I realized last night right before I went to bed that it was the 20th Anniversary of my college graduation. Of course, Club Josh started the year after I graduated which means at the end of the month, we will be marking 19years!! I have nothing but fun memories of going to UC Davis for the four years I studied there and the other 5 years that I worked there as a member of their staff. Sometimes I think back of what would have happened had I stayed making maps at the university. Not sure I would have gotten bored or if it would have led to different opportunities in academia.
One bad thing is that Geography is no longer an undergraduate major at UCD. Department politics led to its demise while I was there and it is a real shame. I have great memories of my field studies classes as well as my upper division classes. I am glad to see that Geography lives on as a Graduate Group. I think 20 years is long enough and they need to bring back a world class geography program. All-nighters in the Cartography Lab anyone??
I am certainly glad that UCD has kept up its modernization and has added a bunch of new buildings and infrastructure since I worked on mapping them. I still check in on the campus and see the latest and greatest projects, even though they tore down my old office. From what I hear, it is still a great place to go to school (and work) despite some setbacks over the past few years.
Let’s not forget all of the great people I met there and still talk to this day. For the ones I haven’t heard from in forever, hope you are well! One day I will get back there and visit on Picnic Day and take my refillable Coffee House mug back for a drink. Stroll through Hart and Kerr Halls in the wee hours of the morning and ride my bike around the miles of bike paths. Maybe I’ll even find my old Casio watch on Levee Road..