Countdown

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Wilson's been in New Mexico, Boston and NYC. I've been finishing off my last weeks of work. I'm sad to be leaving some people I really enjoy working with but excited about our upcoming adventure. So let's see...what have we done to prepare for the trip since the last time I blogged? Well for starters we purchased an ASUS Eee PC. It's the smallest darn thing I've typed on since my Blackberry. The only issue I have with it is the apostrophe and quotes are right next to the ENTER key so I keep hard returning my sentences. I'll get use to this eventually! We've been getting our vaccinations, going to the dentist and last-minute doctor appointments. I got my second Hep B shot the other day. Some of the major things we still need to do include packing, buying a ticket to Guatamala (what I think is our first destination as of date), and doing last minute things with the house. Our building here just got painted so it looks good. Unfortunately the darn plumbing keeps backing up. It's the third time I've had to call a plumber.

What else?...I went to Chicago for a Sensors Show. That was a great show from a PR standpoint and I absolutely loved Chicago. Edubbs and I had a great time and I saw a friend of mine, Wayland, that I had not seen for nearly 12 years. He lives in "Printer Row" in Chicy. We also went to this absolutely delicious restaurant opened by a famous PBS chef (forgot his name but I swear he's famous) named La Bomba Something...I'll get it right once I see the business card.

That's it for now. The small keyboard on this computer is beginning to bug me. Till next time, hasta pronto!

Memorial Day

May 26 (Memorial Day)

It was a good 3-day weekend. Wilson spent the weekend in LA while I stayed in the Bay Area. I caught up with friends, family and tried to do more for the trip (which unfortunately was not much other than studying Spanish). Although I've committed to learning 10 days a word, I think my success rate has only been 20 percent. I've been reading the Spanish dictionary trying to find words I can see myself needing on a day-to-day basis. I also practiced Spanish with this older lady on Bart this past weekend. She was a real nice lady (since she didn't laugh at me).

Other highlights:
+ Susan and I went to see Gilbert and his family (he's an old friend of ours)
+ Marbles caught a mouse but failed to kill it. So I got 'rid' of it
+ Our house is being painted
+ I cooked an omelet (and no, not Spanish style)
+ My eyes are seeing better. My right eye sees 20/15!
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Learning Spanish

Wed., May 7

Wilson's been practicing Spanish for over 6 weeks now and takes about 3 hours a week of lessons. I, on the other hand, had 50 minutes worth of tutoring today, and plan to go once a week at most. I relearned how to count, the days of the week, months of the year, and how to ask questions. We also had the best el pastor tacos ever from a local taco truck...Delicioso!

No new developments on the trip front. I am planning to get LASIK next week. My eyeballs will see 20/20, I hope, or better. Otherwise, I'll settle for 20/40 but nothing less. Wish me luck!

Loose Itinerary

We have a very loose itinerary for our 6-month journey:

July: Guatamala
August: Honduras

September: Columbia

mid-September: The Galapagos Islands / Ecuador
October: Peru
November: Argentina
December: Brazil

That's it for today. We went to a Kentucky Derby party yesterday at Sienna and Alton's pad. Lots of fun! Denis of Cork needs to make it to first place next year (since he was my horse of choice from the random hat drawing). Congrats to Big Brown. And poor Eight Belles. May it rest in peace...

April 26, 2008

Planning:

Today, we decided we would either start our Spanish immersion program in Mexico or Guatamala. We need to come up with a tentative itinerary so we have an idea of what we will do. I also need to decide if I want to get LASIK this weekend. Decisions. Decisions!

Tonight:

Our friend Eliza is turning 30 and we're taking her out to The City of San Francisco. We'll take her to Apartment 24 (not what you think, it's a club) and show her how 30-year olds party.

That's it for today.

Before the Trip

Preface: Wilson and I are planning a six-month journey to Central and South America in July 2008. We will be updating this blog regularly to keep you posted on our long, treacherous journey (well, not really treacherous...).

Below is our/my first entry for this blog. We hope to make these short, succinct entries with a lot of photos. This particular entry is definitely not as exciting as the ones we hope to post after July.

Date: April 21, 2008, 10:41 p.m. PT

Where: San Francisco, CA

What did I learn today?:

1) How to blog again. And it's much easier than 3 years ago.
2) I eat too much when I travel

Who did I meet?: Hmmm..., don't think I met anyone new today.