Planning Begins

- I call Julee this morning and tell her I need to get my annual leave approval first. She cheers at the other end of the line. JR is a cool boss. As long as I get my job done, she is flexible. I tell her I would not be taking any vacation from now till end of Jan but I need to leave for two and half weeks. (I am only taking two days of national holiday for Thanksgiving and one day for Christmas. Since my folks are not here, there isn't much family obligation other than showing up at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.) She says "Great! No problem." "Just so that you know where I will be during those two weeks... I will be in Egypt and Jordan with Julee." She drops her jaw, "Why does it have to be so nerve racking for me? Why do you have to go ride a camel somewhere again? Why can't you just go to a nice safe place, like Hawaii??!!" "Don't worry I will be back."

- I plan to get guide books next.