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How to find out one's impact? Leave the countryIf you doubt your importance in the world, try leaving the country for two whole weeks. You'll quickly learn that your disappearance would at least be noticed, if not cause for widespread panic among your friends and co-workers. As you read this, I'm starting the second week of my trip to Latin America with U.S. Wheat Associates. Hopefully, many of you have followed our progress through Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico through my blog at www.hpj.com. If you haven't, what are you waiting for? Go ahead, log on, I'll wait. See? It's pretty cool, isn't it? Now, before I left on this little excursion, I had to take care of a few matters here at home. And you wouldn't believe how complicated a single girl's life can be until she tries to leave it for a few weeks. I can only imagine the chaos of arranging a two-week absence if I was married and had children. My to-do list for a normal work trip usually includes finding a sitter for Shiloh and turning down the thermostat at the house. Grab a credit card, gas up the truck and away I go. Leaving the country, however, entails a whole new list. There's the pre-trip house cleaning, refrigerator purging and the unplugging of all non-essential household appliances. And, the multiple trips to the store for travel items that I manage to forget about each time I go. And, I can't forget about the emergency contact packets to put together for my family, my friends and my co-workers. Mom's okay with me going out of the state without full contact information, but she wants a little more reassurance she can reach me when I leave the continent. There was the matter of Shiloh the Wonder Schnauzer and my house to consider. Rather than putting Shiloh in a kennel for two weeks, I asked my good friends here in town to dog-and-house-sit for me. They'll also be around to take in the mail, water my plants, and make sure the pipes don't freeze while I'm gone. A side benefit for Shiloh is that she'll be getting extra treats from all the attention. I doubt she'll even notice I'm missing. Next on the list was to have my work caught up here at the Journal. Never fear, your New Product News and AgriBusiness Buzz pages will continue as normal these two weeks I'm away. You'll have a cover story on Insect Control and I even managed to squeeze in my travelog for the GetAways Guide. Your livestock markets will continue to be copyedited by our crack staff, and you shouldn't even notice my absence in the print version of the Journal. Of course, I couldn't get away on a trip this extensive without a lot of support from the staff back here at home. Everyone, from the front office staff, to the editorial team and even the production crew has played a part in getting me on the road to Latin America. And, while the extra headache of a missing team member hurts for a little while, I've promised to bring back pictures to share with everyone. And to bake brownies for the entire office crew once I return. Really, at this point, packing for two weeks is the least of my worries. I figure as long as I can pack my suitcases so that I can haul them around on my own, then I should be good to go. Whatever I forget I'll just have to manage without. After all of this preparation, it's gratifying to know that I'd be missed by so many people. I am truly lucky they're all in my corner for me. Editor's note: Jennifer Latzke is currently in Latin America with U.S. Wheat Associates on its 2008 Media Education Tour as a sponsored guest of the Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas Wheat Commissions. She and the team will be visiting Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica and Mexico. To follow along with her travels, visit www.hpj.com, and follow the links to her travel blog from the home page. She welcomes questions and comments from readers. Jennifer M. Latzke can be reached by phone at 620-227-1807, or by e-mail at jlatzke@hpj.com. 4/7/08 Date: 4/2/08 Advertisement
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