What a smile ’round my face

Yikes, it has been a silent week ’round these parts. My travels in China have been crushing: a full work day on Beijing time plus 75% of a work day on US time. While this makes for a lot of time in front of the computer it does not produce much of a clear head for blogging. And this is why I am writing now from my flight 35,000 feet above the Pacific. This is my first flight with WiFi broadband and I just need to geek out a bit and say this changes everything. Time was, international flights were like day-long technology isolation chambers, but now that I have a connection (and a pretty fast one at that — 802.11g) it gets all screwy. I’m adapting my already nutty sleep schedule to Chicago time so that I can Skype with my wife. And the beauty of that, of course, is that we just leave it on the entire flight. She hears me; I hear all the goings-on at home. — for 10 hours. Just like ignoring each other at our own computers when we are under the same roof. Seriously though. This changes so much. I’ve watched streaming video, listened to iTunes radio, videoconferenced with a pal, Skyped my wife, and obviously e-mailed and surfed. Am I overdoing it this time? Absolutely. Will this go down as the best thing to happen to me before my baby arrives in a few weeks. Absolutely.

International travel alone is rough, but for some reason Four Tet’s “Smile Round the Face” cheers me up every time I watch it. It took me a few viewings to realize what seems so obvious: being a daddy is it’s own reward. Thanks, Kieran, for the cheer.

More China double happiness soon …