It was commencement day here at UMM, and it was a special one for us because Child #3 is now officially Bachelor of Arts #3. Here she tolerates her father and mother for a few more moments before she abandons us forevermore.
And there she is in the midst of all the faculty and 2010 graduates of the computer science discipline at UMM.
Yay, we're all done! Kids gone, all off on their own trajectories into the future!
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Congrats - and wow, all the kids done? Cheers, bittersweet though they may be. :)
Good job kiddo.
Congrats to kid-the-third!
(Oh, and PZ? You need a better camera....may you can sue Kwok for one?)
Since when was Computer Science a BA major?
Congratulations! May her world ahead be be whatever she wants to make of it. :)
Congrats to your youngest! Now, for you and your wife...it's Party Time!
Well done, old man. Legacies well launched.
Effusive congratulations! It's a clean sweep!
This weekend I got to attend a graduation for a new English Ph.D. who once took calculus from me. He gives me credit for making him an English major. (I am so proud!)
You can get a BA in most anything. Fer instance, I have a 32 year old BA in Physics.
Congratulations to the various Myerses on getting edumacated.
Ooh pz nice dress!
Dude, don't they give the faculty some decent fucking puffy octagon hats at your university?
Congrats to all 3 of you!!
If there is such a thing as leagues, The Trophy Wife is way out of PZ's.
Woohoo! Onward and upward, Skatje!
Ah, congratulations! She's adorable.
My son graduates tomorrow from UW Madison -- also my last one through college.
The "abandons us forever" and "off on their own trajectories into the future" are ... hypotheses.
Congratulations, Skatje. Good jorb, PZ. Cheers.
BA and not BS? Weird. My boyfriend just graduated with the same degree, only at Washington State University it's a bachelors of science...
…and, of course, your “we” is all-inclusive, as is your family.
That is, it’s not just the Myerseseses who got another grad; the whole world did. And if that’s not cause for celebration, I don’t know what is.
Cheers,
b&
Congrats.
Congrats to your daughter!
But who's going to carry on your work of squishing the insides out of Zebrafish?
To all of those wondering about the BA (rather than, say, a BS): it depends on the institution. My undergraduate institution, for example, only gave Bachelors of Science in geology; the other sciences (and Maths) were BAs.
Congratulations to all of you!
"Kids gone, all off on their own trajectories into the future!"
It's a good thing you don't believe in jinxes. Otherwise, you would have guaranteed one or more of them moving back home in the near future.
Congratulations to Child#3. Sure there's more than just cephalopods in the world, but you know she'll be back.
@Glenn G#4: It depends on the history of the institution. Computer stuff is not one of the Natural Sciences so it gets a BA. In many places computer work originated in the maths department (which is not in the Natural Sciences either).
I just checked my CS degree, it says: Bachelor of Computer Science (Games Technology).
Goodness! The Trophy Wife (TM) really IS a trophy wife! What a dish.
Congrats to all, of course.
Many congratulations!
Congratulations! For the B.A. questioners, some schools (Duke, for instance) do either for C.S.
Congratulations PZ - what a feeling that must be!
I had a feeling the "busyness" included something personal. Congratulations to the graduate, and may PZ and the Trophy Wife enjoy the "empty nest" syndrome...
not that it means much from a total stranger on the interweb but congratulations to you both anyways.
And I'm just beginning this exciting stage of life. My eldest is getting ready to move to Minnesota to start college life at Carleton in the fall. Right now she's sitting at her desk working on her essay for the Freedom From Religion Foundation scholarship.
Back in the olden days, I could have gotten either a BA or BS in Chemistry from my undergraduate university. The only difference was a couple of senior level courses, and the satisfactory completion of the foreign language requirement with German, versus any other foreign language. (Something to do with Beilstein and Chemische Berichte.)
