May 24, 2005 - University of New Hampshire Graduation
These pictures were taken during a trip to New Hampshire to visit an old friend.
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Sarah attended an honors convocation on Friday evening.
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Sarah always strikes interesting poses.
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Two of Sarah's roommates had moved out during the previous week, so Steve was provided with an entire suite to himself.
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As at Penn State, the lots were filled to capacity.
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Sarah, Eric, her brother Joe, and her grandfather converse outside building K.
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Reminiscent of Penn State Abington's campus, these stairs lead up from the parking lot to the stadium.
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I felt sorry for the cars that were waiting in vain to get past this mob of people.
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The scene at the gate was complete chaos.
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The graduates and the families intermingled for most of the pre-ceremony festivities.
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The seats in the bleachers were filled well before 9:30am.
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The weather for the graduation ceremony was horrendus, as you can see here by the clouds.
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A closeup of the podium area before the ceremony began.
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Steve Sokolowski reads a program that details what's to come.
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The patriarch of the family cuts through the crowd to his seat.
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It's easy to see why nobody wanted to sit on the field: tall people blocked almost all view of the stage.
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Even holding the camera as high as one possibly could, it was still impossible to see much of anything.
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In fact, using the zoom lens and repeatedly taking pictures was the easiest way to see what was going on.
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When one person stood, everyone had to stand.
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The graduates process in, obscured from view by the crowd.
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The dean of the University of New Hampshire made some opening remarks after 30 minutes of processing.
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The upper center of this picture features the professors decked out in their academic regalia.
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The weather was a near-record 45 degrees. The average high for May 21 in Durham is 71 degrees.
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The featured speaker was Tom Werner, CEO of the Boston Red Sox. He talked about the Red Sox' remarkable drive to the championship.
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Werner was awarded an honorary doctorate for breaking the 86-year curse.
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Here, preparations are beginning for the conferral of degrees.
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Doctoral students were called by name, while other degrees were awarded silently at the same time.
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The conferral of degrees.
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At one point, it seemed as if all the students would have their names called.
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The ceremony was poorly organized at the end. Since there were no announcements, nobody was exactly sure what was going on.
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The poor organization led half the people in attendance to leave before the ceremony even ended.
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Sarah poses for the camera after the commencement.
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This picture is one of many that will embarass Sarah for the rest of her life.
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Another "nice" picture of Sarah posing with her diploma case in hand. The diploma itself wouldn't be received until late July.
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There are way too many pictures of this.
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Graduates, parents, and families filed out of the stadium after the ceremony ended. Joe estimated that about 7,000 were in attendance.
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After the ceremony, everyone attended a party in Manchester.
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Here, you can see the previous picture being taken.
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Sarah and Eric were up to their usual antics.
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This shirt offended a great many people. Eventually, this picture will be edited to remove the offending team name and logo.
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Steve and Sarah posed for the first of many pictures to be taken that evening.
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Sarah dedicated the top of her hat to the Wildcats Marching Band.
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Eric's family's hospitality was legendary, providing everyone in attendance with excellent hamburgers, cake, and coffee, while they watched a Red Sox rain delay.
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Even Eric didn't know what the blue thing he had to wear was called, and he tired of having to have people constantly adjust it.
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Sarah and Eric.
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Again, Sarah and Eric.
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The graduates posed while upwards of thirty photos were taken of various combinations of relatives.
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Eric, his mother, and his grandmother.
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Sarah, Eric, and Sarah's parents.
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So many pictures were being taken that, at times, four cameras were flashing at once.
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Sarah poses with her parents.
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Sarah and her grandparents, who live on York Road across from the Home Depot in Willow Grove.
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Another picture of Sarah and her grandparents, this time with Eric.
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Eric and his family.
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Eric's cousin looks even happier than Sarah does!
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The smallest of Eric's cousins were the most lively of the entire bunch.
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Steve zoned out at one point, exhausted after the busy day.
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Despite being 30 years old, Eric gleefully opens presents as if he were just 4.
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This Wal*Mart smiley face was perhaps the most original gift of all.
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This UNH hockey jersey was presented to Sarah by Eric. It was signed by the entire team, some of whom will most likely go pro. She didn't take him up on his offer to return it.
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Sarah looks through pictures to give to Steve of herself and Eric.
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Sarah looks like she's about to kill somebody as she holds up pictures of herself to the camera.
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Despite being located miles from the nearest city, there was a huge traffic jam in the driveway.
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The side of the house.
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The pool in the back of the house. The fence around it, which is four feet tall, was submerged in snow a few months earlier.
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Downtown Concord looked much like any other city, except that the buildings were smaller and there was more sprawl.
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The New Hampshire Governer's Office is located behind these trees.
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More of downtown Concord, as the car approached the movie theatre where "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" was playing.
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I'm not even going to ask what this picture is about.
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Sarah pasted two "UNH Alumni" stickers to add to her car's collection. Note the other stickers in the lower right corner (see large image).
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These pictures just don't do justice to the New Hampshire countryside.
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Another picture of the countryside, this time along US 202. The road, had I continued to follow it, would lead to Doylestown 500 miles to the south.
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Even though you can see when this picture was taken, the weather had been so cold that there was still snow at the ski resorts. The trees were still yellow with new leaves just forming.
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A construction zone marked the beginning of the bridge to Vermont.
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Sarah's father provided bad directions that indicated a wrong turn onto NH-10 north. The 20-minute detour wasn't for naught, however - take a look at this picture.
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In Port Jervis, New York, there is an overlook off the road where motorists can see for miles.
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The late afternoon sunlight illuminated the valley.
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Perhaps the best picture of the entire lot, you can download this to use as wallpaper by clicking on the large image dimensions.
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