Wanted: a few good clones
Saturday, June 4, 2005 at 4:27AM Dateline: SWA flight from Orlando to Providence, 3 June 2005
After yesterday's wargame came to a close, I drove to the airport with former Harvard college roommate Geoff Schad, who played our Iranian "cultural ambassador" in The New Map Game, only to arrive at TF Green realizing I had left my briefcase bag back at the hotel. No Mac, no brief, and no check for speaking in FLA today. I was arriving just in time for the last flight down to Orlando, so money was on the line.
I was shocked and flabbergasted when I discovered my oversight. To my amazement, the one Green flight on delay that whole night was the SWA flight down to Orlandoóby two hours. Just enough time to drive back and make the plane down, although it meant I was driving well past midnight again in Florida (seems to be a theme with me lately).
Got to sleep around 2am this morning and set my alarm for 7am, so I could call my wife and check when I was speaking today. Turned out it was 1330, so I slept in until 1030, something I do about once every three years!
It felt great, and I gave a solid performance as a result. Had to go on right after a professional corporate conference comedian, but I got my usual laughs even as I delivered my usual stern warnings.
Had to drive back to Orlando in heavy downpour, and while waiting for plane to leave I had a good talk with Mark Warren, my boss at Esquire. I am set to go finish my interview of my anonymous national security subject for my next feature. Unlike my profile in the next issue, which will be out in a matter of days, this one will stay anonymous in the piece as well. Simultaneously, I begin my quest to do a profile on a major sports figure. Got the contact info for the team's PR office and his agent, and will make initial forays Monday. Targeting him for the start of the season, and yes, if I pull this one off, I'm going to pretend throughout that this is strictly business.
Beyond that, Mark and I discussed a couple of other pieces. One a quickie I may write, another an ambitious research/experimental project that the magazine would undertake with me lining up some serious outside help. I think of all these possibilities, plus the book, plus gearing up the partnership with Enterra and possibly another major entity later this month, and I do get a bit intimidated. Once the financial flow for NRSP proper gets taken care of, I will seriously consider getting some help directly for myself, either through NRSP's office or just on my own. I can't draft my wife on any of this stuff, because I can't pile these duties on top of the ones I already burden her with by my absences. I imagine losing my hair sometime near the end of our stay in the three-bedroom apartment, and finally giving in to this inevitability.
Here's the daily catch:
■ Non, non Babette!■ Energy & money together determine the bulk of a country's connectivity
■ Would anyone really miss North Korea?
■ What's the matter with Iranian national pride?
■ Brazil: stuck in the not-so-fast lane
■ Zimbabwe's continuing descent
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