knock on that

Savory and sweet

2009-12-11T19:56:00.000-08:00

Recently I came across a recipe for pesto that doesn't presume ownership of a food processor: How to Make Pesto Like an Italian Grandmother. It's totally worth all the chopping -- I've already made it twice. Just basil and garlic and pine nuts and parmesan. Simple but oh so tasty.

On Wednesday, D. and I found ourselves snowed in. I'd left my car at work the night before and got a ride home from my boss, knowing that the snow was going to be bad and not wanting to face digging my car out of a snowbank first thing the next morning. I planned on taking the bus to work instead, because bus service is never, never canceled. Except this time it was -- even the busses couldn't cope with the twenty inches of snow we got. So instead of going to work, I made pancakes.

I almost never make pancakes. I just used the basic recipe from Joy of Cooking, except that the recipe called for melted butter, which I didn't have. So I used melted coconut oil. When I whisked the coconut oil in with the cold eggs and milk, it immediately formed thousands of tiny little globules -- kind of bizarre to look at, but these pancakes turned out to be delightfully fluffy and flavorful, and I think it was because the coconut oil blobs formed little pockets in the batter as the pancakes cooked, before melting and oozing their coconutty goodness into the pancake. Highly recommended.

Too bad I can't just take the bus

2009-12-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

I had a misadventure on Friday evening: on my way out of the parking lot leaving work, I hit a bicyclist. She was biking on the sidewalk, coming up on my right. It was pitch dark outside, and I didn't see her at all. I just heard a horrifying ka-thump as I pulled out into the street. I jumped out of my car, and there on the sidewalk behind me was a tumbled over bicycle and a woman screaming bloody murder. Turns out neither she nor her bicycle appeared to have suffered any serious injury, since in the end (after I called 911, and the police came, and paramedics came and left) she got back on her bike and rode away. Thank God.

I have weirdly mixed feelings about the whole thing. I'm pretty horrified that this happened, and very, very sorry. And I'm enormously relieved that the woman was alright -- probably bruised and shaken, but basically unharmed. But underneath that, I can't help but be irritated about the whole thing too.

For one thing, people who ride on the sidewalk have always driven me crazy, because it gives other cyclists a bad name and because it's unsafe. So there's that point proven. Some idiot might just come along and hit you.

Also, I'm saying "I hit a cyclist," but I'm not entirely sure it wasn't vice versa. When I went out to look at my car the next morning, in the light of day, there wasn't any sort of scuff or smudge or smear in the dirt on the front of my car (which I haven't washed since maybe September). I think it's entirely possible that she's the one who hit me. That would also explain why she and her bike were so undamaged.

Mainly, though, I'm just very glad that she was okay. Mad as hell, but okay. Given how much worse it could have been, I was happy to get yelled at.

I'm a P.C.

2009-11-22T10:03:00.001-08:00

I just read a thread on a community message board posted by some dude who was all baffled that someone was offended when he made a comment on his blog making fun of Sarah Palin by saying something like "her advisor must be her retarded baby." His defense was, since he's referring to her actual mentally-retarded baby, how can this be a slur?

By the time I read this, there had already been a lot of discussion. My favorite point made was, dude, whether or not it's technically a slur, it's not cool to make fun of someone by using their disabled child. Duh, right?

There was a lot of talk, from the guy who posted and from other people chiming in, about how this world is just getting too caught up in political correctness. The guy also mounted the defense (which I've heard others make) that he makes insensitive jokes about everyone, so he's clearly not biased toward any group in particular -- which is basically saying, I'm not a prejudiced asshole, just an asshole in general. Man, if that's your attitude, maybe you should rethink how you're engaging with the world, or at least, don't act surprised when people call you an asshole.

Kid's got energy.

2009-11-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

I got to hang out with my almost-7-year-old nephew all day yesterday. My dad brought him to town. We all had breakfast together, then Dad parted company with us for a few hours to go fulfill some professional whatnot.

First J. and I walked down to the lake. He fell in and got his pants thoroughly wet, but fortunately it was very warm and not a bad day to walk around in damp pants. (He definitely did not want to go to a laundromat to dry them out.) Then J. got in a good workout throwing rocks at other rocks, while I observed his technique and made sure no passers-by were in danger. Next J. collected a bunch of sticks to put together for a raft, which I wove together. We later procured some string to secure it. Not very seaworthy, but perhaps an interesting piece of wall art?

