One short post as Christmas Eve draws to a close on the west coast of America.

And a flavourful evening it’s been too, in both the culinary and scientific senses; for tonight I dined at CalTech’s Athenaeum Club in Pasadena, California.

The first club dinner in February 1931 was attended by Albert Einstein, Robert A. Millikan, and A. A. Michelson; the club has since hosted the likes of Richard Feynman (physicist), David Baltimore (biologist) and Maarten Schmidt (Astronomer).   I got through the door on the strength of my father-in-law’s double qualification as Caltech graduate and former Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) employee.

I’ve eaten in the main dining room before, but tonight was especially interesting as we were hosted in one of the more private library rooms.   That meant I got to enjoy the somewhat surreal experience of tucking into my prime rib surrounded by the last fifty years’ worth of Chemical Abstracts; food for thought as it were….groan.

Clearly time to stop, take the indigestion tablets, and go to bed.

Merry Christmas.