The following are my thoughts, and contains my advice. Always be honest. If you are caught out in a lie people will forever wonder if they can trust you. Tha

The following are my thoughts, and contains my advice. Always be honest. If you are caught out in a lie people will forever wonder if they can trust you. That's not a good place to be. Secondly, if the people in your office really do read HN then they already know who they are, and now probably know who you are. Thirdly, you should fulfil your obligations. If you are expected to do the demo then you should either bring someone else up to speed to stand in for you, or you should stay and do the demo. Explain to the guys in SF. Explain that it's important to you to be honest and to meet your obligations. Say that you are already obliged to do the demo, but you would be very pleased to come out as soon as it's done. What reputation do you want? If you tell the SF guys that you are meeting an obligation, and that to do so is your style and your ethic, that can hardly make them want you less. And in my book - always be honest. Finally, one of my programmers once came to tell me he needed some time off for an interview. I made space for him, covered for him, and made it clear that I'd be sorry to see him go. I chatted with him to find out why he was unhappy, and eventually we agreed that he wasn't really a good fit for his job with us. We couldn't find anything that would fit better, so I helped him get a position he wanted more. I could honestly tell the other company that I respected his honesty and integrity, and was genuinely sorry to see him more on, but it was best for him. No bridges burned, good karma all round. What ever you do, make sure it matches the image you want to have of yourself.