"Are You Committed To This Weblog Or Not, boy???!!

Aw shucks, Buttercup.

I realize I haven't been posting whacha might call regularly lately, but I've been reeeeeally busy.

Busy, because on Friday at 6:30 pm I take off on America West flight something-or-other bound for Ontario, California. And then, for the next ten days, I'll be tooling around Southern California in something like a Buick, soaking up the sun and Case Study Houses in San Diego, Palm Springs, and LA.

I used to be such a non-chalant tourist. "Yeah. Off to Moscow for two weeks tomorrow morning. Guess I'd better throw some stuff in a bag." 'What you forget I'm sure you can buy there,' was my motto. Don't know why I'm getting so het up about this.

I started a packing list and stocked up on cigars for the trip. Confirmed my reservation for SuperPigs in San Diego with Roadkill and his slave pluG and a cast of thousands (okay, a cast of tens), booked all the lodgings I need to book, arranged for Faithful Companion to spend the week in doggie lock-up, and rented a car.

Now, all I need to do is...

• Buy Nicorettes gum, cuz it's a long flight
  
• Figure out how I'm gonna get to the Always Awful Philadelphia International Airport for a 6:30 pm flight when I get off work at 3:30 pm on Friday
  
• Buy and prepare meals for my father to eat for an entire week
  
• Pack for ten days... (devote one bag entirely to boots or not...? Hmmm...)
  
• Spend tomorrow night with the Baron von Philadelphia, who's making the trip all the way up to thhe hinterlands of Bucks County to see me
  
• Do laundry (it's 5:26 am; I have to be at work in 34 minutes, and I've got stuff in the dryer that I need to fold)
  
• Figure out a good spa to take Alpha to in Palm Springs. He agreed to endure the seering heat of Joshua Tree if we get there before dawn and I treat him to a Day of Beauty And Massage when we're done hiking. Lots of cool spas in Palm Springs, and I've never been to a spa. So we're spa bound. If I can just figure out which one...
  
• Download all the photos off my digital camera so I'll have a clean chip for my trip.
  

Here's a cool thing. I'm pretty much turning myself over to Alpha for the first three days in San Diego, and to Sir for the final three days in LA. So the only leg where I need to be concerned about managing my own time is in Palm Springs, the... uh... middle leg of the journey. Hopefully, I won't spend it idling around, driving endlessly around in the desert looking for internet access, or soaking in the hot tub at the Desert Bear Inn until I shrivel to a prune.

Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to post on the road, and who knows? Mebbe again before then, too.

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