Final Countdown

Well - getting down to the last week. And after the 117 degree heat index day today, I'M READY!!! It's been an interesting week trying to ship some of my stuff home. The rate is higher than I had hoped so Plan B was to take them onto the plane as extra luggage. After looking into that route, there is no guarantee of rate or that my stuff will even get there on the same flight. It's actually not a bad option if you only have a direct flight, but since I have a connection flight, I can't wait for my luggage to carry through Customs. SO..... back to plan A of shipping my stuff through UPS. I moved some of the heavy stuff (books, shoes) out of Box #3 in hopes of saving some money. If all goes well, most of my stuff will be safely in Rochester by the end of the week waiting for me to arrive next week with two suitcases full (but still under weight!) of stuff.

As for customs... I added an extra category to the invoice that lists "country of purchase" so I can show the US Customs folks that most of what I'm bringing home I actually purchased in the US. SO DON'T TAX ME TWICE!!!

Ah, the stresses of moving home! But in 8 days, I'll be back in Rochester with my one and only Sarah. Then back to fighting jetlag and culture shock! Can't believe this moment is finally here!

This past week has included a lot of going away parties. I'm working on the pictures to upload now but of course no going away party is right unless it includes KTV!!! We went out as a large group from work for some food, beer, karaoke, and I even brought a couple of bottles of Captain Morgan for everyone's enjoyment. We also headed out for an all-you-can-eat BBQ for lunch on Friday which turned into all-you-can-drink for the afternoon.

Then some more festivities as we had "guys night" Friday night to an interesting restaurant called DS Music where everything has a hospital theme. They serve beer like it's an IV, they give shots of alcohol in shot containers, the servers are dressed as nurses of course. It's about as PG-13 as Hooters would be and there were a lot of people of both genders at the restaurant, including some high school kids at the table next to us. The food was actually very good and most of it came out with flames or on fire for additional affects. You'll see pictures on the right! Our waitress could not speak much English and we spoke little Chinese so it made for an interesting conversation every time she came by the table. It was actually pretty comical.

As for the weekend? Too hot to do anything outdoors. Further wrapping up of packing and going through the house to get ready for moving out on Monday.

Favre is officially Minnesotan..... get your Purple #4 Jerseys now!