The un-graduates

Party weekend before leaving for China! Boy, those geographers are good people and the end of the year party was a blast. After missing it for my first two years in the department, I finally made it to one. On top of the 'official' party Friday, a whole pack of classmates came over last night to send me off and to observe the scattering of my cohort. I think we did very well: 5 out of 11 finished in two years.

So anyway, combine the geographers with neighbors and a gaggle of library folks, and we wound up with a yard full of folk. I'm feeling very well wished for my trip.

And with just 5 days until departure, it's really hitting home that I'm about to leave the country for a dang long time. Well, 2 1/2 months seems really long to me. I test-packed my bag this week and dragged it to the Y to see if I was overweight for the airplane (8 pounds to spare); I've got all the clothes I'm going to get (except for a jacket--L is encouraging me to get a space-age REI-type thing like she got a couple weeks ago. I don't want to spend the money); ArcMap is finally installed on the laptop (although the Asia base data really stinks); and an array of cables is laid out on the bed upstairs. I know there's going to be something forgotten. I just hope it's replaceable.