Becky and I picked up our “Honor Cords” from the College of Letters, Arts & Sciences this afternoon, then went to the University Bookstore and rented our Commencement caps and gowns.

Becky takes a look at her Honor Cords.


Becky gets silly with her Honor Cords.


I try on my cap outside Carl’s Junior. Becky correctly noted that I desperately need to get a haircut before graduation. :)


Becky tries on her cap, also outside Carl’s Jr.


Becky checks out her second tassel.

I will actually get two sets of Honor Cords because my two majors, Political Science and Print Journalism, are in two different schools (LAS and Annenberg), whereas Becky’s two majors, Political Science and History, are in the same school (LAS), and the cords are given out by school, not by major. So, nyah, nyah. :) I can pick up my Annenberg cords on Monday. (You get the Honor Cords for having a GPA of over 3.5.)

As for the cap and gown, you pay $30 for the rental, and then you have to return them or else pay like $100 more… but they throw in a tassel and let you keep it. (How generous.) Becky actually got two tassels by accident, so I suggested getting a miniature cap for Toby and giving her the extra tassel. Now that would be a cute picture.

Becky and I are working on the design of the web page for her history project, a report on evangelist Aimee Sample McPherson. Check out the work-in-progress homepage.

Two weeks from this very moment, 9:44 AM, we’ll be about midway through main commencement ceremony.

Woohoo!

A bunch of worms, part of a scientific experiment on board the Columbia, survived the shuttle’s fiery breakup, investigators have discovered.

Actually, the worms discovered by the investigators are, like, the great-great-grandchildren of the astronaut worms.

But still. Kinda cool.

(Thanks, Ken Layne.)

I saw this in a USC parking lot yesterday:

Heh.

In a related story, a new study reports that the Los Angeles metro area is still the nation’s smoggiest. (Surprise, surprise.) In addition, six of the top ten worst metro areas — including all of the top four — are in the great state of California. Way to go, Golden State!

In a totally unrelated story, Toby ripped up a bunch of toilet paper this morning.

It’s 5/03.

Yeah, it’s 5/1/03, but that doesn’t mean anything to me. The truly significant thing is that the month is 5/03.

Why? For the last four years, on virtually every piece of remotely academic-related paperwork I’ve had to fill out, I’ve been asked my “expected graduation date.” Usually, they only want the month — and I didn’t know the exact date anyway. So, invariably, I wrote the shorthand: “5/03.”

Well, 5/03 begins today.

In other news, I took some more campus-in-springtime shots yesterday. I particularly like this one:

And here are a couple from the Daily Trojan office on the fourth floor of the Student Union building. Note the Tommy Trojan statue, USC’s central campus landmark, at the bottom of the first image.

Speaking of pretty spring pictures, they say springtime is for lovers, right? Well, here are a couple shots of me and Becky being cute yesterday. (Note Becky’s new “Lois Lane” glasses. I love ‘em.)

And here’s a picture of Becky pretending to be a Connecticut Boys State alumnus. I’m not sure anyone bought it. :)