St. Louis Park, MN - Mission control was relatively quiet today as the final preparations are being made for a local man’s vacation.  In what may actually be the start of a real vacation, the Minneapolis traveler was within twenty-four hours of departure and so far, all systems are go.

“Work is fine.  The house is fine.  I still need to get my desk cleaned, take care of a few customers, pack my bags, buy gifts, warn a few people I’m planning on dropping in on, work with the person filling in, finish the retaining wall in front of my house, clean my house, buy some food for the picnic Friday night, pack the cooler, back my bag of gifts, lock up the house, stop the mail, pay some bills, pick out some books, call my sister, mail some letters, call my brothers, call my dad, get a hotel reservation for Monday night, buy a map, cover my grill, plan my route, pick out an official traveling song, get an oil change, eat three meals, and down a bottle of tequila.”  Stated the weary potential traveler.

Planners at Mission Control in St. Louis Park and planners in Fargo were concerned about some potential delays in lift off as the man’s replacement called in sick today and was unable to cross train.

“I certianly hope that my friend and collegue is doing fine and this is nothing serious.”  Stated the potential vacationeer with a dazed look in his eyes and a slight droop to his shoulders.

Experts believe that the vacation will happen.

“Quite frankly, the window is closing” cited professional scheduler Scott Zigfied.  “If we fail to get lift off witin the next forty-eight to seventy-two hours, the chance of this vacation happening before the fourth of July deminishes rapidly, then you are looking at a late July or potentially even August lift off.  Quite frankly, we don’t know if we can allow the pressure to build until that time.”

People are watching, and waiting, and hoping for the best.