so i was in seat 53B, last row window seat on the port side, just ahead of the emergency exit and washrooms on the British Airways 747-400. everything was going just fine until a heavyset woman began to chat loudly with an equally heavyset man directly behind my seat. as they shouted at each other, she asked brilliant questions such as”is it true all Turkish people hate Americans?” shortly after proudly proclaiming that she was American herself. luckily, some girl fainted coming out of the bathroom right in front of them so that put an end to their conversation. thank you, fainting girl!

anyway, i’m sitting in London Heathrow T5: home of the luggage gnomes killing time before my connecting flight to Nairobi. it’s pretty nice despite the lack of drinking fountains. i think that’s all i have to say about it right now.

so i’m headed off to Kenya for a couple of weeks to shoot for another humanitarian organization. i land in Nairobi and, as i understand it, go on a blitz tour of most of the country from there.

internet connectivity may be an issue out there so i’ll probably be checking in less often, if at all until i return to Chicago. however, i’ve already pre-posted some photos so my photoblog will still be updated in my absence.

later!

more than a month after it was unhappily sandwiched between a GMC Sierra and a Scion tC, my car is finally back in working order! i’ve lost power locking in the driver’s door, the fresh paint is slightly more saturated, the new rear doors’ lock stalks are a different color than the rest of the interior, but it’s drivable, parkable, and back on the streets :)

- refill antimalarial prescription

- look for mosquito repellent in airline-friendly dispensers

- pick up car from the shop (finally!)

- catch and ride a wild zebra

- find happiness

good thing i’m going to be out of town most of this month.

well, here it is: the Asus Eee PC 1000H, my new travel companion. for the curious, it’s got a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor with a 160GB hard drive and a gig of RAM. it weighs about 3.2 pounds, has a 10″ widescreen monitor and, most importantly, runs Windows XP.

for the rest of you, there’s a picture of a cat to look at.