I sense a growing problem in our country: an increasing number of people choose a party or candidate and then sculpt their personal belief system to match that party or candidate. But representation is supposed to work in the exact opposite way. You're supposed to figure out what you personally stand for, THEN find the candidate or party that best matches it.

Yesterday I wrote that it was three days until the trip. It was actually four. *NOW* it's three, though. Here's some info on the trip:

Munich
I fly from Raleigh to Dulles to Munich on Saturday afternoon (December 1), arriving on Sunday morning (December 2). We have meetings on Monday and Tuesday, then the rest of the group goes to Paris that night for a meeting on Wednesday. Since I don't need to be in the Paris meeting, I am staying in Munich an extra day and will be meeting with one of the key stakeholders on my OTHER project that afternoon. Then on Wednesday night the rest of the group leaves Paris and flies to London. I'll leave Munich and be in London at the same time.

London (actually Farnborough, just west of London)
We get to London on Wednesday night (December 5), and we have meetings on Thursday and Friday. Saturday (December 8) is a break day. I plan on going into the city and doing some kind of shopping or museum or something.

Tokyo
On Sunday (December 9) a few of us fly to Tokyo, where we'll meet with one other team member who's joining us from the U.S. We get there Monday morning (December 10). Our meetings aren't until Wednesday and Thursday, so we should have a bit of time Monday and Tuesday to recuperate. We'll be working a lot in our hotel rooms when we're not in the offices for our meetings, though.

Singapore
That Thursday night (December 13) we fly to Singapore, arriving at midnight. We have a meeting on Friday. On Saturday we'll have a bit of time in the morning to go do whatever. I may go get another suit made and have it shipped to me.

Mumbai
On Saturday night (December 15) we fly to Mumbai, arriving late. We have Sunday to relax, then meetings on Monday and Tuesday. That's the end of the work trip. Most people are heading home to North Carolina on Wednesday the 19th. I was going to fly to Los Angeles for Christmas break on the 21st, though, so I decided to take a couple of days vacation time in India before flying directly to California for Christmas holiday. A friend from work and I are taking a train to Agra and then to Delhi, where I'll fly to Los Angeles on Saturday (December 22), arriving at 4:30 that afternoon.

Overall it looks like it's going to be extremely challenging and tiring, but I'm really looking forward to it, both for what it will do for our project and what it will do for me as a person.

I'm heading out on a world tour this Saturday. One of my projects at work is conducting requirements-gathering meetings at several of our offices throughout the world. I'll give more details about the itinerary tomorrow.