In the morning, the Wife and I leave for the Heartland. Middle America. Kansas — the Wheat State. Think I’ll tear through a cornfield at mdnight and summoun Malakai. Or maybe I’ll just wish my grandparents a happy 60th wedding anniversary, and take some pictures.

The eerie thing about this excursion: their 50th blowout doesn’t seem all that long ago. In fact, the Wife — she was the Girlfriend, though she was always the One — had just moved in together.

The blog will improve when I return next week. Less clunkers, more grins. Seriously. If there’s Internet access between now and then, I may through up a post or two. And I get to see Pollster’s new house.

Closer to the halfway mark with Team Eagle Eye edits. Of the 32 chapters addressed thus far, 32 end with a cliffhanger. Expect the unexpected, I say. Also, the hero figures more prominently in the narrative. The action is tighter and more consistent. Overall this is getting to be the sort of story I wanted all along, but lacked the tools, the chops, and the life experience to write.

Before the first tech bust, I worked at a consulting company which employed three tech professionals I respect. One of them said, “Deploy the sort of solution you would pay for, nothing less. That’s the greatest measure of quality.”

He may have been talking about code, but I think his theory applies here as well; this is almost a book I would buy.