A volunteer or two

Now the obsessive details - and packing! - really start kicking in.

I've been working out details about our mapping the first few days, Friday through Sunday. To stay on track, I think we need 1-2 more volunteers to map about two hours.

Doing last minute errands, I got some help by someone I met this evening named Jinwei. I was trying to figure out how to box up a few project displays to take on the plane with me.

I was standing in the aisle of Staples, one of the staff checking to see if my displays fit in any of their boxes. It wasn't happening. This third guy (Jinwei, I was to learn later) kind of paused in the aisle and kept looking at our attempts. Finally, he walked up to me and told me about his UPS store nearby at the Powerhouse mall.

He invited me to come to the store in the morning to box up the displays , but when I told him how early my flight was he offered to (re)open his store to box everything up for me. I said sure, and it worked out perfectly. A small generous act by another person sure can save a lot of time.

For mapping Pontchartrain Park, I try not to think too far ahead. Christiana and I will get in some mapping every morning. John may sometimes map with us. And someone who was forwarded one of my project emails agreed to help us on Friday morning. Can't wait to meet him. And Charles, who I know from previous trip, is looking for a few volunteers for the weekend too.

Just one more person makes a difference in what we're trying to do.