We will be leaving this huge city tomorrow, either in the a.m. or in the afternoon, we still await final word on the time.

I’m finally getting comfortable here, I’ve learned a few words and a few tricks that help me to communicate. Not being able to communicate has been the hardest thing for me personally. I communicate, it’s who I am, it’s what I do. Except here. And getting through a few instances where my communication attempts worked were highly rewarding.

I’ve determined that two weeks away is alot longer than it seems. Until this trip, time has been flying for me. I wonder where the hours, the days, the weeks, even the months are going — I blink and they disappear. Here, without my family, without my work, without my routine, time seems to stretch far and thin and linger leisurely. It already seems like I’ve been away a month.

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Before coming to China, I read quite a bit about the growth of mobile and the push to increase that use by the mobile companies.

Now that I’m here, mobile phones are EVERYWHERE! And I thought Americans were bad about their mobile phones going everywhere.

Part of me stands out because of my european features, but I think not having a cell phone around my neck or on my hip makes me even more of a minority in this city of 30 million!

I think one of the best pictures I can paint is the one I saw two days ago… There were three young girls crossing a busy street, with their arms locked at the elbow and all three of them were on their individual cell phones.

These “best friends” were physically together, but talking to what I must assume was someone else while together.

After talking to our guide, I learned that the goverment sponsors the growth of the coverage areas here, that all of Beijing is covered by cell towers, and that 15-20% of an individual’s income here goes to a cell phone bill.

No wonder the market is growing for mobile web and cell service at such an incredible rate in this country. And with the population here, those figures must be staggering.

Today we picked up Maddie from the Civil Affairs office here in Chonquing. She is a beautiful baby. She’s happy, and even laughed with Jane within the first hour. She loves having her picture made, grinning and chomping her four existing teeth. She has three others threatening to come in on the top and is chewing on EVERYTHING.

Jane is in heaven and the baby is a good-tempered young lady. She’s sitting up, but not terribly efficiently yet. We made a few Gottcha Day pictures that we hope to post when we return to the states.

She’s a beautiful little girl, with a personality that is as sunny and fair as she is.

Jane says that today is the happiest day of her life, and the best. She also giggled (this woman who has been uptight for days — for some reason!!) and said “You know, nothing else really matters anymore.” It made me laugh. Funny how becoming a Mom can change everything about your life in a matter of seconds, isn’t it?

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After a day that was FULL of activities, we have settled in for the night in Chongqing. The hotel here is lovely — which is especially nice following the most gruelling airplane flight of my life. It was long, it was sweltering hot and it was stuffy. But, this city is amazing by night and I can’t wait to see it during the day.

The population here is 30 million — yes million! Inside the downtown area are over 7 million alone.

This hotel has a 24 hour business center (which is why I’m in here at 12:35 a.m. Kentucky time, updating the blog.)

Tomorrow is “gottcha” day, and I don’t know if I’ll have time to write with the new little one with us.

We should meet Maddy tomorrow at 2 p.m. local time. Jane is quite excited, and it all came home to her, I think, when her room contained a crib. She literally squealed. LOL.

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It’s 4:30 a.m. Kentucky time, and it’s 4:30 p.m. Beijing time. We arrived just after 2:30 arriving in the biggest city I’ve ever seen (our guide says over 13 million and growing).

I felt quite the Kentucky chick when I looked at the plane for the trip from Chicago. It was honestly the largest plane I’d ever seen. After 13 hours on board, I decided it was entirely too small. :O)

Tomorrow we will see the Great Wall of China (I saw it from the air as we passed over) and we will visit the Forbidden City.

After that, tomorrow afternoon, we will be boarding yet another plane for inner-country flight. That one should be only about 2 hours, but I’m not sure I’ll be ready to get back on a plane at that time. We shall see.

Tonight … err this afternoon, I’m just trying to stay awake to make sure I sleep tonight. Staying awake until 2 a.m. and leaving at 4 a.m. for this was, … well… not the smartest thing I’ve ever done.

I really thought I’d be able to sleep on the plane. Ha. LOL. I should sleep like a rock tonight though.

