Sorry Jerry, I've got plans...

First order of business: congrats to Indiana's own, Terry Howard, winner of last weeks بكم contest. Mr. Howard correctly guessed the cost of my Coke, koshari, and strawberry wafer dinner (10 LE). Plus, he was the first to answer and did it with an exclamation point. What confidence! What gusto! What pizazz! Terry, I'll have your gift for you in the fall.

Moving on. Today is a pretty significant day, for a variety of reasons. For starters, beginning today, I have officially less than two weeks to crank out two 3,500 word research papers that I haven't even begun researching, much less writing.

Today also happens to be the date of the 2010 NFL Draft, a nirvana of sorts for me amidst this personal hell known as the NFL off-season. The draft is the most over-hyped and over-anticipated event in all of sports, but I still love it anyway. You kind of have to-- it's the only significant football related event to occur until August, or whenever training camp starts up. I don't know about you, but that's a long time to go without my football fix. I usually plan on savoring the draft for all it's worth.

However, watching the Packers draft Jerry Hughes and making a dent in my workload won't be occurring this weekend. I've got plans. This evening, I'll be embarking on a four day journey to Upper Egypt that will take me to Aswan, Abu Simbel, and Luxor. The train leaves at 10pm Egypt time, well before the draft kicks of at 7pm EST.

I'm not sure how I'm going to cope, not knowing any of the Packers' selections over the three day draft. In fact, missing the draft (along with the whole "needing to do schoolwork" thing) actually made me consider not going on this trip at all.You may think think this sounds extreme, or that I'm exaggerating, but this is not the case. The draft is important to me, and it's been a fixture of my Aprils for most of my post-elementary school life.

With all that being said, sometimes you have to make sacrifices, and this is one of those times. I'm only in Egypt for three more months, and I'm not sure if I'll ever be back here. Luxor, Aswan, and Abu Simbel are simply most-see-destinations, and I know I'd be kicking myself in the future if I never went down to take a look at them. Yes, I guess I'd prefer if this little five day vacay could've happened some other time than draft day, but you've gotta take what you can get.


(In reflection, this seems extremely petty. You know you've got a good life when deciding to go on vacation and miss watching a sporting event is considered a "sacrifice"- but whatever, go with it).

Anyway, I guess I just wanted to give you a heads up that I'll be on the road again, and I should have some exciting stories and pictures for you in a couple days' time. Stay tuned.