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What do men confide about their wives? See Whining and Dining below for an incredible overheard conversation. This is not your traditional restaurant review. June book promotion highlights include a keynote speech to 600 people followed by a sold-out book signing, as well as and a fortuitous connection that snagged a promised order for 250 books. See News Headlines below for continuing adventures in marketing. Welcome to new subscribers from the Department of Veterans Affairs! I much enjoyed meeting so many of you. I didn’t mention this newsletter during my talk, so please forward this to any colleagues you think might appreciate it. Note that if you’d prefer not to receive the whole newsletter, you can sign up for only the cybersecurity portion—You’ve Got To Be Kidding, a monthly morsel of cybersecurity humor. With the $1,000 Treasure Hunt so near at hand, though, you’d be crazy not to subscribe to the whole newsletter so you can receive the latest Treasure Hunt clues (see below). I can’t believe $1,000 is about to be rewarded for a contest that’s become so trivial. Visit my web site to peruse back issues of the newsletter. Sound Bites are coming. My amazing wife Jill has experimented with computer, karaoki, and professional recording mikes, sound cards, and music processing software. We’ve recorded tunes and prototyped streaming audio from the web site. It might sound a bit scratchy at first, but audio Sound Bites will soon be on TaleCatcher.com as one of the most absurd and far-fetched book promotion gimmicks of our time. Bill Neugent |
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You've Got To Be Kidding |
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Treasure Hunt Clue |
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Remember, this is a contest
that will result in someone winning $1,000. This is also
a game of skill and no purchase is necessary. |
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News Headlines |
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Meanwhile, sample another flirtatious few moments with fame. After recording the scene below in Whining and Dining, I was leaving the San Francisco restaurant when I spotted an old friend from Northern Virginia and stopped at his table to chat. “I saw you were speaking,” he said, “but I couldn’t make it. How did it go?” A woman at the next table turned around and flashed a smile. “It was a great talk.” Neither of us knew her, but I appreciated the feedback. Taken aback by this unexpected public recognition, I wandered downstairs into the hotel bar to see if any other conference attendees remained. I spotted a lady who’d given a talk on the Department of Veterans Affairs public key infrastructure. I may be a novelist, but I’m still a techie and had questions for her. Before I could ask them she said, “I’m fifty pages into your book. I couldn’t put it down.” The only thing that kept me from staying late
in the bar to wallow in this acclaim was that I had to awake the
next morning at 4:30 AM to catch my return flight. Bummer. On the
other hand, the Hilton bar crowd was spared a social novelist. |
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Whining and Dining |
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“She lives a pretty good life on my behalf,” he said and took another sip of white wine. “She’s using me. As far as I’m concerned, she’s abusing and losing me.” His attempt at a wry smile fell short. Cityscape restaurant, on the forty-sixth floor of the Hilton San Francisco, featured spectacular views. I had a bird’s-eye view of the downtown skyline set against the panorama of San Francisco Bay, with the Bay Bridge before me and, if I turned to my left, a misty image of Golden Gate. But my attention had been shifted to a table at which two men sat in conversation. “I should call her,” the man continued. “No, you call her. Here, use my phone.” The younger business colleague chose to use his own cell phone and left a recorded message. “I’m sitting here with your husband. He’s driving me crazy. That’s why I had to call you.” I studied the man. Early sixties, I guessed. “I don’t entirely buy anything she says,” the elder man said, “but when your father is dying… Well, the guy’s probably dead.” His voice conveyed no feeling. “I brought up this idea of let’s have a positive attitude, but she twists things and uses them against me. Here I am trying to make things happen and she takes them and uses them.” He wore a white shirt, olive pants, black socks, brown shoes, and a tie that contained none of those colors. “What a sneak. She’ll pull one on you and smile all day.” He and I both ordered a second glass of wine. “’I really liked my first husband,’” he quoted the wife, “’we had a lot in common.’” The colleague listened with few comments and showed patience if not understanding. “She got really into this Alcoholics Anonymous. Her shrink sent her there. She did a lot of dope.” After he paid the check, he gazed at the view. In the distance, a huge flag furled atop the Mark Hopkins Hotel, the Top of the Mark. “You have people starving, suffering, dying. Everything happens for a reason. What’s her reason?” With that, the man who might have been the answer to his own question left the room. I’d found him both sympathetic and unsympathetic, likeable and dislikeable in turns. What about you? Send your psychoanalytical comments to the TaleCatcher Guestbook or read what others have to say. Or maybe you’ve heard a conversation you’d like to share. The guestbook is a message board you can use to share observations. For those who prefer to read about food and wine, during the above conversation I had a baby spinach and shaved fennel salad with a wonderful preserved lemon vinaigrette dressing. Atop the salad were shaved parmesan cheese and goat cheese along with Kalamata olives. Following that came an excellent entrée of halibut entrusted with pine nuts. I turned down the Fingerling potatoes and substituted instead garlic-spiced Swiss Chard, which was bland but satisfied my craving for something green and hearty. For those who prefer to read about D.C.-area
food and wine, check out the work of Andrea Pace, new executive
chef at Il Cigno in Reston’s Lake Anne. She’s been on
the job six months and has rekindled the spark in what had become
a tired kitchen. We found her shrimp to be wonderful as well as
her sautéed halibut in an extraordinary celery root puree.
She’s well short of earning a Michelin star, but has brought
a welcome improvement to one of the few local restaurants where
you can dine outdoors in a pleasant lakeside setting. |
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Enjoying this newsletter and wish there were more to read? Try the novel. It's "like Robert Ludlum writing about cyberspace,” according to John Lowry of BBN. Incidentally, hardcover copies are now available from Amazon.com. |
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Final Notes |
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Contact Information |
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