The Time Sink

A report from the trenches:

Connectivity is a bit hit and miss; the difference this year is that I'm using my calling card to connect though dialup instead of resetting the local account for Summer use as 'unlimited'. That means I'm hitting wherever MCI's termination is and doubling back on the local modem bank. The trick will be to play around with the rest of the nationwide SBC access numbers and see if I can perhaps hit one that is within relatively close to the MCI demarc. Yeah, it's a roll of the dice, but the only problem so far is getting knocked off; the connection speed has been typically 49-50kbps in spite of the mileage...

Brad has been his usually 'gerbil on speed' self, skim boarding, boogie boarding and running hither and yon on errands; this morning we were up before the vendors and got to watch one fire up his grill to cook breakfast. In exchange for a little work loading firewood for his BBQ we ended up with extra portions when he was ready to serve.

The Cayucos Candy Counter has relocated to new digs just down the block; Rosalee has more floor space and room to let more customers in the door without overloading the place. ...then again, since she now has room for Gelato in her cold case, the place is loaded with people looking for that product. Highly recommended!

Daniel is chilling by being able to watch what he wants on the downstairs TV while Brad is out doing things. He hasn't been in the water yet, but I think he's happy to just be able to relax after working over at Grandma's in the heat last week. ...and being an edgy teen, I think having some quiet time to just do nothing is about due. Boredom will set in, but we do have places we can go and things we can do (none of which interest him in the slightest <g>)...

Speaking of the heat, Aunt Ann, it's cold and foggy today. The fog burned off the last two days, but today looks to be one of those where you can go to the store to buy chocolate without having to take an ice chest along (like at home). This morning I spent an hour allowing my feet to get cold and then relaxing wrapped up in a blanket allowing my toes to warm back up (this bugs Shelley by the way; that's something you may find useful the next time you're over here with her...)

...and Shelley? Well, she's almost caught up on her sleep. There are no cats here to demand feeding at 0530 (the kids learned that the 'baby robin' thing in the morning was a bad idea a few years back); and since the home phone is 150 miles away it can't wake her up at 0730! I see she's reading now; shopping yesterday must have tired her out a bit. When it warms up she'll be down on the beach reading in the cool sunlight...

Me? I'm shifting gears into non-work/non-school mode. Right now I'm enjoying the Eagles' Farewell Tour I DVD (we had Father's Day for me last night) on a set of Sony noise-canceling earphones (excellent!) and taking the time to write maybe the longest Daynotes post I've done in months <g>!

Ah, 'tis "Poetry Season" once again! Last year, one of my vacation posts inspired some thoughts from my sister; this year she has come through once again with this "PG-rated" ditty (careful, Mom!):

oh boo hoo it's foggy
can't see across the sea
My POOR sister is stuck in HOT Fresno
Drinking glass after glass of ice tea.

Oh boo hoo it's foggy
and my toes are getting chilly
but thanks to my nice warm condo
I'm warm and so's my "willy"

Oh boo hoo it's foggy
BUT chocolate is abound!
Here I can just sit back and relax
and watch my belly get more round.

Oh boo hoo it's foggy
but I'm enjoying the cool ocean breeze
while feeling not the slightest bit of guilt
knowing my sister's in over 100 degrees.

Oh boo hoo it's foggy
and I do enjoy it all so much
By rubbing my sister's nose in it
adds that much more to the touch.

SO...OH BOO HOO IT'S FOGGY
Sister is talking here
enjoy yourself for this short selfish time
Paybacks are a bitch, my dear.

Photos from camp:.

The morning walk...

Out the front door this evening...

Let's hear it for Functional Paranoia! Yes, the entire family is a case study; but having a spare length of telco cable let me get back on line after I lost the net today (yes, there's a spare modem too <g>). How I had the section of not-low-end cable that reached from the breakout point to the modem go bad is beyond me (WT???), but troubleshooting with a spare phone showed that to be the case. ....and putting in the replacement section did the trick.

One hundred-fifty miles East of here the temperature is forty+ degrees higher... 

One hundred-fifty yards West of here pelicans dive for their dinner as I grill ours on the balcony... 

One hundred-fifty minutes is a longish download on dialup 
	for the driver to rip a newly purchased CD to a kid's mp3 player...

One hundred-fifty hours is about how long we'd been here as of Friday evening...

One hundred-fifty feet is about how far the sand will be from the door for my morning walk...

More or less a kick-back day here, mostly reading and a store run. We're doing some traveling tomorrow to visit some friends down the road...

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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."
Arthur C. Clarke, "Technology and the Future"

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