At 36 days till launch, I have discovered at large, sore, red, itchie patch a little bigger than a silver dollar on the back of my knee.  One of the girls at work said she can see bite marks so we know what it is.  It’s got bruising around it but no scary red poison streaks coming from it so I should be fine, right?  It explains the crankiness and extreme tiredness, thank goodness.  Thought I was making myself crazy and tired with worry.  Guess not.  I just have NO energy to do anything.  No biking to work, just walks around Boulder Reservoir with my bug spray that contains Deet.  Yes, I will err on the side of caution from now on….darnit all.   No fun!

I got another donation today! The ever lovely and snort-laugh-inducing Pat Mercado of Southern California. She and I go WAY BACK. I’m talking 18-hour work days hallucinating in Unix code in Pearl Harbor in the mid-90’s way back. She and I bonded in one of the more high-pressure military environments and still laugh over the memories to this day. I visited her this past December for my “Pat fix” and had an amazing time. She and her husband are incredibly gracious hosts and I came home refreshed and missing the Southern California Coast that I once called home. Darn you Colorado! Why can’t you be closer to water!

Spent Saturday at the Cheyenne Frontier Days with Jen, a girlfriend from work. We ate too much crap and that’s exactly what it was….crap. Spent a wonderfully fun 13 hours with Jen (she even took me to get my nose pierced!) and would love to be able to spend some more time with her before I go. Some friends you just can’t get enough of! Didn’t get home to midnight….past my bed time. Finished “The Yearling” this morning and got to go on a good 3-hour hike in Lyons today.

Off to bed. J

Lots to do this weekend.  Now that the car is once again road worthy, I’m going to haul a bunch of stuff to the Longmont Humane Society Thrift Store.  I stopped in at the Human Society the other day to see if I could get in on the dog walking volunteer program.  While I was there I learned that the funding for the new construction was donated by a very generous woman from New England.  Good for her.  Support the puppies and kitties that people throw away like newspaper.  Oh wait…..even newspaper gets recycled.  I’d take them all if I could.  Also going to pick up two more Rubbermaid totes for storage to make 5 total being stored at Dianne’s.

THANKS TRACY!!!!!!!!  You rock my world!

So the emotional roller coaster of the past 6 days has leveled off into greatness.  The car has officially had her driver front wheel bearing replaced and no longer makes scary noises.  Yeeehaw.   My mechanic, the ever patient and thorough Bill, gave me a very short list of things that need to be addressed on the car in the future and how long until each thing goes kaflewey.   He’s so nice.  He actually was quite impressed with the care I’ve taken of my little Corolla and said she’s got tons of life left before giving the death rattle.  He said she purrs like a kitten and she pretty much does.  VERY reassuring.  So I leave her parked under the tree in the drive way and only drive her when I need to get to Boulder for Tibetan lessons and major shopping.

Biking to work is very rewarding in it’s own way.  Riding a mountain bike with nobbies for long distance traveling is akin to riding an elephant in a marathon.  Good workout but I can actually SLOW DOWN going down hill if I don’t keep pedaling…..good grief.   I love and hate it simultaneously about half way through the 10-mile trip each way.  I’ll know for sure about the elephant reference once I get to India and get to ride an actual elephant.

It’s been a few days of panic and decision making and it has worn me out.  Through the extremely patient guidance of Patrick, I bit the bullet and reserved a rental car to drive the kitties to Seattle the week of August 13th.  It’s a haul, but it gives me some time alone with them on the way up and I won’t have to worry about the airline losing them (which DOES happen).  Not to mention cargo wouldn’t take them because of the heat and buying an extra ticket for a buddie to fly with me and take them in the plane cabin would have been around $800.  Rock and a hard place, I am familiar with that one.

Money is a constant worry with me.  The same day I got the bill for the car I received an email from a girl that was in Dharamsala last year for about 7 months.  She told me not to purchase a Steripen OR the anti-Malarials because there are pure water fill stations in town and there is no evidence of Malaria up there.  Coincidentally, that equaled $300.00, the same amount I spent on the car.  Spookie relief.  I have whittled down my shopping list and things are looking good.

See?  Things are coming together.

More to come.  J.

I have officially given up the illusion that I have control over anything having to do with this trip. My money is dwindling. My car is making even more crazy noises, that make my heart jump into my throat, as of yesterday. Thank goodness I have roadside assistance through Geico. I was really counting on this car to make me some money for the trip but it looks like it might possibly be the rotten egg that sucks my sanity out of the back of my head (if I let it). Hmph. But Patrick mentioned something quite trite and yet quite accurate, as a coworker of mine loaned me her bike for the remainder of my stay here in Longmont. The Universe surely likes to mess with you, but it never gives you more than you can handle.

SO The Universe has made it’s point and I’m going to walk my arse to Kmart to shop for a helmet this weekend. So there. And yes, lets hope the house doesn’t mysteriously burn down before I get moved out of it.

And the shirt I am currently wearing? I pulled it out of the closet this morning (yes it was hung up)…..it’s covered in cat hair and smells funny. What goes on in my closet when I’m not home? Janene (the saint, loaning me her bike for the next 47 days) thinks Keiko and Sam likely wear my clothes around the house while I’m gone. Or maybe this is some sort of payback for being gone too long last weekend?

It seems as though I have finally recovered from my “Girls Weekend” in Winter Park. We had a blast as usual. The scenery was a little strange without snow but still amazing. The weekend was full of hot tubbing, food, booze, a new quote “Who’s sober enough to make me a drink?”, a trip to a day spa for two of us, frank conversation and a new member of the group survived! She is a welcome addition and as she’s practically sisters with the member that brought her in, she should feel like one of the gang by now! The High Country Rodeo in Fraser was a hoot and we topped off the evening with cocktails at the local saloon and kept company by a comical group of loggers.  A couple went home to shower and change their clothes when they saw us enter the bar.  They were so impressed that some pretty girls came in, a rarity according to them, that they made us feel quite at home.

