Well, I've completed the qualifying exam for physics (a two-day, 4-hour-each nightmare), and if I passed, I'll get my Master's degree. Besides the test, this weekend has been rather packed: Peter and Rika came down and spent a few days with us, Rachael came down, and Phil's parents visited. We played many games, celebrated Philip's 23rd birthday, saw "9", went to the Wild Animal Park, cooked a lot of food, watched Batman Begins and The Dark Knight...quite exhausting but enjoyable. Now it's time to continue with my research, and start classes on Thursday: non-equilibrium statistical physics, field theory, and solid state physics. It should be a good quarter. This weekend I'll be visiting the family and going to Catalina, and the next weekend Rachael will come down again for a whole week! And I might even have a car by then...