Blast from the past

The most fascinating thing that has happened since my last post was a chance meeting with someone at the Monona Terrace. My friend and colleage in the Geography Department, Matt Steigman, struck up a conversation there yesterday with a very senior gentleman who was in town for a class reunion. It turns out that the man, named Einer, was 92 years old and graduated from the UW with a degree in Geography back in the Year of Our Lord 1937. Later, as Matt was telling me about the meeting, Einer walked up and I was able to meet him as well. Absolutely fascinating. The man still had excellent hearing and a mind sharp as a knife, and the only real symptom of his age was the fact that he walked with a cane. He told us stories about old professors in our department, such as Trewartha, whom we only know because of the rooms and monuments in Science Hall which bear their names. Einer had been a band instructor at a high school in Chicago, and some of his students, long since passed on, were ace fighter pilots in WWII. He said that he came to his class reunion here, but he was the only one from his class who showed up, which must really make him feel old. He said that he believes the secret to living long is the fact that he still plays the French Horn, which keeps his lungs healthy and gives his diaphragm a regular workout. The man was fascinating - I could've spoken with him for hours. I'd post a picture of him, but by that point the battery on my digicam was dead since I took something like 57 pictures around campus yesterday.
And what a beautiful day it was. Enjoyed some beers at the Terrace, blew off my project of modifying the lit. review section of my thesis to de-postmodernify it for my paper for RD Sack, and enjoyed some good conversation with some friends. Ahhhhhhhh, I already am missing it. So it goes, as Kurt Vonnegut would say. Bangkok will have its pleasantries as well. Hail progress!