Yes, I know I've been a blog slacker, but there really isn't much to say. (I'm still HOME you know.)

The past couple of weeks, I really haven't been planning the trip so much; it's been a lot more of taking care of unfinished business before I leave -- freelance jobs, prepping my car for sale, cleaning, etc.

That's not to say I have ignored trip planning altogether....

I went to back to my travel medicine doctor for my follow-up Hep B shot yesterday. With so many patients, I had to remind him exactly who I was: "I'm the guy who's going around the world for sixteen months."

"You know 'Around the World' has a double-meaning," Dr. Bellomo said. "Your trip, or the other way..."

"Huh?"

"You know, when you get a woman to give you oral and anal and..." He stopped when I just gave him this weird look.

"What? You're over 18, aren't you? Anyway..."

I got my follow up Hep B shot, and then got my WHO forms signed and stamped. I asked him about a traveler's recommendation to bring a syringe just in case I'd need anti-venom shots or something on the road since many lesser developed countries may have questionable needles. He denied me a spare syringe saying it'd get both of us in trouble...but on the up side, he gave me a whole free sample case of the antibiotic Cipro, since the Bayer representative was there stocking up anyway.

After my visit, I ordered my malaria medicine online from Canada (where drugs are 50% cheaper).

Anyway, I promise the blog will get more exciting once the trip begins October 20th. In the meantime, I'm still just buying little things here and there to bring, most of it involving camera equipment.

(Yes, I'm bringing a video camera!)

Special thanks goes out to Nicole Judice for pledging The Global Trip 2004 Pledge Drive! (She's guaranteed a postcard!)