Big Rain Storm - Kicks off October

With the sunny weather we've been having, it's been hard to really feel like we've moved into autumn.

At 8 PM, Modesto surpassed the 1 inch mark according the Modesto Irrigation District's rainfall monitor. Lots streets flooded, a few power outages, and a whole bunch of fallen trees make the first big storm of Fall 2009 an impressive one. What's worse for the trees is so much rain fell that it loosened the soil so when the winds blew, it pulled some of the trees right out of the ground. The weather services are predicting the weather will stay wet and blustery through tomorrow so be careful when going out.

Next to the school, we saw a street north of us flood. The odd thing about it is construction crews spent all summer digging it up and fixing the drain. This was just too much water, too quickly and it filled up again and be came Lake Miley Way.

It's a good piece of advice to keep flashlights, a radio and fresh batteries handy in case of power outages. Also, check the batteries on alarm clocks to make sure they will keep on in case of overnight power losses.

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Graduation

Community Business College held a graduation commencement ceremony last Friday and it was fun but poignant. Graduations are always bittersweet - it's a great joy to see our students succeed and complete their programs, but we miss seeing them every day as they go their separate ways and get jobs. The phenomenon occurs at each graduation, however, each class is unique with its own personality and inter-personal dynamics. It's easy to not only miss the individuals but to miss the class as a whole, too.
Students are invited to say a few words as their names are called out and they receive their certificates. That's when the tears start to flow. It's a great time. Especially seeing the dignitaries, graduates, their friends and family members and the Community Business College faculty and staff all together.
Perhaps the most poignant time is the final picture with all the graduates together in a class picture - it's the last time we'll see them all together.

The banquet is always a lot of fun as well. There are always a variety of dishes and a surprise every once and awhile. Someone brought Spam-CheezeWhiz-Casserole once. There was a sign on the bowl, "Warning - Contains Spam" but to every one's surprise, it was a tasty dish. And the bowl was empty by the end of the day.

Another was tomato cake which was essentially a carrot cake but with tomatoes instead. Again, it tasted better than it sounded. It did have a bit of a ketchup aftertaste but with the cream cheese frosting, it was hard to tell.

So it's good luck to all of the grads and as one of our instructors waxed so philosophically:

"Grab us each a tissue,
Cuz grads, we're gonna miss you!"