Shane discovered a rather beautiful and talented lady this evening. He pulled her over to our table at the cafe (she'd just been walking by, he does have a bit of a gift). After that Alex (a friend of Shane's and someone Rose knows) dropped in, then Michelle and Lara, and finally Dan dropped in after Stacey [SP corrected] left.

Very pleasant evening, half the people there I'd never met before. All people of good will, earnest and thoughtful. Everyone at the table had at least a passing interest in string theory! 3 or 4 (depending on whether you can count me) were designers/artists. 2 were from Lithuania (they met this evening, by chance). 2 had lived in a particular tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere (again, meeting this evening for the first time). 2 or 3 of us had a serious interest in information theory... we even had a short debate about design theory at one point. To top it all off, there was a puppy that I got to pat (well, actually, I patted the dog, the puppy was too skittish to come near the dog, but a dog is just a puppy in grown up clothes).

All in all, the kind of evening that makes life enjoyable.

Shane really is very good at being a social "hub". The number of people he introduces to one another is kind of daunting. He's so good at maintaining relationships... he puts so much effort into being a good friend... inspiring.