funnystrange.com

I'm finally starting to feel like I'm ready for this trip. This morning we did laundry first. Then went to the vet and refilled Thirteen's prescription. She already has a nearly full bottle but I want to be sure she doesn't run out while I'm gone. Then we went to AAA and got maps, then to Sally for setting lotion and a bonnet attachment for my hairdryer. I skipped the setting tape because I can use a giant curler to flatten out my bangs instead.

Next we met Alicia for lunch and audio files! She kindly provided me with Master and Commander on CD from the Chapel Hill library, plus a ton of episodes of This American Life. Alicia is moving in a couple of weeks so it was really nice to see her before she goes, and to hear about her job, cute house and the puppy who will soon be occupying it. I couldn't figure out how to network our computers, so we had to use my little keychain drive to copy the files. The drive is only 256 Mb but it didn't take that long. Only 4 or 5 transfers did it.

In the afternoon we did decoration repair on the car. Georg did more than I did because I had a phone meeting, but between the two of us we got a lot done. We got just about all of the nasty sticky sun damaged toys replaced. That was especially important since our Main Street Drag route includes the center for the blind. I would hate for a blind person to accidently touch gooey melted plastic on my car because I didn't take the time to clean up the decorations beforehand.

I didn't think this day would be so tiring, but as it turns out we were both exhausted. I guess it was the running around all morning plus working in the sun in the afternoon. This evening I printed off all the maps and driving directions I'll need -- not just the road trip but directions from the hotels to all the places we need and want to go. It's a relief to have that taken care of.

My hotel in New Orleans dropped its rates to an amazing $49 a night, so I went ahead and added a day to my stay. I'll be in New Orleans on the evening of the 14th and all day on the 15th. I asked them if they would reduce the rate on my existing reservation but they said I have to call back during regular business hours. I'll call them tomorrow, and if they say no then I guess I'll cancel my reservation and then immediately make a new reservation. Heck, $30 a night is a big difference.

Now I'm copying Master and Commander onto the iPod. With 11 CDs and 25 tracks on each CD, this is going to take awhile. It's still better than lugging all those CDs halfway across the country.