The difference between a BA and a BS, at most universities still, is the language requirement of the BA. IMHO, the BA is the more well-rounded degree. And yes, I have a BA in Biology, as well as a PhD, also in Biology.
Congrats! :)
Is it my Temple bias or does PZ look like an owl in this photo ?
I'm very pleased. Up until now I've been having a relatively bad day. Seeing your good news has brightened my outlook immensely. Nothing finer than seeing a couple of proud parents introducing one of their brood to the future.
I guess it's something about all that potential, past, present, and future, in one place at one time.
Congratulations to Skatje, your Trophy Wife(tm), and yourself.
Holy crap, your CS department has a 50/50 gender ratio? I think Purdue's CS program is something like 10% female, if that much.
Anyway, congrats!
Congrats of the warmest sort to you as parents!
Nothing brings me more joy than noticing my wife and I have two healthy, reasonably sensible, definitely nice teenage boys with good senses of humor, even when compared with other very fine parents.
And, of course, equal congrats to your, by appearances and second-hand accounts, wonderful daughter for her work (and tolerance for putting up with her parents' weirdness - ALL parents are, at best, damn weird!).
Congrats to all the grads, and to their families.
Is Skatje a Redhead? If so, there is some poor fellow (or gal) out there who will be both totally infuriated and totally enraptured. ;)
At last we see the Trophy Wife!
Oh and crongradulations to your daughter.
She as done you proud.
PZ, I hate to rain on your party, and congratulations and all that .. but I will no longer take serious any of your remarks about the pope wearing funny dresses and hats!
(Can't believe you Americans still do that silly dressing-up shit -other than on Halloween-).
This is the 21st century! GIT with it!
My heartfelt congratz!
Congratulations!
Huzzah for kid three! Well done PZ and Trophy Wife.
Oh, Happy Monkey!
Yet another member of the "elitist educated." Well, done, Myers family.
And, I supposed you know from children #1 and #2, even though your job of successfully raising a child to adulthood is completed, you will always be a parent with all that entails. My mom still worries about me, and she's in her mid-80s, and I'm...well...rapidly approaching senior citizenship.
Mazel tov.
And yeah, you need a better puffy hat and a dramatically colored hood thing.
Congrats PZ.
I like to say that all other considerations aside, I'm a success - both my kids graduated HS without being jailed, knocked up or otherwise seriously harmed or harmful to themselves or civilization. Now one is just entering grad school, the other a couple years to finish college yet, but has held full time jobs continuously since HS. (not as much ambition and self discipline as the older, but she's finding her footing ok).
When the younger finally does graduate college, I'll consider myself as successful as a human being can possibly be.
Sometimes, given the plight of our species and the world, I feel guilty about "the bet" of having children. But I realized long ago that life is a bet-or-you've-already-lost game. But much as it's a sucker's game your certain to lose one day, when your children successfully achieve such milestones, you know you've truly won in a way that genuinely transcends your own fortune.
-- TWZ
Congratulations to all congraduates! The red hair's very good too.
@Jennifurret, #38:
That's what I was thinking ... in my 2 years of Purdue CS, my classes have all been 85-90% male. Why, oh why, did I think it would be a good idea to go into computer science for the chicks!?
More on topic - Congratulations to the whole Myers clan!
Does anyone know when "graduate" became a transitive verb instead of intransitive? My students say "I graduated high school" instead of "I graduated from high school."
congratskjulations!
Awesome, congrats!
Now you can have the big squid based parties without worrying about the kids finding out.
Congrats 3rd spawn of PZ!
@14: "If there is such a thing as leagues, The Trophy Wife is way out of PZ's."
I beg to differ. I think they make a really cute couple.
Congrats to Skatje.
My niece graduated NCSU today--off for a masters in the fall. She's the oldest of my and my sisters' kids. I have the youngest at 6, and there are 6 in between. We'll be doing this for years. (by the way, I only have one of those 8 kids)
Wonderful news, congratulations to everyone.
