dolari | I was once offered Mel Gibson's body by a major magazine.

12 Days to go, 4 more days of work.

According to Dad, the pickup is fixed. New engine tubing, fresh oil & oil filter, cigarette lighter is working now, muffler's been replaced. According to Dad the truck is running better than his (I can attest to that) and has at least another two years of gentle driving on it. He thinks it'll make it to Seattle with no problems. I'm going to have Emily check his work, (especially since he said "I got the cigarette lighter working! You should see how I managed it!")

Grocery shopping for the trip has started - I've got Gwen's Famous Dave's sauce, but not anything else yet. I'm wondering if I should simply buy Dublin Dr. Pepper from the website, or drive around East Texas buying out stores I know that carry it.

On one hand, buying from the website, you get them in 8 ounce glass bottles in six pack carriers, but anyone can buy from the website. On the other hand, driving around East Texas you can get 20 ounce plastic bottles of the stuff. Gwen, Kisai, Lissa! How do you want these? 20 ounce plastics? Or 8 ounce glasses with carrier?

Also, anyone know if packages mayonnaise will keep in hot temperatures if the original seals on the containers aren't broken? It works for MREs, but they're cooked IN the packages.

A cigarette lighter plug for my phone and laptop are on their way. According to my time sheet, I have 8 hours of Paid Time Off, 8.32 hours of Vacation and 14 hours of sick leave. I know I'm not getting the sick leave, and I AM getting the Vacation time (Extra day! WHOOO!), but I'm not sure if I get the PTO as well. It'd be nice to have yet ANOTHER day of time on there. Maybe I'll work through lunch the next few days and try to make up the difference.

Comics are done until I'm in Seattle. Next week there'll be a Wishworld update, and the comic update will simply be a map of our travels and how to view the gallery pictures once they're up. The gallery, by the way, is setup and ready (http://dolari.dragondata.net/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=2046), although we're still waiting on news about Fresno and wether we'll spend the extra day in Las Vegas or not.

Las Vegas DOES worry me, but only for a few hours - we'll be stopping to see the Star Trek Experience while we're there - but at the same time, checkout at the motel is Noon. So while we're at the Experience, everything will be sitting in the cab of the pickup, ripe for the pickings. I'm considering buying an extra day at the hotel, just so I can stay late and leave my stuff there. The doors will be locked, and if there's anythign I've learned, the windows on the pickup are a PAIN to break. I'll just have my clothes and my laptop with me. My bike will be in the back locked down, but I'd hate to lose (literally) the clothes off my back.

The only bump on the road right now is I can't seem to get cash out from one of my credit cards cause the PIN number is wrong. I've requested a new one, but that may get to me later than I'll be here. If worse comes to worse, I'll pull off my cash reserves, but I'd rather not (My plan ius to do the trip on credit, keep as much cash on me for as long as I can paying minimum payments+interest, and then on my first paycheck, use my savings and paycheck to wash the credit cards clean...sure hope I find a job but quick).

I'd been wanting to go to Katz' Deli one last time before I left, cause I really like the food AND the ambiance...since I've been to Austin, I've gone to Katz' maybe four times, mainly because of money issues. But this time I wanted to take some friends out for Good Eats. I got

audacious_d, his girlfriend Jill and

erinlefey together and we all had a good time, punctuated by Mark Katz himself, in full Car Dealer mode, showing us to our table. What a character - I'm gonna miss Austin.

There's a Hurricane out there, what a way to welcome Emily to Texas. :)

And now you're updated.

WHAT AM I DOING?!?!?!