Photonics West 2018

Same procedure as every year: Photonics West happened in San Francisco in late January.
After Jule's move back to Germany in 2015, this year was the first where I was able to once again avoid staying in a hotel and instead stay at a friend's place: Rob, my ESI windsurfing buddy (until he left for Apple and moved to sunny California), had graciously offered his second bedroom in his gorgeous 18th floor apartment in downtown San Francisco less than 1.5 miles from Moscone Center.

Rob cooking some mighty salmon steaks.

The view includes the Ballet, the Symphony and City Hall.

Jolie made me feel right at home: pre-warming my (her!) bed

Jolie hanging out on the couch. 

This was the first year I got to give an invited talk at Photonics West ("Ultrafast laser ablation of copper with ~GHz bursts" for those who care)! Also, after completing my CLEO committee member commitment of 3 years last year, I didn't have to fly to Washington DC right thereafter, but could go straight home - very nice!

As always, San Francisco had excellent food to offer.