Skatje looks so much like her mother, perhaps she'll be a Trophy Wife for some other lucky guy someday.
Congratulations! I remember this day, 26 years ago when I was the graduate. Full life and happiness to the Myers family!
Hey my Alma mater. Nice!
What in?
Most excellent PZ, congrats to you, the spousal unit, and your daughter. I have two down, three to go on the college circuit, and no, I'm not even Catholic, the youngest two are adopted. Thanks for the site.
I was just reading your blog 10 minutes ago when the phone rang to tell us that our 14 year old daughter Phaedra has passed the entrance exam for the Queensland Academy of Maths Science and Technology. Looks like Champaign all around. I wish this blog had smilies. Oh well.
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Whoopie !
Didn't offer a BA where I went, it was BS.
Always a good day when you can get the big fancy academic robes out, innit?
I doubt she will abandon you forever. Heck, I went to grad school in hopes of being able to abandon my parents, and due to the shitty economy I am back at home attending what is affectionately known as Last Chance Community College. See where higher education gfets you? (My youngest sister also had to move back in, although to be fair, she got her bachelor's in theater, but still, it was from St. Olaf.)
Even so, congratulations to all and sundry!
Hooray, hooray, hooray for Skatje!
Congratulations and many good wishes for the future.
Congrats PZ. You are now officially an "Empty Nester". Time to get into some seriously kinky fun!
BREAK OUT THE SQUID!!!
Actually, this made me feel a little homesick as my niece just graduated from Southern Illinios University Carbondale with a BA in Political Science. (Okay debo-that's one down, four to go...)
They grow up so fast.
Grats and all.
We had a cool, 85 year old neighbor named Gladys when ours were on the edge of leaving home.
The Wife made a reference to 'when the kids are gone'. Quote Gladys:
"Honey, mine are all over 40. They are never gone."
Best regards to your new graduate.
#Include degree.c
RE: BA/BS
I think the whole BA/BS thing is BS. My undergrad school only offered biology as a BA, despite me having math through calc 2, a semester of calc-based physics+lab, and a full year of organic chem+labs. I also majored in geology, where I could have gotten a BS, but another semester of physics with the designated prof was going to be the death of me.
In short: I think grad schools care more about specific classes (IE calc, physics, organic/physical chem, etc.) than whether it's a BS or BA.
Congrats to the grad (and the proud parents)!
Congrats PZ.
You may betray us for cephalopods, but you're still a credit to we chordates. :p
Re: BA / BS
I think the Australian degree system is better. When I got my Mol. Bio & Biotech degree it was a BSc. (as are all degrees in the fields of science).
Anything arts was a BA.
Engineering was a BEng.
Law, medicine, education etc. all had their own degree class as well. Better way to classify degrees IMO.
Sorry, still oozes of teddybear.
Congrats to the spawn! Good to know some people manage to finish.
Congradulations!
Congratulations!
I have just, this weekend, seen my own daughter send off her honours thesis, so I know how you feel.
PS. At last I am posting! I was previously posting as Ramases, but could not log in after I registered. I have registered with a new email address and slighly different user name.
Kids all gone? Must be time to write a book.
Of course, real writers do that when the kids are sill at home...
True. Because there is no US standardization for the BS/BA differential.
Congrats to kid#3 and your family! Cheers! -ag
Congratulations to Skatje and all the Myerseseses for producing/growing into such wonderful spawn. May your genetic lineage never be terminated!
Louis
Congratulations to all!
Congratulations to the Myers clan!
Don't worry,PZ. Your tentacled spawn will not go far. Afterall, they need to be here to greet the Elder Gods when they descend to consume the World...
I have a B.A. in linguistics, which I'm still not entirely sure if it's a science or not. I mean, we do have falsifiable hypotheses, such as the hypothesis that Icelandic is distantly related to Bengali and Hawaiian to Malagasy (both of which have been verified), but there really isn't much application of the scientific method in the field. It's a lot of observation and logical analysis of the observations. Language is such an intuitive thing that you normally don't need to use the scientific method to analyze it, unlike quantum physics and molecular biology.
