Monday morning I caught a Delta flight out of the old Indy terminal for the last time. Flew through Atlanta to Fort Myers FLA, where I snapped that shot of the Gulf of Mexico last night after swimming in the lap pool of a nice resort in Naples. Then an elaborate AV check, complete with rehearsals of my intro and how I should approach the awards show-like stage while the music blared ("More than a feeling" by Boston). Then a nice dinner at a local restaurant with a senior exec of BAE Systems and a senior-level executive coach who works with the company. Great food right on the beach. Then I crashed.

Slept in yesterday a.m. til about 0900, then some room service and I finish editing my column for the week. Some phonecons and then I check out, deposit my bags with the AV production team, and take a seat for the opening two hours of this global meet of BAE senior execs, with people drawn from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and so on. Big ballroom, with maybe 400-plus in attendance.

It is a slick show. The kind you see at this sort of level. Very moving videos of BAE's front-line work with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and, of course, a lot of well-deserved bragging rights on MRAP (mine-resistant, ambush protected) vehicles and the company's deep embrace of the Wounded Warriors program.

I finally go on at 1520, powering up with a Coke and coffee. It's about 30 minutes later than I was supposed to go on, but backups are the norm, and so my countdown clock starts at 50 mins instead of the promised 60. I think I go about 54 mins, so it's a blistering pace at 29 slides. I was on, but the audience was very subdued. Some usual killer lines registered, by the ironic stuff died a quiet death. But with such a huge space like that, you try not to get caught up in how the audience reaction is being swallowed up, especially when you go on late in the afternoon (one could sense a bit of fatigue).

I'm off stage and de-miked by 1615, pack up quickly behind stage and then zoom out to the waiting limo, changing en route as the driver does his best to deliver me with a fighting chance of making the 1730 flight. I was smart (two times in a row!) to get my boarding passes printed, and hit security with no line. I forget a water bottle and so suffer a bag search, but it's not too bad. I then run maybe 75 yards til I spot the spillover line of passengers at the gate awaiting boarding (thank God we're connecting again through Atlanta!). I check my garment bag at the gate at 1715.

Bit of a layover at Hartsfield, where I dine responsibly (always hard at airports), and then onto to Iowa, where today I deliver the combined PNM-BFA brief for the last time this year and the last time ever.