This has been a very busy and eventful week, including graduation on Wednesday where, as usual, I had to say good-bye to some of my favorite students, which is always sad. I hope to stay friendly with at least a few of them. Sometimes the best laid plans go awry, but hopefully that will not happen in this case. As one friend told me yesterday, I “have to get over that” negative stuff, haha.

Graduation was followed by the retirement banquet. I was the emcee again, so I got to roast the entire faculty twice. :) My family was at the banquet, including Andy, Mark, Kate, and Fei Fei, who flew in from California for the event. She stayed with us two nights and three days, coming to school on Thursday to spend another day with us. That was nice. Now she is urging us to fly to the west coast to visit her, which we will certainly do in the not too distant future.

Today was the last day of school, likely forever, and it was certainly bittersweet. It was especially sad saying farewell to my department, who flattered me this past week with gifts and a plaque which they plan to put on the wall in the math lab. Jean and I also hope to stay in touch with several of them as well.

Tomorrow I'll discuss what my immediate plans are for the next few weeks. Meanwhile, I'm busy getting friend requests. :)