The trip to California has come and gone, and it was a good one. Our hosts were most gracious, feeding and sheltering us, as well as showing us various attractions provided by the Bay Area.

My body didn’t much enjoy coming back to the land of ice and snow, and I’ve been teetering on both sides of “sick” since I returned. I’m sure I will acclimatize just in time to travel to Houston for Christmas holiday.

I returned from Berkeley armed with hours and hours of dance music from various genres. It’s amazing how much variety there is, and perhaps more amazing at how simply most of my colleagues in “serious” music shrugged it off as not worth time. Not an active dislike, more of a instance in which the existence and usage of this music was irrelevant. As I’ve been exploring it, I’m becoming convinced that this music has real value, both functionally and artistically, and should not be shrugged off, but rather studied and embraced.

Just a quick update, as I am at the tail end of a 5 day vacation to Berkeley/San Francisco. It’s been quite the experience so far, and most agreeable.

We’re taking the red eye back to Boston tonight, and will be back just in time for work Tuesday.

My initial reaction is that while there are many places like California, there is no place quite like California.