See Y'all When I Get Home

We're rolling out of here bright and skippy tomorrow morning to go to what is shaping up to what appears to be a week long graduation celebration. Drat. Y'all know how I hate a party - especially when it's in my honor.

Sooo today, aside from finishing the dissertation presentation, I have to go to the post office, coffee store (yeah, we have a wonderful little non-corporate fair trade coffee shop in town where I buy all my coffee beans), and the bank so The Man can have some money in his pocket for the trip. I have to print out the maps of the stops along the way, make up a basket of soapy goodies for the scholarship auction I've helped coordinate for the last 5 years and make up little soapy gift bags for our hostesses for the next few days until we get to the hotel.

Oh, and I have to pack for 9 days (daytime and evening) for me & The Girl and put The Man's 4 days' worth in the bags. I'm taking his stuff with me so all he has to do is get on the plane Wednesday, since he's going to drive back with us Sunday. Then, there's all the extraneous stuff - laptop, LCD projector, external computer speakers, digital camera, video camera, doctoral robe, hood & tam, big fat sparkly tiara...you know, the necessities. In the morning, when The Girl & I pick Mom up, we have to load up her 9 days worth of clothing plus the added acoutrements of all those oxygen bottles and an AC oxygen concentrator. Oh yeah, and we can't forget the ice chest. This is one of those times when a ginormous SUV really comes in handy. I just with I had the Expedition with those yummy power fold rear seats instead of my Tahoe, from which we have to physically remove the bulky & rather heavy far rear seats. Oh well, some people don't even have cars...

Until I get to the hotel Monday, email will be sporadic, if not entirely nonexistent. Yeah, I get gmail on the Treo but the messages are often truncated. Maybe the graduation fairy will bring me an 8gb iPhone - or a new car...I'm easy. I probably won't be able to post much either, if at all, until I get home because I'm going to be busier'n a three-peckered billy goat while we're there, but I'll fill you in on the high points when I get back.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I am supposed to speak at the graduation next Saturday night. I'd welcome your ideas for a topic, theme, whatever. (No, Slick I will not talk about your porn collection, golf, or scratching my ass.)