Where Is Hawkins?Where travel is cheaper than psychotherapy.

If I could pull it off at the office I would rule. From Milk and Cookies.

My friend Scott got this list to pop up on his Amazon.com home page. I don’t know what they’re trying to say, but apparently he’s compensating for his heauxmeauxsexuality by getting married.

In 2004…

Remember how people thought that George W. Bush was wearing a wire during the debates with Kerry? Well, that might have been close to the truth, kinda. It’s possible that the President was wearing a Lifevest because of some undisclosed coronary problems. Even though it’s from a left-wing conspiracy site, it still makes sense.

So I managed to survive the holiday season intact and made out with a nice Gift Certificate for American Airlines. I also saw The Aviator, which was long and drawn out. Then went home and watched The Hebrew Hammer on Comedy Central, then was promptly woken up at 8am because of the office and someone who is not aware of such a thing as a call pager for teams.

And blog stuff: I’ve been noticing an inordinate amount of searches (10 in 2 days) for CLTV news hottie Mary Frances Bragiel. What’s weird is that if you search Yahoo for Mary Frances, my blog pops up first as the search result. Props to me.

You watch “A Christmas Story” and “Home Alone” and you realize that Flick from A Christmas Story was in porn and Macauly Culkin is divorced.

Well, it’s been no secret that I’m trying to come up with an acceptable excuse not to attend my 10 year high school reunion. So I’ve made up my mind and want to go to Tanzania and hike Kilimanjaro, most likely in August. This gives me an excuse to beat myself in the gym and get in shape so I’m not a danger to myself or others if I do this.

There are two tour companies that I’m looking at. Adventure Dynamics out of Jo’burg and Himalayan Expeditions out of Toronto. Adventure Dynamics sounds a little more structured and unknown whereas the group out of Toronto sounds more my speed – loose, organic and on their own whim. I’ve got an option of joining a group for a Kili hike and safari afterwards in July or if I’m stuck in August, I can do my own thing and then people would hop on the Hawkins trip. I don’t know yet. I’d like to spend two weeks there, either doing Kili/safari, Kili/Dar Es Salaam, or Kili and go screw around in Jo’burg.

I don’t know why I’m scared about this. This isn’t like this would be the first time I’ve done something completely bizarre. This is different though. But you don’t get anywhere in life if you don’t take chances. The best part of this, however, is that I’d get to use an OneWorld F award on this trip to save the 3k for airfare (or the cheap KLM flight, but I might as well go BA in F – after all, I’m saving these miles for a reason). I’ll think about it by next week and decide on a course of action. I’ll just need to think it out.

Yes I know I’m a sick bastard. Look at the comments for a book entitled “The Best You’ll Ever Have : What Every Woman Should Know About Getting and Giving Knock-Your-Socks-Off Sex”. I never get tired of offensive comments.

This is the time that I give a big shout out to the people and companies who have taken care of me in 2004.

Airlines and Hotels: American Airlines and Qantas were the top two airlines by mileage. And there’s Priceline and Starwood for making sure I end up in good places. Bidding For Travel, which saved me some cash and Flyertalk for questions, answers, and overt drama.

Intelligence: Lonely Planet and DK for travel books and maps. MetrO and Vindigo for apps for the Palm so I don’t get lost.

Money: Citibank for never questioning why I charge stuff or use my credit card in all these various countries yet trips fraud alerts if I use my cards out in the suburbs.

And In Sydney: Night Cat Tours in Sydney – the most fun night I had in Sydney and getting out of the touristy areas. Adrenalin and the Sydney Visitors Centre for making my week there unforgettable by arranging activities.

To 2005… It’ll be fun.

Because of stuff like this. AUD$3k to go play fighter jock for the day. Considering I’ve got poor impulse control, it’s probably best that I don’t actually have the free cash to go.