President's Day

It is President's Day today. The weather is a bit gray, but at least it is not raining. For someone who lives in sunny Palo Alto, I really ought not to whine about the few days of rain we had last week - think about my poor friend who lives in England right now! After all, California desperately needs water. But I surely can see why people's moods get better when it's not raining constantly!

Not that we will do anything different today - I have a business meeting today, and Michael is going off to work in a few minutes. I am still a bit sleepy even now. I woke up a couple of times last night hearing Winston tossing and turning, and I knew that he could not found his purple blanket any more (his "zi beibei" in Chinese). Once he was so frustrated that he started crying. Then I had to go and find his purple blanket for him (usually at his feet or underneath his chubby butt) and put it on his chest so that he could cuddle with it, and then he was immediately quiet and back to sleep as always. This happens often, and as a result, although I normally have enough hours of sleep every day, I often have such an interruption or two, which seems to have dramatically decreased the quality of sleep.

I wonder what people normally do on President's Day. Do people go over their American history and reflect on all the past presidents? The other day, I went to the open house of Sidley Austin's Palo Alto office, as they have invited me to speak at an upcoming life science event. A senior partner chatted with me about the cultures of various notable law firms, and mentioned that he used to work at Morrison and Forester. When I asked him why he left, he said that he had to leave to work for the Justice Department because it was the beginning of the Clinton Administration. Then he had to come back to private practice because George W. Bush won. Then he asked me, "do you know who else worked at Sidley Austin? - Barack Obama and his wife." Indeed I have a biography of Barack Obama, and I know that he met his wife at a law firm where he was a summer intern. But I totally forgot the name of the law firm.

Suddenly I feel so special about the invitation to speak at this upcoming life science event, where I will be speaking at the office of a firm where the President and First Lady met and once worked!