Over 12 hours later I'm back, daughter fully graduated, an alumna of the University of North Texas. And next semester she will be a graduate student at said school.

We went out for dinner: travelling family conference as the four of us drove south from the traffic jam around school. She was texting "GOOGLE" on the cell phone to get the location of various restaurants (did you know that trick? You can text to Google - 466453 - and it sends back text with answers to your phone). Laughing at the idea of McDonald's or Schlotzky's, discussing the possibility of Olive Garden or Szcheuan (closes too early). Settled on Razzoos because she felt like gumbo, and decided to go to downtown location. Very lively scene, unlike when we moved here when my now 23-year-old graduate was 15 months old. You wouldn't know it to look at all of us that a divorce happened 12 years ago. But I think we're better for it, and it was a festive and funny evening.

On another note: A couple of weeks ago I sold an old Sony VAIO laptop for repair or parts. The bidder never paid, never contacted me - I fear something has happened to him because he had a 100% score until this time. I went through steps to close it and then second-chance offer (would have gotten $5 for it instead of the winning $5.75). No response. I relisted a week ago and came home tonight to find that it not only sold for $20+, the new winner already paid! I hate to throw out things that someone else can cannibalize for parts, so that's what this sale was about. My friend whose house was lost a couple of months ago didn't know what was wrong with this laptop. I took out the hard drive and sold the rest for parts.