I also got J. a plastic robot ball toy thing that caught his eye, which had to be rolled along the ground or thrown at the ground in order to get it to pop apart into full robot form. This we did on the lawn at the Capitol, because where else? We gave the toy a rest for a little while, though, to wander around the inside of the capitol and then check out the observation area overlooking the city.

We met back up with Dad, and the three of us went to lunch at a Greek restaurant, which J. thought he wanted although wasn't so sure when we actually got the food. Then Dad and I talked J. into going with us to the Children's Museum, but he was not impressed, so we cut out of there after a pretty cursory tour through the exhibits.

After a stop at a toystore where J. acquired an amazing little vibrating bug toy, we headed back to my apartment so that J. could show me his current favorite computer game, Monsters vs. Aliens Tower Defense. While he played and explained strategy to me, I tried not to fall asleep where I sat. That kid wore me right out.

Homework

2009-09-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

Kids generally agree that a lot of homework is bogus. I personally had a hard time getting motivated to do math homework, and I always felt that the number of problems assigned was really unnecessary. If I don't know how to multiply two-digit numbers within the first ten homework problems, doing another thirty isn't going to help me; and if I can show in the first ten that I know what I'm doing, then why should I have to do another thirty.

People don't usually think of doing homework as a life skill. Washing dishes, for example, is a chore with a pretty obvious practical application. What does homework teach? I think it teaches a person how to assign value to an otherwise valueless task, in order to reap a not-so-tangible, not-so-immediate reward.

I'm thinking of this because I've noticed that some of my clients have trouble doing the homework I give them. And in the context of my work, this really creates problems for people -- say, when someone forgets to bring in crucial documentation, or doesn't complete paperwork, or fails to make timely payments on their court-ordered obligations. These problems don't become tangible until the client is dodging a warrant or sitting in jail, wondering how this all went so suddenly wrong.

And anything you say can and will be used against you!

2009-09-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

I had a conversation with my mother a few days ago about my new job, and how one of the difficult things about it that I wasn't really anticipating is that it's really hard to talk about work. For the most part, I can't say much to the friends who would really appreciate it; and of the friends I can talk to, they mostly don't get it. The difficulty of working in a very small practice is that I have fewer coworkers to safely commiserate with -- but at least I have a few!

So that's a roundabout way of saying, this is partly why I haven't been writing much the past however long. Most of my brain is taken up by things that I can't talk about, and I find myself struggling to find safe ground for writing that's also interesting. If I were cooking more, I could talk about food. If I were going out more, I could talk about hilarious misadventures. But mostly, I go to work, then go home and do the couch potato thing.

This weekend I went to a coworker's wedding, in a more rural small-towny area about 2 hours northeast. The drive was lovely, with autumn colors starting to pop out here and there, and the weather was just about perfect. The wedding itself was completely lovely -- all the hard work they put in really paid off. And the dessert bar (in lieu of one big traditional cake) was killer.

This morning, David and I went with some friends to La Brioche for breakfast. I have mixed feelings about that place. Mostly, it's excellent. But sometimes they do things more pretty than good. Like their tea service: when you order tea, you get an individual full-size antique-y teapot filled with hot water, a cup and saucer, and a single tea bag containing fair-trade organic tea. While this makes for a charming arrangement, (1) the water isn't hot enough if it's been sitting around in a teapot waiting to be brought to the table, (2) one tea bag isn't nearly enough for a 4-to-6 cup teapot, and (3) if I've already ordered my choice of tea, why don't they just prepare it for me? Why do I have to add the tea bag to the water? But it is a cute place, and the food is mostly excellent -- good enough that it's worth putting up with lousy tea.

Chilly but sunny

2009-08-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

I drove out to Target this afternoon to pick up a new toothbrush holder -- something that wouldn't shatter all over the bathtub when accidentally knocked from the sink, not that I did that with the last one, ahem. It has been quite chilly all day, but beautiful, with a melancholy touch of autumn in the air. I love this slanting late-afternoon sunlight, and cozy long sleeves, and hot chocolate with a hint of cinnamon.

