Last week at Strang

Today is the first day of my last week at work. I don't know if I can fully express my excitement (maybe the thought of me jumping up, singing Born Free, and running out the front doors of the place might begin to show you).
The last couple of weeks have been interesting. I trained the girl who took my position in only a couple of days, then I cleaned out my desk and some closets, and I read a few books; really interesting stuff. So this week, I really have nothing much to accomplish, other than saying goodbye to everyone I work with. I have a couple more books to finish reading, capri pants to wear to work on Friday with flip flops of course, and my Marketing Department lunch to look forward to.
I am going to miss a few things about my job though. I am going to miss my chats with Susan, she and I have always had a lot in common. Susan, I expect you to be in Brazil when I come home from Botswana! No more taking orders from the Little Mermaid's evil villain! Of course, I am going to miss Lucy, Margie, and Woodley. They are the glue that holds the Marketing Department together. They are also the life of the Marketing Department. Tasha, Tasha, Tasha... if anyone can find recipes for good African food, it would be Tasha. Don't forget to send me updates about the boys. I will definitely miss Renee, she is new to the department, but it would not have been the same without her. Outside of Marketing, I will miss my daily copy room chats with Wanda, supply swapping with Carmen, weekly drop-ins with Judy, and of course my running commentary with Anthony and Rob.

Thank you all for your prayers and blessings. Good Luck with everything!

Philadelphia here I come!

I got my staging packet yesterday. I am headed to Philadelphia, PA on April 16th. Staging is going to be packed full of information. And I'm only going to be in Philly for basically whole days, most of which will be spent in training sessions. Then it will be off to New York to catch our flight to South Africa. I'm really excited about this trip.

Oh I went out a bought my hiking pack on Sunday, and I am still deciding which suitcase to take as my second bag. Dad wants me to take the bigger one, but I am afraid I won't be able to lug it around on non-paved roads. Then again, I would love the space the bigger bag affords. Who knows. I guess I will decide once I actually start my pre-packing packing. You know, the time when you sit down with everything you want to take surrounding you and you have to figure out a way to make sure you take everything you need along with some luxury items, and don't go over weight limit.

Diana has been really funny lately. She is helping me plan my party in Jax with all of my college friends. I'm stoked because I get to see her this next weekend!!! And I am even more stoked that I get to spend some quality time with her in Jax again. I love that city. Miss you guys too. And I think we are doing Melting Pot on Saturday night *yummy*

So, I have been reading Running with Scissors, and let me tell you it is the craziest and funniest book. It's all about this kid (the author) and his life growing up basically in a nut house. It has taken no time at all for me to get through it. I really hope the library in Botswana has good books, either that or the other volunteers bring some good reads, because I will need new reading materials on a regular basis. And as always, not just any book will do. Then again, soon enough I might think very differently.

One month and counting...

It's getting to be that time. I officially have 1 month until I leave for staging. I can not believe how fast this time is flying by. I joined a yahoo group with other members of my "Bots 6" group. It's been nice getting to know the people that I will be spending the next couple months with, before we actually meet at staging. And I am still waiting for my staging materials to come in the mail. I am getting anxious each day that passes without it. But of course, as soon as I get it, I will be anxious about something else (go figure). Outside of PC stuff, I have my last 2 weeks of work coming up and then 2 weeks of time to spend with family and friends. I also have my two going away parties to look forward to. The first one is in Jacksonville with all of my college friends on the 30th. Then on April 6th my Orlando friends are throwing me "Beer Olympics", yeah its a toga party with Olympic events. Only Heather Rae would think up something like that, lol love you Heather.

I have my last couple of weeks here at the church too. This week, the kids from FUEL (SSCC youth group) are on spring break. Tuesday night, Justin and I met the kids at the church for a few hours to get ready for our up & coming Art Show/ Silent Auction this Saturday night at 6pm at the church. The kids have all either done their own art, like painting, pottery, drawing, etc. or they had stuff donated by their art teachers and friends. I was really surprised at how artistic FUEL is. Then last night was youth group, we finished our series on Napoleon Dynamite and the kids gave us feedback. The general consensus is that they really like working out of a book they can relate to. *Note to self & Justin... work on more of these* After we finished up with the lessons, the kids finished working on their art projects. Justin and I also gave the kids an update on tomorrow's Beach trip. I think the only problem we are seeing so far is that we might not have enough cars to go, but I think we can talk someone else into driving; hey, it's the beach.

Back to PC stuff, sometime tonight I need to look up all of the specific measurements for my luggage that I am allowed. I am hoping to go pick up my hiking pack and sleeping bag tomorrow or Saturday if I can. I also need to find a Leatherman and a money holder. I started a packing list, but that will be on a different post later this week. I'll probably change the list several times before I actually decide to post it, and then I have to fit everything into my bags, so the list will probably change several times after I pack and unpack and pack again. Well, I should get back to that packing list...