The Land Down Under
In just over 8 hours I will be on a plane headed for Sydney, Australia. It has been a very stressful past few weeks, and this trip has not been the least of my worries. In fact, this trip has been a major stress point for me for several reasons, two of which I shall explore here. First, I just started my new job on February 6. Of course, before I accepted the position, I was very clear about needing the days off from March 2 - 12, but that still doesn't change the fact that I feel somewhat guilty about my extended absence so soon after my arrival. Secondly, when coupled with the move into the new apartment and my sister's car accident (an even which has not yet made an appearance in the journal), I am completely unprepared for the trip - or at least I was until 7:23 this morning when I shoved the last item into my bag and headed for the bus stop. There is a very good chance that I have forgotten something important. At the very least I have my credit card & passport. The passport will get me there and the credit card can buy anyhting I might otherwise be missing.
Today also happens to be Ash Wednesday, a fact that slipped my mind this morning when I consumed a bowl of cereal. Thankfully I finished the last of my "Steak-O-Loops" cereal yesterday, so I didn't accidentally consume meat, but had I remembered it was Ash Wednesday when I woke up I would have probably skipped breakfast and replaced it with a small lunch instead.
So, I wonder what time dinner is being served on the airplane. The flight doesn't leave until after 10 p.m. If dinner isn't served until after midnight, is it acceptable to eat it? And what about the breakfast? It will only be Thursday in California when they serve it, but it will be Friday where I am in the sky, so if they serve meat, can I eat it? These are all very important questions.
I think I'm all set to do some geocaching in Australia. I loaded 200 waypoints onto my GPS and into my Palm Pilot. 200 is obviously WAY more than I would ever get to, but at the very least it should provide a lot of different options over a wider geographic area. All the caches I loaded into the GPS are centered around Adelaide, so there should be one or two within striking distance, I hope!
Well, my "lunch" break is coming to an end so I should get this posted and finish out my day here at work.
If you're lucky, you'll find a posting from Australia sometime in the next 10 days.