Yep, he’s a geek

I had the chance to steal Nicholas Negroponte’s laptop last night. I chose not to. He put it down for only a second.

We were on the same flight from Chicago to White Plains and, just as you’d suspect, his nose was buried in a laptop from the moment I spotted him in the gate area, through check-in, down the jetway into his seat — pause for takeoff, nervously — back on the whole flight — pause for landing, grumpily — balance on palm and back into it off the plane, into the baggage area. He actually made his chaffeur stand there, bags draped off him, while he did something on his laptop, still balanced on his left palm. What the hell was he doing? Surfing? Not typing, certainly. Being … digital?

(Actually I think he was working on this.)