SFU Alumni Day

Teresa and I went to our Simon Fraser University’s alumni day yesterday; the university was also celebrating its 40th year of existence.

Babysitters were hard to come by, so we took the kids and it actually worked out quite well. Gabrielle snapped this picture of us – yes semi-bald is my new look:

sfu 40th

SFU’s AQ (Academic Quandrangle) is still the same as ever: big, grey, and angular. But now there’s two (not to mention the really cute kids sandwiched in the middle):

SFU academic quandrangle

This is ostensibly SFU’s foundation stone, located in the somewhat-contaminated contemplation pool in the center of the AQ. (The kids found a dead mouse floating in it, along with assorted other non-scenic intruders.)

sfu foundation stone

Here are Gabrielle, Ethan, Aidan, and me, on top of the ziggurat or step-pyramid shape also inside the area of the AQ:

outline of family on sfu ziggurate

The roof of the mall, under which the ceremonies, such as they were, and the BBQ, such as it was, were held:

sfu mall roof

The sun occasionally showed its face yesterday; I caught him peaking out of the clouds.

clouds, sky, sun, occlusion

Overall the day was fun, but more for showing the kids SFU than anything else. We didn’t see anyone we knew (we graduated in 1994, so that was a while ago, but the kids were suitably impressed with the size of an institution that has something like 25-30,000 students. It was also interesting to see all the new construction at Simon Fraser – and there’s a ton of it.