I came, I spoke, I interviewed

Dateline: In the Shire, Indy, 2 December 2005

Three-day whirlwind consumed my week.

Flew Tuesday morning into BWI, grabbed a car, and high-tailed it to the McLean Hilton to give a luncheon keynote to a sizeable conference of senior players on the Reserve Component (Guard and Reserves), so a ballroom full of officers and Pentagon officials. Seemed to go well, with lots of good contacts made afterwards. Met many who said they read PNM but had no idea that a sequel was already out, so that made me feel optimistic on there being so many more books to sell through appearances.

Then I raced into Pentagon to meet up with Steve DeAngelis. We delivered a bunch of BFA hardcovers at a follow-up meeting with an office with whom we're working on a research collaboration that should be really fantastic, as in, generating important new rule sets for how we wage both war and peace.

Then I do a bit of shopping in Pentagon City Mall, then off to a dinner arranged by the national security people at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The meal was a get-acquainted session for a cast of characters (some old, some new, some borrowed, and even a Democrat or two!) being brought together for a significant and persistent (meaning, long-lasting) visioneering process. This is part of my new work and impending set of new titles with Oak Ridge, and I'm very excited about that. The talent that place offers . . . it's like being a kid in a candy store. You can tackle some serious problems with that talent pool, and I look forward to that. Oak Ridge is a place where I really want to set in motion some innovative thought on that Development-in-a-Box concept.

Tuesday was a killer: up at five and in my hotel room at 11pm. So blitzed I walk out of the room the next morning without my bite guard. Small piece of acrylic, but quite a hit to my pocketbook.

Wednesday it's a 0700 breakfast meeting between myself, Steve DeAngelis and a couple of seniors from Oak Ridge to finalize some aspects of the growing collaboration we've set in motion between Enterra Solutions and the lab. We all have the feeling we're going to do some great stuff and make some real history in this partnership.

Then Steve and I run off to a meeting with someone in the intelligence community: another line of cutting-edge work that we're setting in motion.

Then we dash off to a lunch with someone from the Department of Homeland Security, followed immediately by a meeting with another senior there (a part of the Reagan Building I'd never been to before).

At that point I'm blitzed by the pace. Watching Steve go full tilt across a day like that is amazing. The guy is so disciplined, you can see why he was such a strong political operative in campaigns in his younger days. Compared to me, his content never wanders.

I get my wires crossed with a planned dinner later that night, but it's all for the best, as I needed to do some serious daddying over the phone that night, plus I got in a load of good lap swimming at a Holiday Inn Express off 95. Forgot my swimming trunks, but when I saw the empty pool, I risked going at it in my pearly black Perry Ellis cling-on boxers, which, if you don't look too close, look like my Australian swim shorts. I know, I know, I'll go to hell for that (DeAngelis dared me to blog this part the next day), but it was flippin' sweet, as Napolean Dynamite likes to say.

Posted some story blogs, then collapsed for the night around 1 am.

Thursday I put my Esquire hat back on, as sped down to Quantico to receive four briefs where I asked a lot of questions. Some fascinating stuff that's going to make for a great story come the March issue. The day ended with an interview with the commander of the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, a 3-star by the name of Jim Mattis. I interviewed this legend-in-the-making last spring for the Rumsfeld piece (didn't really fit, but I really wanted to meet him). He's very well read and articulate and about as charming and unaffected as they come for someone who's known as the hardest of chargers on the battlefield, so, naturally, he's a lot of fun to interview.

Day done, I race back to Reagan, drop off the car, and just make the 4:20 flight back to Indy, spending the flight editing the digital files of my interviews so I had them in small enough bits to email to Esquire for transcription. All in all, I almost got enough on this Day One to do the piece, but there are still three more command visits to come, two where I've gone before, but one where I've never been but always wanted to go.

But that's next week trips ...

Today lost to servicing one car, then Vonne Mei to the doc's, then me to the pharmacy, then me to the dentist (fitted for new bite guard), then run Jerry to school, then clean out the wife's car, then emailing all the files to Esquire, a bit of blogging, pick up the kids at school, then tour the house (upstairs totally plastered, first floor almost totally plastered, and basement totally drywalled-stunning to see all the change), then help fix dinner, then drive Kevin to his tutoring, then day is done and a glass of single-malt awaits (and no, I never get tired of watching Sponge Bob Square Paints DVDs with my kids-pure genius!).

Now to write the family Xmas card letter before the missus beats me with one of my Dad's golf clubs ...