Here is your official jacket:
On an auspicious occasion like this, I recall the words of the old hymn,
“The devil chews terbacky too,
The devil chews terbacky too,
The devil chews terbacky too,
And if you don’t watch out he’ll spit it on you!”
Naw, don’t worry, Gilder is on the other thread.
While the hymn is certainly fitting to the occasion, I have to ask: a jacket? I devote the best years of my life to the rigor of thesis writing and I get a jacket? No gown, hood, tam, or tassels? What kind of university is this? And not only that, I get the sneaking suspicion some of you may not have even read my thesis all the way through. I think I’m just gonna take my thesis and head off to a message board where poststructuralism isn’t just a term bandied about but is a way of life, where I can really be happy and fit in and deeply enjoy the cyber company and make many lovely friendships and check in every morning (and afternoon, and evening) and know that there will be plenty to smile at, think about, and feel connected to.
Oh…right. Okay.
Thanks, everybody!
Carol, basking in (and occasionally taking a bite of) her mostructural pastery
Gee, I got this super secret agent spy ring, with built in compass and decoder. I guess there’s some perks to the 5K club after all. 
djm
Now that’s what I call “Raising the Bar”…
A masterful entrance…unbeatable.
Welcome in..wanna shoot some pool?
Slan,
D. 
Carol, you’ve raised the bar.
What ho! Good show, I say!
Carol is my favorite poster on the entire board. Her posts are consistently of the highest quality. No fluff whatsoever.
And I post as an example my favorite post that I’ve ever read by anyone on this board, which of course, was posted by Carol:
Best wishes,
Jerry
Hmmm… what a bunch of baracuda we are, eh? (or some such toothy smelly denizens of the deep).
I’ll share some of my coral pad and I’ve a spare (damp) smoking jacket.
Say now… there’s a good idea… let’s post pics of our varied and assorted smoking jackets… I’d wager it’ll be an edifying experience.
Carol wrote;
or tassels?
Oh, not those kinds of tassels. Sorry 
MarkB
Really? Do you keep coral? Got any pics? I’d love to set up a reef tank, but my current environs aren’t capable of supporting it. Maybe when I win the lottery …
djm
Being one who rather likes synthesising the manifold of inner intuition, if you’ll allow me to be a little old-fashioned for a moment, I see in this quote a clear solution to the smoking jacket conundrum. Now I don’t go in for vulgar compromise I’ll have you know; my solution is I hope elegant in its simplicity and within the financial means of C&F to implement.
Let’s give Carol a dust jacket.
Congratulations, Carol. I snuck into the 1k lounge through the back door a week or so ago. I’m still semi-lurking behind the sofa.
Mike
Alas, only in my imagination. I was speaking from the standpoint of the loverly group photo montage.
Now that’s the kind of old-fashioned synthesized manifold of inner intuition I would expect from my distinguished committee member Wombat. Brilliant, and highly poststructural!
Now that brings up a good point. Where exactly is everyone else’s thesis?? Surely I didn’t misunderstand the requirements?
But while this is being looked into, come on out from behind the sofa, Mike, and welcome! I’d love to bend your ear a little on my research!
And Mark–yes. Not only were there no tassels, there were no fishnet stockings, no spikey high heels, no police “uniforms”–just that jacket!
Carol
I submitted mine when I became a Stonecutter, and since then my Son-of-a-Stonecutter ID card has provided me access to a number of lounges without submitting a thesis
Carol wrote;
Where exactly is everyone else’s thesis??
Ah good question. My thesis is a visual thesis, see those paintings on black velvet hanging on the walls of the lounge, similar to this
MarkB
My thesis primarily tackles the concept of poststructuralism, and, as such, is rather hard to pin down although I believe that several chiffers caught a shadowy glimpse of it slipping between the cracks of the whistle/pub divestiture.
So YOU made Steve Gutenberg a star?!?!!!?
Grrrrrr…
Thesis?..Thesis??..We don’t need no steenkin’ thesis!