Waiting for Galina...

But her arrival is not imminent. I got a call this morning about 10:30 am saying she was on her way, which places her departure at about midday, with the first major obstacle a mere 25 miles down the road: getting through New York City.

Three hours later, she called to say she was past the city. A couple of hours after that, she called to inform me that something had gone "snap" in the engine compartment, followed by funny noises. Upon pulling over to the side and opening the hood, she said she suspected a belt had broken and that there was a pool of green liquid under the engine.

She told me where she was and I called a tow truck, which took her back to the hamlet of Hamburg, Pennsylvania, where the belt was extracted from where it had become jammed, and a new belt was put in. I told Galina not to try to push to make it here by tomorrow night, because frankly, with about 1500 miles left to go and it being about 7 pm, she still has two days of driving in front of her.

I submitted three jobs today, which put me up almost a day on the pace I have to maintain to hit my "nut." I also began work on the 40K Job, and also did some highly experimental cooking that turned out well (especially when slathered in mustard or red hot sauce). With the 40K Job on the plate, I'm in pretty good shape for even a 10-day dry spell—I just have to muster the self-discipline to not allow myself to think "Oh, I'm ahead of the pace, I can take it easy today!" We'll see.

Cheers...