DATELINE: Above the garage in Indy, 7 July 2006

The folder of articles to blog is now empty, yielding about 10k in post wordage over the past few days. Nice thing about delaying the effort: you find some aren't worth doing in the end and that others should be set aside as future op-eds (this week it's a fight between North Korea and the much-needed rule set on processing terrorists in legal settings, and I lean to the latter simply because I don't like writing a biweekly too closely tied to current events, given the lag between writing and publication and because--quite frankly--I'm trying to keep my column as analytical as possible, so ixne on the eportingre).

I was feeling depressed when I woke up this morning, but I powered through, seeking solutions to my anxiety.

The messy house seemed out of control. So I got up early and cleaned every floor in every room.

A couple of trees looking weak in the yard spooked me. So I walked out and discovered the Japanese beetles chewing them up. Quick call to my lawn guy and that's being worked now (yes, being disconnected from my lawn is the price of blogging).

Felt unhappy about my kids laying about, so I sent them out into the street, and playmates have been found just across the street (where we left them last week). Now, instead of lecturing Kev on what a lousy big brother he is to Jerry, Kev is playing pied piper to Jerry and other younger boys in the neighborhood, doling out rides in the buggy we pull behind our bikes. They run to the intercom every so often, regaling me with their exploits. They feel connected to our new neighborhood, and everyone likes this.

Meanwhile, the three females are all off shopping, connecting themselves to my future earnings.

Peace reigns supreme in the household.

So it must be time for me to depart... to Eastern Europe this time, or more specifically Dubrovnik, Croatia, for an international conference on regional security. Supposed to be senior government officials--even leaders--from a number of European countries. Not sure what I'm doing, just that the Croatians are thrilled to have me coming (they sent diplomats to check out my talks in recent months, but I'm not sure I'll be giving one when I'm there, as it seems the conference is a series of roundtables, so looks like talkinghead duty, interrupted by the occasional wisdom-implying tug of the chin).

I am doing this for no fee, but simply for the connectivity for the company. Steve and I are increasingly being asked by major corps and multinationals to provide geo-strategic advice on security and globalization, and we figure we need to sell our network as much as our content--or not just what we know as whom we know. So you never turn down a chance, as Steve likes to say, to meet a foreign leader (within limits, of course), because strong personal connectivity plus the content is a powerful package.

First time to Dubrovnik for me, but not the first time to Croatia. Passed through on train and bus back in 1985. If this trip works out well, I may well take up a similar offer from Romania later in the fall. But the Croatia invite was fairly easy to say yes to. Not every day you get mail from a prime minister.

And no surprise here on the symmetry: corps want to grill Steve and I on New Core and Seam States and my books/vision appeal most to New Core and Seam States. So I go where I'm asked to go and Steve is cutting deals where it makes sense to cut deals and these travels naturally take us to such states, and multinationals naturally are interested in such states.

Ain't rocket science, but it does pay better... well, some of the time.