It has been a little while since my last post.  Work officially is winding down only 4 days left.  I should begin working with my replacement today.  Spent last week at the beach with most of my family.  A lot of fun.  Traffic was so bad going down to the beach that Scott and I decided to take a shortcut, using his gps on his phone.  Ended up slipping and sliding once the pavement ended, and basically went mud-riding though not intentional.  Only spun out one time when the car went sideways.  When we finally got to pavement again we past what seemed to be a deserted air force base.  When we got back to the highway we had saved about 30 minutes of stop and go traffic.  Even though I thought we would get stuck in the mud, the shortcut was well worth it.  Craig brought me a pot so, I now have a cooking utensil for the trail.  I will begin purchasing other equipment in August.  I plan to begin training for the AT as soon as my last work day.  I have a 4 to 5 mile hike planned for a daily routine.  I hope to drop about 30 pounds before the journey begins.  I am considering running a half marathon in January with Jason, Craig, and Emily. But for now I will just have to wait to see how the training goes.  More to follow later.