Still working on the Amsterdam book. The good news is that I’m two-thirds done. The bad news is that I’ve used up about 95 percent of my stamina, working seven days a week, about 14 hours a day.

At one point last week, while taking a shower at the end of the night, I realized this is what those mysterious “consultants'” lives are like–you know, all those people in the financial sector. Those people you were friends with in college, and then they took these jobs, and you pretty much never saw them again. Fortunately, I can go to work in the same pair of shorts every day–and no summer subway trauma for me.

One day soon, I may have a social life again. In fact, August 10 I go to Baltimore for the annual crab feast. That is a goal worth working toward.