Final Preparations

I'm picking Jennifer up at the airport in a couple of hours, whence all the team members will be in the same place for the first time since our selection.

These last few days have been a whirlwind after a summer of anticipation. All of a sudden, our days are being consumed by equipment testing (and retesting, and re-retesting...), packing, frantic last minute email exchanges, and our old friend paperwork. We have a meeting with the university's legal department this afternoon - the last time we heard from them, they wanted to make us aware of the dangers of embedding, so they sent us a story about Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's killing. Never mind that he wasn't in the same theater, nor was he even an embed. Oh well, I'm sure they do these things from a place of love. Either that or aversion to liability.

What little unoccupied time we have now is spent seeing friends for one last time before we leave, tying up loose ends on the home front, or quietly reflecting on what life will be like for the next month.

As for me, I have to squeeze in time to write up a will. I was floating the upper Chena River last week with my sister Rose, and she let me know in no uncertain terms that if I bite the big one over there, she wants my canoe.