Our apartment is a bit of a disaster. No comment on whose fault that is. But I've been thinking lately that it'd be nice to have people over for dinner, and it's hard to do that when the place looks like it's been infested by gremlins on a bender. And this is getting to be the perfect time of year for amazing end-of-summer slow food. I'm thinking maybe some summer squash lasagna and a bottle of red wine, shared among friends along with a lot of laughter and good conversation. Who's in?

Tickle

2009-08-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe the summer's almost gone. David made it back from Seattle about two weeks ago. What have I been up to lately? Work, mostly, with a lot of reading in my spare time. I think it's effecting my eyesight. Recently:

Jim Butcher, the Dresden Files books 1 through 5
Roald Dahl, Boy (classic!)
Brian James, Zombie Blondes
Raleigh Briggs, Make Your Place (so homemade-y and inspiring)
Dan Simmons, The Terror -- only partway into this, we'll see if I finish it
Neal Stephenson, The Confusion -- another book I'm halfway into, but that puts me squarely halfway through the trilogy, so I'm committed now

Since visiting Seattle, I also had a weekend adventure in Montana getting my goddaughter baptized, and spent a weekend in Minneapolis getting my cousin married. I also had a weekend visit from my aunt and twin cousins, bumming around town here, getting torrentially rained on at the farmers' market, eating exquisite chocolate, roasting a chicken that my aunt brought with her, and generally having a fabulous time.

Photos!

2009-07-08T20:58:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I went to Seattle to visit D. Photos (and captions) here.

All summered up

2009-06-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

I went shopping yesterday. I thought I was going to look for shoes and pants, and I did get shoes, but I just didn't have any interest in trying on pants once I got to the mall. I did, however, try on some skirts and dresses. I ended up taking home a pair of little brown flats with a black flower outlined on the toe; a brown linen below-the-knee librarian skirt; a floaty orange-pink-cream-brown skirt; and a blue-green print knit sleeveless dress. The dress also came in a different print that I also really liked, and I'm debating whether to go back tonight and get that one too.

Now I just need some new sandals, and I'll be all set for summer. Pants can wait.

Ramblings of a poor lonely abandoned girl (awww...)

2009-06-02T21:09:00.001-07:00

Last Tuesday, D. found out that he was getting a (super cool) summer job in Seattle, to start the following Monday. So, uh, that was fast. We got him all packed up, and he flew out on Saturday. And now I miss him. But he's going to have a fantastic time, working on interesting and intellectually challenging stuff; and as a bonus he'll be making much better money than he would working as a part-time sailing instructor here, which was the alternate plan.

Tonight I stayed late at work to upgrade some software that's been in need of upgrading since the beginning of the year. Since my honey is in Seattle, I didn't have anything better to do with my evening anyway. I got home, fried up some fish that my dad gave me last weekend (mmm, walleye), and goofed around on the internet for the rest of the evening, looking up various pop-culture-y games like Mafia and 1KBWC.

I had PBS going in the background and watched the most of a program on Percy Julian (who was a scientist and a hero and an amazing man) then most of a program on the development of in vitro fertilization (amazing to realize how quickly that went from being unthinkable and impossible to being mainstream and routine).

I'm doing science and I'm still alive!

2009-05-16T18:04:00.000-07:00

Oh, goodness, it's been a while. Here's some news:

New job is going great. I'm doing mostly family law, with a sampling of other stuff thrown in. (Lately, I'm about sick to death of discovery -- both sending it out and answering it -- but according to my boss this is just a phase, and I'll get some other stuff to work on soon enough.)
I just today bought a new car. It's an '05 Corolla, red, manual transmission. I haven't actually taken possession of it or even signed papers yet -- that's set for Monday -- but I agreed to buy a car.
I got a new computer. It's a Samsung N120 netbook. It's teeny and very lightweight, but it's built around a full-size keyboard so typing isn't all scrunched. I like it a lot so far.
D. just finished the last week of the semester. He was very consumed with homework and exams and all that, so it's nice to finally get him back.

(P.S. If you're wondering about the title of this post, it's from the game Portal, which is one of the three video games I've played to completion, along with Braid and, years ago when I was unemployed in Colorado, Donkey Kong Country.)

