from the "comes a time" dept.

The calendar says 24 days to Africa, 15 to Toronto.

The preps continue in earnest. I dropped into MEC Thursday night and picked up lots of goodies like emergency water treatment, a tiny first aid kit and a new mid-sized backpack.

My big concern at this point is whether I can fit everything on my list into my bags. It's going to be a struggle, but I reckon there is always stuff that can be left behind. I'll do the test pack in the next week or so.

Friday marked my last day at CBC Online... for now. I covered the Alberta sites for the past week -- which came on the heels of a good run with CBC -- allowing me to earn even more money for next year.

I also successfully pitched an article on Aeroplan points for the consumer section of CBC.ca -- and I am hoping there will be more small gigs like that when I am overseas.

Last week I made contact with the head of development for Lonely Planet television. We'll be discussing various ideas after the holidays.

I'm beginning to think that joining the LP author pool is one of the best things that could have happened. I've certainly met a lot of interesting and like-minded folk and it's opened doors that normally would be difficult to even get to.

I'm technically off this weekend, but there is much to do. I'm housesitting two different places and two different cats and in addition to my cat duties, on Sunday I'm attempting to make Christmas dinner.

Next week I'm back at the TV newsroom for a week. This is good and bad. Good in the sense that the shifts start at 10 a.m. rather than 6 a.m. and I get to work in a room with people (instead of my basement). Plus the money. And I can walk to work from either Lisa's (where Miss Kitty lives) or Don and Linda's (where feral Sammy lives). Exercise would not be a bad thing! But it makes it hard to do any running around. No such thing as flexy hours in TV news.

On a musical note:

I had the chance, a few days ago, to catch the last half of Jonathan Demme's documentary on Neil Young, "Heart of Gold." Wow... absolutely amazing. What a gifted human Neil is -- and he's a prairie boy. Makes one proud.

As I seem to have a penchant for quoting lyrics these days, I though I'd cut-and-past a few lines that struck a chord with me while watching Heart of Gold.

Comes a time
when you're driftin'
Comes a time
when you settle down
Comes a light
feelin's liftin'
Lift that baby
right up off the ground.

Oh, this old world
keeps spinning round
It's a wonder tall trees
ain't layin' down
There comes a time.

Cheers!