My Vacation Effectively Begins Today

Although my week off from work technically began at midnight Friday night when I finished my shift, Saturday and Sunday were off-days anyway, so I haven't yet been feeling like I'm on vacation...until now that is.  Normally, I would be going to work right now, so being off instead is a sweet, sweet feeling.   In a couple of days Melissa and I will be traveling to northern Georgia to enjoy the sights, fall season, and hiking.  Today and tomorrow are "home" days, which I also greatly savor.  I had planned to try running for ten miles, but early on my lower throat, which is a little sore, got too dry and I was coughing too heavily, curtailing the run after 3.5 miles.  I'll either try again tomorrow or wait until after Georgia to go on another long run.  In the meantime, I went to AAA and picked up some trip information and maps, after which I stopped off at the Starbucks on NW 13th Street (US 441) and 16th Avenue.  I hadn't been there in a while, mainly because I'd previously experienced a string of frustrating failures at finding parking spots there.  Today, however, I pulled right on into an empty slot and walked in, planning to sit at the long red counter facing the window.  But lo and behold, the counter was gone and the place's entire seating was changed...I opted instead to sit at a long, library-style table where I am right now, writing this.  And now I think I'll first take a little time to study some foreign languages, temporarily memorizing sentences in Chinese, German, Spanish, and Russian and then writing them out as I do on a daily basis, and then read a bit...I'm currently in the middle of a Ruth Rendell Inspector Wexford mystery novel and just starting a James Patterson Women's Murder Club book...