To Whom it May Conern: The radio station I work for has sponsored a trip for myself and two other employees to go on a retreat. So, this is a friendly heads-up to my friends and aquaintances here that I will not be online for several days. I've taken off next week from work and by 8:00 PM CST, I will be in a company SUV on my way to Bloomington, Indiana. What's there, you ask? A Tibetan Buddhist Monastary called Dagom Gaden Tensung-Ling. I even get to meet His Holiness Tenzin Losang Gyatso - I feel very, very, extremely honored. I think another Buddhist group is already in the middle of a retreat, so I'm anxious to meet them as well. Of course ... I don't speak the language, so I'm hoping some of them speak English or have a translator. Heh. Yes, I'm excited about this retreat. (How could you tell?) I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to share when I return. This retreat comes at a good time for me, actually. I won't go into the details why, though, but I could truly use something like this. Perhaps on the way home, we'll stop at the Dalai Lama's younger brother's Tibetan restaurant and have some of his famous tea. Hrmm. I have to admit, this is a very welcome and appreciated surprise for me. (Boss says that it's a belated birthday present. Oh, how gracious of him!) I hope that everyone has a great week. I'll think of you. Take care and blessed be. P.S. If you're curious aboyt the Monastary I'm going to , their home site is www.ganden.org