Yesterday I drove to Baltimore, then flew to Pittsburgh last night and came home today. Two work-related meetings, one dinner, and not very satisfactory results out of any of this. I'm not really a good negotiator because I dislike the back-and-forth that's required to feed the negotiation process, and would prefer to just get to the endgame. Every negotiation smacks of used-car-salesmanship to me - you can't be open about what you want, nor can you reveal where you want to end up, because that gives too much away. You can't ask what the other party wants, or if you do, you except half-truths and evasions. I have very little patience for any of this nonsense, and have to grit my teeth in these situations. This is one of those let's-get-done-with-the-damn-journey-and-just-reach-the-destination type of things. The trip is generally tedious, and you never quite get to the place you wanted to be, so you settle for the outskirts of that location and convince yourself to make the best of it. I want to get to Shell Beach, dammit (obscure Dark City reference).

One saving grace - the hotel in Pittsburgh - the Renaissance - was incredibly beautiful. A gigantic high-ceilinged room, a lobby with a wonderful dome about 30 feet above the floor, a split marble staircase that rose to the second level, all for a pittance. I only wish I had been able to stay more than 12 hours. Pittsburgh's downtown looked far more energized than I remember it being years ago. Not as dynamic as Seattle, perhaps, but still filled with people and interesting shops and two new stadiums and lots of dinosaurs (Chicago has painted cows, Lexington had horses and Pittsburgh has dinosaurs).

I got up yesterday early enough to see the sun rise, something I have missed all summer long with my later awakenings. I am fortunate enough to have a bathroom that faces the east and has a glass walled shower, through which I can watch the sun and the trees and the clouds as I slowly wake up every morning. It's a little unnerving in the winter when the sun is hours away from appearing and the world outside the window is a sea of darkness, but the rest of the seasons afford a priceless view (cue MasterCard commercial here).

Books: Put aside Fear Itself. This is a both a benefit and a bit of an unfair escape hatch that results from reading library books - I can try out a new author without expending anything more than a quick trip to the little town I live near, but it also allows me to stop reading a book that may contain a conclusion or a concept or a scrap of text that I'll miss by not finishing it. Started Richard Price's Samaritan. He wrote the screenplay for Sea of Love and the Color of Money, both of which I enjoyed, although I don't think I've ever read any of his novels before.

Music: Dar Williams' Mortal City, including the wonderful Chritians and Pagans.

Cats: I have had cats in my life ever since I was a baby (some of the earliest pictures of me look suspiciously like my parents were trying to take photos of the cats and I just happened to wander into the frame). All have had very individual personalities, but most have maintained a degree of cat dignity which is inherent in the species. Xena and Hercules, however, are an embarassment to cats everywhere - they lie on their backs, their furry bellies exposed, sometimes asleep, dreaming of little kitty treats, sometimes awake just staring at us, daring us to come rub their bellies for good luck.

Links: Did you see this? This reminded me of that very scary Twilight Zone episode that was both in the original series and in the movie that involved a man who was flying in a plane during a frightening storm. He sees a gremlin of some sort trying to damage the plane, and no one else can see it, or believes him, until the damage becomes apparent after the plane lands.