Hmmm, maybe this won't be so bad after all.

Today is the day that I get on a plane to fly to India. Weeks of anxiety about being prepared for this trip have led up to ... well I am not sure what. I started packing, then decided I should check the weather forcast, and had to re-do my packing. Upper 70's all week! Yesterday it was single digit temps here at home, with snow on the ground.

Here is a good site for time and temp readings, and here is a good site about the area in general (for my Wiki friends). Since I will have a full day between my arrival and my first day in the office in Noida, I plan to see some local stuff and do some shopping. After that we are working "UK" hours, so my internal clock will really be confused! Will post some updates if I get a chance.

Letting it out

It is nice to be able to sit down at the computer and not be working on "work"! For the past 4 months it seems that is all I have done, to the point that I don't even want to think about playing around with other stuff if I have to sit in this chair.

Yesterday I was up at 4:30 and at work by 5, and 5 hours later felt good enough about my progress that I allowed myself to join my family for the weekend. The good news is, that this intense project implementation will be past the crunch in April. Only 3-1/2 months to go!

Friday the 16th I leave for India, my 2nd trip out of contry while on this project. Up until recently I have been very apprehensive about the whole trip, but have come to realize it was largely because my comfort level with the project readiness and what I am supposed to be training has been very low. Over Christmas I had to just let it all go - the stress, the worries, everything, and turn it over to God; He would not set me up to fail. In the last 2 weeks, some of the things that have worried me most have started coming together. Not 100% by any means, but better. And I have come to accept that I can only do as much as I can do with the tools, people and resources I have at my disposal. Our project and team leads know this and expect nothing more.

In addition, our 18 year old kitty has been declining in health for about a year. She has hyper-thyroid, which is manageable, but she has been starving herself and I recently discovered that she was not really swallowing all the pills (2 x daily) that I thought I was so skillfully poking down her throat! Fortunately, we got her in for another check with the vet (I love our vet), and changed to a gel form of the medicine which absorbs through her ear. That with a high-calorie Rx food (at $2 per can) and she is almost back to her old self.

Holley and Mike have been so great while I have been consumed with worry. God has truly blessed me!