Countdown on, prep work commencing

So I picked up a travel planning guide, "The Rough Guide: First-Time Around the World" and am in love with it so much!!!  It has some great general advice, some tips on saving before you go and budgeting while abroad, words of wisdom for finding work, and ways to stay a little safer.  On my list of major things that I need to get I am down to a back-pack and an external hard drive, and I am getting a better and better idea of what needs to go in my pack.  I have an appointment to get my passport tomorrow and have started looking into flights.  Fortunately, the one channel that I get at home is an American channel broadcast for a Mexican audience so the commercials are helping me brush up a little on my Spanish and I am going to start watching my favorite English Language movies with the Spanish subtitles.  One of my favorite purchases so far: Old Navy's Techno Hoodie that has ear phones in the hoodie strings and runs down the zipper so that my ipod can be plugged in my pocket!  From here, I start looking at my vaccinations and get to planning an art auction!