Hi! We're Julie and Larry. It has been so long since we put up a new page, we figure you probably don't remember us. Now there is so much to report, you'd better get a cup of tea or coffee before you start. Ready? #1 news item is L's RETIREMENT!

Bookends to a Bookish Career

Here is L on his way to school the first day of kindergarten (with his nap rug), and on his way the last day of university (with his double espresso and computer). He has been going to school -- as a student or teacher -- every year since he was 4.

News & Notes

• There was lots of celebrating of L's retirement. And having retired, he had plenty of time to celebrate.
  
  At the official Computer Science Department party L gave a Valedictory Lecture. It was a combination of science/humor/history/personal stories. More photos can be seen at the University site. The entire lecture can also be viewed. The shirt and tie are the UW colors, not some wierd Emeritus costume.

  

  Blah, Blah, Blah

  Valedictory Lecture: A Microcentury of Computational Miscellany
  Lawrence Snyder
  
  A micro-century (uC) is 52.6 minutes, the optimum length for a college lecture in the opinion of people who worry about such things. A valedictory lecture, a concept with a British pedigree, is a ponderous speech on an arcane topic of no apparent interest to anyone but the speaker. (Retiring academics, after several thousand micro-centuries in the classroom, are wonderfully well prepared to deliver them.) Miscellany, of course, is a collection of diverse things -- odds and ends with no unifying theme.
  
  In this decidedly non-technical talk, I describe interesting odds and ends about computing that have caught my attention over the years, because, unfortunately, the dog ate my notes for the originally planned lecture: 'Apposition or Opposition: Dialectic Analysis of 'binary' in Post-modernist Computer Science Thought.'

  
  
  Over his career, L advised 21 PhD graduates. Sung-Eun Choi (PhD '99), to L's left in the photo, hosted a wonderful party for them, their families, other graduates and L's former administrative assistants. Here is just a sample of the crowd.

  

  Need Tech Support?

  
  The final party was a surprise bash in Vancouver. Dan, Tomoko and Dave flew out and, assisted by our friend Noelle Lamb, threw a great 4-day party complete with a skit, decorations, music, champagne, food, and clouds of confetti.

  

  The Usual Suspects

  
  

• Friends from Perth Australia stopped by on their US tour. Hugh Barrett and his boys, James and Thomas, traded the balmy weather of Perth for the drizzle of Seattle. We missed Alison, who, sensibly, chose the sun.

  

  Hugh, James and Thomas Barrett

• Shortly after Barretts left, L went to Doha Qatar for some balmy weather of his own ... and a meeting, too. Doha is a curious place of contrasts -- sand and canals, limos and camels. And in a country where the men dress all in white and the women dress all in black, the Souk was filled with fabric stores, selling neither black nor white.

  

• Continuing the travel theme, Dan has been on more research trips to museums in Newcastle Upon Tyne, London, New Haven, and Philadelphia. While he was in England, Tomoko met us in Washington DC for a weekend of sightseeing.

  

  Posing At The Renwick Gallery

• Dave's "farm" on the roof of the Uncommon Ground Restaurant in Chicago is coming into its full summer abundance. He has expanded his duties from bee keeping, planting, mentoring interns and the like to blogging in the Green department of Huffington Post. It's vicarious gardening for those of us not in the farm belt.

• Brendan Healy's theater company, Pony World , produced Big Story Small this spring. The production was a series of eight vignettes that distilled famous plays, such as Death of a Salesman into new works. We loved it and the reviewers liked it, too. One said,

  Pony World is a little theatre with a big attitude, plus the confidence to ... take on a project directed towards those who already know and love theatre. -- Seattlest
  
  

• The month of June was a really BIG month for our friends Shelley and Ken Burr. They hosted us at their home on Lopez Island for Memorial Day weekend (!), they were the "shake down" guests for our Vancouver condo (!), and most importantly their lovely daughter Catie married Patrick Sullivan. Ken officiated at the wedding, which was held on a spectacular Northwest summer day. It was a wonderful event, and we wish the Sullivans the very best.

  

  The Proud Dad, The Beautiful Bride, The Lovely Mother

• Brendan and Melissa came to visit us in Vancouver. Their goal was to see Vancouver's Festival of Light summer fireworks show (Spain), though we filled the hours before and after with waterfront walks, Granville Island poking, wandering Yaletown, hours of chatting on the balcony, and a hike into Lynn Creek Canyon.

  

  On the bridge above the Twin Falls of Lynn Creek