The World Is A Very Big Place

Or, "The country cousin seeks guidance". So, here we are, eventually to depart for Faraway Lands, and I realize that there are a lot of things that my previous travels have not prepared me for, not even going to London. Wherefore, these questions:

1. Phone. We have plain ole CDMA phones, which as I understand it don't work in the rest of the world. And which, as I understand it, I can't just buy a different SIM card to make work in Australia. What do I do?

2. Laptop. That is, to bring or not to bring. Previously I whinged about my original plan of using it as an amusement device for the long long [insert Dr. Cox "long" routine] long flight being a non-starter. OTOH, it strikes me that having Teh Intarwubs readily available to us while we decide what to do on a given day is a good notion. But: will it be readily available? Are Melbourne and Sydney veritable garden lands of free wireless? Or would I be lugging around a 13" MacBrick?

3. Is it really hard to switch to driving on the other side of the road?

Productive Cat Is Productive

D&D got called on accout of Steve anticipating not leaving work til after 7, so I bit the bullet and started on the Paperwork Shoggoth.

This was not as easy as it sounds. When I got home and was hungry and looked at usual post-trip bleh house mess, I went five rounds with the crazy; but took a big glass of Man Up, You Big Whiner and reminded myself that I have absolutely nothing to feel woeful about compared to 80% of the universe (at least), and snarled myself into a more productive state. Unloaded & reloaded the dishwasher, put chicken-and-rice in the oven (you'll know that one, shechameleon), put away the load of towels from the dryer, disposed of the cardboard forest that was growing up around the beer/soda receptacle, and cleaned the catbox. Then, on to the shoggoth.

A bit of background: I am (and this upcoming statement is for some reason cause for surprise & disbelief among a portion of my acquaintance), perhaps, somewhat disorganized. (Pause for howls of laughter from sweh.) Part of it is nature, part is nurture, and part is the fact that I really am trying to juggle about three too many balls at any given time. I have tried various techniques to cope with this, and have clawed my way to at least a bare stability where I don't drop too many things on my foot, but I always have a vague background feeling of Imminent Doom related to this. Upon twin glowing recommendations from sedai and spride, I checked out this "Getting Things Done" book & associated method. Mirabile dictu, it seems to actually be working for me. I have not yet achieved full implementation, no, not by a long chalk; but even the initial passes have worked wonders on my brain, my mental state, and my productivity. Mostly I've only done it at work so far, but I'm shifting it to use at home, and the big thing standing in my way initially is the Paperwork Shoggoth. (Which is composed of over a year's worth of bills, statements, and miscellaneous whatever that I've dealt with but haven't stored, so it's all in a giant pile on top of my desk--thus rendering it useless for any purpose at all.) So tonight, I opened and sorted every single piece of un-dealt-with mail, and this weekend I shall file until my fingers bleed and every single item is in its destined location. And then I shall deal with every item as soon as it comes into the house. I shall take it downstairs, I shall pay it (or whatever needs doin'), and I shall immediately rotate a quarter-turn and file it. (Which sweh has been trying to get me to do for years. I'm sorry, lovey, I'm a slow learner.)

This was not without cost. There is a long slice on my arm now from a particularly vicious catalog that did not want to go gently into the goodnight of the waste bin. But it went.