We are only one day back from the east coast, having even finished unpacking yet, and yet Spokane and worldcon are only a week away. Sometimes all this does leave me feeling rather ragged.

It was a great trip, though.

My nephew Jeffrey and his lady Kristin got married in Bayonne and enjoyed a lovely lively reception in Morristown, and nothwithstanding the fears of some of you out there, no one died at the wedding. Pigeon pie was not served. Nor did we dance the Hokey-Pokey, which is unusual for a Jersey wedding, but I am told the marriage counts anyway.

I enjoyed delightful meals at wonderful restaurants with editors and publishers from Random House, from Tor, and from Simon & Schuster. Good folks all. After all the Puppygate craziness of the past few months, it was nice to sit down for a few hours with actual grown-up sane professionals from the real world of publishing, and be reminded what that is like.

I also went on a pizza crawl of Manhattan and Brooklyn with X-Ray and Raya. Nothing beats New York City pizza… well, unless it’s New Jersey pizza, and maybe New Haven’s. We wimped out, though, and could only manage two pizza places. But the pies were great.

And we visited the training camp of the New York Jets, and got to visit their war rooms and practice fields, and meet Gang Green’s GM and a lot of his staff, plus Nick Mangold and D’brickashaw Ferguson. We didn’t meet Darrelle Revis, but he was there practicing, and it was great to see him back in green and white. The Jets were great hosts, and who knows, maybe I can make it back later this year for an actual game.

And then of course there was Staten Island, and the showdown between the SI Direwolves and the Lannister Renegades. Much has been written about that elsewhere, so I won’t rehash: google if you want details. I am pleased to report that the Direwolves won 10-1, so I won’t need to kill another Stark. The team made an incredibly generous contribution to the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary as well. And I have to say, the field there on Staten Island, right next to the iconic ferry, is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen, with truly spectacular views.

All in all, a great trip.

If only there wasn’t so much work awaiting me when I came home…