Well, some trips just seemed to be jinxed from the beginning. There was not a single segment of this trip to Istanbul, Azerbaijan and San Francisco that didn’t entail some kind of massive inconvenience: delays leaving, delays arriving, a lost bag — but today was the worst: I came out of my airport hotel to board my 6 a.m. flight to San Francisco and was greeted with a “Cancelled” message. So, to my massive disappointment, I won’t be able to make it in person to the Global Social Venture Competition at Berkeley today, where I was to deliver the keynote. How embarrassing.
I should have known when the pilot of the Turkish Air flight to Baku asked me “Have you seen the White Whale?” But seriously, how cursed can one trip be?
So here I sit, contemplating once again the Istanbul skyline.
Hope the folks at Berkeley can rope me in via skype of something.

Rupert