What a relief to wake up and be able to take the train to work today. I still hate taking the subway, but today I was grateful for it. Too much going on and not enough paid time off to stay home, so transit strike or no transit strike, I was going to have to be here. I'm just hoping it stays this way and they find a way to agree.

I've got my first client presentation here at 4pm. It's an informal one, on a conference call, but it's the first time I've done this in about a million years. At my last job I was never involved enough on a project to actually present, and before that I was freelancing and freelancers rarely present. So I am a little nervous. It's a fairly straightforward project, and the things that are new and different are actually things I suggested, so I should be able to talk about it fairly coherently. Still, there's a certain "dog and pony show" aspect to it that always unnerves me.

Right about now Ryan should be giving his interim thesis presentation at school. He's done a lot of great work - way more than any of the other grad students. He's stopped updating his blog, but last night I saw what he's presenting today and I was very impressed. It's a combination of storyboard scenes plus completed scenes, with music and dialogue. At least all the time he's been putting in on that rather than spending with me is coming to fruition!