var options = { attributes: { rel: 'nofollow', title: 'click to open', }, className: '', format: { url: function (value) { return value } }, ignoreTags: ['a'], validate: { url: function (value) { return value; } } }; var str = `I sat next to Shane at the recent fundraiser for The Barrett Art Center on March 3, 2019 (five entries before this one). Shane and I had run into each other periodically at Vassar. Bryce Daniel, a student in his documentary film class, made a short film about me (see the Bryce Daniel entry from October 14, 2016). I had met Shane's wife, Xinran, briefly on campus. Cathy and I decided that it would be nice to meet Elena and David for dinner since we hadn't seen them for a while, and also invite Shane to see if he and Xinran would like to attend with the four of us. It seemed like a good group of people. So we all met for dinner at Mercato, which turned out to be a good fit. I think everyone had a good time. Lots for everyone to talk about.nI had forgotten my camera, and the conditions for photographing with my phone weren't great. So I wound up taking some quite poor photographs. But combined as GIF, they turned out reasonably. Shane's email from later that evening mentioned that Francesco Butoni, the chef-owner of Mercato, was on the "Beat Bobby Flay" television cooking show last week. Bobby Flay won because the judges thought Francesco's seafood d'Avalos was under seasoned. Catherine had that dish, and although the seafood was perfectly cooked, the dish was under seasoned. n----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------nnThe following are Shane and David's email messages to me...nnShane Omar Slattery-QuintanillanSun, Mar 17, 11:23 PM (16 hours ago)nto me, elena_sisto, david, XinrannnThanks Harry for the dinner invitation and thank you all for a lovely evening in Red Hook. I don't have Cathy's email so please let her know I'd love to reconnect her to Amitava, who is deep in his own drawing/painting practice right now and would love some more friends and mentors to advise him.nnA pleasure meeting you Elena and David -- please keep in touch. Xinran is heading off soon to Art Basel Hong Kong and won't be back until April, but I'll be around nursing my torn ACL and wrapping up the semester if anyone wants to get another meal or drink. nnTake care & keep in touch,nShane nnDavid KirkpatricknTue, Mar 19, 2:50 PM (19 hours ago)nto Elena, Xinran, Shane, mennThanks for the note, Shane-nnIt was a wonderful evening and thanks to Harry and Cathy for arranging it. nnI hope Xinran (and maybe you?) can come to Techonomy NYC on May 14-15. I believe my colleague Caitlin Hamilton already sent her a note with an invitation.nnHope to stay in touch nnDavidnnDavid KirkpatricknFounder & Editor-in-ChiefnTechonomy MediannI am trying something new, which is to include related emails.`; document.write(linkifyHtml(str, options)); ]]>