An acquaintance of mine used to always make fun of adults who brought their gloves to a ballgame. “Yeah, because the manager is going to decide you should play the outfield,” he would quip. Of course, I liked to go to games early and sit in the outfield for batting practice. And a Raul Ibanez batting practice home run just about shattered my wrist a decade a go. A glove would have been handy.

There really isn’t an equivalent in, say, hockey: if you show up in full pads and skates, well, just be careful on the stairs, okay? But take something like Commencement, for instance: what if, at the last minute, the speaker’s flight is cancelled? I know, that NEVER happens here. They need someone to give that speech… and they pick YOU!

What would you say? What would you tell this group of soon-to-be graduates? What do they need to know? Drop your answers to the usual address – techalum@mtu.eu – and I’ll print as many of ‘em as I can next issue.