My cousin and perhaps my best friend, David. We grew up living rather far apart and, although I knew his father, my uncle, quite well because he sometimes visited the family in San Diego, I only met David and his sister Kathryn once or twice, as children. It was many years later that we finally reconnected.

David and Harriet have lived nearby, just North of the Golden Gate Bridge for many years. I now feel part of David's family, including his sister, his wife, two daughters and son and two grandchildren.

Steve has been my friend and frequent weekly dinner companion for about 20 years. When he retired in 2006, he moved to Portland, Oregon and we stay in touch now via email.

Steve taught English and Classics, and whenever I need a Latin or Greek translation, I know exactly who to go to.

Paul and I were co-workers at Memorex in the 1970's and were co-founders of the Memorex Amateur Radio Club. We were out of contact for many years after that, but reconnected after both of us were retired and have performed volunteer work together at OICW and try to have lunch together once a week. Paul's wife Judy keeps Paul in line!

Marco and I met on the Internet, when he was planning a trip to the USA and wanted travel advice, and we have visited each other in our homes, mine in California, his in Germany, near the border with Holland. Here he is with his wife, Claudia. They now have two little boys.

Marco introduced me to Ute, who also lives in Germany and teaches simultaneous translation of German-English at the University of Saarbrücken. We have met in Germany, Los Angeles and Malta!

Teo and I have visited each other in his native Singapore, where this photo was taken, and California. Teo now lives in California, but may relocate to British Columbia soon.

Aric lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We have been Internet friends for years, but have met only once, when I vacationed in Southeast Asia in 1999.

Jan was introduced to me by Aric. Jan, a native of The Netherlands, also lives in Kuala Lumpur. Jan visited me while I was in Malta in early 2004 (see my Maltablog). Jan is an adventurous soul and an excellent photographer. He maintains a fantastic photo gallery of his far-ranging hikes to waterfalls and caves at http://janstu.multiply.com.

Greg and his family have been friends for several years. Greg was recently married to Maria.

I met Julio at a liberal political meeting and we began working on his idea of a grassroots organization called The Arcadians. We often get together to plan new approaches. We take full credit for the Democratic victory in November of 2006!

Lamont lives only a couple of miles from me and we usually car pool to the monthly Access User Group meeting in Mountain View.