say it with cupcakes

Inspired by my previous work combining statistics and baking, I made another cupcake mosaic* for my friend's dissertation proposal defense last week:

Unfortunately his advisor had the flu, so he didn't actually get to defend, but rescheduled for today. So as not to ruin the moment, I made him lick the check mark off the box next to ABD**. Someone suggested we freeze the PhD cupcake and save it for his dissertation defense, kind of like the top layer of a wedding cake. I've never really understood that tradition - if I want cake on my one year wedding anniversary, I'll just buy cake. Similarly, one's dissertation defense can be anti-climactic enough without adding a freezer-burned cupcake to the mix.

* Okay, calling it a "cupcake mosaic" may be a bit of an overstatement. It's no Lincoln/Obama, but you've got to start somewhere.

**For definitions of made up acronyms, see here.