Tomorrow night I'll board a plane for London, where I'll be presenting Bulletproof Web Design on the second day of @media 2006. I'm pretty excited about the trip, depite being terrified of leaving Jack and Kerry. They'll be fine, of course. But it feels weird to be leaving, even though I haven't left yet.

Anyhow, it'll be great to see some friends I haven't seen in a long while, and I'm really looking forward to meeting new ones. I don't get out much these days. If you're heading to the conference, be sure to say "hi".

Coincidentally, my talk is the first of the morning after the England vs. Trinadad & Tobago World Cup match. Will anyone show up if they win? If they lose? Will I get swept up into all of this? Probably. And then my session should be even more interesting.

Also, for the past eight years I've been carrying around a British £5 note in my wallet from our first trip to England. I have fond memories of the trip, where Kerry and I (not yet married at the time) visited my parents who were staying in Oxford for the summer. My grandfather (on my Dad's side) made the trip out with us, and I can remember we tired him out with walking tours of Oxford, London and the Cotswolds. I'd been saving this 5 pounds for the day I returned to the UK, to plunk it down in a pub, and tip my glass to my late grandfather, and the great memories of our first trip to Europe.

Last week, while cleaning out my wallet of old receipts, I accidentally ripped the £5 note into four pieces along with the unwanted receipts. Argh. I've taped it back together, and just hope it'll be accepted somewhere. For eight years, it's happily lived in my wallet (several wallets, actually), and then I had to go and do this, just a week before returning. Ah well.