We are all prepared to leave for vacation on Sunday to visit the Pacific northwest, second only to Big Sur as a preferred destination for me. The newspaper has been stopped (and the proceeds donated to an education charity), the mail has been held, the cat sitter has been retained (including all the instructions about which cats must be locked in the pantry so the other cat can eat in peace for a few minutes), the younger daughter has been placed with friends and relatives while the rest of us are away, the painters have been informed so they can keep painting without us, the airline tickets were ordered months ago, the hotel reservations made, the local sightseeing has been planned, the visit to the college in Olympia has been arranged, the tickets to the favorite musician who happens to be playing in Portland the exact same time we're staying there have been received, the food has been stockpiled, the water has been purified, the central gathering place has been named, the stockings have been hung by the chimney with care. We're all ready to go, short of doing laundry and packing.

All except for one tiny detail. The older daughter, around whom this entire trip has been lovingly orchestrated, is now sick with some unnamed illness that is sapping her strength, causing night sweats and fevers and just generally making her feel like something you find lying next to the litter box. So all of the above will be undone and unmade and unarranged until Caitlin can travel again *and* we can take a vacation, both of which events, one can pray, will occur at the same time.

I am in White Plains tonight at a Crowne Plaza hotel, arriving after an uneventful drive up that artless section of highway known as the Garden State Parkway. Best feature of the trip: not having to ask the driver to stop even once so that I could pee. Second best feature of the trip: learning a lot about my phone that I never knew from one of my co-workers. Worst feature of the trip: feeling like a dunce for not having spent any time learning much about the phone other than how to dial it in the months I've had it. Who knew I had web access, ability to IM, could read my email, store all my web logins, and turn the backlight on so that I can use the phone in the dark? No matter what transpires with the partner we're meeting tomorrow, the trip was worthwhile for the wealth of knowledge I picked up about my phone.