Sunday afternoon I whispered a prayer and logged in online. The address was correct. The page pulled up. Yes! Uh oh, they are giving me a warning… DaRonn, help! It is nice having a guy who knows what he is doing when it comes to computers. So he got me set up. Audio was a little shaky. Video was even shakier. Refreshed the page a few times and, voila, I am live at my sister’s university graduation ceremony! The rain did not impede a very clear reception thousands of miles away. There were speeches, pomp and circumstance. Then the names. It was a culturally diverse graduating class this fall so some of the names were read fast, but one name came out loud and clear (and surprisingly they even pronounced the last name right)… Emily Jane Houtz! I am the oldest of five. Emily is the third in the line up of birth order, yet she is the first of the siblings to graduate from university. I am so proud of her!
Here is how I saw it online (I added the circle so you could see my sister).
You better believe that my mouth was watering for some of that Pizza Hut advertised there but somehow I don’t think that the online delivery includes Bolivia in it’s zones. Pizza or no I was so glad to be a part of this momentous time in my sister’s life. I love you Emily!
angie washington 
Congrats to Emily.
Would the family name be pronounced Hootz or Howtz? (My guess would be Hootz).
That’s wonderful. So glad you got to be a part of it.
Congratulations to Emily!
Steven – you and every other person who sees our name written out without hearing it. :-) The second guess is the correct one in our case: Howtz. Other guesses have been: Hontz, Whose, Hunts, House, Honty, and Howz. Some of those are from the name being written in cursive and are understandable.
Danielle – I am so glad!
Yeah!! How wonderful! My brother just graduated from the Air Force Academy on Friday. :D I would have loved to see that!! How special that you were able to see her walk across the stage!
So glad you got to watch w/ a good connection :)
30 minutes or less would be nice, eh!? :)
and i think it’s so great that you could be a part of your sister’s special day.
Very cool that you got to see that!
These are the times that technology is so cool!!! (The not so good stuff is when it’s not working as it should and we have no backup, etc.)
Hey! Thanks everyone for the congrats! Mom called me while I was on the road Monday to take the fam back to Omaha to inform me of your e-mail to her that you were able to watch! I was so happy that you got to see it. I prayed for good reception after your previous mention of it in the blog. I was surprised about the pronouncement too because some people got an X on their card which meant they had to find the announcer and tell him how to say it and he wrote notes on the card. Mine did not have an X and so I worried. Even my friend Kara Marie Lehmann got an X. I bet a lot of the Doctorate and Masters people had Xs though, yikes! That’s a great screen shot by the way. How fun! I love you Ang!
Emily, yeah, I would have been a little worried too. I love you!
Woohoo! So glad to hear that you were able to watch! Hooray for modern technology!
Way to go Emily!