This has the perfectly spherical, transparent ice! I would hold back the cherry though.

Chilling with Sharmila after checking into the hotel in Dallas.

Here is the guy who has been a big influence in my life – with his humor, humility, and personal life story. I was fortunate enough to meet Larry and his bride, Donna, today. That shirt you see him wearing… it was one more in my funny T-shirt series. This one, I had gotten specially made for him – it says “I am that legendary Mason everybody is talking about!!”

To understand how the two of us form a “Mutual Admiration Society”, read this. (He wrote it to his Pez Club)

This is what he wrote to his Pez Club after we met… It would appear we make each other feel good!

Today I met my former director for coffee. I worked for him 25 years back and we’ve kept in touch all this time. In a nod to the tv ad, I refer to him as the most interesting man in the world. Each year he still calls on birthdays. The call may not last very long as his contact list has over 7000 entries. Do the math, that is a lot of calls each day! He has moved to another state so face-to-face visits only happen when business brings him in town. One face-to-face occurred in July 2021 when he rerouted his flight home to include a layover in Cleveland! He wanted to see firsthand the excitement of Pezamania. What is important to me became important to him. I took him room hopping for a bit which blew his mind. He even made it into the group picture – the only one wearing a sports jacket! Rerouted! Who does that?

Also this week, I was exchanging messages with a couple of fellow collectors who are facing some crucial medical tests soon. A version of read/make/send clicked in my brain. So if I may be so bold to suggest, find someone today/tonight and tell them “you are my top priority”. I guarantee they will feel great and I’m sure you will too.

Janay recently moved to the Dallas area. Essentially, she did the reverse trip of us. Since Sharmila and I were in Dallas, I had to grab Janay and continue our habit from Atlanta – finding a nice coffee shop and trying out their offerings!

Somnath and Anindita!! Our old social friends from Dallas!! We had some interesting discussions around financial planning and travel. I think we forgot to discuss another common subject among older people – which body parts hurt 🙂

I had gone to this coffee shop called Haraz. They are a Yemeni coffee shop like Shibam which is close to our house in Atlanta. Except, they also sell coffee beans!

This would be coffee beans from the 29th country for me!!

This is in Addison, TX. Reminds me of the recent ruling Texas passed. They are now frisking you for guns before you enter a bar. And if you don’t have one, they will provide you with one.

Everyone fished out their iPhones from their pockets and purses as if it were an episode of synchronized swimming. Not to make calls or send texts – that would be too disrespectful. But for that other reason, Steve Jobs never thought about… reading menus 🙂

That said, I would not grow old with any other set of friends!

The daughter of our dear friends – Roger and Shauna got married. It was a beautiful ceremony in a beautiful place (The Springs) in Waxahachie.

It fell to the ground and then decided to continue growing anyway!!

Met up with Sharmila’s classmate from her graduate degree days and then also a colleague later – Tricia and her friend Rebecca.

Pratyush and I go back a long way. He must be the person with whom I have lived in the same city the most number of times… Durgapur, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Dallas! The last time I visited them, which was another wedding-related trip to Dallas, this time for their own son, we obviously didn’t get a chance to have a good “adda”. This time, we made up for that!

One of the very first Bengali friends from Dallas. We first met three decades back. Sunil and Anannya have not grown even an iota from those days, it would seem.

Aniruddha. Moreover, Indrani and Sharmila went to college together in UT, Arlington!