OK. I should not be writing here. I should be packing. I'll get to it shortly. Yes, I'm leaving in a matter of hours.

The U.S. State Department has not issued any new travel advisories, and the word out of the Philippines seems increasingy calm.

My friend there just asked me to be part of an adventure racing team in mid-July. I'm now -- even more -- feeling how out of shape I am. Even reading about the race made me feel heavy and slow. Hopefully I'll be able to overcome this. But it's cool to be asked to be in one of these races. This from my friend who just completed the ecochallenge in New Zealand. If you take a look at the gallery photo labeled "prerace excitement", you'll see him in the last, large group photo. In a yellow shirt in front, second from the right edge of the front yellow shirts with the wild hair. Pretty cool that he was in the eco challenge.

OK. Time for me to pack. I may write again before I leave in the morning.