Packing and stressing...

I have three days left before we head out on vacation, and I'm trying to keep myself motivated to do the stuff that's necessary to get ready.  I know that the girlfriend is pretty anxious to get out there and get some time away from work, but I'm a little ambivalent about the whole thing.  I know that we're going to be spending a lot of money that we can't really afford, but we've already paid for a fair amount of it, and she's really had her heart set on it for a while.  So, it's off we go.

One of the major things that I need to get done is cleaning up the room upstairs, where I've basically just been stacking boxes of stuff from the storage unit.  It's a disaster, since there's half-unloaded boxes of stuff all over, things sitting around on the floor because I didn't really have any better place to put them, and not enough room to put all the stuff that's there.  On the plus side, I've found a few things that I've been looking for, so that's good.

Last night, I found the DVD for the mapping software that will hopefully be coming in pretty handy for the trip.  I don't know if it's going to be too much of a pain in the ass, considering how delicate the power adapter for the laptop is becoming and just how slowly the little bastard has been running lately, but I certainly hope I'll be able to use the GPS and keep track of our trip.  So last night, I got that software up and running and made sure that it worked properly.  I haven't yet hooked up the actual GPS unit, but I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work now, since it was fine the last time I hooked it up.  I'll hook it up later today and make sure it's working.  No sense screwing myself over yet again.

While I was doing stuff with the computer yesterday, I copied most of the pictures from my camera over to the computer.  I still have a bunch of them that I ought to post to my Flickr account, now that I've paid to have the pro account again.  Might just as well make use of it.  I think there are still some pictures on my old desktop computer that need to be posted, too, but I can't really do that until after we get back from the vacation and I get my desk out of the storage unit and set up upstairs.  All stuff for the future, though.

In the early afternoon, while watching some hockey, I baked my first ever batch of biscotti.  I didn't have anywhere near the amount of nuts they called for in the recipe, and I didn't have a few of the other ingredients, so I kind of halfway winged it.  They came out all right, though.  Not the giant biscotti that you see at the coffee shops or anything, but little ones about two inches long by an inch wide or so.  They're chocolate and cinnamon with almonds, and I think they came out pretty well.  They are a bit labor intensive, but actually not as much as things like the pressed cookies I made for Christmas, and definitely not as much as the cookie cutter cookies.  Might have to make some other variety whenever we get back from Boston.

The girlfriend didn't get a great night's sleep again last night.  I think the bed is pretty much screwing up her back, and that's making it hard for her to sleep comfortably.  We thought that getting a new bed would be one of the first things we'd do when we got back from vacation, but now that no money is coming in, it looks like it will be a while before we have the opportunity.

I didn't even hear her leave this morning, although when she was home at lunch she said that I kind of rolled over and muttered something when the alarm went off.  I woke up around 8:30 and lounged around in bed for just a little bit, then got up and made some coffee.  Since then, I've been going upstairs every ten or fifteen minutes and picking up something and putting it in the closet or in a box or somesuch.  I think I'm a little more than halfway through with what needs to be done.  I was really hoping that I'd find the USB PCCard adapter for my laptop, so I didn't have to keep swapping out my portable hard drive and other things, but I haven't found the little guy yet.  So I guess I'll be continuing the swapping while we're on the trip.  Oh well.  Better than not having a USB port at all, I guess.

I also just found a certain possible reason why Kala's grass isn't growing very well.  Not only are there gnats of some sort on the grass that's growing, but there are also weevils eating the seeds in the package.  I planted a couple more, and while I was holding the package, I noticed some little bugs trying to crawl out.  Little fuckers.  I sealed them in an airtight container, but I think it's already far too late for the seeds that were in there.  Guess I'll have to get some more of those when I go to Petsmart to get her some more food before we leave.  I should get a little jug of kitty litter for her, too.

Well, back to the cleaning, I guess.  The girlfriend also wants me to clean the upstairs bathroom before we leave, so I should get with it...