In State

 #2. Arrived in state without incident — or at least without any incident more dire than discovering, when I arrived at the hotel, that it was not the hotel I was looking for. There’s another hotel of the same name, 20 miles away.

I settled in to the expected pile of email. Lots of fresh volunteers: writers, editors, analysts, students, nurses, ministers. Almost everyone is desperately anxious. If we’re this worked up in August (and, well, look at me!), what will October bring?

The mail also brought Tinderbox upgrades, Tinderbox Way orders, a few support questions, a crash log. The Tinderbox Traveling Office, which lets me cope with orders on the road, broke down, so I fired up Xcode and wrote some more robust code. Also a long email exchange with a renowned local activist who is going to be tied up whilst I am in town.

I’m managing nearly 200 volunteers now. I’ve never run an organization this big. Nobody tell, OK?

Early dinner at the Convention Grill in Edina, recommended by the Roadfood folks who were right about the fries.

The Convention Grill was founded in 1934, but I don’t have any idea, now that I think of it, of what convention that was. Perhaps it was like Legal Sea Foods, which has nothing to do with whether the fish had a visa and a good deal to do with a forgotten brand of collectable stamps. Perhaps it’s related to the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934.