Yes…the blog has been quite quiet of late…I’ve been on the road for the last fortnight and it has been both stimulating and challenging…a normal day consists of participating in the day’s activities, any after dinner networking and then spending a few hours logged-in on Kiwi time to keep up with events back home…doesn’t leave much time for scintillating insightful blog entries…

Still I have learned a lot in my various engagements since I arrived in Las Vegas two and bit weeks ago…I was last in Vegas in 1988, young and single, and it rocked!! Vegas when you’re married and a grandad and on your own after the rest of the team depart, ain’t much fun at all and is kinda boring…is that really boring, or just an opportunity for introspection and consolidation…? From Nevada, I arrived at Reagan International at some awful hour but got to the Marriott in time to catch Josh for a couple (or more!!) of beers before the Irregular Warfare Summit…

So…bubbling away in my mind are a number of insights relating to Unmanned Systems (sorry, ladies, the name ain’t changing anytime soon!) and Irregular Warfare – again the name ain’t changing anytime soon…yes, there are also irregular challenges, activities and threats and yes, we’d really like to intervene before irregularity becomes warfare…but let’s just go with the flow on this one. At least, it’s a big step up from the COINology that pervaded all aspects since 2004…and, sure, the official definition (a la DoD) will catch up…and no, the operators seem to be copying off the same sheet of music…not sure what language some of them might be scribing in but we’re getting there…

In the meantime, I am churning away…I try to maintain SA through FB mainly, supported by email although correspondents will have noticed that response might be a bit tardy (lax) at times…Skype’s handy too but it parasitically consumes bandwidth and that’s not good when I’m on a data cap (hotels with free wireless rock!!). One coup from this trip is that I bought a VirginMobile USB modem which has been a Godsend for mobile connectivity – a few more hotels charging USD12-15 a night for wireless access and it will have paid for itself AND the first months net access…The VirginMobile deal is far better than that offered by Cricket or T-Mobile and I really recommend it….

Last weekend, I caught the Amtrak to Philadelphia for bilateral discussions with Dean @ Travels with Shiloh on divvying up the world post-world domination day…I chose the USS New Jersey (tied up across the Delaware in Camden) as the venue as I figured that all that steel would cramp Doc Karma…ooops, I mean, Dean’s mind control powers…probably just as well that I did as he was showing off his power of mind-reading at lunch…you know, that thing super-villains do to show-off…”oh, I might just have…the thing in the menu you’re looking at – now!‘ Talks went well so look out world!

Honestly, it was a great day for a range of reasons…firstly, when you travel as much as I do, it’s always nice to be met on arrival – and not by a hoard of shovel-toting molemen (Dean, are you sure they didn’t follow you?!); secondly, I had no idea how to get from 30th Street Station to my hotel; and it was great to meet in person someone whose work I have admired and followed for a number of years…it was also well into summer, an awesome hot sunny day, a boat ride across the river…Philly cheesesteak for dinner…how could you go wrong…?

So more of the next few days of my adventures…and I’ll start to blend in some commentary on current events and my discoveries while here…