So I go to the bookstore to buy a book for our upcoming vacation. While walking by the magazine section, and noticed a girl (young teen, probably 14 or 15) reading a magazine. I happen to glance down and see the bold print title of what she's reading: "62 Ways to Blow His Mind in the Bedroom" Awesome. I can't help but make the comparison: somehow this seems more dangerous to me than a 14 or 15 year old boy playing a violent computer game.

I bought "Tai Pan", apparently the next book in the Asian Saga (following "Shogun") by James Clavell. I can't wait to read it. I'm halfway through "Planiverse", and in spite of hearing good things about it, it's just boring me to hell. It's about a professor and his students who happen to make contact with a two dimensional universe (the humans view the universe from the side). It has some interesting bits about how life and society might work in a 2D universe, but is high on minutia and low on "cool". In my opinion, at least.

So why did I buy "Tai Pan"? We're leaving for the first of many journeys on Saturday!

Here's the rough schedule:
San Diego to Maryland to visit Dave, Elaine, and Ben.
Maryland to Sweden to visit Diana's sister and boyfriend.
Sweden to Norway to see the sights. We're taking some train across Norway which is supposed to be incredible.
Back to Sweden for more visiting.
Home July 8th.

Then a few days later, off to Tahiti for about a week. That's going to be some wacky time changes, Sweden to SD to Tahiti.

Then, home for another four days or so, and off to Montana for a week. Then back to San Diego, off for a few more days, then back to work!

It's going to be pretty crazy, but should be lots of fun. I might try to add some vacation time to the end, just to have some time at home to recover before going back to work. We'll see.

And we're leaving just as landscaping is getting all tied up. Today they are putting in lights and grass, which I believe is the final step, aside from planting a few more bushes and stuff. I can't wait to see it when I get home.

So, that's about the size of things. I'm not sure what my net access will be over the coming weeks, but I'll be taking lots of pictures and will post something up when I can. Smell ya all later!

Oh, by the way... Someone hit the fire hydrant right outside our building the other day. It created a five storey high geyser, a TON of water, and ended up flooding out the bottom of the underground parking garage. Here are some pics:

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