In like a lamb

2009-03-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning with an overwhelming urge to make granola bars. I make a batch last week, using this recipe as a starting point, and ended up with many, many excellent granola bars -- I think it made 24 bars (as opposed to the six in an average box of granola bars from the store). They're less chewy, more dry, but that suits me just fine. And they're not too sweet. If you want to give it a try using the linked recipe, I recommend (1) not baking them, because I suspect they'd get too crispy/crumbly and nobody else seems to bake their granola bars, (2) mixing thoroughly, because you don't want dry spots in your granola when you go to press it in the pan, and (3) fooling around with the ingredients to suit your tastes and what you have on hand. As long as you keep the wet-to-dry ratio about the same, it'd be pretty hard to screw these up.

In other news:

I got a real job. Yay! I'm two weeks in, and so far it has been a blast.
I got into a car accident on Friday. Pretty minor, nobody hurt, and my car is still driveable even if it isn't as pretty as it used to be. Stupid slippery roads.
Last year I wrote a parody of Alanis Morisette's "You Oughtta Know" based on contract law. I finally got around to making an mp3 of it, and it is now available here.

Working out, eating well, staying positive

2009-02-09T17:31:00.001-08:00

I started working out again. I knew I was out of shape, but man, my butt is really getting kicked. In a good way. Well, mostly good. Tonight I'm having trouble getting in and out of my chair because my quad muscles are howling in pain. But other than that, good.

Tonight when I got home from the Monkey Bar, I made yam fries for the first time in about a year. They turned out perfectly -- ridiculously perfectly. I also made a batch of brown rice / kidney bean / green pea pilaf. I had a little bowlful to go with the yam fries, and with plenty left over for a couple of lunches this week.

I have gotten into the technique of cooking rice (or other grains) like pasta, by boiling them in a full pot of water and then draining them when they're nicely al dente. The brown rice I made took just under 20 minutes to cook, instead of 30-40 using the usual method. It also makes me feel somewhat better about not rinsing my rice, which I have never liked doing. (It might not work for making short-grain sushi rice, though, because all that water would wash away the stickiness that keeps it together.)

On an unrelated note, did I mention that I lost my pink-and-brown hat? The one that I made, that matches my scarf? If you see it, let me know. I really miss that hat.

Other things I haven't mentioned: My car has been in the shop since Friday, having been totally disabled by an electrical fire that killed the alternator and blew a fuse. It's not clear yet how much the repairs will cost, but it won't be pretty. Meanwhile, I keep having ridiculous tech problems at work and have been unable to do about half of what I wanted to get done for want of a computer or functioning network connection. And I have this lingering cough. A fortune cookie told me a few weeks ago that my luck has been completely changed; and I always thought I had really good luck so this makes me nervous.

But in spite of the worrisome fortune cookie, I'm still looking on the bright side. The car thing could have been much worse, because at least all it did was quit running, instead of, say, bursting into flame and blowing up in a fiery ball. And at work, this isn't a bad week to be hobbled by tech issues, and at least I had some things to do that didn't involve computers at all. And the cough is annoying, but it's just a cough.

And tomorrow it's supposed to get above 50 degrees! (That's 10 degrees Celsius, for those of you on the metric scale.) It's always easier to stay upbeat when the weather is in your favor.

Love love love

2009-01-30T19:13:00.000-08:00

Amazing stop-motion animation, great tune -- you must watch this:

(via Bake & Shake)

Thank you, Feds!

2009-01-30T18:29:00.000-08:00

People like to complain about the IRS, but you know what? The IRS rocks. Sure, nobody wants to get audited, and lots of people like to complain about paying taxes (and they can all stick a sock in it as far as I'm concerned). But I never hear anyone bother to express any admiration for the insane amount of work that the IRS gets done and does pretty darn well given the circumstances. And you know one thing that the IRS has gotten really good at in the past few years? Crazy fast tax refunds. God bless 'em.

I still have to do my state tax return. I've been having some technical difficulties getting their online filing thing up and running. I'm going to give it one more shot, and if I'm still having problems, I think I'll just file a paper return. The more I use the internet for everything, though, the more aware I am of how much paper we have used and still use for stuff like that, and it makes me a little ill inside. (For similar reasons, I don't like to buy CDs anymore, because why bother? All I'm going to do is rip it to my computer and load it into my iPod -- I don't even have a stereo that can play CDs.)

