I am excited, as always, to be seeing so many old friends at the Carnegie Nonproliferation Conference, even if this year’s agenda leaves me a little cold.

Maybe I am just overreacting to the keynote address by Anne Lauvergeon, Chief Executive Officer, AREVA. I have about the same interest in listening to the CEO of AREVA discuss nonproliferation as I have in hearing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s opinions about combating anti-semitism.

James will no doubt differ. And not that Lauvergeon isn’t without fanboys — who make creepy videos — and girls who dig her shoes. But I am not one of them.

So …. it seems like the only sensible thing to do is to adjourn to a nearby watering hole during her talk on Monday. Jill and I will be convening across the street at the Round Robin in the Willard Intercontinental — the hotel whose lobby gave us the term “lobbyist” — for one of Henry Clay’s mint juleps.

We’ll arrive around 5:30 and adjourn in time for the reception at 6:30.

Feel free to join us, if you’d like.