Ready or not, outdoor retailers, the 2008 OR summer trade show in Salt Lake City begins today. And we at GPP feel ready, even as we cross our fingers that GES Services has finally got our furniture order straight.  For example, we requested five chrome and maple chairs, and received two. We asked for two bar stools, and got none. We wanted two cafe tables, and were given three... Minor details. Bring on the show!... If you're at the OR, stop by our booth, number 33035, and say hello. I'm the guy with the shaved head--not to be confused with Larry Seidl, who's bald, and much, much, older.

Good news: I opened the USA Today outside my hotel door to find a great interview with Chris Fair, author of Cuisines of the Axis of Evil, on page 4D in the Life section. The writer, Jayne Clark, attended our dinner party for Cuisines in DC a couple weeks ago (see previous post.) My favorite line from the Q&A: "I regret not eating rat in Burma. In point of fact, rat is probably no different than chicken." Hmmm. This renews my old suspicions about Chicken McNuggets.

Meanwhile, back home: Inger Forland, my boss at GPP, reports that the dinner the other night at Zarela's in New York celebrating the publication of Congresswoman Diana DeGette's Sex, Science, and Stem Cells was a big success. To the right is a picture of DeGette with, from left, her husband, Lino, daughter, Frannie, and GPP's own Dapper Dan, Gene Brissie. (Incidentally, I hear 14-year-old Frannie and GPP president Scott Watrous have exactly the same taste in music, which I find alarming. How Frannie can stand Hannah Montana is beyond me.)