Trojan Candy and my cousin Corinne Carus arrived early at the Boston Marriott Copley Place for the New England Trojan Family Reception by the USC Alumni Association. It was worth the wait. When guests lined up to enter the Grand Ballroom, we were each photographed with USC President Dr. C. L. Max Nikias and his lovely wife Niki. What a photo to cherish!
Approximately four hundred fifty USC Alumni guests were expected. There were one hundred fifty from the Los Angeles area and three hundred from the Boston/New York area. Pat, Dudley, Corinne and Trojan Candy were among the first ten guests to enter. We picked good seats for Dr. Nikias' presentation, then we went to get our hors d'oeuvres. I recognized a familiar face from the Women of Troy basketball games. Juanita Keeling introduced me to her friend Kathie Heine.
Dr. Bartner walked in the ballroom and as I waved to him; he immediately walked over, on cue, to pose for another picture by yours truly. He posed with Michelle Dobrzynski, Maria Wang, Andy Dobrzynski, Corinne Carus, and Pat Poon.
Then I saw two Spirit of Troy friends---Cynthia Wiese and Ben Chua (8/30/2013)
Trojan Candy walked around looking for more friends. I found four of them at one table. They were Steve Block, Sunny Franklin, and Elizabeth and Walter Babchuk.
Now it was time for the program to begin. Dr. Max Nikias asked the audience, "What is uncertainty?" He then answered his own question with, "Isn't it just the beginning of a great adventure?" 
Then Dr. Nikias described the great adventure that USC is undertaking now. There are the construction and remodeling of campus facilities and the Coliseum and the massive influx of doctors and researchers to our USC Medical Center in which he said, "We literally took UCLA's brains out," when 110 of their medical researchers left UCLA and moved to the USC Medical School. Dr. Nikias described the outstanding USC students of today, and how we have already raised $3.7 billion of our $6 billion fundraising challenge. Indeed, Dr. Nikias impressed the audience!
To our surprise, Dr. Nikias invited the Spirit of Troy into the ballroom.
Pat, Dudley, and I arrived at Faneuil Hall at 10:30 a.m. for the USC Pep Rally. It was supposed to start at noon. Trojan Candy wanted to be early so that I could get a good location to take pictures.
Walking through Faneuil Hall, I heard someone say, "There's Trojan Candy." Turning around, I saw Dan and Frances Annarella. Dan graduated from USC in 1983 with an EE major. He is a Bio-medical engineer. His wife Frances graduated from USC in 1981 with a degree in Language and Culture. FIGHT ON, Dan! FIGHT ON, Frances!
FIGHT ON, Spirit of Troy! FIGHT ON Pep Squad! FIGHT ON, Song Girls!
Trojan Candy walked back to the Quincy Market area to find a good location to video record the band when they marched in. The crowd was getting very large by now.
I saw three more friends. Adam Bart posed with Pat and me.
I saw fellow Monday Morning Quarterback table mates, Ray and Suzanne Nagami.
Finally, it was noon and time for the band to march in. Trojan Candy had the perfect place to video record (CLICK the two pictures at the right) their arrival. Then I pushed my way through fellow Trojans back to the concrete block where Lois and Mike Valerio were sitting. Mike helped me stand up on the block for more pictures. Thank you, Lois and Mike!
The plaza was completely full of Trojans. The Pep Rally lasted for about thirty minutes. By then, every Trojan in the plaza was hyped up for the game against Boston College tomorrow night.
What an invigorating pep rally!