I can't believe I'm going to South Africa...

I'm trying to take things one day at a time. I actually was able to pack everything in carry on luggage without too many issues. I keep thinking I forgot something. (There's no way it should have fit that easily.) First I'm headed to New York to see family and friends I haven't seen in forever. I have to get up at the crack of dawn 4:45am to make my 7am flight. I was able to find someone to haul me to the air port that early. Thanks Sue, that's really nice of you.

I've already taken out the trash. There's one plastic bag of (duh) plastic bags I need to recycle. I threw out the ones that had pesticides on them. I still need to run the dishwasher and rinse out the garbage disposal. Then, I need to try and sleep. Hah! Yeah, I'll be able to sleep. Everything I own that rings is set to go off tomorrow morning, or it will be before I go to bed tonight.

It's been an interesting week for me. Yesterday all my clothes came back. And all the other textile/fabric/leather/shoes they cleaned. Wow. I really am fortunate. I have a lot of stuff. If you're wondering how they keep clothes from four or five different families straight, they use tags. You know the tags on new clothes they fasten on with those little spikes of plastic. That's what they use. A tag with my name on it. And a spike of plastic. On everything. No, seriously. Everything. All the stuff that came in a box, I already cut the tags off. I also cut the tags off anything I packed. And then I was worn out from all the cutting of the tags. And I stopped. I still have to address myself to the hanging clothes. And coats. And blankets. I'll do that when I get back.

Yesterday was a big day of cleaning. This morning I worked for a few hours. I couldn't really concentrate and luckily I'd tied up almost all my loose ends on Wednesday. I did have to write a script to read for my outgoing message on my voice mail. It's that long. In addition to my being out of town, Jewish Family Service is closed four of the ten work days I'll be away so there's about three different contingencies in my voice mail. (Wait 'till I get back, talk to someone else here, leave a message for someone else here, call someone at another agency.)

Cleaning today was easier than I thought it would be. My apartment looks great now. It's nice to leave it this way and it will be nice to come back to. I also ran to Target to get a case for my new iPod Touch (sweet) and some granola/protein bars for the (multiple) airplane trips I'll be taking in the next few weeks.

Here are some things to entertain you while I'm traveling:

It took an expert to find the link between creativity and mood disorders? Seriously?

This one is for Amanda: 10 ways to eat more bacon. We've already done the chocolate covered bacon. Bacon covered tofu sounds like vegetarian repellent.

And now, whenever people ask me about the presidential election, I'll wave my hand in some general direction and say, I'm voting for "that one".

Speaking of voting, It could be dangerous. Actually, the last time I tried to vote for president, I did get in a wreck and was without my car for almost a month. Maybe I'll walk to the polls this year.