Well, we're both busy travelers this week. I'm in Albuquerque on Tuesday and Denver on Wednesday for work....D is in Reno this week and next for her Journalism Educators Institute. The Institute is going well so far, and I have no complaints about Albu.
When I arrived at the hotel this evening, I noticed a significant police presence...two SUVs at opposite ends of a line of vans with tinted windows. The hotel desk clerk was less than forthcoming, but the mystery was solved when I almost ran into the Straight Talk Express on the way to my room. McCain is here for a private fundraiser (in this hotel, I think)....I can't say that I'll be getting up early to join him for breakfast. On Sunday I crossed paths with Obama's motorcade as he left San Diego following a speech. It feels like I'm accidentally following the campaigns...this is at least the sixth time I've been in the same city as one of the candidates.
D and I have had a nice couple of weeks since returning from Canada. Last Wednesday we celebrated our three year wedding anniversary with a nice dinner downtown and a very grudgingly given Coach wallet (even at the outlet, purse/wallet prices are outrageous...I don't understand it). We met up with friends (an ex-colleague and his wife) for a quick get-together after dinner, had another very nice dinner downtown on Friday, and then went to the Padres game on Saturday. After D's flight on Sunday and mine on Monday, I think we've been to downtown five times in the last six days. The Padres game was fun....it was actually our first "alone" game, as we usually go with a large group. I won two tickets and there were fireworks after the game, so it made up for the lack of offensive fireworks during the game.
I'm definitely back into the thick of things at work. Aside from the trips early this week, I already have meetings scheduled for Mon/Tues/Weds of next week, and this Thursday and Friday will likely soon be confirmed for more. With D's trip to Reno, this will be the longest time we've spent apart in many years....proabably eight or nine, though I'm not positive. Fortunately, we're both keeping busy, so we won't have time to miss each other too much.
The book is still going well. My last two chapters (one and an appendix) are due for internal reviews this Thursday, so I'll be frantically writing in between meetings. In fact, I'm procrastinating right now. When those are done, we have several chapters to revise after our editor has gone over them, and then we have to write all the additional materials (index, TOC, online materials, etc). At the moment we're still on track for a December release, though I don't want to assume everything will go smoothly. It has definitely been a painful process at points, and I'll have to think long and hard before agreeing to write another one. It will definitely be nice to only have one job again.
I hope everyone out there in family-and-friend-land is doing well. We haven't been great about keeping in touch recently, and I know there are birthdays and anniversaries and births and weddings and stuff flying by. Our next wedding-related plans are for the first weekend in September, when we'll be heading to Chicago for a UCSD friend's wedding. We're really looking forward to both the wedding and the trip....it will be D's first time in Chicago and I have to show her
the sights. At the moment it appears we'll be staying at
The Drake, and hopefully we'll have time to see
some fun stuff in our off-time.
It's up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble, though only Amazon is currently allowing pre-orders. I thought it was going to be done by December, but those sites say January or February....I'm not sure which is accurate. Seeing it on Amazon makes it all real, and reminds me that we still have a lot of work to do! Time to go back to work.
