T-23

Patricia keeps teasing me about having written a countdown to our departure on each day on the calendar. Today is T-23.

Friday was a good day all around. It was my birthday!

Friday maked the end of my class in Microsoft Exchange, and we capped the course off by taking the Microsoft certification test. I passed the test, and so can use it as part of the MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) certification I'm working on. State offers a Skills Incentive Program (SIP) that would pay me an extra 10% if I complete the MCSA and 15% for the MCSE. My SIP eligibility begins in March, and I'd like to complete the MCSE by then.

Patricia spent Friday morning applying for our visas for Ethiopia. We should have them next week if all goes well.

Speaking of Ethiopia, during a study break (I had holed up in Arlington Central Library to revew for my exam), I picked up several books on Ethiopia. One I borrowed, and just finished reading, is Nega Mezlekia's memoir Notes from the Hyena's Belly. The author describes his carefree childhood in the book's first part, but just as he grows up, Haile Selassie is swept from power by a military junta. The junta, known as the Derg, then imposes a socialist dictatorship, with (especially military) aid from the Soviet Union. The resulting revolution devastates the country and bleeds it population dry, as thousands of people suffer summary execution during the ensuing terror. The author spends the second and third parts of the book documenting his struggle for survival during this upheaval. Since I knew next to nothing about this period in Ethiopian history, I found the text enlightening. Mezlekia writes in an entertaining style as well.

Friday evening some friends invited us over for dinner and we provided the dessert. Clara baked one of her famous butterfly cakes, a pound cake cut and rearranged in the form of a butterfly and decorated with strawberries and kiwi fruit slices. We also provided some fireworks, which Patricia and I had purchased from a fireworks stand during the post-Independence Day sales. Some other friends showed up for dessert with their daughters, and the four girls especially enjoyed the fireworks.

Yesterday Clara and Gwendolyne were overjoyed to discover that our building has an outdoor roof pool on the 21st floor. We spent part of the afternoon splashing around up there.

The girls started school again last Tuesday and are enjoying it fine so far. We decided they may as well return to their school and school friends, even for a month, given all the other disruption in their young lives this year.

We still have some matters to take care of before we leave, such as selling our cars. I plan to get the ads up today.

Patricia also managed to make it out to the warehouse to pull some of our effects out of the overseas shipment and place them into storage instead, thus reducing or eliminating our weight overage. Unfortunately, the items she pulled out included all my records (I have a pretty good LP collection on vinyl), but then she didn't have the time to find the turntable, so that's getting shipped. We're just happy to be within a few pounds of the weight limit, and will work to cut our possessions down another notch with the next move.