Sally

I headed back East from the West
To study and learn from the best
Of course that meant Michael,
I became a disciple,
And boy, was I ever impressed!

Cheers, Michael…Happy Birthday!

Michael,
I have such fond memories of your “Theories of Taste and Beauty” class, and during my last year in Troy of how you advised and supported me, Jerry Blitefield, Mike Jackson and Kevin Hunt every Friday morning at Bruegger’s Bagels as we talked about and fine-tuned the work we were doing on our dissertations. I miss those conversations — not to mention the bagels! (You just can’t get bagels like that in California.) By the way…did I ever tell you you saved my life — well, my sanity, at least — by agreeing to be my dissertation advisor?

Then, after I graduated and moved to San Diego to join the faculty of United States International University (which, sadly, no longer exists), you organized a panel for the 2002 RSA conference in Las Vegas and asked me to be the respondent. What fun that was! I looked for photos of that conference but found only one…here’s that photo… of me, Steve Katz and Pat Nugent in Caesar’s Palace after hanging out in the loser’s lounge. (Of course Caesar’s Palace doesn’t call it that, but we did, knowing that it was the bar where the people who’ve lost all their money gambling go to listen to a crooner singing Frank Sinatra songs). We didn’t gamble at all, but we did enjoy quite a few cocktails and singing along with the Sinatra songs. A memorable evening…thanks for making that possible…

Since moving to Santa Barbara in 2003, I’ve enjoyed having you come to visit me and my family — and the wine tasting, the dinner at El Encanto, how you joined in the fun and conversation for my Dad’s 91st birthday, and of course, the sailboat ride…