Bean was in town this morning before getting on a plane for Brazil. She's so lucky... She's just cruising around the country for a month by herself. We went to lunch at a Tibetan place in central square I had never noticed before. Very authentic.

The only other event of note today was the arrival of my birthday presents (finally! they were marked as arriving at MIT on the 22nd, delivered to my office this afternoon. Thank you MIT mail). My sister, who has a long legacy of giving me silly gifts, gave me a "Kung Fu Hamster." This consists of a stuffed hamster in a martial arts outfit with some nunchuka, and when you press its paw, it starts singing "Kung-Fu Fighting" and dancing around. Wow.

Also in this year's haul were some DVDs (October Sky, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture), a James Gleick book I've been wanting to read forever, and some great coins for my collection. Wh00t! Go fam!