Hi All,

Many were in attendance at the AGU Kickoff reception last night at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. I'd say about 1000, however, they didn't even begin to fill the spacious room allowed for them. It was a 50/50 split on student and professors in the group. Of those I spoke to which was around 50 they were quite fascinating not only in their areas of study, but in personality and place of residence. From Canberra, Austrailia to the North Sea and some from Livermore, CA they were very much excited about the upcoming weeks events and had much to share with a novice like me.

I spoke to absolutely no one who was interested in seismology, but found the majority had their interests in hydrology, ocean mining and some other topics quite foreign to me. But as always, people are people everywhere. In this group all brightly inspired, cheerful and happy to be with their mates who share common goals and education, they were very forthcoming with some answers to some personal research I've been doing. When I've gotten my hypotheses together a little better I'll be sharing that with you in the next few weeks. There's very little paper in this effort, but something of interest to all of those interested in earth sciences.

The City By The Bay, San Francisco, was dazzling as usual, all decked out for Christmas. Every window was decorated splendidly and the air of the excitement of the holiday was truly heartwarming. Known as one of the most friendly large cities in the world, I can say, I was wrapped in that friendliness, embraced and felt totally at ease in a place that used to be my second home. From the ocean breezes to the buildings sparkling with Christmas lights, there's no place like it.

From the countryside, not far from the City By The Bay.....Pat in Petaluma