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Hockey fever is here!  Did you know that Switzerland has not one, but three  different hockey leagues?  The top rank is the Ligue Nationale A, just below that is Ligue Nationale B, and below those are the regional leagues.  The LNA is one of the oldest hockey leagues in Europe (going back to 1916) and is considered to be one of the top European leagues, behind Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and Russia.  In fact, during the NHL lockout, several NHL players came to Switzerland to play, including perennial playoff choke artist, Joe Thornton.  Jumbo Joe must have hit the fondue pretty hard, though, as he managed a paltry 54 points in 40 regular season games.  I also note that Thornton scored a ridiculous 24 points in 14 playoff games, which should be compared to his more representative 53 points in 76 NHL playoff games.  Maybe the Sharks can have their home games moved to Switzerland to inspire Thornton to show up for the post-season... not that I'm ...

I am a little bit late on this (technically, it's only 3pm in California right now, so it's not so bad), but I just want to use my vast internet influence to say something very important: Happy Birthday Veronica! Alas, it was but one year ago today that Veronica, aka Baby Girl, entered our lives and what better time to celebrate! As is becoming some sort of a tradition around here, I have made a video to commemorate the occasion. You can find see it by clicking right here (or down below!). Baby Girl First Birthday Tribute By the way, yes, I know I'm not a particularly good singer (this really became apparent when I had to listen to the video over and over as I was compiling the clips), but I'd like to think that the weakness of my voice is masked by the non-stop cuteness of the photos. Also, thanks a lot to Vince and others (I think) who took most of the photos -- I would have more of my own photos of Veronica, but they disappeared along with my crummy camera somewh...

Just a quick update: there is a pretty cool Google Maps "mashup" at www.mapfrappe.com which allows you to easily compare the relative area of two different parts of the world. I'm sure that this will be a shock to no one, but I made a little map comparing the relative areas of the Stanford Campus (not including the Dish or SLAC) and downtown Lausanne . I don't know why, but I found the results sort of surprising and kinda cool. Anyway, check it out for yourself.

Recently, my father came out for a visit. Although he was not able to stay long (he felt compelled to return to San Diego so as not to have more than one unexcused absence at his community college Latin class), I was able to take some time off of work and the two of us were able to take a very enjoyable and interesting trip to southern France. We spent a little less than a week visiting Arles, Nîmes, and elsewhere in Provence. We decided on these towns for a couple of reasons: first, it was early April and we were hoping that the further south we went the better the weather would be, and second, that region of France has a significant number of important Roman ruins that have survived the last two thousand years in excellent condition. Although the weather was not particularly great, the ruins were certainly impressive and the trip was a resounding success. Here are some photos, with commentary: We rented a car in Lausanne, then with the assistance of a GPS borrowed from Jens, dro...