“Life In The So-Called Space Age”
What’s this?
Not sure? Here’s the back:
You got it! It’s the 2011 Club Nintendo Platinum reward, a set of Mario pins. But not just pins – pins that come packaged in boxes that can be separated…
…and reassembled into three different Mario murals…
All this could have been yours had you earned 600 coins in this years redemption program. That’s $600 spent on Nintendo products.
Yes, $600. Yep. 25 crappy pins 🙂
Today was commencement, or the graduation ceremony. Here I am in my PhD robes walking through the school on the way to the arena:
A closer look at the happy fellow:
The arena is large, and KLS and her family was sitting high on the bleachers. This made for a good view of the entire proceedings, but not of me being presented or shaking the University President’s hand. These photos will have to wait until I buy the official snaps. Here’s what the ceremony looked like though:
Here’s what it looked like on the floor (taken with my iPhone). The big smile is from SFL, who graduated a few months back and returned to Albany today for graduation.
This last shot is of me and my advisor/mentor Professor CMacD. She was proud of me today, which made me feel good. I guess everyone was proud of me. To be honest, to me it still doesn’t feel like it’s finished. After ten years, it doesn’t seem like it could just be over inside a single week.
The day was long and busy and very tiring, and the hour is late, so I shall end here. Tomorrow, back to work at 7am, business as usual. I’m sooooo looking forward to my upcoming Australia trip just so I can finally relax…
Let’s continue with the topic of graduation gifts. Here’s another I received, a Striiv:
This nifty little device is a pedometer with all sorts of additional features. In addition to keeping track of steps, stairs, calories and ‘energy’ the Striiv incentivizes the user with Trophies!
So for trophy junkies like me, that’s a win right there. The system has extensive stat tracking as well (which I love) and can challenge the user to do more exercise than they usually would:
The currency earned is used in a little fantasy simulation game called Myland. It’s purely a distraction, but not bad for a pedometer.
Many of you know how much I loved the DS pedometer software i used to use. This guy is all that and much more, plus it’s all there in my pocket. I’m loving it so far 🙂