Catching Up with an Old Friend in Karlstad (Sweden)

Candy and I drove from Liege, Belgium, to Karlstad, Sweden, so that I could attend the QUIS 16 Symposium.  (I first attended the QUIS Symposium in 1996 in Karlstad...it was my first international conference as an academic!)  Our drive was quite challenging, and involved two (expensive) ferries to get to Sweden (from Germany to Denmark and then to Sweden).  The highlight of the trip was the opportunity to see a friend I had not seen in probably 10 years...Patrik Larsson.  We hosted Patrik, Maria, and their two children for Christmas when he was a PhD student visiting Arizona State back in 1993.  And we attended his PhD celebration party in Karlstad in 1996.  Patrik is now one of two deans at the University of Karlstad.  We had a great time catching up with each other during the conference dinner...and, remembering a phrase I taught his son Jakob while they were in Phoenix: "Good stuff Maynard!"

Life is much too short to be able to spend as much time as we would like with good friends!