Thai Dyed: California III

May 11 - 12, 2017

The four of us jockeyed for position to use the shower this morning, but we had to concede to Ted, who needed to be at USC a half hour before the rest of us. He donned his flattering USC cap and gown and headed to the train, getting thumbs-up and congratulations from strangers along the way.

Tim, Hiustyn and I brought up the rear, walking to the train in our graduation-attendee finery. We got on the train with plenty of time to spare...but then the announcement came. A train was stuck on the tracks ahead, so our train would only get us about half the distance we needed to travel, where it would stop and go back the other way. The stop where it would leave us was not in the best part of town, so Hiustyn suggested we get off the stop before and call Uber. I did not allow myself to look at the time and convinced myself we would not be late. We waited ten or fifteen minutes, or so it seemed, and our car arrived. Driving in the car is often much slower in LA because of the unending traffic, but the car was able to let us out closer to our destination, so that was a plus.

We walked past fields of chairs set up outside, but realized they were being set up for the general graduation ceremonies the next day. We followed the crowd to a sea of red and wondered how we would find Ted. After a few false sightings, we finally met up, just as they were preparing to go inside the auditorium. We found our own seats and waited for the commencement to commence. We grabbed a couple of pictures before the multiple announcements asking everyone to take their seats.

Bovard Auditorium

We found him!

His last moments as a padawan

This was the PhD Hooding and Awards Ceremony for over 150 candidates in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. The advisers of the PhD students processed in. Each student had an adviser; some, like Ted, had two. This is the person(s) who guided their research study over so many years. Many advisers had multiple PhD candidates under their tutelage.

Ted's adviser, Dr. Henryk Flashner

Ted's other adviser, Jill McNitt-Gray

The dean of the engineering school, Yannis Yortsos, gave an entertaining talk. He remarked on the lengthy titles of many of the students' theses, and suggested that perhaps they should soon allow emojis to be part of the titles.😊😁😄😋😏😉 He reminded us that PhD stands for the Latin Philosophiae Doctor; Philosophiae can be translated as lover of wisdom.

Dean Yortsos

Awards were presented first, and I am proud to say that my son received the Jenny Wang Award for Excellence in Teaching for the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. That's my boy!

Ted standing for his award recognition

After all the awards were presented, the students migrated up to the stage to be hooded. They carried their hood draped over their arm onto the stage, where their adviser(s) took the hood and placed it around their candidate's neck. Some tall students with short advisers had to do contortions to help their adviser's reach, making for some entertainment as the ceremony wore on. All in all, the ceremony was an enjoyable and joyful celebration of the accomplishments of some very bright students.

Dean Yannis Yortsos, adviser Jill McNitt-Gray, Ted, adviser Henryk Flashner

Ted was one of the first to be hooded. After that, well...

The school hosted a lovely breakfast reception in the park behind the auditorium. We were able to meet Ted's advisers and some of his fellow PhDs. Attendees enjoyed fresh fruit, salads, cookies and such in the cool morning sunshine. A group of Ted's acquaintances, including one of his advisers, walked over to the front of the Engineering building for some pictures, then on to the Moreton Fig for drinks. The Moreton Fig is so named for the two giant Moreton Fig trees that shade the outdoor patio of the restaurant. They are massive, ancient-looking specimens of a giant species brought to the US from Australia in the nineteenth century.

Something seems to be missing from this photo...

A reminder of "home!"

One massive Moreton Fig tree

And the other.

Ted borrowed his friend's "fancy" cap

Waxing eloquent about dual quaternions or something...

Then it was on to the iconic statue of Tommy Trojan for some final pictures before returning the rented robes. Tommy is quite the celebrity; we had to wait in line to have our picture taken with him!

Full-on Jedi

In the evening, we enjoyed some fresh handmade pizza and craft beer at the Doughroom. Kudos to the customer service there - Tim's pizza was just slightly burnt on the edge, so they insisted on making him a new one, but in the mean time, let him have the first one anyway.

The next morning Ted drove Tim and me to a popular breakfast eatery near Venice Beach, Egg Slut. He said people frequently stand in line for an hour to eat these delicious egg sandwiches. They were very tasty, but I'm not sure I'd wait in line an hour for one! I think waiting in line for good eats is part of the foodie culture in LA.

We walked down to Venice Beach. It was a cool, overcast morning, so not a lot of activity. We were entertained by a couple of guys obviously shooting some kind of music video there, dancing in and out of the palm trees.

Music video in progress...

From here it was just a short drive to see the Venice Canals. It's a lovely little area - very pricey to live here I would imagine. Some of the homes looked like they were vacation rentals. I was surprised we were allowed on the walkway between the homes and the canals.

These are real! I thought they were metal...

Another eye-catching tree

lots of lovely and unique homes

Sadly, it was time to say good-bye to Tim - his visit went by much too quickly, but I am so glad I got to see him. We drove him to LAX, then headed back to the apartment, stopping for some groceries on the way. American grocery stores - such selections!

Long time no see! I was weak.

In the evening, Ted and I enjoyed an outdoor jazz concert at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). It was a fine performance by the Charles Owens Quintet. Charles Owens is a seventy-eight-year-old world-class sax and flute player and vocalist. We were especially impressed with the piano player, Tamir Hendelman, who Charles Owens said was "born in a Steinway." So refreshing to soak in some good quality live jazz - not many opportunities in Pattaya (I know I've whined about this before).