We could have had an AGU session on the flight

I caught the direct flight from Tucson to San Francisco last night for the American Geophysical Union meeting. It was one of the smaller planes - 48 seats- and I sitting at the back where it was less crowded and I could work on my presentation on my laptop.

We took off at dusk and about halfway through the flight, I looked up the aisle in the dark plane and all I could see were a line of laptops lit up with powerpoint presentations to be given at AGU. Just glancing around, I saw some dazzling slides. One on Dark Skies looked spectacular! Made me re-look at some of my now drab slides and think about ways to punch them up.

Attendance at the meeting is reportedly over 16,000. I speak tomorrow about dramatic developments in the past year that are leading "Towards a Global Data Network in the Geosciences."

After an early morning breakfast with AGU Editors, I'll be meeting with project partners and collaborators on our growing set of contracts and grants in geoinformatics. And checking in with the new AGU blogging center. Geobloggers are gathering for lunch today - it's becoming an important communications tool even while we are still learning what we can do with it.