Our friends Steven & Laura McMullen gave birth to their first child, Eleanor Ruth McMullen on Feb 15th, 2007! Congrats guys!

Shuwen had 'bet' on that date (because she already knew 5 people born on that day -- Marc, Isaac, Yinghao, Abby & Jonah) and figured even though statistically these are all iid (independent & identically distributed), there is something special about Feb 15th, and she was right! Both mother & child are doing very well.

We had a lovely dinner at Bonne Soiree with lots of wine and great conversation (you do not want to know the extend of the geekiness of it -- suffice to say words like "hedonic", "time preference", "endogeneity" were used). The ambiance there was lovely and the food and wine pairings were quite exceptional. We particularly enjoyed the main courses of sea bass and the pheasant. Dessert was superb as well --- the pot of chocolate was incredibly rich & sinful. The only disappointment was the terrine, which was a little dry (not enough fat), not terribly special (chicken), and overpriced. Otherwise, we had a wonderful evening as Marc thought back to the past year and concluded that 27 was a great age (he accomplished quite a bit -- got married, traveled around the world, spent time with family & friends, had his first publication, and defended his MSE, among other blessings). He is looking forward to what being 28 has to offer! Shuwen was a little tipsy at the end of the evening, but very happy as well.

Have a great weekend ahead everyone!