Headed to get a bite to eat and go for a short walk, there are shops all around the hotel. After the taxi ride in, I’m ready to go see some of this architecture up close.

More later.

We will be arriving at the airport in four hours, boarding a plane in six and flying for… well, nearly 18 total.

I managed to get all my needs for two weeks in a smallish backpack (with wheels) and a fanny pack. I wonder how much of it I’ll have wished that I left at home and what I haven’t taken will be sorely missed.

Jane is so excited she can hardly keep still. Michael is anxious to board the plane and BE there. I’m sitting here wondering if Jane knows that the next few hours will mark the end of her nights of solid sleep for many months to come. She spends her time with a grin on her face that couldn’t be scrubbed off.

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According to a newly released report by NewScientist.com news service, keeping a journal increases an individual’s “headaches, sleeplessness, digestive problems and social awkwardness.” Ahhh… so that explains it! So maybe I really DO get headaches, but that since I’ve had one for the last 31 years of my diary and blogging history, I don’t notice it so much anymore.

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Do you want a search engine “personalized” enough to search not only the www, but also your own computer’s hard drive? Where is the line between privacy and convenience drawn?According to Reuters, Microsoft is attempting to recapture the search engine market lost to recently publicly traded Google.

Microsoft recently released a beta version of their new search engine product which not only searches the WWW, but also searches the HD on the resident computer.

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I just received word today that the pending trip to China is now scheduled — for 10 days from now! My friend Jane was informed this afternoon that her lovely new daughter (Madelyn) is now awaiting her arrival.

I’ll be leaving on September 20th to accompany this brand new Mom to pick up the new little Miss and we will all be returning on October 1st. This means that I’ll be in my office and working tomorrow and then next week (through Friday, September 17th). I’ll be out of the office (and completely out of touch) from 5:00 p.m. September 17th through 8 a.m. Monday October 4th.

I’ll be finishing up the projects I have currently open over the next week in preparation for the journey and will reply to any e-mails and phone calls when I return to the office.

I don’t plan to take my computer with me on the trip (can you believe it?!?!!) but I have my website set up now so I can blog about the trip from any computer, anywhere in the world. I plan to do that if the opportunity arises.

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Today is my father’s birthday (Happy Birthday, Pops!) and I was doing a bit of reflecting on that this a.m., and naturally a bit of reflecting on my own life as his adult daughter, while sorting my e-mail first thing this a.m.

You know, just when you start feeling really good about yourself… someone comes along to point out the stuff you don’t have under control (like a waistline, weight, physical appearance). All that’s bearable so long as the person is younger, on television or anonymous. But, when that person is your high school biology teacher….

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After working with a lovely woman in England for the last two years, a fantastic “thank you” gift arrived over the holiday weekend… Bronwyn Robertson of www.TheArtsVA.com has been a client since she decided to launch her VA practice. Located in England, she and her husband are acting folks, steeped in the Shakespearean tradition. She works with Theatres and artistic types in her practice, helping to keep them organized and profitable. He is an actor and a sonnet writer.

As a celebration of our two-year anniversary, she asked her husband to write a sonnet for me. Bron, knowing my personal history from the blogs, gave him the information and he wrote the following:

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Well, I just got my check from Microsoft’s settlement administrator… did you get yours? Thought it may be interesting for those of you who use Microsoft Windows that they have officially settled the class action suit against them and have sent out checks to people who purchased Widows from their website between November 10, 1995 and April 30th 2003.

The check was for $104.86 and it followed several communications from the filers over the last few months. To get this settlement, you had to purchase DIRECTLY from Microsoft. Mine was for a Windows XP upgrade (total cost $190.31 at the time).

If you think you might have a claim, contact the Microsoft Settlement Administrator at P.O. Box 1677, Faribault, MN 55021-1677 or call them at 1-877-576-9979.

The deadline for brining up additional claims or disputing the amount received by telephone or mail is October 26, 2004. So hurry!

Ok, that’s my good deed for the day!

The Journal from the beginning of 2000 to June of 2002 is finally online.It’s taken a couple weeks to get the farm journal put back up on line. I finished it up late last night. I knew that the journey had been challenging, but rereading it all as I was putting it up made me remember some of the details I’d forgotten.

