Author: AaronEJ

Fighting with a banking service– no wait, one should never fight

2008-02-10

Fighting – no wait, one should never fight – getting annoyed at then the fact that to sign up for a banking service takes weeks to process even though I don’t have weeks, you’d think they would want your money…; doing my taxes; writing a review of some battery website so that I can maybe get $30 towards a new battery charger because the one I got doesn’t have a way of converting the plug directly to DC input (erg); dealing with my website hosting company if I have enough time, either that or adding programs to my new palm so that I can read the thousands of pages on info relevant to my PC Zambia service in the CD I got….

Doesn’t seem like the ratio of paperwork…

Doesn’t it seem like the ratio of paperwork to importance of thing you are doing it for goes up exponentially the more important it is? To apply for college I needed to do a ton of paperwork, but I knew that it was crucial in getting anywhere in life. Now, in applying for the Peace Corps, I’ve probably done even more paper work, but I know that I will get even more away from it than I did in college. I think I’ll call it Aaron E-J’s law of paperwork…. unless someone already beat me to naming the phenomenon.

I Voted Today… Did you?

Today I got up at 4:08AM to work the polls. The turn out when I was there was less then I suspected, actually normal for things like town elections, however, I bet that there were a lot more people there tonight after I left when everyone got out of work/school. Didn’t achieve much once I got done with work on account of my caffeine running low (having gotten up about four hours earlier then I normally do. It looks like Obama will win CT, although the votes are only about 13% counted the last time I checked. I think I’ll go to bed soon…

Third to last pancake breakfast for 2+ years

2008-02-03

Third to last pancake breakfast for 2+ years; working on my website; just making sure that I’m going to be able to charge my laptop using the solar panel I got and the DC to AC inverter (I’m pretty sure it works, at least when I have the laptop turned off); more web stuff; something either reading about the Zambian Economy or something on my list of things to do….

Working on turning otherrealm.org into a photo album

2008-02-02
Working on turning otherrealm.org into a photo album of the roughly 1500 photos I’ve taken until now and the thousands of photos I hope to take while I’m in Zambia. Only potential problem is that I might run out of my allotted space on the server I have my site on, but I’ll address that issue when/if it arises. Cleaning the bathroom (boy I’ll be glad when I don’t have to do that… [Although I’ll probably have to clean the hole in the ground {eew?}]); A short hike with my pack on; something either consisting of learning how to use my new phone, reading about how to improve the Zambian economy, or more website stuff…<

On this last day of January 2008…

On this last day of January 2008 I am doing my usually morning routine, then doing some things online. After having eaten lunch I am looking into having one of my parents sign-able as an “attorney in fact”… in fact while I’m away in Zambia so they can deal with financial stuff that may arise. Going for another walk with my internal frame backpack, then working on my website for the rest of the night (with dinner somewhere in there).

Riding my bike around five miles and not leaving the backroom of my house…

2008-01-30

Riding my bike around five miles and not leaving the backroom of my house (while reading Peace Corps stuff); working on ” http://www.prospectdesigns.com “; working on my photo album (I have approx. 1500 photos so it’s taking awhile); reading a book on the economy of Zambia….

I have spent quite a bit of money over the last few days…

2008-01-25

I have spent quite a bit of money over the last few days buying things for Zambia. It’s kind of ironic that I probably will have spent more money on things I need/want then most Zambians earn in a year. Hopefully these things can act as an investment which pays off by better being able to help strengthen the rural economy in the country I will be spending the next two+ years.

Last night I had nshima and beef stew which was actually pretty good together, although nshima by itself is going to take some getting used to (rather bland). For desert we added a little brown sugar to the nshima and that was good as well.

Today started with work at “the shack” (Radio Shack) in which I bought a DC to AC converter for my solar panel and a shortwave/FM/AM portable radio. Coming home I ordered some more rechargeable batteries and a battery charger that changes individual batteries. I hopefully will have a little time to rework my blog in prep for my departure for Zambia.

Well today started off with me getting my solar panel…

2008-01-22

Well today started off with me getting my solar panel (Solaris 26 watt Foldable Solar Array from http://www.olympiccampinggear.com ) which I think is going to work well, I set it up to change some batteries and it seemed to be working although the skies clouded over so the charging was going somewhat slowly. I worked on updating http://www.prospectdesigns.com for a few hours, then went up to Northampton to return my sister to Smith and to look at backpacks at a camping supply store there. I got the Kelly Redcloud 6650, which I hope is comfortable. When I got home I saw that the mail had not been gotten so I went to grab it. We almost needed a bigger mail box because there was a ton of mail and so I didn’t notice that one of the packages was from the Peace Corps and had my staging info. I will be going to Washington D.C. for in-country training and need to call to get my tickets tomorrow. I also got an email saying that I need to fax a copy of my diploma to Zambia, which I will do tonight. Tomorrow it’s a hike with my new backpack, hopefully time to put in a couple hours of web design before I have to go to work at “The Shack.”