I hope to start packing this week. I never really do it, but I always have the best of intentions to start packing before the day I actually leave. This time I even have grand plans of creating a schedule of small tasks to finish each day to be ready on time. That'll never happen.

Hard to believe I'll be outta this apartment two weeks from Friday. Twenty days from today. There could be some delay, though, before I get started with the trip. Further details on that later this week. It could interfere with previously discussed plans for Thanksgiving in San Diego. I'll definitely get to San Francisco to see Matt, but it may not be in time for the holiday.

"I'll be forced to sue."
Tomorrow morning will be the last of my pre-trip vaccinations. I mentioned that I was doing the oral Typhoid vaccine rather than the shot. It's four pills over eight days and Sunday morning will be my last. This vaccine's quite a test of my intellectual agility. The pills have to be taken every other day, on an empty stomach, and two hours before eating. And they have to be kept in the refrigerator! I think I accidentally ate a Tootsie Roll the other morning before I should have. If I get Typhoid I guess I'll be forced to sue the fine people at Tootsie Industries.

Still more exciting innovations from the team of experts at the ThereGoesJohn labs. Now you can search my journal entries and photos. Looking for an entry about dogs in Guatemala or a photo of Lake Titicaca? Just check out the search page. There's nothing on the site about Guatemalan dogs or Peruvian lakes yet, but you get the idea.

"It looks like the worst fake of all."
I see that Terry and Mike are off to good starts. They must be having a good time, because they haven't updated their web sites much in the last week or so. Can't say I blame them. Who knows how often I'll be able to update this site, but I hope at least a couple of times a week.

Oh, almost forgot. I got my college ID the other day. If you haven't been with us, this is so I can get student discounts on airfare, museums and many other things. I guess I can reveal now where I enrolled and immediately withdrew. I'll try to post a photo of the ID. It's funny... I wanted to get a real college ID so I wouldn't have to worry about making a bad fake. Turns out this ID is so bad it looks like the worst fake of all. My photo doesn't even fit into the box it's supposed to be in. You'll have to see.