I am thrilled to be spending Cincinnati's spring break in Mailbu, California, teaching a one-week course based on our Tax Stories book, Selected Advanced Topics in Federal Income Taxation, at Pepperdine University School of Law.  I have long been a fan of Pepperdine, its faculty, and its distinctive mission in American legal education, particularly the integration of the Christian faith in all aspects of life at the school.  I have fallen in love with Southern California during my six summers teaching at the University of San Diego School of Law, and I am looking forward to the warm sunshine after an unusually harsh midwestern winter.  I feel especially blessed to have my son (a college freshman) and daughter (a high school senior) join me for the week (while my wife recuperates back home).  I want to thank Dean Ken Starr and the faculty (and the 12 students who signed up for an intensive one-week immersion in tax law) for this wonderful opportunity, and for the use of a spectacular house on Broad Beach: