The boys got back from their trip to see the Grand Canyon with Jim & Marie last night, ending a nice little second honeymoon Jamie and I have been enjoying for the past couple of weeks, and starting a three day period we have not been looking forward to.
Today starts a busy three days for Jamie and I as we (1) get ourselves ready for our trip to Russia on Wednesday; (2) get the boys ready for their stay at Camp Fren starting this coming Sunday; and (3) get our work straightened out so our offices don't creater without us. That's doubly (or triply) difficult for me, since I have my cases & clients to get taken care of before I leave, plus office management stuff, plus getting with Jim about keeping work going on the Hub while I'm gone (he's been gone the last two weeks and I'll be gone the next two), and I have to get all the electronics organized and set for the trip.
Normally we take my laptop, a still camera and a video camera on a trip, along with a lot of books, but this time we're making a couple of major changes.
Books - first of all, no books. Well, okay, the Eyewitness books on Moscow & St. Petersburg, but that is literally it. I have the iPad stocked with three books, and can download more from Amazon while on the trip, so there's no need for paper.
Computer - for the first time since I've had a laptop I am not taking it on the trip. In part it's the increasing concerns about taking a laptop with attorney/client communications and work product through border crossings, but more importantly, the thing is just too heavy and slow. Instead, I'll be taking the iPad, which has access to my Gmail and office e-mail accounts, as well as my office calendar via Google calendar. (It's also hard-synched to the laptop's Outlook contacts and calendar, but that's less useful, I have learned.)
Phone - a couple of eyars ago we didn't take phones on overseas trip, then we took an international phone Jim got, then last year my Blackberry was set up to call from Europe. Now we're taking both our Droid phones, which I think will work just fine. Since they have Internet access, I will be able to get my alerts from the office on Gmail, as well as checking the calendar and even reading office e-mails directly if I want.
iPod - part of the reason I don't take books is because I listen to so many Teaching Company lectures on my iPod, as well as some books on tape. This trip I have series on history, literature, and I added the audiobook of Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, one of the few books I just don't get tired of reading or listening to it being read. But that means carrying headphones, and since I dislike the earbuds, it means a set of noise-canceling headphones, plus a backup pair of over-the-ear Sonys.
Camera/video camera - since our last trip we replaced our point and shoot Canon with more of a SLR. I like it except that it's much bulkier. But last night we also replaced our bulky Mini DV Sony camcorder with a much smaller Canon HD camcorder. I'm still figuring out how it works, but I think the 32 gig hard drive plus another 8 on a SD card ought to be enough to hold us for the trip.
All this means a plethora of charger, converters and surge protectors, as well as the usual cables, but I'm optimistic that not having a laptop will still mean that the whole mess is a lot lighter than it used to be.
Anyway, back to getting everything correctly copied, syynched and organized. In addition to getting work caught up, two papers finished for publication, and the work at the Hub over the next two weeks planned out. And all this while trying to do two full days of work...