Date: 2005-01-08
To: My air travel plans are set!
Miles today: 0.0

66 days until March 15th...With the recent slashes in airfares, I found an excellent deal on an airplane ticket through Expedia. For roughly $233, I've secured a flight from Seattle to Atlanta leaving on March 13th, 2005, as well as a return flight from NYC to Seattle on August 23rd, 2005.I've sent an e-mail to the folks at the Hiker Hostel to make reservations for an airport pickup and an overnight stay for March 13th, as well as a shuttle to the trailhead the following day. As such, it appears that my hike will begin a day earlier than originally planned. With that:65 days until March 14th...I called Holly yesterday morning to let her know of the slight change in itinerary. It didn't seem to bother her, as she sounds ready to go now. We're still planning to meet up at the Hiker Hostel.I'd previously read of some hikers planning to begin their hike on the 1st of the year, one week ago. If any of them are reading this, I'm envious and wish you the best!!!I'm not sure whether I'm going to receive the Timex Helix watch I ordered last week. The outfit that is selling it, Jomashop, sent me an e-mail stating that there will be a 2-3 week delay in shipping the watch, as they have to order it. This annoys me, as their online shop had shown the item in stock. Now their online shop shows the item as out of stock and they haven't responded to any of my e-mail inquiries. Jomashop appear to be the type of seller that operates out of their garage, as they use Yahoo Shops to process their orders. I had checked their reputation on Epinions.com, and while it wasn't phenomenal, it didn't look that bad either. I suppose I'll have to try calling them to determine the status of my order.Meanwhile, I ordered a new Highgear Altitech 2 compass altimeter from a seller on eBay. This seller has an excellent reputation and I'm excited to receive and test this new piece of gear. I've been told that it's already been shipped.My manager at work mentioned that information about my job transfer would probably come in the middle of February. I told him that I intended to fly East for six months in the middle of March and that my last day would probably be March 6th. We discussed options for a sabbatical or re-hire, though I doubt I'll return to the coffee shop business. With a new degree in engineering and physics, I should probably make use of it.Other small items of interest: I received my hiker cards and am anxious to begin distributing them. I also purchased a ticket to Burningman 2005, which begins on August 29th, 2005. With my return flight of August 23rd, that just leaves a few days to organize and head out to Gerlach, Nevada.I still need to purchase an "UR Sack" to protect my food, Aqua Mira for water purification, seam sealer for my tent and backpack, and moleskin / footcare products. Speaking of gear, I keep meaning to enter my gear into the gear list feature on Trail Journals. Perhaps I'll be able to finish that this week.That's about all the news fit to print for this week. The days seem to be going by quickly. While I haven't started packing yet, I plan to begin on Sunday and Monday, which are my next two days off. If there is anybody in the Portland, Oregon area that wants some free furniture or a free television set, please contact me before the end of the month.