September 14th, 2002 We invited many of our closest friends and colleagues to our house. The party began outside on our deck and back yard, and proceeded inside with dinner, wine, champagne, and of course, cake. Here are just a few shots of the guests and friends, I hope you will enjoy them!

People were chatting, sipping wine, laughing and generally enjoying themselves. For example here is John, Joe, Matthias and Marcela in the kitchen. Or, you can see Chris in conversation, and Boris with a smile. There were several happy couples there, often sitting close together on the couch -- or talking in triples, like John and Robin talking to Mayda, and Joe and Amy with Keith. Of course, people mixed and mingled: here is John talking to Marcela and Joe talking to Gabriela.

My wife Marcela, who had worked hard to organize this party for me, managed to have an excellent time too!

I was very happy to have so many good friends and colleagues in my house!

There were two main events, and the first was the opening of the gifts.

People brought many wonderful gifts, including those on top of the table and those below!
It was fun to explain and announce each one! There was a lot of good wine, music, and things to read. There was even one gift of the bizarre which caused much amusement! As you can see, my house was full of many people.

The second event was, of course, cake and champagne!

The cake was carefully prepared by my wife and two attractive assistants. It was not easy to blow out all the candles, however, with my wife and son watching on! I think that the boys wanted to help! In fact, the cake was delicious! Sebastian was also on hand to help me with the champagne. As you can see, he is a handsome young man.

It was an excellent evening -- stay tuned for my 50^th!