Diary - 5

Although I spent the last twoo weeks outside the newsroom, I am writing a few lines to mark this period for my own records and whoever is interested.

I arrived in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday, June 3, met Sopan at the airport, then Lucia, who was so kind to take us to her apartment in Miami Beach where we spent one night. As soon as we dropped our bags we went to the beach which is only a few blocks away from her house; it was a great joy to swim in the surprisingly warm Atlantic Ocean. In the evening, Lucia drove us to take a look around South Beach.

I started the next day with going to the beach again then Sopan and I joined Lucia who went to a conference in South Beach. While she was at the conference we walked around and I swam too. After the conference Lucia drove us to dowtown Miami where we had a lunch together. Then she went to her newspaper's Miami office and we walked to our hotel. In the evening, Sopan and I went to a nice boattrip around the islands of Miami and saw a couple of nice houses of the rich and famous. Then we met Ivan who arrived in the afternoon and stayed at a nearby hotel with Umar and had a dinner together.

The next morning we went to the Kennedy Space Center with Lucia to see a rocket launh - it was delayed, but we spent the whole day visiting the Center. On our way back to Miami we looked around Palm Beach and saw some nice houses there, too.

The IRE conference started Friday, June 6. The most useful sessions for me were those that offered actual help in online research. There were others that I found interesting because they gave me insight to how the best American journalists do their jobs, how they develop sources, socialize with them, etc. Friday, Sonia cooked us a delicious dinner in Lucia's apartment and on Sunday, after some time on the beach, we went out for dinner to Lincoln Road, South Beach.

Sunday afternoon, Sopan and I flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa, and unfortunately missed the train to the airport. The cab was expensive, but at least we had the chance to conteplate on the virtue of resignation.

We met Andrew and Susan at the airport then Susan drove us to our hotel in St. Petersburg. Lucia, Umar, Sonia and Ivan were already there. We went to a pub with a wide variety of beers called Independent, whose owner also joined us for a drink. When the rest of the group - Katie with Samuel and Deepak - arrived, we all had a dinner together.

Monday we went to the beach together and had a dinner at Poynter, where we had our first session too that evening with Paul Pohlman and Tom Huang at the helm. During the week we also had sessions with Roy Peter Clark, Bill Mitchell, Kelly McBride, Ellyn Angelotti and Christopher "Chip" Scanlan.

A great experience for me was a visit to the Dali Museum where I spent more than three hours. Saturday (after a session with Gary Weaver) some of us went to a boattrip to see dolphins (and a couple of nice houses, again). In the evening we all went to Bill's house for dinner where we could try his kayaks.

It was a very pleasant two weeks!