So for the last two weeks or so...

...I've been on the East Coast; mostly business (and a little pleasure). The first weekend, Jon and I went to New Haven, to advise and annoy the students at The Yale Record college humor magazine. Their latest issue, which was released in mid-September, was quite funny--anybody reading this ought to consider subscribing. You can check the website out here. Anyway, the student staff, some alumni and myself had a lunch at Mory's, Yale's ancient watering hole. (People so inclined can read about Mory's here. No, we didn't have "Cups"--that is, Mory's secret recipe drinks that are served in loving cups and are surrounded by a series of rituals designed to make people get incredibly intoxicated extremely quickly.) After lunch, we walked areound our old college town--it was raining, of course--and then showed up at a cocktail party in Branford College. The next week, Kate and I were in New York, she catching up with old friends and eating at some favorite haunts, me meeting with agents and trying to get over my profound dread at engaging the same New York publishing industry that made my entire twenties a living hell. It was fun--we stayed at The Yale Club of New York; had drinks at The Campbell Apartments; and ate at Gramercy Tavern (fantastic concord grape sorbet). Not only that, I had not one, but two, corned beef sandwiches from The Carnegie Deli. (During last year's somewhat longer trip, I made an extensive survey of all the top delis in Manhattan--Carnegie, Stage, Second Avenue, Katz's--and my vote for the best corned beef was Carnegie's--opinions?) The final weekend, I went to a wedding in Hartford, Connecticut, where my brother Keith was getting married to a lovely woman. The reception was held at The Wadsworth Athenaeum, which was very pretty. Before the wedding, I made a lightning trip to The Mark Twain House, which was fascinating and beautiful. Anybody interested in Twain or the Gilded Age should definitely visit. This week, I've been busy catching up, and working on a couple of projects, this parody of Narnia and a memoir about my crazy old dog, Gus. If it goes well, I'll probably put together a little book about Gus, and give it to my friends and family as an Xmas present. But we'll see how it goes.