A Long Goodbye to the Big Easy

I've blogged before about the odd transitions of my new professional life -- to sum up, I'm traveling a little bit more than I did at the clubs, going to slightly more touristy cities, staying at similar hotels, and then having vastly different schedules and experiences -- which has been alternately confusing and amusing. (And I keep subconsciously expecting to see people that I know wouldn't be caught dead in a gathering of accountants.)

Today brings one of the oddest moments: this particular conference ends today, and the exhibit area closed at 10:15. (After opening at 7:00, of course -- these accountants really need to learn that business trips, especially in cities like New Orleans, are excuses to sleep in!) My two colleagues and I closed up the booth and boxed up our supplies and the books that didn't sell. I filled out a bill of lading and handed it off to the shippers, and then my professional duties were done.

At about 10:45 AM.

My flight out is tomorrow at 10:10 AM.

So I'm in the middle of nearly twenty four hours of hanging around in an unfamiliar city. I'm planning to take a riverboat tour later today, since I basically could take one kind of tour, given timing, and I've been standing on a concrete floor for most of the last two days.

And I'm trying to run through my work e-mails now (which I neglected yesterday), to see if there's any work that I could actually be doing.

But, other than that, I think I'm going to take a book or something out into the city and find a place to sit and relax. I'm not sure that's the most appropriate thing to do here, but it's what I've got -- an epic bar-crawl for tonight is out because I don't know anyone else in town, and I do need to get up early for that flight.

I might even get Steve Erickson's Zeroville done today. (Note: for 99% of you, you're thinking of Steven Erikson and getting excited. This is a different guy. I think Erickson is one of the exemplary writers of our time, a guy who'll be read in a hundred years, but I do have to admit that he lacks a bit in the writing-immense-fantasy-novels department.)