[ Text added at 8 pm: ] This is a week full of coincidences. I've already hit it off well with another student in my department at Berkeley, Joyojeet Pal. Now it turns out that he's known a dear friend of mine, Manisha Tomar, for years. She and his mother are old friends. He recognized Manisha in an earlier photo on this site.

Then came another helpful coincidence. I took a break from studying to grab a plate of lasagna and to enjoy the sunset from the cafe in Berkeley's International House (above). See the people in the photo? They were sitting next to my table, and they just happened to be in this sunset shot. After posting the photo I sat down to eat and I overheard the woman describing her experiences working as a user interface designer and consultant for software firms in Asia. Now she's apparently preparing applications for business school. The man she's speaking with poignantly advised her and he revealed some good dirt about the schools and a couple of entertaining war stories from the field.

It turns out that user interface design is my specialty and I'm seriously considering consulting overseas after graduating, so I picked up a few good tips and got a good sense of the current state of the industry from two insiders as I enjoyed dinner and the sunset. Life is good.