(Saturday, 2 June) Just moments ago, I was annoyed that my e-ticket had been rebooked as a paper ticket, requiring me to carry (and keep safe) 12 boarding passes for my flights over the next 10 days. But I’ve just discovered a bonus.
Here I sit, not in business class, not in even in first class, but in a “super first class” seat on the top deck of a 747, shortly headed to Taipei and then to Kuala Lumpur along with Jim Newcomb, my colleague from bio-era. The seat is courtesy of a client, who probably only paid for business class. I have more legroom here than I do in my living room. I have to stand up and take a few steps just to see what goodies are stocked in the seat-back pocket in front of me. When I finally reach the row ahead of me, and retrieve the overnight kit, I find Cellular Day Cream, Cellular Hand Cream, Creamy Moisturizing Lip Balm, and finally, Cellular Lipo-Sculpting Eye Gel.
Jim is stuck back in cattle, err, business class, and I wonder how he is enjoying his Cellular Lipo-Sculpting Eye Gel. He is that kind of guy. Formerly of the CIA and various CEO and strategy jobs. The perfect market for Lipo-Sculpting Eye Gel. Ah, I know, I’ll regift him my tube of the stuff in order to make up for his lack of legroom.
Let me be clear: I don’t mind the luxury treatment one bit, and I plan to enjoy it. Because the flight is leaving at 2 AM local and in the next 10 days we will visit 6 Asian financial capitals while giving 5-6 presentations a day, all day, every day.
It’s a tad ironic, then, that these presentations -- and all the associated frequent flier miles -- are in the service of describing the future of the biofuels market in Asia and Europe, which is closely coupled to the desire to reduce carbon emissions. I’ve been cramming my head full of information about the carbon costs of various biofuels and the effects of carbon regulation on fuels markets. I’m flying ~20,000 miles in the next 10 days, which, as Jamais Cascio might say, is a hell of a lot of cheeseburgers.
Hmmm…I wonder what the carbon cost is of toting all this Cellular Lipo-Sculpting Eye Gel back and forth across the Pacific at 35,000 feet? Any thoughts, Jamais?