Getting ready is a lot of work!

So things are progressing...
Keep in mind that I need to wrap up my life in NYC enough to leave town for months. Everything from dealing with medical appointments to dealing with paperwork with my former employer to getting all my toys fixed and in working order.

The car is fine and just need a bike holder for the roof rack and a storage box for all my stuff.

The bike has been been ridden after being stored behind my refrigerator for 4 years! I also adjusted the brakes but i cant figure out adjusting the gears (low priority right now). If someone wants to talk me through that it would be great.

My sexy and sturdy (I have my fingers crossed) sunglasses are on backorder, so you are all going to have to wait a little while longer to see the modeling shots.

Speaking of modeling, I'm breaking down and getting a haircut. Its been a few months and I am up to at least an 1 1/2 inches all around. I can never get it past this length because it gets on my nerves. I wonder if I'm going to either a) grow it out, b) trim it all one length using clippers myself ("the budget cut") or c) pop into all sorts of weird barber shops across America and let them all butcher my hair... If you haven't heard me say this before here it is: I go to a Brazilian woman to cut my hair because she has experience with all textures of hair (which I have like 4 of on my head). When I have been to white hair stylist they don't know how to deal with it, and when I go to black barbers, it's all with clippers and doesn't grow in right. My girl Lita can set it up so it looks good for a month at least. 30 bucks.

My GPS is on its way back from getting repaired. It needed a new battery, a circuit board fix and apparently a new speaker too. For more info on all the things that go wrong with Garmin GPS's after they are out of warranty. The guy who fixes them, James, was very helpful and is following the trip through the blog.

My Ipod mini has a new battery that I bought online and installed myself. Its charging on my desk right now and I'll know soon how good of a charge its going to keep.

The other battery I got was a laptop battery to replace the completely dead laptop battery that I have. The laptop should come in handy for changing my music on my ipod, surfing the web from the car (in front of libraries, etc.), and emptying my digital camera. Anyone want to talk me out of it? It's 4-5 years old, so at this point its an investment that's already been made and doesn't have THAT much useful life yet (right? I'm I crazy here)...

I got a call from my cousin Craig, who is a bigshot in Miami. Being such a busy guy, it took a while for him to get back to my initial calls so I was getting a bit worried. But now we have linked up and I feel so much better about the Florida part of the trip!

So while we are on a high point, let me mention that my friend who was going to sublet my place has decided to move back in with her parents instead. This is going to make everything a little bit more complicated because I need to make sure that I have a reliable sub-tenant for the duration of the trip. I'm going to be advertising Feb 15th-Oct 31st. Maybe my friend GC's subtenant will see my craigslist ad and call me up for a better deal, LOL

Max update: He's well but really doesn't like his boots that I make him wear in the snow. He pretends he cant walk at all and then if I throw a ball he'll dart at it. When I put them on him while he's laying down, he then refuses to get up to go out until I am completely ready and put the leash on him and practically drag him off the couch. Other times I have just opened the door and stared to leave while saying "Bye" and he'll jump up and charge out the door fearing he was going to be left behind. So its clear he's playing psychological games... He never did this stuff before because he was just happy that I was home and/or taking him out. Now that I'm around more often he's getting picky and "expressing himself". And that's my analysis LOL

On a funny note, someone got hold of my credit card info and bought about $200 in gas in one day and went to BJ's Wholesale club and spent $1500 plus... at a members only warehouse club... What an idiot! I hope they have a bum membership card too, or else they deserve a Darwin award. Or they might look like one of these guys, LOL (Thanks for the link Jon!)

My wrists are starting to hurt so I'm going to give it a break for the night. I'll proff read this in the AM. I'm thinking of all of you and appreciate all the feedback on and off the blog I have received!