R & R

Getting ready to head to the West Coast tomorrow to see Mark and Karena in Seattle, then Natalie in San Francisco. For the most part I have otherwise failed to fill my calendar for my trip out there, perhaps it's for the best. Unlike much of North America, I am not fairly bursting at the seems to get out and travel. I've been to the Northeast four times under COVID, to the mountains once, and Down East a couple of time, so I guess I'm spoiled enough.

Perhaps just as importantly, I don't really feel highly motivated to grow my business out West. A few years into the business has led me to an understanding that having clients elsewhere just adds travel requirements to my schedule. If they aren't truly special to me (as most of my far-flung clients are), why bother? Perhaps just as importantly, it's hard to serve them properly, to stay on top of changes in state or local tax code that may be pertinent. And keep a curated stable of CPAs, attorneys, etc. who can help.

It's pouring down rain so no tennis today, which is probably good. Sometime yesterday afternoon I yoinked my back. It was sometime between riding my bike and lunch, most likely because I rode hard on account of hustling to get back to our YABS/Madonna Fan Club Zoom call and then wasn't sufficiently mindful of my body's signals somewhere in there.

Speaking of, before I leave I must decide whether to continue on with Lionel Shriver's The Motion of the Body Through Space, which feels like a pretty wooden roman a these. Honestly, it reminds me a little of reading Chernyshevskii. In many ways I am plodding forward in it now first and foremost because we paid retail for it.

I would be very surprised if it traveled West with me. Once more I will likely have recourse to the ever self-refreshing pile of mystery and espionage novels (mostly Alan Furst for the latter) on the shelves off to my right just now, despite the feeling that by reading these things I squander precious time.