Fun, Friends and Physics

It's been a full weekend here in Syracuse. I managed to fit in a round of golf, a long cycle at Onondaga Lake Park, some time in the gym, dinner with friends, editing a draft of a paper and a delightful brunch.

For the last semester we have had a visitor in the department - Gianpiero Mangano, from Naples. Gianpiero is a particle physicist and cosmologist with extremely broad interests. It has been great to have him around and we have even managed to get a project going, which has led to the draft I was editing this weekend. Earlier today Gianpiero had me, my graduate student Antonio De Felice and his friend Akiko over for brunch. It turns out he is a tremendous cook and I left his place three hours later full of four wonderful courses and some nice wine.

One of the great things about being a physicist is that you get to know so many nice people from so many different parts of the world. Today we had two Italians, a Brit and a Japanese woman all having brunch. I don't get the impression that kind of gathering is too common in many other fields.

Anyway, I've had a lovely weekend and am incredibly tired now. Tomorrow afternoon I leave town to spend Tuesday through Thursday at Fermilab and then Friday visiting Sean in Chicago - a whole new mix of physics and fun. Hopefully I'll be able to find time to post at least a few times while on this trip.