So when I finally got to start moving and get feeling back into … various parts of my body as the plane parked at the San Francisco airport, I noticed the woman sitting next to me closed her book and it was, of course, The Da Vinci Code. Immediately I felt a great deal of remorse for having four hours of opportunity pass me by. If I had only known what she was reading, imagine the possibilities.

But the fact is that it is hardest for me to converse with strangers when they are violating my private space and I theirs. When a plane is sparsely seated, talking feels like one is recognizably reaching out to the distant other. Even when the gesture is not welcomed it is usually understood as a friendly gesture. When one’s elbows and shoulders are shoved next to one’s neighbor, it seems just like an added intrusion. All my conversations in planes that I can remember involved and empty seat between us.

I’m in Seattle now. Hopefully John Barach will show up soon and we’ll drive to the Conference together.

I finally made some real progress in J. I. Packer’s dissertation on Baxter. Lots of stuff to blog but too much–so I’m not going to blog about it.

Other than that, all I can say is that this is the time of the year when visiting Seattle makes me wish I could move back here.