The night before a trip

The night before a trip is when you can't find .... something. It is always something. But my wife called and did magic and now I have the hard drive I couldn't find because I couldn't find the pocket in the luggage. (It is a new suitcase.) There is no way they let me carry that on to the plane. It bulges out the top in a ridiculous manner. 

I spent the day learning about a cool project USAID has done to improve women's employment in electric utilities and their lessons learned. When I go to things like this they often turn into hug-Gwen-fests because I see so many people I used to work with. I lost count of the hugs today. It included someone whose husband died a couple years back. While he was dying our evil boss told her she was missing too much work and to choose. She has three children. She needs a job. Of course, she was also providing the family health insurance since he was self-employed with his own business. We laughed at how evil that woman was. 

There was a woman who was going to sit and eat lunch all alone and I badgered her into joining me for lunch in a centralized area where we were joined by two guys and had a fascinating conversation. The picture is from the centralized area. I had no idea that "natural family planning" was more effective than holding your breath and turning blue. Of course, it is only effective with diligent, careful people, but you can keep track of your cycle with a string of beads. In a world where not everyone can afford birth control it is not the worst option. 

Trip tomorrow. Haven't been able to reach the hotel to confirm that they will send a driver. My understanding is that Uber is safer than taxis because at least there is a record, somewhere, so I am downloading the Uber app now.