I sent off to replace my passport since, if I go overseas this autumn, it would need replacing right about this time next year, which would be messy if I had a visa in it &c. I wasn't sure if I could renew it when the expiration date was more than a year off, but I tried anyway, just to see.

And today the lovely new (probably horribly hackable) electronically endowed passport showed up. Huzzah! :-) I promptly signed it, so it's all official and usable. It's funky and hard-sided and filled with new and curious pages--no more state seals; it's all drawings of different places and events in US history.

I can't wait to try it out! I love having a passport!