For some, it is hard to believe: It is the hair! exclaimed once Shing-Tung Yau. I cannot believe it either, though for different reasons. And now that super-natural and sub-natural forces have failed to stop me from (almost) getting there, I am overwhelmed. My friends, colleagues and former students have decided to throw a party for me, the only kind that mathematicians know how to throw for each other!

A conference to honor my 60th birthday (next year) and I am thrilled!

Forget the big lie that we don’t care about this kind of stuff. Are you kidding? Just look at the list of friends and colleagues who are showing up. And I do hope they will show up with their spouses and families. Yes, you could be surprised by how much our geeky lives of mathematicians/researchers/travelling salesmen are intertwined with those of our families. And you don’t need to be a Paul Erdős to experience this extremely rewarding lifestyle. When colleagues host you in some far away country, you are –more often than not– the guest of their families, their parents, not to mention their in-laws and their neighbors. And with almost 40 years in the business, this event is a great opportunity for me to sit back and realize how blessed I have been. Thank you Abbas, Stephen, Tai-Peng and Young-Heon for allowing me to savor this, and thank you PIMS, MITACS, CRM and the Fields Institute for making it happen.

Now, what about this incredible poster? Well, you can blame the trio of 17-year old talented Hockey players that you see above. Commissioned by my son, it was produced by Jaryd with –at the very least- the help and moral support of Melvin. I guess they were paying me back for all the hot chocolate I made them while they skated on Big Bar Lake in Christmases past. No wonder the header image of “Piece of Mind” is also there. And boy, you should have seen the first version of that poster. I could have run for public office with it! Thank you guys.