Gary is Off

We got a little worried on Thursday afternoon when we learned that Gary needed a visa to go to Australia--he couldn't just get one in the airplane like in many countries. Then we also learned that he actually needed a business visa, not a visitor visa. Once we learned this, Gary said, "You look on your computer and I'll look on mine and we'll see what we can figure out." So nice to have all the computers in the house hooked up to high-speed internet. So we were able to go to the Australian immigration website and buy a short-term business visa for $20. Problem solved. This isn't the kind of visa they stamp in your passport; rather, they just verify it when you check in at the airport.

His first flight is to LA, then a three hour layover. Then a 16-hour flight to Melbourne. That is too long to sit in one place! He will be staying in the home of the parents of the man he will be working with. He assumed he could do laundry so only took one week's worth of underwear. But he did take a big suitcase, half of which was books and papers.

Rachel is off at a church singles' game night tonight. They are having a game night a Julie's house to cheer Julie up after her 27-pound cat died suddenly this week.