Smoking ban notwithstanding, one of the many decisive advantages Manhattan still holds over DC is that everywhere I’ve been so far (various parts of Brooklyn and the East Village), there are about 8 WiFi networks accessible from any given location, at least a couple of which are open. I’m sitting outside at one of my old favorite haunts, Yaffa, hitching a ride on some kind (or ingenuous) soul’s bandwidth. (I also just did a quick interview for this documentary, mostly talking about this piece and managed to fix the producers’ Internet connection as a matter of mostly pure stupid luck.) From here I’m meeting up with the rest of the Reason convention team to figure out what’s what. Including things like “where will I be sleeping,” though I think I’ll probably be able to crash on the heroically hospitable Amy‘s futon. Tonight… maybe one (or more?) of the media welcome parties, maybe not, depending on our collective energy level. Tomorrow: pre-convention protests aplenty.