More progress - ATM, camera and laptop

At this point I am of two minds. Part of me feels like these last weeks until I leave are taking FOREVER to get here. I mean really, I am ready to go now. I want to go now. I'm anxious as heck to get there and start seeing and doing. But the other side of me gets a slightly sick, intestinal distress feeling when I realize that in 7 weeks, I'll be leaving. That's 49 days. That's under 50 days, a significant countdown milestone. GULP. With all the fun of the summer that's left (three birthdays, three concerts, a museum roadtrip, the Labor Day weekend), this will breeze by. And I'm not ready. I still have reading to do. I still have to buy my trial sized stuff and sort out clothing. YIKES! But I continue to make progress in small increments. I opened a second checking account and have an active ATM with it, so now I have two different ATMs to draw money from. And as I type, I am updating the mini-laptop with all the security and Windows updates it will need to go with me, as I'm hoping to blog while I'm there. In a cruel twist of fate, I dropped my beloved Nikon Coolpix 3100 3.2 megapixel camera last weekend. This camera has made every trip with me since late 2003 and has really offered up some unbelievable shots. While outwardly it appears to have survived the fall for the most part, the battery door is broken and I don't know what else may be broken inside and I don't trust it. I'm sad, but also slightly excited that I had to buy a new camera. I went whole hog, upgrading to the Nikon Coolpix S8000, 14.2 megapixels and 10x wide angle lens. Pictures are a huge part of my traveling experience and I just could not do without a reliable camera. For my birthday, my sister gave me a FlipVideo camera, which is just awesome. It is small enough to take everywhere and will be pretty cool to capture on the spot video on my trips. Land's End delivered the coat I ordered and I think it's perfect. I stuck with a non-descript chocolate brown, car length, light-weight with no lining. I hope if I layer properly it'll work out. That's it for now. I'm off to either read more about the Romanovs or watch Dr. Zhivago. :-)