A funny thing happened to me on the way to the convention center. . . .  :)

      I asked the doorman at The Castle (the hotel I was staying at, 'n stuff) the shortest, best way to get to the convention center.  He was all smiles, and told me how to get there.  Then, I asked him, with softening it in the slightest, and without preamble, if I was even safe walking that way.  He seemed to get a wee bit miffed at that.  Your city is an ARMPIT, dude! -Deal with it! :)

      Scientists are usually viewed as pretty much souless, unimaginative, highly-specialized "machines," endlessly pouring over equations that pretty much nobody can understand, and which even fewer could possibly care about---and this attitude is, more often than not, totally justified.  :) However, every once in a while, one can see a true spark of humanity or creativity, like this one:

      :)

      When I first learned that I had to go to San Francisco, I planned on taking my cheapie digital camera, and doing a study of the city's ubiquitous, and beyond disturbing homeless.  However, when I got there, I found the scenes SOO bad (and not really knowing how they might react to being photographed)--that I ended up only taking this one.  This guy was really cool.  He was actually a talented trumpeter.  The dude with me left him some $--as we had taken his picture, 'n stuff.

      Dr. Aldrich---just for you. :)

      And here are Drs. Anton Kulchitsky and Shin Ooyama---future Nobel Laureates both, and great all-around dudes.  :)

      And here is a picture of me with my poster, 'n stuff.

      There must've been something wrong with the camera---as it make me look all fat! Hmm. -Better'n mortal woman deserves, eh? :)

On to more San Francisco pics, 'n stuff.