So, Addie, what year is it? 2008? 2009? 2010's? 2020's?

And how did you arrive at this site?

Did your mother tell you about it? That would surprise me quite a bit. Certainly there are better things your mom can remember from 1999 and carry with her all those years. Most likely, you just had your moment of profound self-awareness, and thought for the first time in your life to search for your name on the web. Well, congratulations because this is a real match.

This web page is my "gift" to you and to your parents for their birth to you. "Children Will Listen" is a song from a 1987 musical, Into the Woods, by Stephen Sondheim. Well, Addie, you may not always obey, but you will always listen, watch, and see, and that's the fun part.

This web page resides on my permanent Stanford account so the gift is as permanent as Stanford gets, which should be pretty permanent. With this gift I can "speak" to you like this years before you can speak and more years before you know to search on the web. It's a gift you will find on your own at some point in your life and certainly we all think to search for our names on the web at some point. And yes, I have done something similar to this before. This is my wedding "gift" to your folks.

And who am I? Just one of those people your mother worked with in HP whose years in HP she made a little nicer and a bit sweeter. And hopefully, now, years later, I have made her daughter's day a little nicer and a bit sweeter.

If you wish, drop me a message at chsieh@cs.stanford.edu and tell me how things are with you. Statistically speaking I should be around and if I'm around most likely I check my e-mail. If you don't hear from me, that's OK. Just go, listen, take care, and make someone's moment, day, year, or life a little nicer, and a bit sweeter...

- 9/24/99