hey Well, today is A Tribute to Justin day, since this is most likely the last time we'll see each other for the forseeable future - think 3 years, or thereabouts. At 19.30 tonight he will board the BA flight ex Cape Town direct to London arriving Thursday morning, and then by lunchtime he will be in Stockholm and then on to Uppsala later tomorrow afternoon. Yesterday, the boy turned the big 3-0, as well, so it's been quite an epic week for him. I have known JJW (Beefcake, as we called him during the Triathlon era of the early part of this millenium; Old Yeller these days, since he remains a sick puppy to this day) since we were undergrads - me a sophomore/junior (since we only do a 3-year Bachelor's degree) and him a senior - back in 1995 and ironically, unbeknownst at the time, we ended up here in Pharmacology together again 2 years later when I arrived for my Honours degree and he was starting his Master's. Today, we're both up for PhD and his should be awarded in December with mine following next June. I have seen him persevere through the dark days of the death of his grandfather (basically his father, since his loony mother ran off when he was about 2 and he was raised by his grandparents) and the emigration of his gran back to England, through the start and terrible finish of the 5 years with Bianca (including the on-off engagement and her affair which brough the curtain down and broke him), through the terrible failure of his Master's degree, through the rise and fall of Triweb (Justin's private web-design company), through the NonMEM trials and tribulations and now through to the new age of glory in which Justin will rise to the peak of his profession and will most likely be the #1 guy in his field within the next 3-5 years. Pharmacokinetics, anyone? He's your man. Justin is that special sort who will try anything once. He lives for his friends. He thrives in the moment. He sees things through his own special filter which exists somewhere connecting his eyes and his brain and the sub/conscious regions of his mind. He has a bizarre and peculiar love of the bizarre and peculiar; the easiest way to Justin's heart is through a terrible b-grade horror flick, preferably with chainsaws and/or zombies. Better yet, a world-class super A+ grade sci-fi flick, of the thought-provoking kind - Aliens, or Terminator 2, for example. Many were the hours we spent exploring this particular medium - I think I am a better person for it. Given half a chance, his pseudo-leftwing liberalist tendencies would swing dangerously into capitalist megalomania, so don't vote for him if he runs for office. Apart from that, he's your man. And single, too, ladies - look him up! Raise your glasses, everyone, to my good friend, comrade in arms and longtime companion... Hail to the King, baby.