A fantastic journey so far.

• Emergency exit row is key. Sitting next to some guy haxing Python too. I was already sleepy and wanted to maximize that, but it was neat to fly along side a fellow traveler.
• Emerging into the new JetBlue terminal at JFK, it's a pretty grand entrance. They've taken over the old TWA terminal 5 and are doing Ildewild proud. It's futuristic, and seems like the kind of place you might go just for a drink (if you could). Second best way to arrive next to Grand Central.
• I love the early AM A-train to L; full of kids on their way to high school. The fusion of hip hop and hipsterdom is in full force with the 15 to 18 set, so expect more of that.
• As planned, I roll out at Lorimer, take in the remodled Kellog diner and massive amounts of new construction, laugh, jump into the natural food store for a Kambucha (gotta keep the immune system up) and walk over to Atlas, which has also gotten a facelift (and some italians), where there are almost as many WiFi hotspots as at my office.
• Here I will work away the day, hopefully picking up some keys soon enough to shower and maybe grab a nap before heading out into the all hallows night.

Woo!

I'm sitting here in the mid-renovation Oakland terminal waiting on my overnight flight to NYC. They finally have gratis wifi on the scene (good move, Oakland), and it's as good as an airport gets. I got through security with no waiting and all smiles for my bike-chain bracelet which gets me a wanding every time, scored some Advil PM from the quick shop, and snagged half a table in the crowded little makeshift bar that's serving this wing while the old spot is under reconstruction. Things have gone so smoothly I've got like 45 minutes to kill.

It's been a pretty good run the past few days. This weekend I got some much-needed bonding time with good old LGD and his special lady, some late night whiskeytime and a great tasty family dinner too. Cooking delicious group meals is one of my most favorite thing to do, and I honestly can't say why I don't organize these things more often. Seems like something to consider going forward.

I'm gradually becoming aware that the primary reason my social life has felt a bit fallow is that I've largely stopped arranging for things to happen, become just another lamp-ray go-along follower, picking up on other peoples action. One undeniable pattern in my history is that the better times in my life tend to coincide with taking on the role of instigator, provocateur, catalyst, etc. Again, something to consider.

I voted! You should too.

Then I drove to SF. Gonna be here for the next week and a half before I roll triumphantly back to NYC. Really fucking looking forward to that.

Then I rode my bike to the BART and town and back for some big all-day meetings. People love too oogle. Who can blame 'em.

And now I'm back home in Albany, made some spicy thai soup, drank some OJ, and need to call it a night. I'm fighting off a malingering cold I thought I had beat but gave a foothold to this weekend when I decided to roll out to a wedding afterparty up in the HC 'hood. More on that and everything else later, for now I must battle the virus.

I'm back in the Bay for a week. BadCAMP coming up, and business to conduct for our budding Cycling Empire. Also happy birthday Zacker. Good fun and a nice drive, so I'm content with all that.

Oft's the time I wonder about graphing my changes in mood and fortune, a little personalized stock ticker of the soul. Regular journal-writing is beyond me, and actually recounting the details of my daily life would be debilitatingly dreary. No one must know just how ho-hum my routine really is. Gotta preserve the mystery.

A numerical composite would be interesting, while (probably) allowing me to retain whatever shards of sex-appeal I can still muster. And what might such a life-market show? Finances flat but stable. Politics looking up and responsibility on the rise. Stress back down after peaking in August.

It's all well and dandy, and I'm especially happy that visible signs of over-stress -- e.g involuntary muscle-twitching -- are declining, but as things level out I worry muchly about the void, that it may just sit there gaping at me. Nature abhors a vacuum, and although I could really use a vaction, the kind of soul-emptying boredom that may be in the offing here seems dangerous.

The best answer seems like a long shot. Short-sellers are killing the Love index. The gut feeling: flat-lined.

This is starting to become a problem. Aphoristic wisdoms along the lines of "age is a state of mind" are cold comfort when contemplating a creeping case of cynicism. I really don't want to end up a jaded or pessimistic person. It's a shit way to live, but objectively that's the trend. Me no likey.

Just a quick note to all and sundry: made it back alive. Have 261 emails to ready, etc, and I'm down in SF for the week.

Overall I'm feeling quite good. Should take vacation more often.

Sometime this afternoon I'll be getting on the road, sliding off the radar for a week, hoping as do all vacationers that some distance from my daily grind will prove restorative. We're getting out by the skin of our teeth, a real hobo ramble into the desert. It's the least planned it's ever been, but maybe that's a good thing. We're relying on our cagey veteran status -- senior year and all. Personally, it would be great if I proved to myself that I'm up for that kind of risky business.

I'll be back next tuesday, spending some time in the Bay Area. See you all then!

I need a good BART image. There's something about the "I've got 7 minutes to kill at the Embarcaderro station" post that really appeals to me.

Anyway, just came from a great little convo with the inestimable Dan Droller, who's back out in SF from business school. Great to catch up. He seems to be doing well, and chatting it up with him makes the weight of my world seem a whole lot lighter.

On the other hand, I didn't pee before entering the mass transit system. We'll see how two pints of beer sit with me on the train ride home!

Quick note: I'm back in Albany/SF for 24 hours, then headed to Austin to schmooze it up at Netroots Nation (while furiously trying to close out some work, natch), then will fly back to hang here in the Bay for a couple days, then head back up to the HC a little advance of this year's Chapter Three Retreat.

Quick observation: everyone seems to be dating. At least, all my roommates.

More from Austin, most likely. Looking forward to some real heat!

So, this is woefully incomplete; In fact, it covers only the up-to-the-event story... I almost don't want to post it but I think it's good to get the first part out there. More likely I'll write the rest. I have a few photos which I'll add once I get back to the HC and can get 'em off my camera, and for the latter part of the story I can lean on Stephanie and Andy for graphics. Indeed, the above is an Andy Smith original (some rights reserved). In very brief: I had a great time, and it was actually semi-Important for me to get out of my routine and mix it up. All work and not play is not a pragmatic plan.

Travelling from SFO, Cheney drops me off at the airport, ran into the Girth's lawyerly friend Eric at the terminal. He's delayed on the way to San Diego so we have a beer. It's a little hard to make small talk since we've only met a couple times, but there's basketball, Cavs getting trounced by the Wizards, and that's en entre, and he's a good guy so we pass 45 minutes like that.

Flight in to LA is fast. Julia picks me up. New haircut. We talk about the important things first, how our respective love lives are going. You already know my scene (nada). She's got a man-friend who's got a moustache he likes to wax (to good effect, IMHO) but also says she's really mostly interested in "good sex and working on myself." I tell her that's very LA, but I also think it's great, and tell her that too.

I'm going to try and write some tonight, but the reality of me taking two days and a weekend off of work is there's a shit-ton to sort out. Sadly.

Coachella was a Very Good Time with some Very Good People. Also, as a consumer of culture (which I am from time to time), you really can't beat getting to see Dwight Yokam, Kraftwerk and Prince (and some other virtuosos somewhere within that triangle of genre) in one six-hour span. I've got stories to tell, and even a couple pictures.

In the mean-time, if you need something to do, go support a very smart guy who's trying to get some juice:

Register and vote. UPDATE: Click here to do that. Apparently it's not totally effortless like it aught to be... the same online as in the real world. Sorta.

UPDATE DEUX: Also in the world of friends doing interesting things: Rachel Shukert publishes a book and...