11 August 2008

Down the shore

Not really, actually I was in Philadelphia for the weekend, visiting my best friend from Bucknell. I must have heard one of my favorite mid-Atlantic phrases, 'down the shore,' about a million times. It really just makes me chuckle...and in fact, I will be going 'down the shore' later this week to visit my aunt and take in some sun. Philadelphia was great, L. and I moved all over the city, had drinks around South Street, Fishtown and Girard, enjoyed a South Philadelphia block party, slurped on wonderful Italian ice and submitted to (and giggled through) the time-honored tradition of pedicure, complete with a serious massage chair.

Otherwise, various items are showing up that I've been ordering for the big move. I got a great pack, lots of gizmos and gadgets, and some snazzy wicking clothes. The most anticipated is the solar panel that I will use to charge my laptop and various batteries for camera, GPS and flashlights. This is a rather critical element since I will be without electricity for weeks and sometimes months at a time while living in the highland communities. Solar panel laptop chargers don't have a great reputation among my colleagues, and I'm sure without the help of my electrical engineer of a father, I would surely have found myself with the wrong wattage, amps, or volts. That said, we have yet to test it out so who knows.

Next week I'll be heading back down to Georgia...