It also made me remember some of the details I didn’t share online — and overall it made me extremely pleased that life has changed so dramatically.

Now, with that huge project complete (it had really been bothering me that all the blog was not recovered) — perhaps I can move forward with the current blog more comfortably.

I hope so. To be a writer, one must write. And writing in the blog makes it so easy to write… to take a few moments and jot a few thoughts.

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I guess it’s because the weather has started to turn chilly, it seems that on a regular schedule… I start re-evaluating my life, where I am, where I want to be, and how I need to approach getting there. I also think about the world, politics, privacy and how all aspects of my world tend to collide. The website is looking up. I’m pleased with the progress. I do have many farm entries still to make from the old archives (if I determine that I am, indeed, brave enough to bare my soul for all of those.) We shall see.

Lately I’ve been pondering things like personal privacy, like the government’s right to get into my life, the real impact of the Patriot act, the son of patriot, the actions of our government overseas, the fear in our citizens at home, the new push for cross referencing identities (like the fact that you can’t renew your driver’s license if your social security card doesn’t match it exactly and report the same address and other “essential” information) and the whole concept of who gets in your business.

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And with that final post in May of 2002, I took down the farm site and continued my journey toward a successful business from the center of the 25 acres in the middle of nowhere.

My eldest son did end up moving in with his father, which was the most difficult loss I’ve ever endured. Both Derrick and Alex still live here on the farm with me.

I quit trying to build CumberlanDunes and launched Wicked WordCraft to follow my bliss and concentrate my efforts doing what I enjoy most — writing and marketing consultation. It took off almost immediately. Wicked WordCraft grew at an amazing clip and at the beginning of 2003 went multi-national in clientele.

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You have spent quite a bit of time and money to create a graphically pleasing, quality website to lure in visitors and capture potential new clients. You now have a presence on the Web and you consider yourself fairly savvy in the arena of Internet and online marketing and you are looking for your next challenge —the next BIG splash.

You may already have it — it may be clipped to your hip, dropped in your purse or… it may be ringing as you read this.

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Lucky is doing what you love for a living, being surrounded by people who not only support you in doing what you love, but who also forgive you when you become tunnel-visioned and consumed with it.I went to my one onsite client’s office today where I do a monthly series of diagnostics, tests and updates — check out the functionality of their network, each computer on the network, and address any questions, concerns or issues that they may be experiencing.

I work in the office on the farm nearly every day, and this once a month trip out reconnects me with the real world. I guess that, and the fact that I adore the clients, are the reasons I don’t give up that contract, even though it’s not my area of specialization. Besides, it forces me to stay on top of the hardware and software end of technology advances and helps me to work more efficiently in my own “virtual” office and advise other clients on technology solutions.

But when I’m there, I realize how lucky I am. My normal daily commute is across the floor. My work clothes are the denim dresses I throw on after a quick shower and running a brush through my hair. Yes, many days I even work barefoot (gasp!) or in sandals or tennis shoes. I still object to the “bunny slippers” cliche for most home office inhabitants. I used to think that I needed to dress like I did for regular office work to feel “professional” enough to project that over the phone and in e-mail. That was when I was still struggling for clients. I was still proving myself TO myself.

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Lowes delivered the wallboard again today. They attempted delivery last Tuesday in the pouring rain and seemed a bit put off when we declined delivery…We were told that only a few boards got wet and that we could “tarp it or something” until the rain stopped.

There was no way Wayne and I could have moved all that stuff indoors before half of it was ruined and I told them so. The “manager” said (by phone) that it was clear when they left the dock, and I told him that since we had no more control over the weather than he did, perhaps the driver should have returned to the store at the half-way point when it began pouring and he had to pull off and try to cover the boards.

Everything is always such a hassle, isn’t it?

But, the board was delivered today with only one piece of 12 foot totally destroyed and a few other pieces nicked on the side. But that’s another battle for another day.

For now… we now have enough wallboard to do the entire interior! Wayne and I took the 12 foot pieces in (except for the one that the forklift chopped in two) and once my work day slows down… we will get th 8 foot pieces moved inside.

It really IS clear today, so we have a little time.