April 24 - 4:30am is early

Why do flights leave so early? I'm 3 out of 5 this week for waking up at 4:30:

Tue: Drop Sharon off at the airport

Fri: Drive to Seattle to give a talk at Microsoft

Sat: Personal chauffeur to the airport from my Uncle Dave

I suppose I'm slowly adjusting to Switzerland time with this sleep schedule, but after the red-eye flight tomorrow I can't imagine we'll have any coherent reference of when days should start or end. A few days of post-sleep deprivation R&R will feel good. Although, I must admit, being a little tired sounds somewhat better than an alternative scenario involving volcanic ash clogging up the jet engines and sending our plane into a firey tailspin ending up at the bottom of the Atlantic :)

Sharon has been having a great time in Maine these last few days hanging out with her siblings and extended family while I wrapped up some work/school stuff here at home. Daily updates indicate that Jake and Whitney's baby-to-be is doing great, the hiking weather is amazing, and there seems to be an unusually high number of good deals on baby clothes that are just too hard to pass up.

April 12 - Getting ready

Things are finally all starting to fall into place. Passports, visas, plane tickets, train tickets, apartments, foreign money transfers ... the whole nine yards.

We finally found a place to live in Zurich and the location is perfect -- close to downtown and the Google office. Nate's cousin Randi also agreed to rent our Portland house for the three months we're gone, so we'll be able to keep it and have a home to come home to in August. Everything is really working out.

Our calendar is also filling up pretty fast with visitors. I think at this point we have more time with family and friends than without during our three month trip. Never a dull moment!

We also decided on a pre-Zurich vacation spot. We're going over a week early and spending it in the little town of Vernazza, Italy on the Italian Riviera. Nate's office-mate gave it a high recommendation from when he visited with his wife a couple years ago, and after seeing a few pictures [1] [2], how could we say no?