Today was a very enjoyable day. I worked on campus and went to a listening session with the dean, then in the afternoon the same dean hosted a panel discussion about astronomy topics as part of the investiture celebrations for our new chancellor. As I was heading to it, I thought, "I should have told Richard Bonomo about this!" Then I got into line... and who should be right ahead of me but Rich? The talk was very interesting, with a professor from UCLA who has won a Nobel Prize and is also best friends with our chancellor talking about black holes, then a professor from our university talking about the Ice Cube neutrino detector at the South Pole, and then another professor from our university talking about possible life in the universe. Afterwards people asked questions, and they all had questions about possible life in the universe. One person had a question about black holes, and nobody had a question about Ice Cube.
Then this evening I walked over to Camp Randall, to Gate 10, and as I walked into it, an a cappella group serenaded me with "Sweet Caroline," so I sang the "Bomp bomp bomp!" part along with them. Bucky Badger was there too, and the Chancellor greeted me with a hug. We were all herded up to the fourth floor for signature cocktails and hors d'oeuvres as a string quartet played everything from Pachelbel to Cold Play. We were overlooking the Field House, and suddenly the band came out and played! I was hanging out with my shared governance peeps, not just university staff but students and academic staff too, because we all felt kind of shy among all those bigwigs. Our former Chancellor Donna Shalala was there, who left to join the Clinton Administration, and our former governor Tommy Thompson, and our mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. I was next to her in line for the buffet, so I had to tell her how Jilly Moose submitted a snowplow name that was Salt-the-Roads Conway. She liked that. She said the contest was so popular that they are doing some other naming thing now. She said the finalists were so funny, and I said, "Three of them were mine." And three were Tiffy's!
The dinner made me think of a wedding. There were lots of speeches and toasts, and we all sat at long tables with elegant tablecloths and candles, in a room overlooking the football field. Travalon arrived not long before dinner, and he enjoyed talking to the Chair of the Central Committee. We started with a dinner roll and Caesar salad, then I had salmon, gnocchi, and asparagus for dinner. Dessert was a tray with three flutes: the middle one held champagne for yet another toast, and the two outer ones held strawberry shortcake on the left and brownies with raspberries on the right. There were tiny Terrace chairs that we got to take home, and as we left, we were given chocolate shields of the university made by a fabulous local chocolatier. Wow, the University really knows how to throw a party!
Famous Hat
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