"Just go stand next to the propeller and smile"

So we went to load up the plane today with some of the supplies for the hospital, and I am just very thankful that I will be in this:

And not this:

(But some people did come look at this death-wish chopper while we were loading the plane - I do not know what would possess anyone to even consider sitting in one of these things even on the ground - anyone who would fly one of these should probably be put on suicide watch ASAP)

So we had a lot of donated supplies to bring down to the hospital, and I met our amazing pilots, Herb and Phil, and the lovely Fayne who is riding down with us to help unload the plane.  The flight should be a lot of fun!  And it sounds like it's going to be a lot shorter than I thought - we're leaving Atlanta around 7am and we're supposed to arrive in Cap Haitien around 11:30am, and that's including stopping in Jacksonville to pick up supplies and maybe stopping in one other spot to refuel (I have requested a stop to refuel and relax in Turks and Caicos on either my way down or back home...  I'm not holding my breath...)

I then went to REI to buy a mosquito net (I asked the saleswoman go to the back and find me a green one because I liked that one better than the white one - she stared at me for about a minute, but in the end, I walked out with a mosquito net in a lovely army green color) and 100% DEET bug spray that is pretty scary looking - I have never felt more out of place in a store in my entire life.  I usually find shopping quite enjoyable, but REI was extremely overwhelming.  I am clearly not the outdoor type, which will make the next few weeks very interesting...

And I have spent over an hour arguing with Verizon wireless over getting my phone to work down there.  Hopefully it will work once I'm there, but there's no guarantee.  Oh and when I asked if I would be refunded all the charges to upgrade to an international plan if I got down to Haiti and my phone didn't work, they actually said that no, even if nothing works, I still have to pay for everything.  Sweet.  But they also told me that if my phone does by chance work down there, incoming text messages are 5 cents, but outgoing texts are 50 cents.  So if you really want to text me, please don't be offended if I don't reply - you just aren't worth those 2 quarters to me.