Pre Trip Update #2

Saturday is usually a day to rest, but today has been one of those run around and get all the little things that need to be done before heading off on a trip. I think I was back and forth to the mall at least three times today, as well as Best Buy, Target, Circuit City and Barnes and Noble. It also includes doing a lot of not so little things: buying a digital camera was my big purchase today. I got a 7 megapixel Samsung S730 digital camera, but I had to go back and buy a SD memory card for the camera. The basic memory would have allowed me to store just 15 pictures at the worst resolution (and just 5 at the best) before the memory was full. I went to Best Buy to get a memory card, and they had a 2 gigabite card on sale for just 24.95! Now, suddenly, at the worst resolution I can shoot over 2000 pictures, but with the current acceptable middle resolution, I can store over 1000 digital photographs before I am full. I am sure that if push came to shove, I could store the extra pics on my laptop or my Ipod until I got home. The Ipod, even with the music and video on it currently, can still hold over 20,000 pictures and still function.

If I ever shoot more than 1,000 pictures you will know I have gone off the deep edge.

Let's see what else: ethernet cable, check; extra batteries and camera carrying case, check; some snacks for the airplane, check;, birthday gifts for a party tomorrow, check. I also managed to pay some bills ahead of time, trying to limit what I will still have to pay while in the UK. I did manage not to buy a guidebook to London. I am pretty sure the city has not changed all that much since my last extended visit in 2002. They also don't make guidebooks just for Oxford, at least not without being part of a larger guidebook I don't need.

Tonight was spent out with two of my best friends, Steve and Liz, having a little going away party. A few other people were supposed to show up, but they never did. At least we didn't reserve a huge table. It was odd eating "bangers and mash" at an Irish pub here in Melbourne, knowing that I probably would be eating the same thing in a little more than a week.

You know what I am looking forward to eating again? Branson Pickle and Cheese and Onion Crisps. Google them to find out what they are.

Tomorrow is spent going to brunch/birthday party, and then coming home to do some laundry and finish up on some school related work. Its going to be a long week...but I vowed on Wednesday afternoon I was going to go to the movies as a way to destress before the trip. The new Bruce Willis "Die Hard" movie opens, so I think I am going to go see a matinee before heading off to class, and then coming home to finish packing. I can already see Thursday being a whirlwind of class, grading a set of quizzes, and making sure I have everything from my office that I will need to teach in Oxford.

Wish me luck...I am sure chaos still awaits.