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Friends! I have been mightily chocolated! Courtesy of the coworkers. 🙂 Also, some anonymous soul left a bag on my chair with a new mini-lantern and a much needed stuff sack, I keep running out of those! But I don’t even know who to thank!

Trail tasks: assembling a small first-aid kit to take along, ordering a few more needed things, gear assembly and reordering (of course). More boxing and carting. A fair amount of sneezing.

I paid off a sizeable bill today; I still need to set up some auto-payments. A week and a half left now. Oi. Tomorrow the bro, the dad, and I ESCAPE THE ROOM… I hope! 🙂 Bit of fun. Drinks Friday with what will be my ex-coworkers… all here are still invited as well. Breakfast on Saturday with still more friends. My social calendar has exploded the closer in I get! But I still mean to do a mini-shakedown if I can.

Ciao!

*looks left nervously*
*looks right nervously*
I … I think that canister of bear spray is actually a mutant. I think it mutated from a poor, harmless little keychain Mace container. I think it’s plotting to TAKE OVER THE WORLD. (Or at least my backpack.) I will sleep with one eye open tonight, I will indeed.

The room’s reacquired more floor again. I dutifully boxed up and carried out. Some of the stuff actually made it to the garage. The rest of it is squatting in the living room, and, I suspect, roasting s’mores over a plastic trash can fire and plotting with the bear spray. Is is possible to sleep with TWO eyes open? Gandalf did it in the movies…

Filled out and emailed off some out-processing paperwork I had nearly forgotten about. My co-workers are taking me out to lunch tomorrow – Peacekeeper Lanes on base makes a killer spaghetti on Wednesdays. Oh, and if anyone reading this wants to join me, I’ll be hanging out at DJ’s Dugout in Bellevue Friday at 4:30, celebrating after I finish outprocessing. 🙂

Somehow I got a wicked nasty scratch on my neck. I’m not sure how I did it, but it’s pretty painful! I’m kinda glad I got a tetanus shot recently!

Something just snickered evilly out in the living room. Maybe sleeping with three eyes open would help?

Ciao!

Dinner tonight with a friend I haven’t seen in a long time! The food was good, the conversation better. 🙂 Then I stopped by Cabelas on the way home, picked up a jerky-making kit. I only wanted enough to cure 5 lbs, but the smallest they had was a box holding three packages for curing up to 15 lbs. I don’t think I will make 15 lbs of jerky. No.

Also picked up some bear spray. This is a serious canister. Sheesh. It even has a belt holster! I asked the cashier if I could return it if it didn’t work, if I held onto the receipt… She thought I was serious!

I did look at clothing briefly, but the store was about to close, so I’ll have to go back and look more thoroughly. On a totally unrelated side note, Trader Joe’s bran flakes are the best bran flakes I’ve ever eaten. And I feel fat.

Ciao!

Song of the day: God’s Not Dead – Happy Easter!

Some frustration today, trying to rearrange the pack. I’m usually pretty good at packing stuff efficiently, but the backpack is a whole other beast! May be trying to fit too much into it as well, and further organization and pairing of like things is required. So I will work on that tonight. All the clothes in one bag (wrinkles are the least of my worries out there), cookpot/stove/Bic in another, assemble a small, but adequate first aid kit, figure out where to stick the tent poles (no, don’t go there), small necessities that will go in the top of the pack so they are easy to reach.

Look up there. 14 days. Two weeks. One week left at work. Help. What am I doing again, and why?  This may require liberal amounts of beer to contemplate.

Ciao!

Some packin’, some shoppin’, an Easter brunch to prepare tomorrow. God is good. But I could do without my head aching… It’s been raining allll day, not conducive to carting stuff out to the garage, it is all stacked up in the living room.

Dick’s Sporting Goods store does not have a jerky-making kit in stock. This has made me sad, as it was by far the closest option. I must range afield – unless Target or Walmart carries one, which I doubt. I mean to have at least three lbs of jerky, possibly five, by Wednesday.

The genealogy project is finished! happy dance!

Happy Easter to you all, tomorrow!

Ciao!

There is something oddly satisfying about moving sums of money around. Even if it is just digital bits and bytes! I got that new “hike-only” checking account opened today, and spent some time playing with the accounts to make sure all the ducks are lined up. On the financial side of things, everything’s shipshape.

Also swung by Goodwill on the way to Good Friday services at the base chapel, and dropped off a box of donations. The floor is a little less cluttered now. I have a lot of work clothes to pack up, can’t do it just yet though. One more week!

Currently relaxing with a cherry wheat Sam Adams, thanks to a friend… Dishes to do, dinner to make, genealogy project to finish. Those will all be done tonight. Oh, and one more medical bill I’m a bit late in paying. Oops…

Ciao!

The pudge is back. I’ve let myself slack on walking too much, haven’t watched what I’ve been eating, and the jeans are tighter again.

I could get extremely depressed and beat myself up over this, or I could take a hike. I think I’ll take a hike.

Well, world, I see you are still out there… But I have nothing to report today, except one more day closer in! Today being Holy Thursday, much of my time was taken up with religious obligations. (Not that I object!)

One or two more hours should see the end of the genealogy project! Yes, almost finished! This weekend… Moving stuff. Packing stuff. Buying Easter candy. Walking with pack, I hope! Paying off bills… Getting so close. Panic circuits revving up.

A close friend asked me over lunch today if I felt ready. Nope. I doubt I’ll ever achieve a state of complete readiness. Best I can do is approximate…

Ciao!

Dear Diary. Today the Lego bear attacked my Lego hiker. There was red Lego bead blood everywhere. It was horrifying….

Dear Diary. It is storming and quite chilly out. Very windy. Not walking weather.

Dear Diary. Feeling despondent all of a sudden. I should pack more. 😦 I was up at 5:30 AM making lemon-pecan waffle batter for the breakfast potluck.

Dear Diary. It will be pizza tonight. Closing in on the magical two week number. Then I can really panic. Up to now, it has just been amateur panic. I think I’ll go pro

Just back from a short walk (~1 mile) with the Dad. I haven’t been getting out walking near as much as I meant/should have, and I suspect I’ll pay for it later. But I remember when I walked a half-marathon – just the actual fact of doing something you’ve trained a long time for can be a tremendous boost in itself.

Anyway, I cut it short because the gear in the pack is badly arranged. Digging way too much into my back and making it curve too much. I need to work on how to arrange it better. But these things are important to find out in advance! Besides, it’s looking like rain out there.

Some packing done; some boxes moved out to the garage. I mean to get the genealogy project done tonight if possible, the webwork project is as complete as I am going to do before I leave.

My little hiker Lego at work is now riding a little Lego BEAR. Like a horse, until my co-workers put him on his hind legs, then it becomes a bear rodeo… I have some crazy coworkers. And it’s becoming increasingly hard to keep my mind on work anyway. A week and a half left.

Well, gumbo awaits, so….

Ciao!