Hello Everyone,

Don and I had a wonderful day in San Francisco, not only at the AGU, but around the city as well. Our day started with listening to Dr. Keilis-Borok discussing the earthquakes he has predicted with success and failure. There wasn't that much to his presentation other than the visuals that came with his talk. I did ask him if it were possible to reduce the territorial area he uses as it is rather large and he said that could be done, however, the results may not be as good. Don and I did have the opportunity to speak with him as the session though, which pleased both of us greatly. Though diminutive in size, at 83 he is very handsome. He has a head full of hair and he is marvelously sharp. He doesn't really see what he has done in regard to public prediction as anything of much importance. When I mentioned the past years of nay sayers and the gloomy picture they presented, he truly seemed to be unaware of it.

Mid-Day we took a trip to Chinatown and visited Saint Mary's Cathedral, which sits right on the edge. They had many photos of the church damaged sustained in the 1906 quake and interestingly enough the quake itself only took down the back wall of the church, but the fire that ensued after totally destroyed the interior. This cathedral was built in the late 1860's and it is tremendously beautiful inside. The stained-glass windows which are very old are so amazing.

In the afternoon we sat in on a lecture series about earthquake triggering, which included Sue Hough and John Vidale which was interesting and provided Don and I with some views on new studies which the contributors presented. Frankly, I can't explain them in detail because I don't think I can translate it to anyone else. We did have a little time to visit with John and Sue, which was nice. It's always good to have the opportunity to say hello to others we interact with on the Internet.

There is nothing all that special coming up tomorrow, so we are going to take a day for a little R & R and head back on Thursday. I have a prior engagement on Friday and will miss almost the entire session on Parkfield, which Don will fortunately enjoy. The week is going by all to fast.

Petra & Don