Pre-departure items

• I have a confirmed, solid flight itinerary now: it's going to be a nonstop, 12 to 13 hour red-eye from New York to Doha, leaving the night of Aug. 10.
  


• I finally got my International Driving Permit, meaning I'm allowed to drive now in nearly any country I may be visiting in the next year. The world is less safe for it, but I feel so empowered now (mwa ha ha).


• It started raining today while I was running, which put a damper on my morning until I realized that this is the last week for a while where I'll see that much water falling from the sky (annual rainfall in Qatar is around 3 inches, mostly in the winter). Now I completely refuse to use an umbrella from now until I leave.