ONE LAST HOORAH!

It is 11:30 on Wednesday night. We had plans to go to dinner tonight with friends, but it was cancelled (feel better Montrez!). We just got done eating a dinner consisting of lobster that I caught with some friends the last time we went out on Shawn's boat. Since all of our kitchen utensils were packed, it made preparations very difficult and we had to eat it out of plastic Glad containers. Not befitting of a lobster dinner, but delicious none the less. This is actually the first evening that we have been able to just sit at home. I would like to say that we were able to do nothing, but I would be lying. Idalis went through a couple of boxes of historic memorabilia and cleaned out her files. We got to look at some old pictures and read articles about how awesome and talented she is. She also found a receipt for a Eurail pass she bought when she was nineteen. Suffice it to say that prices have risen dramatically. In fact, we went to our bank today to purchase some Euros to have for when we arrive in Spain. Five hundred Euros cost us about eight hundred bucks. Looks like PB&J sandwiches will be a staple throughout Europe!

We had a very interesting day Monday. So interesting, in fact, I have not gotten a chance to tell you about it until now. Anyways, we had a 10:30 appointment at the Dade County Health Department for our last round of vaccines. We arrived at the clinic, paid our seven bucks to park and went inside. We went to door number ten, as we have for six months now, and to our surprise, the door was locked and the lights were out. As we peaked inside to try to understand what was going on, the security guard advised us that the travel clinic was closed on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. "Impossible", I said. "No", he said. I told him that we had an appointment and we told him that was impossible. He did not believe us until I showed him our print out and then he was as mystified as us. He advised that we call the main number. We did. We spoke to a very kind lady who advised us, once again, that the downtown clinic was closed on M,W &F. I told her of our dilemna and how we had an appointment. She offered to call the director of the Little Haiti clinic to see if they would see us. After a few tense minutes, she called back and advised that although they would not honor our appointment, we were welcome to go down and pull a number. So, we did. After announcing our arrival and once again explaining our dilemna, we were asked to fill out some paperwork and have a seat. So, we did. After witnessing an outburst, listening to some strange conversations and drafting a three page letter to the Miami Dade County Health Department, our number was finally called. We had finally made it to the end of this six month process to become immunized against every modern disease known to man, or so we thought. After being called in, we were promptly advised that the clininc had no more Japanese Encephalitis vaccines available. We explained that this was our last shot and that it had to be given twenty-eight days after the first. They were neither moved nor concerned. So, we agreed to at least be administered our last series of Hepatitis A and B vaccines. After paying, we immediately ran home and began some intense research to locate two Japanese Encephalitis vaccines. After calling all of the remaining Dade County Health Department clinics, we then proceeded to contact the Broward clinics, where I spoke to the rudest government employee I have ever encountered in my entire life and I worked for the government for fifteen years! We then hit up several private travel/adult immunization clinics until we found our saviours at the Concentra Medical Center. It was 4:00pm and we had to be at dinner with my brother Mike and his girlfriend Amail at 6:00pm. So, we ran to the car, hauled you know what to Sunset and 64th and parked at a meter. I began to feed the parking meter and it would only give us eighteen minutes regardless of how many coins I fed it. I drafted a quick note to any looming enforcement officers and placed it in the windshield. We ran upstairs and much to our surprise, we were treated like real people, ushered through promptly, given shots that we barely felt and made it back down to the car before the eighteen minutes were up. All in all, the experience of acquiring immunizations through the public health clinic, though the cheapest option, has been a total nightmare. I would go so far to say that it was the most difficult of all the preparations and spans a period of six months. I told Idalis that this was practice for what we were sure to encounter in various locations around the globe. Should any of you plan to follow in our footsteps, please be sure to either spend the extra money and find a real good travel clininc or give yourself plenty of time to deal with the bureaucracy.

Things are much calmer now. Thanks to Fernando at Beach Auto Tag, my sister ReAnne is now insured to drive our car while we are away. Thanks to Antoniette at HSBC we are now completely covered on all things relating to our travel account and thanks to Marshall's I know have the last few clothing items that I needed. The condo is a total mess and finding anything is pretty impossible as it is all packed away. One last trip to the warehouse this Saturday should take care of our remaining belongings and Saturday night will be the last evening we spend at home. Our take off is rapidly approaching, but I feel that we will make it out fully prepared and having covered all of our bases. Our tenants, Christine and Andres, will probably begin to move in shortly after we leave. Uncle Marty was kind enough to deliver the bike rack for the building this morning, my final duty as interim Condo Association Secretary, and everyone that is receiving our furniture has been scheduled for pick up. We have one last happy hour celebration at Monty's this Friday with all of our friends and a family party at Aunt Connie's house on Sunday. After that, one and a half tense and emotional days until take off. We made one last minute decision that may prove to be a life saver, if not just totally convenient. We purchased a compact computer, seven inches and less than two pounds, to carry around the world with us. At first we were committed to using internet cafes, and may still have to in some cases, but now, we are very happy with our decision as we believe it will make staying in contact much easier. I guess what this means is that there should be no excuse for not keeping this blog up to date. I just hope that you all enjoy it and follow along with us. There will soon be an advice and input option, so, if you have any ideas or things you would like to see, please let me know. After all, it was only a short while ago when all I knew how to do was to turn a computer on.

We hope to see you Friday at Monty's. If not there, we hope to see you at Aunt Connie's on Sunday. If not there, we are sorry that we missed you and send you our love!