hell is empty

and all the devils are on the I-5 -- said Shakespeare.

It's the one thing I've been able to say from the beginning that I will absolutely not miss from home while I'm abroad: the commute to school. Today it was a commute to the most boring hour and a half of my recent life story. Traffic is always unpredictable and usually when I leave by 7:00, I'm ahead of the bulk of it, and I did leave the house at that time, but I did stop to get gas along the way and I ended up boarding the freeway at 7:18. From the Avery onramp to Jefferson/University on the 405, I only got up to speed (~65 is pretty good for my car after traffic) once, and whilst in traffic the speediest I managed was around 40 mph. The car was roaring like it meant it, though. Speed is just a number.

The moral of this story: if you ever notice me getting nostalgic or misty-eyed remembering the good times I had in the grey-and-yellow mornings before school in the car....someone...someone send me internet slaps. Because Shakespeare's right.

More pertinently, I managed to finagle Quicken into displaying my correct account balances. All three, which is impressive for someone of my caliber. And, to top it all off, the error was 100% user-caused. Derp.

Also pertinently, I managed to get luggage tags and a startrek water bottle and a huuuuuuge water-proof backpack to use as my carryon instead of the overnight bag I have that is well, real luggage, because after hearing about the nightmare escalators etc at the airport, I'm not enthusiastic about my prospects when I consider lugging a 50lb rolling suitcase, an over-night handbag and my laptop. Oh, cool thing about the backpack is that it has a laptop sleeve in it and a million pockets, which I will fill with miscellania. Also I hope to use it as my travel bag when I manage to hop a train to Scotland or Wales.

Even more pertinently, I've added a page to the blog displaying where my friends who are abroad in the UK are, and if I can get their permission(s), I'll try to find a picture of them each abroad to add sparkle. I'll get permission first (edit: have permission, link on "mah frans" page), but my friend Megan is keeping a travel blog as well and she's 100x more eloquent and good at life than I am, so her blog is much nicer and much more emotional to read. I'm sure you're all potatoes after you read my posts.