Wednesday, 05 February 2003 | Leaving for LA

Find someone to feed the cat.
Change the litter box.
Take out the trash.
Pack lots of forgotten warm-weather clothing.
Remember to bring my cell phone, binoculars, plane tickets, concert tickets.

In less than an hour, a quick, quiet taxi driver will hover in the middle of my street until I emerge with an enormous green unit of belongings, a camera, a computer, and reading material. Then we will speed off to LaGuardia in sparse, Wednesday-afternoon traffic, and he will deposit me on the sidewalk with my canvas children. From there I will cross the United States thousands of feet in the air, on a cheap airline I've never heard of before, and I will land in Los Angeles, where I'll spend the next four days. Tomorrow I'll use my complimentary pass to see the Rolling Stones play (a concert they're giving for my organization, to increase awareness of global warming), I'll see Bill Clinton introduce the band (apparently from relatively good seats), and I'll meet some people I know from the Internet and elsewhere. I'm going to spend unusual amounts of time in a car.