What you do on your mid-morning tea break at work

2009-01-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some NY Times articles that have caught my eye lately:

"It is not known for sure why exercise can elicit such strange lab results, researchers say." There's something funny about this article, the way that it expresses surprise that lab results might incorrectly reflect what's going on in the body of a person who has recently exercised. The anomolous results are interesting, sure, but isn't the point that the body is right and the lab is wrong? Somehow it seems that the "researchers" quoted above think it should be the other way around.

"Too many Americans believe that to lose weight, what you eat matters more than how much you eat" (quoting Dr. Pierre Chandon). This nicely sums up the point of this article, that some foods carry a "health halo" (like foods billed as "low fat!" or "trans-fat free!" or "with antiodidants!") that lead people to think they are healthier than they actually are.

"Food Storage as Grandma Knew It." I want a root cellar.

"I’ve got to do something about these plates. I’m not really a plates kind of guy." On the Obama approach to working at the White House. You really just have to read this one. I find it utterly charming.

Back to the grind

2009-01-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

One thing about working a normal full-time job is that you get a normal two-day weekend. How did it get to be Sunday night already??

This weekend, D. and I headed up north to hang out with my family. Good times. My grandma made about twice as much hotdish (aka. casserole, for those of you not from the upper midwest) as any of us could eat. My cousin J. and her man came with an assortment of 2-liter bottles of soda, including some cherry-flavored 7up fortified with antioxident vitamin E, which they got for seven cents with a coupon. Seven cents, and 10% of your daily value of vitamin E per serving--I'm equally awed and creeped out by that.

We brought an assortment of chocolate that we'd brought home from Poland, which turned out to be an even bigger hit than I'd expected. It was especially a hit with my nephew (which I did expect--that guy's a chocolate fiend). I also brought most of the remaining strawberry jam that I made last summer with some friends. I'd been meaning to share it--we made so much that we each ended up with something like 20 various-sized jars of jam each, including about 10 pint jars. And while D. may love strawberry, there's just only so much jam that we can eat. Also, there's something pretty cool about opening up a jar full of homemade strawberry jam in the dead of winter--like a blast of summer sunshine in jam-form.

In no particular order

2009-01-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to write a wrap-up of the rest of our travels, but, well... I haven't. In short, we spent the last few days of the trip back in Copenhagen, and this time we were a little more bright-eyed and alert for the experience. I really liked Copenhagen. The people were incredibly friendly, and the city has lots of interesting nooks to explore. It would be great to go back sometime, preferably in the summer, definitely when I'm less broke. You can, as always, see the pictures here.

We got back a little over a week ago, and we both had all of last week off. It was wonderful to take some time to decompress and relax at home. Today I started back at work -- the same temporary job that I've had for the last however-many months, which also means that it's back to the search for a "real" job. ("Real" meaning "with long-term career potential" as opposed to "not imaginary" -- please don't report me to the "blog" of "unnecessary" quotation marks.)

Other random bits and pieces I'd like to share with you:

Amusing road sign in Wales, via not martha. (She also has a good link to 5 Job Interview Questions That Mean You’re Not Getting Hired…And One That Means You Are for the rest of you job hunters out there.)

What should be in your pantry, according to the New York Times, and what Gluten-Free Girl has in hers.

Hand-made beards and the beard-maker's blog, via angry chicken.

The moon comes to visit, photos by a pair of Russian artists (with text all in Russian but you can still appreciate the photos even if you don't know Russian).

"My Dinners with Dubya" on Vanity Fair -- one man's own story of how it turns out that you don't necessarily want as President a guy who seems like he'd be fun to have a beer with.

And on that note, happy Inauguration Day, everyone!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T13:29:00.000-08:00

We spent New Year's Eve with D's family. First we made an appearance at the Jewish theater downtown, to catch the last part of the evening's variety show. We hung out backstage briefly to say hi to D's grandfather, and then we took off to spend the rest of the evening with D's sister.

