30 minutes and played with Alex and Noah which was a blast.
5/24/03 Late Evening - Celeste, Robb, Alex, Dave and I wanted to go out again so we went to T.G.I. Friday's to get a snack. We got the Friday's Three For All appetizer and desert. Dave and I split an Oreo Madness, Celeste got the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake, and Alex got the Brownie Obsession. Robb didn't have desert. No one ordered any food except for Dave. Well, he actually wanted something off the kids menu so he made Alex order it for him. It just goes to show that no amount of money will erase the Holbrook within you.
5/25/03 Morning - We all had breakfast at Friendly's. It had been a long time since I've been to Friendly's. Everyone says it is a dump, but I like it (just like Dave's house). I guess you always miss what you can't have.
5/25/03 Afternoon - We spent the afternoon at Six Flags New England. Sometimes it amazes me that I lived in Massachusetts and know so little of what it contains. I like to attribute this to me living there before I could drive a car, but who knows... The park is really great and the roller coasters are enormous. I haven't been to an amusement park other than Lagoon in a long time. Even when I do go to Lagoon I don't usually ride much since I'm there with the kids. This lack of exposure to my body being flung around at high speeds has made me rusty and it showed. I found myself getting queasy on small rides which is pathetic. It was great fun though. They have a rollercoaster called Superman - Ride of Steel which is quite good. The initial drop is so high and scares you to death. When I got home I read a newspaper article in the Salt Lake Tribute that said the Superman rollercoaster is the sixth best coaster in the world according to consumer satisfaction. It was good to experience one of the best since I hadn't had my stomach in my mouth in such a long time.
5/25/03 Evening - Dave drove me back to JFK after we left Six Flags at 4:30. It was relaxing and nice to have some more time to chat. We got to the airport at about 7:25 and my plane was scheduled to depart at 8:55. There were no lines at all in checkin or security so I got to my gate and read until it was time to board. The flight was uneventful and on time.
5/26/03 Midnight - I arrived in Salt Lake just before midnight. I hurried to my car and was really excited to get home to see Kim and the kids. I got in my car and turned the key but it wouldn't start. I then realized my interior light had been left on. I felt so stupid and was incredibly upset. I really didn't want to bother Kim. I then remembered that Kim had some friends over and thought that there was a chance they would still be at my house and could come get me. I looked around and didn't see a tram so I decided to run to the terminal. I was running when a policeman drove by me. About ten seconds after he drove by I realized he could have probably jumped my car. At this time he was driving down a row about two hundred feet from me. I ran after him and caught up to him. He didn't have jumper cables, but it turns out the airport has a team of guys who drive around a truck that jumps cars and pumps up tires. I was so relieved. Within ten minutes two people were jumping my car and I was headed home.

It was such a great trip. The pictures I took are below. Again, I apologize for how bad they look.