this has been a monumentally good week in a lot of ways.

first, i broke the news about the summer travel plans to my boss on monday. i was so nervous, and at least half convinced that my trip would be a deal breaker. that i would have to start looking for a new job for when we return right away. but he was actually really supportive and had no problem with it. basically, i have 11 days of vacay left, so i’ll have to take 23 days of unpaid leave, but i was expecting to get no vacation time paid and to have no income when i get back. the kicker is that as long as i meet a few key criteria, i will be getting a raise before i go. it’s really amazing.

i’ve been working longer hours to put in a good showing, and will continue to do so for the five weeks or so leading up to the trip, but honestly it’s worth it to be able to add seven countries to my travel cv.

i suppose the other big news is that today i finally bought a drone. i saw that the parrot snafu extended edition (drone plus controller, two extra batteries and a carrying case) were on sale on amazon for $724, a significant price cut from the usual $899 that it costs. the drone itself retails for $599, the batteries for $99 each, and the carrying case another $80 (third-party cases go for about $20-30 though). so really, the price i got today is effectively $100 off. we made the purchase with our sapphire reserve card because it has a nifty purchase protection benefit that covers purchases up to $10,000 for 120 from the date of purchase from theft, loss or “involuntary and accidental separation.” i clarified with an agent that if i crash my drone into ha long bay in vietnam; it’s covered under the policy. so basically i can fly worry free, knowing that the only thing i will lose is my footage if the drone goes down.

so yeah, i would say it’s been a great week.