first day at school: day's end

i thought i'd end the day on a high note by meeting my theory colleagues at the theory seminar. the talk was given by a grad student from princeton (i'd actually met him more than a year ago when i visited princeton. nice guy, pretty good lecturer). after the talk they had wine and cheese, which was quite nice. anyway, i was minding my own business, talking with grad students, when someone comes up to me and says hi. i introduce myself and then he looks at someone else and that person says to him "ah! you owe me $100!" then he replies "well not yet. talk to me in a few months."

i ask him who he is - -Satish Rao. the professor who emailed me months back and asked if i would be coming to berkeley, given that i work at mega-bucks company google. i told him i would. it seems he was betting against me! anyway i guess he still thinks that there's a chance i might skip out. i don't think i will, and if i don't maybe he should have to pay less out given that i'm doing a bit of work for google on the side.

in any case, it felt like a very unwelcome "welcome" from my temporary advisor. oh well, given my first day, why should i have expected anything else?