European Vacation 2014, Part 2

Zo! The good news is that we took refuge at the home of mrguy south.

And we had a cozy dinner at Monzo, in j-town.

Udon, umeshu paste, bonito, whisk and yummy broth.

This is a far sight better than earlier when we were not only not in the United lounge, but were on the United floor. 

We rebooked our flights, tried to rent a car, and then mrguy said "Let's just get on the next rental car bus we see."

That's how we came to rent a Mazda yesterday.

Gotta holo holo. Mrguy is taking me to the library.

More later.

European Vacation 2014, Part 1

We're leaving the house in two hours for our first long vacation in four years. Making those frequent flier miles work for us and looking forward to making my passport look a little less new.

I'm ready to go. For the occasion, I've purchased a new suitcase. The old one belonged to the Big Guy, a sentimental favorite which I've patched and refused to relinquish through 16 trips, 10 countries, 8 years. I have also purchased a new bag / backpack and new shoes, things that I rarely do.

There are some last minute worries: there's a strike on our airline tomorrow. The name on my tickets and the name on my passport don't match. But other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, things are good. I'm traveling *for pleasure*, with mrguy.

More later.

Flight cancelled. Not just ours, but 200k other passengers, as well. Wonder when we'll get to Europe. Today's Monday. My guess is Friday. We'll know more when we get to our next airport. It's gonna be a long day.

More later.

Full-Service Geek

Last week I gave a presentation to the students in a job search class. This is a class that I took myself, once, and I love to keep touch with the students, teachers and the school. When I think of things for which I'm grateful, this school is high on the list, since it helped me change the direction of my life.

I give this presentation every few years, and as part of it I talk about how in my spare time I love to do genealogical research, that genealogy helped define my path, and how I'm a full-service geek. For the last few years, especially, I've been researching my people passionately.

It was with great excitement, then, that I saw a flyer at the LDS library advertising an upcoming genealogical conference. It's one that ms scandiwaiian and I went to a billion years ago. So happy to know that they still hold the conference, because I've been digging deeper into German and Irish records and need some inspiration.

A little over a week until this geek-fest.

A little over two weeks until mrguy and I head off for vacation.

I sign off with a little more gratitude -- a photo from a recent hike near our house with old friends: