Graduation Day

Good morning, all! Today is my big day: graduation from the University of Arizona with my Master's in Information Resources and Library Science (MLS). I'm blogging this from my hotel room, having come down to Tucson a day early to try to rest up before this long day begins. I even got a rental car (the first time I had done so since 2007). It's a red Toyota Prius, and while it is a little small for someone of my height, I actually rather like it. It's got bells and whistles, a hybrid gas-electric engine, some kind of charging system for the battery that uses kinetic energy from the brakes to charge, a touch screen radio system, digital display for the odometer and speedometer, and it's a push-button start (no key). I got it from the airport yesterday early morning and took it back to my apartment for a little bit while I finished packing and doing some dishes before my trip down here. Perhaps good timing, as my water pressure went down considerably just after I did a load in the dishwasher. 

The drive down to Tucson was (mostly) uneventful. Traffic was moderately light the whole way, although there was one snafu - a gravel truck had spilled its entire load all over the highway about 30 miles outside of Tucson and it caused a complete shutdown of the highway. All four lanes of traffic were diverted to the left shoulder of the road, through which the cleanup crew had created a bypass. It took about an hour to go about two miles to get through it, but it wasn't terrible. 

Once I got into the city, I got to my hotel room, which was the same building I'd used the last time I was here for my Preservation class two summers ago. The room is a single studio room with a tiny kitchen and a decent bathroom, a desk, and a very small television. At least there's plenty of light from the four lamps/fixtures. 

Today, the plan is for me to be very busy. There are three entities which are having graduation ceremonies today: SIRLS, which is my specific program, SBS, which is the college my program (and many others) is in, and the UA ceremony, which features all university graduates. At 9:30am, there is a SIRLS convocation ceremony at Crowder Hall on campus where I will be "hooded" - which is apparently the entire point of graduating with a Master's degree. Then at 1pm, there is a ceremony for all the SBS students with individual recognition of each graduate (kind of like my high school graduation, I understand). And finally, at 7:30pm, there is the big university ceremony. Master's students get recognition as a giant group of Master's students, but they're not going to read names.

I expect to be completely drained by the end of all this (in a good way), and so I have my hotel room for one more night down here before I come back up to Phoenix tomorrow morning. I'll probably post another blog and photos once I have them. My family is coming down for the ceremony, as are a couple good friends, so it should be a great time!