University of Colorado President Bruce D. Benson handed off the diploma and thoughtfully reminded me to smile for the picture. Several friends and family attended the Spring Commencement 2008 including my wife Sheri, my two kids Aly and Ashton, my dad Bob Caringer from Missouri, my Sister Kim from Arizona, Cheryl Hamilton and Wendy Wissbaum. (Dad, Ashton, and Kim are pictured on the f
ar right.)The next day, I celebrated the graduation with a trip to Disneyland! Well, I did have to work on Monday to wrap up the old job in Los Angeles, but the next day I headed over to Disneyland and California Adventure. I was able to get a photo with both Mickey Mouse and Buzz Lightyear with my stylish blue Disneyland "Class of 2008" Graduation Cap. Mickey was particularly happy about my accomplishment and many of other visitors at the park also congratulated me. In fact, everyone was happy for
me except for one gentleman who challenged me in California Adventure. He said that "he wasn't buying it" and that I looked a little old to have graduated. I assured him that I really had finished graduate school the previous weekend. Ashton corroborated my story and explained that despite having to sit through the entire 2 hour commencement, he was really proud of me for graduating. Ashton's story seemed to satisfy the man that I really deserved to wear the "Mickey Ears" mortarboard despite my advanced age.After wrapping up our 3 days at Disneyland, we visited friends in Thousand Oaks, C
A. The following week Aly and I flew back to Denver. Aly has to finish up finals in middle school; she achieved straight As! While Aly was wrapping up 6th grade, I started by new job as Vice President Information Technology at Dish Network in Englewood, CO. Sheri and Ashton had a mini-spring break road trip and drove my car back from L.A.
