Bringing in '07
Rebecca had some very interesting co-workers of hers from NASA over for dinner (along with her very kind and funny parents). The couple sitting across from us were both mathematicians and were lots of fun to talk with. They were knowledgable about all kinds of topics and since I recently listened to "Science Friday" on NPR where a mathematician had talked about the opportunities to be found in doing mathematics involving the fourth and fifth dimensions and beyond... I threw that one out there to score some points.
On Sunday, Ivy and I enjoyed meeting up with old high school and youth-group friends Carmen, Mimi, Mary and Jeanne (and spouses) in San Francisco for New Year's eve. Enjoyed talking with Mimi's new husband Fabio who she met in Italy when she was teaching at an Intl school, and where they now live. We're going to visit them this Spring and they're planning to do the same while we're in Budapest. To bring in the new year, we took Bart down to the waterfront in SF and chilled out at a restaurant/bar called "Ozumos." This was fun but they absolutely need to turn down the "music" (which was unfortunately a bunch of bump & grind rap for the most part). As we were leaving, we walked by a young guy with blood splattered all over his face and then saw there were three bouncers holding another guy back against the wall. Then, as we got about 30 feet away, these guys came outside and started fighting again, but--excitingly enough--literally 15 cops on strange motorbikes (not the normal motorcycles) all pulled up and jumped on the pugilists. We also got to see some beautiful fireworks right near the bay bridge and I'll post some pictures.