I got a card from Hofstra saying that my diploma had come in, so I drove out there today to pick it up. After taking delivery of the thing at the Office of Academic Records, I headed back across the Unispan to the bookstore to see what frames were on offer. I found the display, and on one side were frame models selling for $160 and $175. I thought "all right, these are the premium ones, the more basic ones must be on the other side." I took two steps over there...and the prices were all higher. In other words, the least expensive diploma frame was a hundred and sixty dollars. Externally, my mouth dropped a tiny bit, I shook my head, and walked out of the store. Internally, the monologue was: "Seriously? What the fuck? Who - is this Herff Jones? Whoever it is, who do they think they're kidding? Just because you put a gold coin and the name of the university embossed in gold on the frame, you can jack up the price at least a hundred bucks? Get the fuck out."
I stopped at Wal-Mart on the way home to see if they had anything, but I realized I didn't know the dimensions of the diploma. I had a feeling that it was eleven by fourteen inches, but I decided to hold off and make sure. I got home, busted out the tape measure (and confirmed my hunch), and told the story to my mom, who suggested Target. I headed out that way because right near Target is a Michaels Arts and Crafts - and they have an entire department for framing! Luckily, I found the frame you see above at Target for twenty bucks.
So that's that about that, I guess. I have the physical evidence of the accomplishment in hand, and it looks nice and pretty on my wall.