Dateline: down in the basement in Portsmouth RI, 18 December 2004
Took #1 daughter Emily and five of her friends on a birthday-celebrating jaunt today: lunch for them (while I read "Occidentalism" at a nearby table and had some clam chowder) at a great seafood place in Westport MA and then a wonderful local ballet presentation of the "Nutcracker" at this fab old theater in New Bedford MA.
Now watching "Return of the King" (the four-hour version—and yeah, it's even better!) on the widescreen in the basement with the other three kids (frankly, with the Mitsubishi picture and the Sony sound, I wonder why we ever go to theaters anymore, because it's just plain better at home). Pretty sure none of us will make it to the end, but that's okay, since we'll finish it in the van on the way to meet our new puppy, a black lab I think we're going to call Bailey after Jimmy Stewart's character in "It's a Wonderful Life." Pup will be only four weeks old, so this will be just a get-acquainted session. We're looking to take him in at the end of January.
Got an incredible present from my publisher Neil Nyren this week: a beautifully leather-bound edition of PNM, with gold embossed lettering on the spine and my initials on the front cover. It's got that funky inside-cover, quasi-psychedelic heavy paper, and the top of the pages have the gold stuff too. In short, it's done up like a Harvard Classic or some book from 19th-century England, but in the most expensive sort of way. It was a thrilling gift to receive. It must weigh about twice as much as the regular book, and it's almost too pretty to look at, like the King gave it to me personally or something. Neil sent it as an Xmas thank-you for the effort I put in on the book and promoting it. I'd bet no other Putnam author blogged a million-plus words in support of their book this year! Still, it was a stunningly nice gesture on Neil's part. His excitement for the Son of PNM is very important to Mark Warren and me. None of us are interested in just cranking something to cash in on PNM. What excites us all is where this journey may take us next in our quest to change the world for the better.
Big announcement coming tomorrow in the blog, part of the new directions and possibilities I see for myself, and those I choose to ally with, as a result of PNM. No secret on the timing. If I'm going to answer several thousand emails again, I might as well have something new to announce.
Today I offer the daily catch, plus the Preface to the Turkish edition of PNM, which I sent the publisher in Turkey yesterday. The latter seems very timely given the news on Turkey opening negotiations with the EU on membership—finally the formal invite to join the Core!
Here's what I pulled from the Times today while the girls lunched (okay, mostly talked):
■ When Hamas joins the discussion, you might just have a quorum
■ Europe to Turks: Here begins the first of many discussions!
■ UN peacekeeping: not exactly the professionals needed for the Gap
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