After the midnight countdown, we went outside to set off fireworks, which apparently is the traditional Polish way to ring in the new year. And these weren't just little sparkly fountain things. Although there were some of those too -- but mostly this was the big rocket kind. It was really something to be in the middle of a whole neighborhood of people setting off big fireworks. Hard to capture in photos, but I did manage to get a few, along with a short video of D. and his mom's partner almost blowing themselves up with a firework that didn't launch properly. (No one got hurt, although it did set off a nearby car alarm.)

More pictures from Poland

2008-12-29T16:14:00.000-08:00

The next set of photos are captioned and ready for your amusement. Warsaw for the holidays and Walking in Piaseczno

We've been lounging around D's mom's house, eating silly amounts of chocolate and taking it easy. We have managed to make a few excursions here and there. Yesterday, we saw Yes Man with D's cousin and her Austrian boyfriend -- in English with Polish subtitles. The day before, we tracked down an Indian restaurant in the Warsaw city center, called Bollywood, which was delicious but probably the mildest, least-spicy Indian food I've ever eaten.

We spent this afternoon and evening hanging out with D's nephew, who is a character. According to D, the nephew has taken a liking to D's friend N. and wants to marry me. I don't know about that, but he did curl up next to me on the couch to take a nap, more cuddly than I expected from such a squirrely guy. We also played a lot of Mario. I managed to beat him at the Mario v. Luigi star collection game, winning 3 rounds to his 2, and I might feel a little bad about it, if he hadn't kicked my butt in a dozen other matches already.

Photos: Amsterdam and Copenhagen

2008-12-23T01:39:00.000-08:00

I have the first set of photos up and organized: Amsterdam and Copenhagen

Impression of Copenhagen: dark

2008-12-21T14:03:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow we hop a plane to Warsaw in the morning. We had yesterday and today in Copenhagen, but I'm a little embarrassed to admit that we didn't see much. Jet lag really wiped us out.

Yesterday we managed to haul our butts to the Copengagen city center. We checked out the National Museum's prehistory exhibit, which had some really neat Viking stuff, but it was already late afternoon when we got there so we only had about an hour before the museum closed. Then we wandered around trying to decide where to have dinner. Turns out that Copenhagen is not big on cheap eats -- or maybe you just have to know where you're going. We did find an excellent Thai restaurant.

Today D. and I slept in ridiculously late. We popped in at the bakery across the street to pick up some pastries for a very late breakfast, then spent most of the rest of the day indoors. And it's pretty easy to squander daylight here if you're not careful -- the sun sets at 3 o'clock these days. Not snowy, though -- the weather here is on the cold-and-rainy side. We ventured out again for dinner, this time to a Chinese place in the little burg we're staying in (actually just little north of Copenhagen, but a quick train ride away).

So, on the list of things to see when we get back: local castle, Louisiana museum, and lunch at a restaurant that serves smørrebrød, to name a few. For now, I'm just hoping that a good night's sleep tonight will clear out the rest of the jet lag that's fogging our brains.

Scandinavia, check

2008-12-19T09:40:00.000-08:00

We made it to Copenhagen! We just beat the snowstorm leaving home, flew overnight, and landed this morning in Amsterdam with a 4-hour layover. Since we had such a long time to sit around, we hopped the train to downtown Amsterdam and walked around. Man, is that a cool city! The touristy strip was a bit silly, but we made our way back into a more residential area that was just great -- old and quirky and stately and utterly charming.

We made it back to the airport with just enough time to eat some lunch and get through security, and then it was back on a plane. I slept the entire next leg of the flight, and we touched down in Copenhagen just after dark -- a little after 4pm.

New look, again + Travel plans

2008-12-18T09:36:00.000-08:00

D. and I are leaving for Denmark (and ultimately Poland) today, and last night I realized that my web hosting package was set to automatically renew while we're gone. Which I didn't want. And because I had a lot of other stuff to do, and because I'm inherently a little lazy, I just couldn't be bothered to back things up while I shifted this site from one hosting plan to another, then re-setting all my settings and re-uploading everything. Too much hassle. So I'm back with Blogger, because you just can't beat Blogger for easy set-up. And maybe I'll get around to re-posting the last few months worth of stuff. But that's a project for another day.

We'll be gone for three weeks, during which time I hope to put photos up on Picasa and maybe write the occasional update on what we're up to. This is going to be a fabulous trip -- I'm very excited to be going. Now if only we can get the last few things crossed off the to-do list before we have to leave....