Lorena spent the whole day cleaning and cooking. She had the time of her life. It is counterintuitive to me how those first two sentences hang together. Part of it had to do with the fact that she bought him a new mop. Looking back at that last sentence, I concede that, still, none of this makes a whole lot of sense to me. Lorena picked up Christian after school, just like the old days at NCSU and they went down to Target to buy “stuff.” Both of them had a ball. I am losing hope that I will figure out all the joy associated with these events. On the other hand, I hung around in the apartment all day, did nothing and felt really good about it for the first tie in years.
Christian was at school today for his bi-weekly meeting with his sponsor from MIT. The difference about today’s meeting was the quasiconvex optimization proof Christian did for his research. He has been working on it for the last several months and he finally got it figured out since after we arrived. It was a big relief for him, but I have no clue what any of it means. Still, like Conoscopic Holography, even though you have no idea what it means, you know it must be great because it sounds so cool.
Betty Blonde #495 – 07/09/2010
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Kelly came down from Seattle for a weekend of homework with Dad. She has not even been gone a year yet and it seems like it has been forever. From the time the kids entered Community College five years ago until they left home last summer we spent at least half of our weekends at the library studying. When the kids were at Wake Technical Community College, we usually went to the Hill Library at NCSU. Then, when the fabulous new Hunt Library was completed shortly after the kids entered NCSU their Junior year, we went there.
Christian starts his last year as a teenager today. A couple of days ago he received the final piece of paper from his time at NCSU. There is no longer any official connection to NCSU. He is officially and completely graduated. I get to run down to Tempe today after work to bring him the computer he purchased with part of his ASU grant. The computer he bought for NCSU died a couple of months ago and he has been limping along with an ASUS tablet/laptop that is awesome, but not really powerful enough for his current work.
I am starting to believe Kelly’s and Christian’s hyperbole–North Carolina State University might be the best undergraduate institution in the world. Leave to the Chicks on the Right to give it just the right spin in 
Christian went through graduation last fall, but was required to take a summer class to finish his Mathematics Honors requirements. He did that and so his final NCSU transcript is now complete. Here is his Honors certificate along with a nice medal that came with it. His official diploma will arrive in the mail sometime before early October. In addition to the Honors designation, his transcripts and, eventually, his diploma show that he graduates Summa Cum Laude. His first technical project for his PhD started this week and classes start next week, so he really is diving into higher academic life. Probably the best sign of that was the big chunk of fees they unexpectedly took out of his first scholarship check. It that is not academia, I do not know what is.
This is the picture we took on the kids first day of class at NCSU when they entered their Junior year there. The big event of that beginning was that they were required to pass tests on why it was bad to binge drink (a good experience) and attend a Freshman orientation (a fairly negative experience for its heavy handed political correctness and poorly socialized government high school participants). All-in-all, though it was a joyous occasion and the kids remain loyal NCSU fans to this day.
During the first semester of the kids sophomore year at Wake Technical Community College, the whole family started going to the North Carolina State University Hill library to study on Saturdays. The picture of Kelly and I to the left was taken right about when we started going there. The kids would study for their classes, I would work on the GaugeCam project, and Lorena would either go shopping at Cameron Village or read magazines. The fabulous new 
What a great way to finish her undergraduate career–defending her cultural heritage against all enemies, foreign and domestic. There were some pretty powerful accusations made against NCSU Dining services for featuring sombreros and chocolate mustaches. Kelly and Christian defended their cultural heritage against these whining, perpetual victims and their racist invective. It reminded me of the commie professor and was great fun. Here are a just a few excerpts:
It is hard to believe Kelly is no longer a teenager. Lorena and I always remember the beautiful South Florida Sunday morning drive to the hospital in 1994 and the joy of her birth after a long, hard day of labor. She has been a source of great joy ever since. It is hard to believe she will no longer be living with us in just a few short months as she starts a new era in her education, career, and life.
