It's been a while since I attended a STAR Collaboration meeting in person, let alone visited Berkeley's LBNL. In fact, I was looking forward to visiting LBNL back in March 2020 when COVID reared its ugly head. At that time, it had already been more than 3 years since my last trip to LBNL. A rather memorable meeting that took place in the wake of a rather dramatic US presidential election. I am digressing. It was good to be back in Berkeley again and meet with friends and colleagues, and sunsets across the Bay are still impressive, even in cloudy conditions.

Among the many physics discussions, a few items stood out. The STAR Juniors coordinated lunch parties with senior scientists. My lunch with students from Yale, UC Riverside, and CTU was an absolute delight and I hope these lunches will become a staple in future meetings. Another important event was the opportunity we had as a collaboration, but also as individuals to bid one of our most esteemed colleagues and long term STAR collaborator, Bill Christie a happy start of his retirement. I particularly like the picture in which you can see Bill holding a certificate under the watchful eyes of Tim Hallman (Assoc. Director DOE Office of Nuclear Physics), Spyros Margetis (DOE/NP Prog.Director), and Flemming Videbaek (BNL/STAR retiree). Bill's commitment to STAR serves as an excellent example to all of us - somebody who I have called at early hours from the STAR Control Room, or often somebody who'd be calling me asking why we weren't taking data.

Oh, and then there was one more important item that had to be decided by the STAR Council at this collaboration meeting and that was the election of the next co-spokespersons. I am thankful to the Council for the trust that they put in Lijuan Ruan (BNL) and me to lead the STAR collaboration for the next three years.