get ready for a productive and fun summer in Austin TX, Carrboro, NC, Ann Arbor, MI and London

it’s a little late, isn’t it? :)

shut down the computer. I’ll update on the other end.

there are only two things that I wanted to get done before I leave that I will not get done. One is the tailors. The other is cleaning out the car interior. Now that the trunk is in the car, that is definitely not getting done until Austin.

All in all, though, not too bad. I’m really really proud of myself and my capacity for planning and follow through.

I left myself an extra day in my original plan because I know how these things go. I’m not really “bad” at deadlines, but I usually fail them by about one day. That’s a lot better than if I never made myself a deadline. So I’m leaving Sunday, not tomorrow. Advantages: get more done on my list (although knowing me, I’ll probably add more to it) and go to Grand Canyon on Tuesday rather than Memorial Day and overall feel a little less frenetic.

I’m still getting a lot done. I put off taking things to the tailor until I get to Austin, since I don’t have one here really anyway yet.

1. leave NC 7/18; to Charleston, WV (?)
2. 7/19 leave Charleston; to Louisville, KY
3. research in Louisville 7/20
4. to A2 7/21

1. leave Austin 7/1 for Dallas
2. leave Dallas 7/2 for Conway, AR
3. leave Conway 7/3 for Nashville
4. leave Nashville 7/5 for Asheville
5. leave Asheville 7/6 for Carrboro

Last day of Eno Festival is 7/7

Commencement is 5/25 (Towel Day!!) and I am taking BB to lunch.
5/26: Drive to LA and staying with my friend L. I think that this will be my longest driving day.
5/27: Drive to Williams, AZ
5/28: Go to the Grand Canyon
5/29: Drive to Santa Rosa, NM
5/30: Drive to Abilene and stay with my uncle and aunt
5/31: Drive (early!) to Austin so that I have time to check in that day.

This actually gives me one day to hold in reserve and driving times that are all under 7 hours (according to Google maps, in any case).

This also means that I am only shelling out $$ (which is tight) for hotel rooms for three nights. Not too bad.

I maybe should go ahead and book them; it all is a little close to Memorial Day for my taste.

First the debit card, and now . . .

Noticed today that the crack along the seam between the board and the center strip is growing on the Egan. Why now? It looks to me as though it is coming apart pretty fast too. So I called up GHB to ask him what I should do, since I won’t be anywhere near Virginia until July. He told me to try ML, that he thought he was still in town; yes, and I managed to get hold of him, which is a small miracle. He’s leaving town tomorrow. I think it is to NC, actually. He’s going to do some quick epoxy fix of some sort. If we actually had more time he could do a more effective rescue but at this point it has been such a headache that I might want to spring for a new board. Or save the board but get it reassembled properly.

I’m sure GHB will cut me a deal for me since this never really should have been a problem, but that is what you get when you are working with someone who restores instruments no one else does, and is learning a few things as he goes.

So it is up to Novato tonight. I’m grateful ML lives so close now. It is one of the advantages of living here. In fact, it is funny to think that it was one of the ones that I thought of first. A good technician/builder is just across the bridge.

attend commencement
lunch with BB
return all Berkeley booksreturn all public library books
mail books back to Duke
clean the apartment
make tourtiere fillingmake two recipes of sesame chickenmove stuff into office and out of carget a second license plate (strange story there)get oil changed and cigarette lighters fixed and tires checkedone more appointment with DO
get all papers back
laundrydry cleaning
switch harps between apartment and office
finish making files at work
clothes and books to goodwill
recycling
buy digital camera
take pictures of immaculate apartment to post here
congratulate myself on finishing moving in before leaving town

as long as this list is, it actually doesn’t seem too bad to me.

I lost my debit card sometime this weekend and only found out Saturday night when I was out, which left me in a mildly financially embarrassed situation. That was solved, however, with some friendly help. The bigger long-term issues, though, were that I wanted to make sure no one was running it up (no one was; I found that out today) and after canceling it early Sunday morning I realized I was in a jam since it would take some time to issue and mail a new one to me. I’m leaving Saturday and I recently got rid of all my credit cards. I really don’t like the idea of going on a long road trip with no plastic at all.

But I have a very good relationship with my credit union, and they expedited getting me a card quickly and without charging me the usual fee. I love my credit union! In general, they really beat banks, especially large ones. So I should have this in hand by Thursday at the latest.