July 2009 Archives

The bags are ready to pack. Sheaness is still sleeping. I'm enjoying a little quiet coffee on the porch time before I need to wake her up.

We've been talking about this trip for a year, and started making plans many months ago. As of yesterday, all the shopping was done, by last night every piece of clothing in the house except for one stray (Geek in the) pink dress shirt of mine was washed and either put away or put next to a suitcase. Toiletries have been packed into allowed or not allowed bags. There is a large line of gadgets and chargers on the kitchen counter.

Fortunately for me I have done this so much that there is no stress in the packing for me. Doesn't matter where I'm going or for how long. Open closet, count, stack, roll up, zip into bag.

The first time I flew on a plane I was 16. And it was to go to Spain with my high school class. I found my wanderlust in Toledo. And have traveled ever since.

Shea has flown many times, and has been out of the country several times. But on much shorter trips. I was looking at her passport yesterday, and the face in the picture was that of a little girl.

It's a beautiful thing for me this morning to ponder that I'm going out of town, and taking her with me. I don't have to kiss her goodbye. And I'm not going to Indianapolis, no offense. Or to Kansas City. Also, no offense.

The folks at security at the airport aren't going to recognize me with a 5' 9" appendage. (So I'll just flash my tattoo. They don't all know my name, but they know my Firedancer.)

I can't give or project my hopes for the trip to Sheaness. She'll have to define and find her own.

In the church of the den of the screened-in-porch this morning I am thankful.

For my beautiful daughter. For being able to share something that is such a part of me, with her.

For having a good job and a great boss that gave me the time off to go.

For all previous road warrior trips that gave me the miles and hotel points for us to go first-class, for almost free.

For the change jar that paid for all the new clothes and shoes.

And for friends and family that have shared our excitement.

In the church of the porch of the queen, I am oh so very thankful.

And now we are off to Italy.

In mere hours I will be able to hit the confirm button.

"I will be out of the office, and unreachable, from July 20th until August 24th. I will NOT be checking email regularly or answering my cell phone. Please direct any urgent inquiries to my boss."

It might get wordsmithed before I send it. Then again it might not. Because it says exactly what it needs to say.

(My boss knows that I will answer his calls during the next several weeks. But I also know that he won't call unless he really needs something. I got a great boss.)

I'm kicking off my down time with a two-hour massage tomorrow morning.

(I didn't feel the need to include that extra bit of information in my away message."

And in other news, I went out to Delta last night to check Shea and my seat assignments for the overseas legs. While there I noticed an odd number in my account activity history.

Someone at Delta gave me a gift of 10,000 MQM - which are the miles that Delta tracks for elite status. It's as if they said, "No need to travel the rest of the year. Here's Platinum for 2010."

Say what you want about Delta. They treat me right so I give them all my business.

Time to drink more coffee and ponder more on my deck the birds and the wind and the gray skies.

I’m a Libra. I have hope on one side of the scale, and cynicism on the other.

Hope, of course, has a density between platinum and osmium.

Cynicism, as you may recall from high school, is man-made, not at all noble, and has a bulk density just below feathers.

Hope. That he’s out there.

Cynicism. Do you want it alphabetically? Chronologically? And how much time do you have?

So the scales balance. As they should.

The forecast said only 20% but scattered thunderstorms were possible. I failed to notice the part where it said 100% humidity. And because I was sitting under my outdoor ceiling fan when I checked the weather I was a bit oblivious.

So I got out the mower and the bag and set off for the front yard. Made about three passes before I started to melt. Fortunately the amount of lawn in my front yard is small. And the city picks up absolutely anything one leaves at the curb, including grass and leaves, so dumping the bag is easy. Actually the whole thing is easy. Thirty minutes, maximum of four trips to dump the grass.

My brother built his wife a new sauna. Push mowing the yard I figure has much the same effect. Plus, despite my melting, I enjoy it.

And as long as the rain holds off, I will continue to enjoy my multitude of yard projects.

Plus, I got up early this morning and got five of my expense reports and my time sheet submitted. I feel like Rocky at the top of the steps when I hit SUBMIT that many times in a row. I don't know why I dread doing them so much when they are as easy as they are.

The sweat has stopped running down my face. For the moment anyway, I've stopped below the ceiling fan on the porch.

As I believe I mentioned on either Twitter or FB, I've got five weeks off starting this Friday. Three of those weeks are compliments of a sabbatical program at work, and two are regular vacation.

There's lots of sweat dripping in my near future.

And rock raking.

Somewhere in the very near future I need to learn enough Italian to get Shea and I around Rome.

We're still only at a third of our arbitrary budget.

Speaking of Sheaness.