T-Minus Just Today

Well, the big day of the road trip & expedition are just about upon me.

Man, but I need this trip. We're in the process of trying to arrange a bunch of contractors to do necessary updates to our house via a low-interest loan program through a local community agency (e.g. lots of hoops & paperwork), and are suddenly faced with the city of Minneapolis telling us our tree has to be out by July 30 or they'll do it for us. So the last week has been very hectic, trying to make sure the multiple quotes are done, all the contractors are filling out participation agreements, etc. On top of that, I was involved with helping put together a summer picnic to celebrate the accomplishments of the theatre. I actually had minimal involvement with that, but the beginning of the week to sweat the very awkward prospect of doing multiple improvisational < 90 second re-enactments of our last play in front of fellow actors & volunteers. I also had to find a chance to buy some food items for the event. Not a particularly demanding set of obligations under ordinary circumstances, but it was under the duress of the contractor craziness and all the other stresses that come with trying to make sure you're equipped (backpack food shopping, going over & over the gear list, clothes I am bringing all washed) and all other business matters are attended to (upcoming bills for the next 10 days, work obligations, writing a press release for the theatre etc. etc.) have made for a challenging week. I've also been trying to compensate Sharon a bit for the amount of time she'll be a solo parent over the next week & a half by picking up extra Lucy duties. The only decent thing to do, of course, but making my schedule all the more tight.

But here we are at the end. I've done nearly everything I can do in getting ready and I'm ready to take Michael Jackson's advice and just "...leave the 9 to 5 upon the shelf and just enjoy (my)self. Groove." I'm hoping to just relax tonight and spend a little time with Sharon. Mixxy flies in late tomorrow morning, then we're down to Cedar Falls to pick up T-Clog and we're off Sunday at 6:00 am. We're not going to be like those polar expeditions you read about that send electronic journals to a 3rd grade class in Newark; we're going to be utterly unconnected. So with this, I'm signing off with a promise of a full report upon my return, as well as (undoubtedly) some pictures.

Toodles.