The Club, Bolivia-style

Day two of my Bolivian experience ran the gamut. This entry was written Friday night, but I couldn’t post it until Saturday (today).

I woke up early Friday morning and prepared to take a shower. Thankfully the guest shower has hot water. It doesn’t use a hot water heater like in the U.S. Instead it is an electric shower head that heats the water as it flows through the head. I was a little scared of the thing, truth be told. I envisioned being electrocuted or something. Actually, it worked well. The problem was that the water pressure was too high and caused the bottom of the head to pop off. I had to screw it on several times before I got it tight enough to stay.
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Safe and sound

Here I am at the Seminario Teologico Hebron, and already it’s been a long day!

I arrived at Santa Cruz’s Viru Viru airport at 6 am (Bolivia time). My journey began at 10 am (CST) the previous day. There were a few curveballs during my connections (one flight was switched to a different plane and delayed almost 2 hours) but everything worked out okay and now I’m here.

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Making lists, checking ’em twice

Today and tomorrow will probably be very busy as I make all my last-minute arrangements for the trip.

I’m using a technique I learned during my time at the Management Seminar for Newspaper Editors a few years back. Basically I’m making an agenda, or list of things that need to be done. When I make myself do it, using an agenda is quite helpful.

I’m also making another list, this one is more of an inventory. I’m writing down everything that I’m packing to take with me. That way if my luggage is lost or stolen, I can report exactly what I need to have replaced.

More email woes

My trusty old email address of the past 3 years finally bit the dust. Since I’m no longer a student at UMSL, I left my part-time job at the Public Policy Research Center there. Unfortunately, that meant the end of a good run for “kirkman@umsl.edu.”

If you’ve had trouble reaching me in the past few days, that’s probably why. If you need to get my NEW email address, just post a Comment here and I’ll send it to you.

I feel like Gollum

In “The Two Towers” he moans and screams “It burns, it burns us!” because of the Elf-made rope that Samwise uses to tie him up.

Well, my arms they are a-burnin’ and a-stingin’ from my immunization shots. But that’s okay… At least I’ll be protected and healthy on my trip. And thankfully I got in and out of the health clinic quickly.

Quick enough, in fact, that I was able to get to UMSL in time to take my second (and final) exit exam. With that out of the way, I should officially graduate this Sunday. Wow, how about that. I made it out in 4.5 years. Not bad!

Captain, we’ve got power!

Praise God! The replacement part for my PowerBook’s power supply arrived today, just one day after it was ordered. I picked it up this afternoon and the PB is now running great. The battery is fully charged again, and I’ve been spending time getting everything installed and ready.

I almost ran into trouble with OS X. The PB wouldn’t boot from the OS X installer CD, and I was getting scared that the RAM in the computer might not be up to snuff. But it turns out the CD itself was just a little too dirty. So after cleaning it off, everything installed perfectly. Whew, crisis averted.

The PowerBook has landed!

powerbook.jpg

My Pismo PowerBook arrived yesterday, and I am very pleased with it. It’s a better machine than what I’m currently using, and has everything I wanted when I started looking for one: dvd, cd-rw, zip drive, lots of ram, etc.

There’s only one problem: The power supply isn’t working right. But I took it to the Apple Store today, and they’re going to replace it for free. I just have to wait a couple days for the replacement to arrive. That’ll be hard, since I am really itching to use this computer. But I can live with it, since it’s free. 🙂

The inescapability of exams

Today I’m taking one of two required “exit exams” so that I can graduate from UMSL.

I’ve fulfilled all my academic requirements for my communication degree. But unless I take these tests, I can’t graduate. The ridiculous thing is that these tests mean nothing. If I get all the answers wrong on the test, I still graduate. I am only required to *take* them.

Anyway, I keep thinking of this as my “second-to-last test ever,” but my heart knows better… tests are inescapable. I’m sure I’ll have to take more of them at some point down the road.