Month: April 2007

I have called the local pharmacy and ordered a larger prescription of Tricor for my trip.

I have, for the most part, decided what clothing I’ll be taking…I travel light.

I have my cameras ready with extra memory cards. I am taking both Canons (Rebel and SureShot)

I am compiling my email and phone list and will laminate that.

I have my Global SIM card for my cell phone, which oddly enough, does not work around here. No cell phones do…

What I need to do is Xerox both my passports, and have the copy place shrink down some material for my photo-essay project.

I will only be spending a short amount of time in Greece, for a couple of reasons. The first is cost. Although Greece is a relatively inexpensive place, it can get a bit pricey for lodging in the larger towns and cities, especially as summer approaches. The second is that my work will deal primarily with the last fifteen years after the Yugoslavian Civil War so my material is in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia, and Serbia. I don’t know if I will get to Serbia, but I’ll try, if only for a couple of days.

I’m not going there to ghoulishly take pictures of death and destruction, but rather rebuilding and growth.

It’s also really cheap to have a great time.

So, just a few assignments to finish up and then off I go next Thursday. I’ll post a few before then.

Johnnyboy

For the past few months I have been experiencing automatic shutdowns on my Toshiba Satellite. It only happens after I have been playing DVDs for a spell (from 1 hour to 20 minutes) and the PC gets too hot, and I mean hot! Then, ‘POOF!’ Black screen, no power. It’s only protecting itself…anyway, I troubleshot the thing for a while, cleaned the very dirty fans, put it back together and, unfortunately, no change. So I think one of the fans is cooked, which means repairs on a 3 year-old model. Who knows how much that will be…

I’ll wait until I get home in June and have it looked at. Thankfully I have my little notebook sized PC that I have plugged in to the monitor. It works great! I have transferred all the bookmarks and updated my files from the old unit as well as updated my virus protection from ZoneAlarm. The only downside is that for some reason the display settings are not being remembered when I shut down, so each time I boot up I have to readjust the display to a single monitor and change the resolution. Still, these are luxury problems.

I have handed in all my homework except for my science class and one last paper for my European History tutorial. I spoke to my mentor and she and the professor both told me to take an ‘incomplete’ for this class and hand it in in June after I return. To be honest I told them both that I really hadn’t prepared properly for the work and could not hand in a good piece. I am leery of the word ‘incomplete’ but I am now aware that it is a tool used to guarantee a better piece of scholarship rather than a black mark against me. I’ll bring the book I am reading for material with me to Croatia and have it read soon enough. I think I’ll use a Cybercafe and Google Documents to make notes and maybe even begin the work while I’m away. This way I can come home and essentially edit instead of brainstorm.

I leave for Croatia next Thursday for an AA convention there and in Greece. Then I am back in Croatia to travel around the country and take many pictures, some of which you all will see!

I am taking a working holiday. Yes, this is the epitome of a luxury problem.

Johnnyboy