Dateline: SWA flights from LaGuardia through Midway to Indy, 19 September 2005

Stayed up way too late last night dicking with the brief (almost 3am), when I had to get up at 0700 and get over to the St. Regis for the event in time to show Steve DeAngelis how I had animated his half of the brief.

The day went well, though. First, it was cool to meet Congressman Harold Ford, who comes off as impressively as any Representative or Senator I've yet encountered. Pretty slick speaker too (although I swear to God I caught him checking his Blackberry behind the lecturn while one questioner went on and on in his query-let me check the tape in slow-motion and get back to you on that one later). Ford was very kind in his comments regarding my book, told me he was halfway through the second (and demonstrated that in his words), and gave me some good background on my upcoming appearances in Memphis (yes, I scratch his back too, as I know how hard it is to get a Congressman at your breakfast keynote).

My presentation with Steve went well, as the brief merged nicely and we both made a lot of cross-references to one another. Good feedback from audience members, plus the best question of "How many times have you two given that brief together?"

This was the first time.

I later spoke over lunch, previewing BFA (I am now deep into Chapter 2 in my first read of the final text-and loving it, to my great relief), and that went even better (I was more relaxed and so was the audience). Steve and Enterra CIO Doug Todd also had a good demo of our system of automated rule sets. Good conversations and networking all around, plus a nice scotch with a venture capitalist to end the day before the cab ride to LaGuardia (I change clothes in the cab, as is my custom) and the two flights home.

Long day after the four hours of sleep, but glad I put in the effort.

Here's the daily catch stretching back over a few days:

■ Diplomacy without connectivity is an exercise in frustration

■ FEMA: we don't budget for disasters

■ China's tentacles of connectivity just keep growing

■ Back to the future: the return of Prohibition-era border control effort levels

■ Nothing has changed in North Korea's efforts to deny foreign aid to desperately needy citizens

■ When is meddling in democracy okay?

■ The Gap within the Core that is Brazil's Amazon

■ The SysAdmin may go virtual/enclaved, but it will never leave the Middle East