Almost ready to go

My goodness I'm tired.  Long day.  Long day but good day.  This week is not turning out to be anywhere near as horrible (work-wise) as I had feared.  One of the horrible things is not happening at all, and another is going to happen while I'm out of town.   I can feel the tension draining out of me just thinking about it.  A third horrible thing may or may not happen, but I can handle 1 out of 3.

I went to a talk today about certifications.  I'm thinking about getting the CISSP certification.  Maybe.  The test costs $550, but work will cover it.  Test prep is anywhere from free to $2500, and would suck up a lot of my time for well over two months if done properly.  Although (she said humbly) I'm really good at standardized test taking, so that gives me an advantage.  And word has it that if you've done a lot of FISMA crap, that covers a lot of content in the test.  (This paragraph brought to you by Acronyms Int.)

So, there's that.

Also, it rained today and it cooled down a lot, and it's like some part of me needed that rain and is now happy.

This evening I got my maildrops packed up and ready to go.  I'll stop by the post office to mail them tomorrow.  That should be fun, with thirty pounds of food in them, waiting in line.  But then they'll be out the door and in theory I'll have food waiting for me in Maine.  That'll be nice.  Unfortunately my last mail drop is to a business, not a post office.  I don't really like to mail things that far in advance to a business, as they don't have a lot of room for boxes usually.  But it will only be there about two weeks, I think.  I hope it will be okay.  If not, it'll be in a town where I can get supplies to replace everything.

I posted my maildrop schedule in my 2011 AT trailjournal.  I'm not asking anybody to send me anything other than encouraging words. For one thing, I am already sending myself a lot.  And for another, I don't like to ask.  But if you think of me, you could send me a postcard (.. probably not to the private business, I'd guess).  If you do send me something, please tell me where you sent it and if it's a package or a letter so I know to ask for it.

My backpack and my daypack (because I don't generally use a suitcase when I could use a daypack) are both packed and ready to go.  I just need to get through this work week, and I am gone.  Vamoosed.  Outtahere.  I'll miss JD and the four legged ones, but I am definitely ready to put in some time on the trail.