Wednesday, December 10, 2008

On an unseasonably warm night for December, went to the Mandarin Hotel in Washington, D.C. (12th and Maryland Avenue, SW) to receive the “25 Greatest Public Servants” Award from the Council for Excellence in Government. It was somewhat of a big deal. Other awardees who were present were Everett Alvarez (Viet Nam pilot POW), Lee Hamilton, Sen. Richard Lugar, Tom Ridge, Donna Shalala, Shirley Jackson (President Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Other awardees who were not there were: James Baker, Mayor Mike Bloomberg of NYC, Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago, Former VP Al Gore, Tom Kean, Ted Kennedy, Congressman John Lewis, Wilma Mankiller, Norman Pinetta, George Mitchell, Sandra Day O’Connor, Peter Peterson (Chairman, Council on Foreign Relations, Colin Powell, Alice Rivlin, Robert Rubin, George Schultz, Paul Volker, John C. Whitehead Former deputy Secr. Of State. Interesting evening with a lot of friendly discussions about the Obama transition. Clay Johnson of OMB was there and said a few words about the Bush Administration and told the large dinner crowd that we are leaving the government and the country better than we found it – the entire audience was struck silent. You could feel the discomfort in the room. I sort-of like Clay (even though he screwed me years ago re: the NIH Directorship), but he clearly proved how out-of-touch he and the Administration people are. Dec. 10 – 26, 2008 – Jenny got home on Dec. 23 and Megan has been home since Dec. 19. Wonderful to have all 3 girls together in the house. Jenny is as passionate as ever over the work that she is doing teaching science at a charter school in Brooklyn (Brownsville). She lives in Park Slope. I am a bit worried about her living in a tough section of Brooklyn, but she is a careful young woman. Interesting that she wound up in the place on my birth. Megan is somewhat sad and lonely in NYC even though she is doing extremely well at Columbia (all As except for 1 A- and 1 A+). She does not like college life, but I am sure that she will adjust since her main issue is she does not make friends easily. Dec. 26 – Jan. 1, 2009 – Had our every 3 ½ year big Editorial Board meeting of HPIM in preparation for HPIM-18 . Meeting in Rio Grande (40 minutes West of San Juan). Enjoyed the stay, but Chris and the girls were there only from Dec. 28 (PM) until Dec. 31 (AM). We had my 1 day off on Dec. 30 and spent day at beach with great weather (80 and sunny). Chris and I and the girls together with the Hauser boys (Bennett, William and Stewart) went kayaking in an sea kayak out to a sand bar. Spent the evening in Old San Juan at a great outdoor restaurant in the old square near El Moro Fort.