Thursday thirteen random things

1. Daniel Silva's next Gabriel Allon book is due out July 19th. I pre-ordered my copy using my soon-to-be expired Barnes and Noble Groupon that I'd almost forgotten about so as not to miss its release for 6 full weeks like last year.
2. Today we were notified of next year's tuition increase for C-man's school. The rationale for the increase was so the teachers could get a 1% pay increase next year. 1%?!? The worst part is I know people are going to complain about the tuition increase as they drive away in their new cars. But a paltry 1% increase for a teacher as awesome as the one C-man has? I seriously need to start giving better Christmas and end-of-year gifts!
3. I am going to complain about the once a month early-out on Fridays they're now implementing, though. Seriously?!?
4. I'm in New York next week (for work). I'm also in New Mexico next week (for fun). That's a lot of laundry and packing and airports. At least we all have the appropriate hiking pants and shoes now.
5. The place we'd picked out to stay at in Taos was accidentally double-booked, so they upgraded us to a swankier place. It also has a hot tub, and is at the end of a 3 mile dirt road. Hello, luxury hermitville! I heart you already.
6. I'm extending our stay in Taos, because of the potential impending federal government shutdown. No government = no national parks = no Carlsbad Caves, Petroglyphs or White Sands. And while they may get their heads out of their asses in time, I'd hate to be stuck without plans. Plus, it's luxury hermitville, people!
7. I sure hope none of us gets altitude sickness while we're there. That would suck. We'll be taking some chlorophyll in advance just in case.
8. I wish I'd known about chlorophyll way back when I was an exchange student. I could have saved myself a month of illness.
9. We started a travel bug and a geocoin on its journey back when we were in Florence. The geocoin got lost in Hungary somewhere. But the travel bug has now made its way back to the States, and is currently residing in Pennsylvania. I'm a little disappointed it's back in the States, because it was kind of fun watching it bop around Europe.
10. We picked up a geocoin ages and ages ago, and have been really bad and not put it back out to the world. I need to pack our GPS so we can try to drop it somewhere good while we're in New Mexico. We've been derelict in our duties, but at least once we drop it, it'll have moved somewhere significant.
11. I'm almost done with my 12-week bootcampy thing. Last night a woman who does work out loads was whining on and on about not having lost any weight during this time. When asked what she was eating, she proceeded to justify all these lavish work dinners she "had" to eat. I wanted to smack her and say, "Tell me when you've got a real problem, lady."
12. I'm officially off the rat poison stomach shots for the month because we all agreed they weren't doing a damn thing. 2 FDA-approved, non-heart attack causing medications down, 2 more to try. At least I keep it interesting for the doctors.
13. I'm really looking forward to vacation. And sun. And mountains. And checking off another state on #9 on my list.