Tanned, Rested, but not yet Ready

We’ve been back for a couple of days now – arrived Friday night, drove to Columbus for business Saturday morning. And I just haven’t gotten my blogging legs (fingers?) back. It’s been kind of nice to just focus on ticking items off the to-do list. It's been nice releasing myself from the pressure of being witty and clever.

But having built this thing up to this point, it seems a pity to waste it. I certainly have plenty to say and hopefully will find time to say it – even with the kids here full-time for the next two weeks.

In the meantime, some things happened on vacation that continue to puzzle me. Not big things, but odd little incidents that have kept me wondering since about the backstory.

Chincoteague has a tabloid-style local news weekly that was free in the lobby of our hotel called the Chincoteague Beacon. The front cover consistently inspires me to double-take:

If that’s not the exact same masthead of the Beacon Journal’s on-again off-again Sunday magazine, it’s damn close to a match. No, the Chincoteague paper isn’t owned by McClatchy and wasn’t owned by Knight-Ridder. (The headline, by the way, was referring to the Island's annual Pony Swim.)


I was checking around for wi-fi spots in Wilmington Deleware where we were visiting my stubbornly unwired mother-in-law. In a plaza hosting not one but two coffee shops I used my laptop to search for networks. I didn’t find a useful one, but I did find a secured network called – swear to God – DEA Stakeout House. I’d like to think that it’s just some wag who gave his home network the name to amuse his friends. But given the tech illiteracy of too many in law enforcement, I’m not optimistic.

Memo to Wilmington law enforcement: I hope you aren't counting on your targets not having a laptop and basic connectivity software. If that's you, maybe consider a name change for the network.


We went swimming at a sister-in-law’s club in the Wilmington burbs. It was a cool, breezy day so business at the pool was unusually slow. One of the teen employees fired up a mix CD he/she had apparently burned – mostly stuff on the Dave Matthews/Phish tip. The first few chords of a new song sound familiar, but out of place somehow. It’s “In the Sun” by Akron singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur. Dude, you apparently have a fan in Hockessin Deleware.

Ponder all that and I'll try to post something a little meatier tomorrow.