Yesterday evening was spent working on the website with my WebSaint, Chris. The gallery officially works and I’m supposed to be practicing posting pictures as we speak. The business cards are here and I’m doing some touch up on them and have started handing them out. I had a Tibetan language class with Lhoppon-la this evening that lead to MORE alphabet characters and me learning the tibetan alphabet song that he made up! He’s amazing, as is his assistant, Kris. They are both so reassuring and kind. I have so much to do, so little time.

Be well. J.

This afternoon, I will be picking up a fellow sister from the women’s group I belong to, WINGS, and traveling to Winter Park for girls weekend. Roughly 48 hours of venting, giggling, being supportive, being brutally honest, booze, karaoke, kitchen island bonding, 3 hour breakfasts that turn into lunch, random naps, “get that camera AWAY from me”, “I love you, man!”, “Why can’t I find my bedroom?” and some deeply profound and soul-searching discussions that never leave the walls of our great weekend get-away. These weekends never fail to entertain, relax and produce some GREAT laughs for later days. Boy do I deserve this weekend away!

Not much has happened on the website lately. I have a meeting with my WebSaint, Chris Dirgo, this coming Monday night so things should change a bit this coming week.

Have a good weekend, everyone.

I was so caught up in what I was doing yesterday I forgot to take a minute and think of what day it was. My lovely cousin Linda sent me an email today reminding me that His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama turned 72 yesterday! What a goof I am. Sooooo caught up in this trip I forget such things!It was a significant day for me as well. I received the name of a person up at the Shambhala Mountain Center that was in Dharamsala not to long ago for quite a lengthy period of time. What LUCK! She is looking forward to sharing her stories and experiences with me. She also has a friend that is going to Dharamsala this fall through Volunteer Tibet! How am I finding such great resources when I was previously unable? Not looking too far into it, just appreciating it.

I have officially received my very first DONATION! YAY! Sopris West’s Donna Whaley, a coworker and good friend of mine, has generously donated $100.00 to my trip! UNREAL! I wanted to point out to her that there were too many zeros and she countered that she wished there could have been more. So lesson learned here is…..ask for 1 buck, get 100……nice! I have noticed lately that since I have stopped hoping for help, the more help appears out of thin air! It’s all in the company one keeps, I’m convinced.

I have my second Tibetan language lesson tonight. Lhoppon thinks I have a good ear for it and did well my first lesson. So Exciting.

Lastly - I have ordered business cards to be made for the website. I’m finding that more and more people I run into on the street want to go to the website but nobody carries pen and paper anymore…..yes, I realize that the web address IS a bit long…..oh well. It suites the trip and that’s all that matters.

Good Day!

A full recap of the past 5 or 6 days would be exhaustive so I’ll try to keep it to a minimum.  First I’d like to address my web hero Chris Dirgo.  Chris spent 3 hours with me last Wednesday and has completely hijacked my web blog….I couldn’t be happier!  He’s an absolutely charming, professional and amazingly skilled web superman!   He’s one of the few, the proud, the geeks with people skills….that says a lot.  Finding someone you can talk tech with and still talk about life is like finding the needle in the proverbial haystack with a picture blog in tow.   Need I say more ?

Thursday was a HUGE marked event…..the last of my travel vaccinations!  I still have to take my typhoid series by pill, but the SHOTS are OVER!  I ended up feeling a little spacey on Friday about mid-morning and had to go crash for a much needed afternoon nap that then led to a nice, relaxing and enlightening dinner with my new friend Robin.  He’s a glimmer of sanity in a world of chaos and discontent.  It was a pure pleasure spending my Friday evening with him.

He made sure we parted ways early so that I could get up Saturday morning at 4:30 and hike Mount Bierstadt solo.  Great hike but I need to learn to take more aids in my first aid kit……good buddha!  I summited without much trouble but spent too much time on the summit having lunch and ended up with altitude sickness about 1/4 of the way back down.  OUCH!  A couple that was near by when I summited actually got in my face on the way down and checked to see if I was alright.  I sooooo wasn’t.  The wife (I wish I knew her name so I could thank her properly) launched into “hiking-mom mode”,  pulled out her pepto tablets, made me take one and then gave me some of her lemon water.  I was almost out!  Lemon water is believed to have electrolytes that are depleted when performing physically strenuous exercise.  Thanks Lady!

I got to the bottom feeling pretty darn good!  Drove home without incident and proceeded to lay in front of the tv and watch movies the rest of the evening.  Crashed early.

Sunday, my favorite cousins appeared from Dove Creek!  YAY!  Linda and I had a splendid “girl day”, shopping up a storm, while David stayed at the hotel and rested in air conditioned comfort.  What man likes to shop with two girls?  Farming is not an easy life, but very rewarding at the end of the day.  And everyone needs a weekend in a hotel!  What’s not to love about the TV remote and a king-size bed all to yourself for a day?!  The day ended with dinner at Seoul Food on 6th Avenue in Denver, where the three of us ate WAY too much, including tempura cheesecake for dessert!  We then had a LODO drive with a great tour guide, David, telling childhood stories from the back seat.

The weekend ended on quite a note when I realized that Linda had left her sunglasses in my car.  DRAT!  Gonna have to see them one more time before they go!  BUT as luck would have it, they will be here for the CSU field day seminar in Ft. Collins on Labor Day weekend and I  fly out of here on the 5th, so I will have some great family time with them AND a ride to the airport to boot!  What more could a girl ask for?

Tomorrow is Tibetan Language lessons with Lhoppon!  I am soooo excited!

That’s enough for now.