Didn't talk -- Yet

I cleared my desk and my head. I had three good "math for journalists" books in front of me along with a list of topics I thought should be in my book. At 11:55 a.m. I shut my office door in anticipation of the call from the publisher.

12 noon. Nothing.

12:05. Maybe she was fixing her hair before the call.

12:10. Perhaps the 80 percent rule was going to kick in. That goes something like: If you're expecting something to happen, 10% of the time it does. 10% of the time it won't. But 80% of the time, it gets put on hold.

12:15. OK, Tom Miller and Ted Robbins are waiting for me to have lunch with them at Beyond Bread, a 10 minute bike ride away. I'm outta here.

I called and left a message saying that I hoped I got the time and date right, would be around tomorrow, and headed out.

Tom's two best quips:

"Well, there goes your best seller."

and, with his voice of experience speaking:

"You know, Jay, if a publisher stands you up for an appointment, it means thay must offer you a contract."

She called at 1:00 but I didn't hear or feel the phone. After I got back to my office, I got her message explaining what happened. Their publishing house is being acquired by a larger one and the place was crawling with executives and she was part of all kinds of meetings and couldn't break away to call me. O.K., I've been there.

So, I've spent the last hour and a half on the computer doing graphing problems to get ready for Monday's quiz. I promised myself that I wouldn't check either my email or the New York Times until I got through section 2.2 (I need to work through 2.6 this weekend). When I came up for air and checked my email, I saw in the subject line: "Talk today?"

I clicked and read this message:
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"Jay,I am so sorry about yesterday. I found myself in a meeting with my boss,my boss's boss, and a xxxx exec and could not easily extract myself. You said in your voicemail that you'd have some time today to talk. Would around 3pm EST work for you?

Thanks for your understanding.

Best,
xxxxx "

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I'll report back after lunch.