I made an important milestone today. I completed all of the work I needed to do for our 2007 E-Rate submissions. That comprises complete (down to the patch cables and bags of rack screws) parts lists for the seventeen sites that are slated to get technology refreshes next year, along with hardware/software maintenance for the network. All-told that's some $3.18M in spending, which will cost us $334K and the Feds $2.85M. When my colleague's telephone maintenance and leased telecom services (local, long-distance, cellular, paging, and leased fiber) are added in, we're probably looking at $5.25 - $5.5M.

All of my work, embodied in a stack of spreadsheets, went off to our E-Rate consultants at 10:00 AM this morning. I am immensely relieved. There's more that I have to do for our 2007 E-Rate filing, but this is the heavy lifting, and it is done.

...Which has freed me to start thinking about a trip to India to see ashacat. Yesterday I got the two passport photos I need for the India visa application. Today I talked to the Boss about my planned travel dates, and paid a visit to my in-laws to have them look over the visa paperwork. Next up, assembling the app, the money order, and my passport, and mailing them off to the Indian Consulate in NYC (and yes, that will be via certified mail, thankyouverymuch).