Getting ready for Orlando. The bitter cold and ice and snow has helped me focus on the positive side of Orlando. It’s in the 60’s there. It’s -8 here. I am looking forward to speaking about “Going Home: Finding Peace When Pets Die” at the North American Veterinary Conference. It was at the NAVC three years ago that vets first suggested the idea for the book to me.  I am staying in Orlando for a couple of days to talk to the vets and also rush off to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom and Sea World. My former girlfriend, who disdained the very idea of Disney World when we met, now has a long list of “must-sees” – It’s a Small World, Peter Pan Ride, the Haunted House. I want to see Pirates of the Caribbean and ride Splash Mountain.

We also love walking around Animal Kingdom, which we have already done several times in our short marriage. When we first went there a couple of winters ago – a bleak winter – we saw the “Dreams Come True” show at the Magic Kingdom, where they sing about dreams coming true.  Maria said I was crying. They were right. A lot of my dreams have come true. I love Disney World and have often intersected with it. I took my daughter there several times, and often wrote about Disney’s view of technology, for Wired, Rolling Stone and other places. I get anxious about leaving the farm and the animals, but I told the very competent people staying here that the farm is theirs, and good luck with it. In this kind of cold, the animals don’t move much anyway.

I am fussing as usual over what technology to take. The Iphone, yes. The Ipad, yes. I think I will take my laptop and card reader and the small Lummix Camera, and take some photos and blog a bit from the veterinary convention and also from Disney World and Orlando. Feels right to me. It’s a quasi-vacation, so I don’t want to be taking photos and blogging all day, but there is sure to be some things to share, and I will share them. It isn’t work for me.

We leave way before dawn, behind a nasty storm and ahead of a brutal cold wave. All things considered, the timing is right.