tuesday august 28,2007 (vancouver,bc)

Thanks for checking out our slaplogs. This is where we will keep you up to date on our progress (or lack thereof). We have a lot to tell, but no time to do it right now. 79 short hours separate us from the impending departure of our flight to Florida. The strange thing about that is that on one hand we wish there was more time to get everything done properly and see everyone before you leave, but on the other we can't wait to get on with it and just want to leave right now! It kind of makes your head hurt, or maybe that's from all the beer and wine that we've been drinking with our peeps during the daily "final farewells". In any case, check back soon because as soon as we have some free time we'll update this log and get you up to speed. Kay, gotta run; have to go see the banker now, and then the dentist, and then the landlady, and then there's another final farewell, and then.... C'mon, no more "and then's"!!

thursday august 30,2007 (vancouver,bc)

24 hours and counting! Over the coming weeks I will supply a series of posts to describe what we have been doing over the past several months give you an idea of how this trip has taken shape. In the meantime by way of a quick update, here is what we have done: 

- Retired. Tomorrow is the official last day of work for both of us
- Sold a loft, working on selling Jaime's condo, and rented out another
- Sold all of our possessions save the dive gear, this laptop and some clothes
- Racked up a combined total of 9 dentist visits; Jaime had 4 wisdom teeth pulled!
- Attended stag & stagette parties respectively. One in Vegas, one in Seattle (not ours)
- Booked the Florida flights, hotels, and cars
- Arranged showings for 6 potential slapdash boats from Florida to Maryland
- Hired a planner to take care of our investments
- Built this website
- Completed coastal navigation course
- Obtained dive master certifications to increase future employment opportunities
- Packed our bags... okay I lied. they're not packed. I actually should be doing that right now, but it will get done tonight!
- Survive battery of inoculations, mentally prepare for second round of booster shots tomorrow
- Arrange mail forwarding
- Dozens of goodbye's and farewells with our friends and families

And here's what we have left to do:

- Pack (see I didn't forget)
- Hand in keys, pass, credit card, laptop, blackberry and any other company owned materials to our respective employers
- Get apartment ready to pass inspection so that we can get our damage deposit back

- Get our good selves and what meager personal possessions remain from here to FL

- Find a boat
- Buy a boat
- Get that condo sold so we can pay for the boat! It's got an ocean view... Interested? Click here
- Move onto boat
- Learn to sail boat
- Outfit said boat for world travel

It has been a bit of a roller coaster, and I know that the day that we reflect back on this week and laugh is not far off but for now I think I will just curl up into a ball and cry myself to sleep... right after I finish packing that is! The next update will be posted from Florida though. There, I feel better already.

friday august 31,2007 (vancouver,bc)

"Fri-turday"

Our day started at 6:30 AM on Friday. We managed to get a good start on the packing and throwing stuff away (at least 4 trips to the dumpster) before Jaime had to go to work. I snapped a requisite “last day of work” picture as she was on the way out the door, and then got back to work. My mission was to pack only what we needed, throw anything else away, and get the apartment in ship shape in order to pass the landlady’s inspection so that we could get our damage deposit back. We have been renting this little furnished apartment since we sold the loft and most of our furniture a couple of months ago.
 

I’m not sure how much real progress I had made by the time Jaime got home, but of course I made it sound like I had just climbed the North Face of Mt. Everest without supplementary oxygen. With Jaime there, things finally started to shape up and it started looking like we might actually make it to the travel clinic in time for our booster shots. We did, with help from her mom Laurell. She came and picked us up because we had sold all of our vehicles long ago. We would have never made it otherwise so we owe her one! After a quick jab in the arm for each of us and a lollipop for our troubles, I was back at the apartment dealing with the landlady, while Jaime and her Mom completed last minute errands (at least that’s what they said, but I couldn’t help but notice the Starbuck’s cups in the truck later, so I’m a little suspicious). By the time they returned from their critical “errands” our nine assorted boxes and bags were piled up in the parking spot and ready to go (I will pause to note here that most of these bags and boxes weighed about as much as any major kitchen appliance, and that we live on the 4th floor of a building with no elevator, and that I hadn’t eaten anything all day, and didn’t have any supplementary oxygen..)
 

By 6:30 we were somehow on our way to the airport with all nine kitchen appliances, I mean boxes. In between arriving and checking in we managed to encounter only 2 small emergencies; Laurell’s truck was rammed by a kamikaze baggage cart at full speed (not ours), and the bag containing all of our cash, passports, my wallet and birth certificate went “missing”. Both potential catastrophes were resolved quickly; the kamikaze cart driver (he was literally sprinting at full speed with this cart, what an idiot!!) paid in cash for the damage to her truck, and the bag was found after only a few minutes or sheep panic. It was buried safely in the mountainous pile made up of our bags the whole time. Sweating and near breakdown we managed to get our bags and ourselves safely checked in so that we could enjoy our first real meal of the day and some goodbye beers with Laurell, and our good friends Dan and Ryleigh who came out to see us off. We couldn’t have asked for a better send off. We laughed until our jaws hurt, took lots of silly pictures, pissed of the serving staff at Montana’s (mostly Ryleigh’s doing), said lots of nice things to each other that made us all cry. We finally went through security at 10:35PM just in time for our 10:55 PM departure.