My older daughter graduated Friday as well. It is a great feeling to see them succeed and grow. And she is an Eve, taking the fruit of knowledge, "deserter of the divine law."
Congratulations PZ, you're a great parent.
Now if it's not too bold to say; your daughter's hot, is she single?
Lucky you PZ.
I have three kids, all statemented (special needs). They're aged 12,11, and 8 so I've a few more years to do yet. The eldest two are in mainstream education, thankfully. The youngest has a severe learning delay (he's 8 and hasn't uttered a word yet). Thankfully he has a place here:
http://www.glencraig.org.uk/
after a 2 year battle with social services and education. Thankfully, we were befriended by a very generous barrister (one of the parents at Glencraig) who really did fight for us.
I lie awake at nights and worry about all three, especially the youngest.
Still, I was going to say you should thank God for your daughter and her success but I don't think you would appreciate it.
You're very fotunate in more ways than one.
Comp sci here isn't 50/50. It's very well outnumbered. This year's graduating class was just unusual.
Ha. Speaking as the 25 year old student still mooching off my mother, don't be so sure that she won't come back! But enjoy the temporary reprieve nonetheless!
huzzah!
Congratulations, Skatje, and best of luck to you.
A BA in CS? Weird. I got my BS in CS at a small midwest liberal arts university. I wouldn't have minded skipping the science-for-science major chemistry though. :)
@skatje.myers: Okay, just a stat anomaly with the small class size. Welcome to CS, now go get a job. It's sooo much more fun then school. And I'm pretty sure grad school is just a waste of time for programmers (though I'm considering getting one slowly online).
Congratulations PZ, you're a great parent.
Now if it's not too bold to say; your daughter's hot, is she single?
I think Skatje has a boyfriend.
She used to have a blog of her own, but it seems to have disappeared:
http://lacrimae-rerum.org/
Whew, I haven't seen that much lens flare since I hauled out the old folding prewar Zeiss w/uncoated lens and pointed it a bit off-angle toward the sun. Without a hood. Get a new camera if this is the best yours can do.
woohoo! Congratulations Skatje! It's definitely a good feeling to finally be graduating, huh? Though I have refrained from joining the real world to partake in indentured servitude... I mean grad school.
good luck in your endeavors!
Congratulations :) We (toplu sms) congrats to all :)
At my Master's degree graduation we were looking at all the faculty on stage and their various caps and gowns and discussing choosing a PhD program based on how your academic regalia would look. University of Oregon loses. Your getup isn't much more interesting than the bachelor's degree gown. UBC won our informal poll, btw.
Oh, and congratulations, but Bachelor of arts? You let your child get away with not getting a bachelor of science?
I don't think those photos were taken with a Leica rangefinder ...
Congratulations all around! And I don't think you have a dog (to die) so that means happiness has begun!
Congratulations to the child and the family.
Well done Scratchee,
I can see from the photos how awful your life has been, just like the women that according to your comments in the abortion thread a while back shouldn't be allowed to have abortions because you life has been at least as hard as theirs & you wouldn't have one so why should they. You look like you've really suffered.
Aw. She's beautiful PZed. I hope she goes on to do wonderful things. :D
Isn't that always the way. Child #3. Nothing in the baby book. Two pictures of their entire childhood. And it's Child #3, good old what's her face. Well Child #3, now you can go out there and make a name for yourself. Some pun intended. Congratulations and best wishes to all.
O.O Wow...
*ah-hem* Ok, that out of the way. Many happy returns and all to your daughter. Always happy to see people going into the sciences... even if it's computer science.
I'm not really looking forward to my graduation, as I know I'll still have at least 5 years of grad school and at least 1 post doc to go...
Aw, congratulations!