We all met at Caltech for a presentation on the 10th anniversary of the Opportunity rover (Spirit died in 2010). All the top scientists and engineers gave their spin on what they found, what the did to overcome issues, etc. Bill gave the closing remarks on why exploration is important to humanity - which was quite freaking funny. He definitely was on his mark last night. Incidentally, Bill got NASA to make the camera calibration target on each of the twin rovers into a sundial as well. The Curiosity rover has one too, using a spare my best friend had in his desk, with him shouting "But...but...that's mine!!" 
Anyway, after the lecture, we ended up going to Old Town Pasadena to Sushi Roku for some awesome sushi and a few laughs. We all declined to drink heavily since 3 out of four of us had meetings first thing in the morning. Fine by me, since I had an hr drive back home to the high desert.
Backstage at von Karmen Auditorium, we were deciding where to go to dinner. It was done in whispers so as not to attract an entourage, which I totally understand. Bill had a receiving line a mile long after the lecture. Finally, I said after an hour, "Bill...I'm fucking hungry! Let's jam."
He gave me a ride in his Prius (what else would he have for a car?) to the restaurant, and we played catch-up. I haven't seen Bill in almost 2 yrs.
The sushi was sooo good. I even had my first geoduck, which was awesome!! (I'm a clam lover, fer sher). The eel was fantastic, as usual. We had the requisite yellowtail, spice tuna rolls, crab dynamite, octopus, etc etc. Posed for a few group photos, which I hope to get in email soon.
All in all, a very cool night!! I would have gone just for the lecture itself.
Edit: for spelling
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