Since I do not leave the house to socialize much, I am really thankful that I did not retire prior to the age of computers and the internet. IM, Facebook and email all allow me to stay in immediate touch with people that I would otherwise lose contact with. In the past week alone I have been in contact with several people electronically:

• former students Sneha Pendse, Monisha Shivakumar, Kevin Lin, Leslie Huang, Aishwarya Shankar, Manal Kazi, Crystal Kan, Christine Schiller, and Katie Chang;
• recent graduates Sana Mohayya, Pooja Shah, Neelam Upadhyaya, Tino Bratbo and Amy Cheng;
•incoming seniors Jessica Shah, Melody Wei and Vincent Li;
• incoming juniors Julia Wang, Meera Varshneya, Gloria Ho, Phoebe Yu, Leonard Yeap and Joey Sun;
• local friends Alan Gilbert and Briane Jacob;
• correspondent friends Tom Sadler, Robert Kennedy, Taral Wayne, Guy Lillian, Greg Benford and Gregg Trend (the latter three thanks to VoP being posted at efanzines.com).

Some contact consisted of a comment on a FB wall, while others were long chats or emails, but it was all enjoyable and appreciated. I realize this amount of contact will not last forever, especially when the students return to school and will be too busy for so much virtual socializing, but at least I can enjoy it while I have it.