Nina’s 30th birthday party

_MAL4843, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Gordana’s friend Nina turned 30 this week and Lilian and I went to the party. We started at Valzer, a bar near Kreutzplatz with subdued brown decor, dim yellow lighting, and loud music. The place lacks a sign outside so I guess they depend on word-of-mouth for business. After a few hours we continued the party at Diagonal, a subterranean club behind the Baur au Lac hotel. The music was loud there too, and before long, everyone was letting loose and having a good time. We met some fun people there too.

36th birthday in The Netherlands

_MAL3066, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

To celebrate my 36th birthday, spent a long weekend with my friend Kathrin in The Netherlands. I woke up at 4:45 in the morning on Friday in order to catch my flight. I slept on the very short flight to Schiphol Airport and caught a train to Leiden, where she lives. We took a walk around Leiden and had brunch at the Bagels & Beans cafe on Maarsmansteeg. Then we caught the train into Amsterdam for some sightseeing. After a nice walk around the center of the city, we ate a late lunch at Wagamama and then looked at the many masterpieces in the Rijksmuseum. We also looked at several photo exhibitions at FOAM, the Photography Museum of Amsterdam. Before returning to Leiden, we had a couple of beers at trendy Asian restaurant and then one more round at a tiny corner pub beside the canal.

On Saturday we saw some museums in Leiden, including the National Museum of Antiquities. The Egyptian artifacts there were simply amazing, and I posted some photos of a few of them. There was also an exhibit of aerial photos from Iran that was very interesting. In the evening we took a train to The Hague and ate dinner at Pastis, a charming French restaurant downtown. Then we took in a film, the latest in the Bond franchise.

On Sunday we went to the beach, where we were treated to sunshine for the first time in the weekend. It was there that Kathrin took the excellent photo of me above. After a long and eventful weekend, I flew back to Zürich late last night. I have uploaded photos from the weekend in a new set entitled The Netherlands, November 2008.

Birthday lunch with Sara

_MAL5985, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

Today I went downtown to join Sara and some friends at Organic Green in celebration of Sara’s birthday. The food was tasty and filling as always, and Sara's bright smile lit up an otherwise rainy and cloudy day.

Happy Birthday, Sara!

Happy 90th birthday, mama-papa!

_MAL0210.jpg, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

My grandfather Lorn Lambier Howard turns ninety today. As far back as I can remember, my mama-papa and I have had a special connection. If I had to guess, I’d say that we owe this connection to our shared scientific worldview and love of music — jazz in particular.

We had a fun party for Lorn last Friday in Dallas. Members of the family met for lunch and then assembled in the theater at Edgemere for a presentation. Tom talked about what was happening in the world the year Lorn was born. My cousin Lowry sang some songs for him. Lindsey performed her own interpretive dance routine based on a dozen or so words describing the family — words she had solicited from all of us by email weeks earlier. Hayden and Mark put on a great slideshow of photographs from Lorn’s life. And then Lorn’s myriad offspring gathered on stage to sing a special birthday song of my mom’s composing. After all the presentations, we mingled and had some delicious chocolate cake with coffee. It was a lot of fun and I hope we can do it again next year.

Photos from the get-together in Dallas are online now, including ones from Lorn’s party. All the photos are in my Thanksgiving 2007 photo set.

For a more detailed biography of my grandfather, see Lorn’s faculty page at SMU.

Zita & Sofia's birthday party

_MAL3259, originally uploaded by Michael A. Lowry.

On Saturday night, I went to the birthday party of my friend Zita. It was actually a combined party for both Zita and her friend Sofia. There was an interesting mix of folks there, including graduate students from the same astronomy program in which Zita is studying, and Zita's friends from salsa dancing. By coincidence I also saw a colleague of mine there. I also met a charming biology Ph.D. student named Maria who lives in my neighborhood. It's a small world. Here are the photos from the party.