I bet the turkey was real good.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. I didn't have a dinner. the intl' office put together a little gathering with cookies and stuff. how was everything back in the states? just as normal, or something worth mentioning. if so, let me know.

nothing really new. visited another medical device company last week. this one sells minimally invasive ventricle assist devices. basically that means they stick a tube into your leg, thread it up your femoral artery to your heart, put a pump into you heart and take some strain off of your heart in case you've had a heart attack or are waiting for surgery. In any case, I got a tour (in german) understood most of what they were saying, and it was all very cool. They're basically a start-up company that got off the ground with some Venture Capital funding about 3 years ago, based on a miniture pump developed here in my institute.

Last weekend I visited Janine (my girlfriend, no longer "new") at her place in Deidesheim. We had quite a good time. This and that......Christmas market, salsa dancing, went back to heidelberg and walking around the old castle ruins, saw a movie totally in german without subtitles and understood most of what was happening. Es war wirklich schoen, Schatz. Met hwe parents and ate dinner with them. That was also very nice actually. They were very nice and warm people, and we talked about a lot together. They grew up in the GDR, which was the communist part of Germany, and they described what that was like. Not a bad life, everyone had a job, everyone could provide for their family and live with a reasonabe amount of luxury. But you couldn't get many consumer products - ex. you had to sign onto a waiting list to buy a car. Not just any car, the only car that was sold in the entire "country". We talked about WWII, what kosher food is, their trip through the mediteranean.

Now I am working like crazy so that I can get enough done before a party tomorrow, an ice hockey tournament on thursday and my trip to Paris on Friday. So until next time. I am coming home in three weeks by the way. Really excited actually. Be good.