So much travel, so little time. After picking Laura up at the airport, we spent a week bumming around Boston to get her a feel for the place, and then we turned around and rocketed back to Ohio to reunite her with her family for the first time in eight months. I'm really glad that Fawkes, as the Mercedes has been dubbed, behaved herself so admirably all the way home, despite the air conditioning not working. And the gas gauge. And the odometer. And the power locks. And the driver's side rear window. These are the quirks that make a car a car.

So impressed was I with Fawkes' performance, in fact, that not 24 hours later I was already heading back out again, this time for a whirlwind trip back to Chicago to visit with Talon and Andy and my Chicago brood, and to pay another visit to WizardWorld Chicago later today with Talon, Nathan and some of Talon's other friends. I'm psyched. It's not Nerd Prom, but I can definitely use a good comic con. Right now I'm lying in the guest room at Talon's new place (which is huge and beautiful and gloriously haunted) and trying to get to sleep, but I feel a little bit like a kid on Christmas Eve. Soon, I'm sure, the weight of the day's travels will come crashing down on my head and I will simply drop off right in the middle of a –

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.