Interservice

My old friend Aaron, who is in the Air Force, was in town this week. We got a chance to meet for dinner at Pizzeria Paradiso and catch up. This time last year he had his first son, Ben, who just started walking. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to see the whole family either at Christmas, or on the way to San Francisco in January.

We were able to meet up a second time at our Army friend Steve's house in Springfield. Steve made us dinner, delicious steaks, and we got to meet his new son Nathan. I feel guilty for not doing it sooner. Steve is a good friend, we ran track and cross country together in high school, but I almost never make it down to see him and his family. And they're only about a half hour away.

I've often taken comfort in the idea that while I don't have a wide circle of friends, those I have are individuals of the highest character. It occurs to me that friends like that demand better friendship than what I often give. Knowing this is a good thing - how can we correct our flaws if we don't learn about them first?

It was a great pleasure to see both of my friends and at least one of their families. Steve's sons, Tyler and Nathan, are a lot of fun. I had an extensive conversation regarding Scooby-doo with Tyler. And Nathan is awesome because he is a second son with red hair. People like that can't help but be cool.

Meanwhile, at work we have been doing a lot of research, reading academic papers and studies. Simultaneously, Sarah went to Italy to present a paper she co-authored, and Zina received word that one of her papers was selected for publication. So I've started to give more thought to trying to write a paper of my own. I've started doing some reading, to survey the literature in a few topics. I'm just not sure if I have any original insights that would warrant a paper, but in the meantime at least I will learn a few things.