On the road again: Portland, day 5

As one who sees the highways at six a.m. only reluctantly, I'm always amazed to find them crowded. On today's drive to the airport, they were also slick from hours of rain, rain that continued the entire time I was in the rental car. None of this deterred the experienced Portland drivers, who whizzed along at 75 miles per hour on overpasses that arched high over the city--and that were marked with a 45 limit. The less than half an hour I spent in the car was thus vastly more stressful than any of the many hours I was in the air.

I'm definitely getting spoiled by connectivity on planes. During the first flight, I exchanged email messages with a prospect and set up a phone meeting, which I held from an Admirals Club in DFW. I also caught up on email, video-chatted (but with no sound, as I didn't bring a headset with a microphone), and was generally productive. I know the idea of using the plane time as quiet time is appealing, but the work would have been there when I'm landed, so for me the Internet access was all good.

The second flight was a more typical one with no Internet access, and I found myself complaining about it while on a call. Definitely spoiled.

Winter isn't even here yet, and already I'm aching to go to an island. Why are there no SF conventions in January on tropical islands? (That's a rhetorical question; cons need to provide access to a broad base of fans and fan budgets, and islands are rarely cheap.) Maybe I should start one.

No. One of my rules: Don't work on a con. Write.

And Paris. I really want to go to Paris. Ever since Sarah's concert in Duke Chapel, I've wanted to stand next to Notre Dame at night, stare at the wild crowds circulating on the Left Bank, and then plunge into them.

Tomorrow evening promises to be very interesting; I'll write about it at some point. As a teaser, let me just say that it involves roller derby, barbecue, big men fighting, and this season's special offerings from Jeni's ice cream.

Now, though, a certain book beckons, and so, as I do each day, to it I go.