this is *so* not my scene

4 AM alarm notwithstanding, I'm glad I took the 7 AM flight -- my boss had the next flight out at 11 AM, but it was over three hours late. This meant that he missed dinner in South Beach.

They took us to The Blue Door, a funky bar/restaurant. Quite trendy: lots of alcoves for private canoodling, and the seats by the pool were beds. So you can lie down with your drinks and snog, I suppose. It was amusing to walk through but I was glad that I wasn't part of the meat market. Oh, the food was decent but it was mainly about the decor.

Does this make me an Old Fart^TM? Then again, even when I was young and single this wasn't my scene.

What I'm reading: William Dietz, Logos Run

small talk without blowing my cover

Or, the benefits of a liberal-arts degree.

The conference had its opening night "luau" on the beach tonight. It's pretty much the same thing they usually do. I usually end up having dinner with my sales guy from the host organization, because he's one of the few people I've spoken to before. Or else with a former cow-orker, for the same reason.

Tonight, while having the initial glass of wine (and chatting with my boss and a former cow-orker) an older Englishman and his wife inserted themselves into our conversation. He's one of the panelists tomorrow - a former member of the Bank of England and current Warden of one of the Oxbridge colleges. He turned out to be a very interesting person to talk to, and so was his wife. She and I had a long conversation about the frustrations of being "Mrs. X", which I have not experienced firsthand but I've been exposed to. Also, I was able to indulge my not-so-inner Anglophile without mentioning a certain historical re-enactment group and make wide-ranging conversation for three hours with these folks.

I happened to say that the wife and I are tentatively planning to make a trip to England next year. I'm supposed to drop them a line if we're going.

Dinner with an Oxbridge Warden? Realistically, they'll probably be busy... but it certainly wouldn't suck.