Reunion

I haven’t had time to blog recently. I’ve been busy at work: kicking off a new project and we’re entering into the busy reporting time, and by the time I get home I don’t want to sit in front of the computer again.

Last night we went to the Melting Pot for dinner. It was our second time there, and my sister’s first time. This place is expensive, but worth the splurge. It is a fondue restaurant, and such a fun, unique experience. We only wish it was cooler outside, but still fully enjoyed the dinner. I’ve dipped food into cheese before, but this is the only place I’ve cooked my own main course in a broth. The first time I was intimidated by cooking raw meat myself in a small pot, but its surprisingly easy. We got the four course “Big Night Out”, with a cheese course, salad and then the main course was chicken, beef, shrimp, pork, veggies, raviolis, and even lobster! This time, for the first time, we got the chocolate course too – in a word, decadent! We got the Cookies n cream marshmallow dream: dark chocolate topped with marshmallow cream, flambéed and garnished with crushed Oreos. I could eat or the dippers (fruit, rice krispie treats, brownie, pound cake, cheesecake) by themselves, and put them together, as the waitress said when Kevin said it is death by chocolate, it’s a slow, delicious death. The food and atmosphere was all so good, and we just wanted to nap afterwards.

Today I went to my college’s reunion. The big event was last night, but I wasn’t interested in going to the dance so went to today’s events instead. The school has an “all-classes reunion” open to all alumni and usually have special events for those classes having milestone anniversaries. I was disappointed that I didn't know very many people, most of the alumni who came today were older, but can understand why the younger alums don't come. It has been almost 8 years since I graduated and this is the first time I've gone to the reunion. The main reason I went was to participate in the tour of the new Co-Cathedral, and it was wonderful! I had seen coverage of it on tv when it first opened last April, but was still amazed at how large it was, and how beautiful all of the statues were. The docents are very knowledgeable, and I love all of the symbolism throughout the cathedral: the red marble representing the blood of Christ, the 4 pillars at the podium representing the 4 writers of the gospels, the 12 pillars of the altar representing the 12 tribes and 12 disciples, and the stars in the stained glass being the Texas star in addition to representing a passage from Revelations. Back on campus I was able to see some of the improvements to the Crooker building since I left. Much of the campus is unrecognizable from when I first started there in '97. They have a brand new Quizno's, where was that when I was going to school and working there? Some changes over the years I'm sad to see, like my dorm being torn down, but others have been great changes for the bettter - especially all of the beautification projects. I am always glad to see signs of growth for the school and many of the new buildings have been sorely needed. and now the school has varsity sports! I was unsure about the addition of sports when it was being considered, but do think it'll bring more recognition to the school. The teams played against alums who played the club sports when they were at the school (girls volleyball, men's soccer). It is still bizarre to hear them talk about UST's competitive sports.

I now work for a different university, and have for over a year but sometimes catch myself thinking of "we" as still being UST and have to catch myself and talk about my current employer as "we". I've definitely gotten to feel at home over the past year at my new job, but will always have a special connection to UST because it was not only my first job but also my alma mater. All in all I spent over 10 years there in some way!