Hiya!
As Savannah said, I've been mostly offline for the better part of two weeks. My parents are completely non-internet-compatible, so I was forced to "borrow" time on a poorly secured WiFi connection when I couldn't stand being disconnected any longer.
Funny thing: My home, in Nowhere, Texas, is rural... yet I have excellent internet service. When I go to Calif, my parents house is in the 'burbs, but neither cell phones nor fast data connections work worth a darned. Funny!!!
Calif is always a fun place to visit. It has an energy which is just flat-out contagious. I was born/raised there, and didn't move to Texas until about 7 years ago. So the connections are many, and I can still see my earlier footprints in the technical sand when I visit. And of course, Calif has the really wonderful "cultural stuff", like In-N-Out Burger, Fry's Electronics, and the generally laid-back California Way, which I miss horribly. (I think I ate at an In-N-Out at least once a day. Not kidding!!) But visiting also reveals some things that I never really remembered from before... like the "packed-in-like-sardines" housing, which now drives me completely nuts. (I can drive around my current house... and frequently do. In Calif, you're considered lucky if you don't scrape your knuckles on your neighbors wall when you try to open your window).
The whole "family thing" was very enjoyable... even when the Lunatic Fringe showed-up for Christmas dinner. I have an uncle who believes Big Brother is watching.... and tweaking... everyone. He's a huge, rabid believer in "ChemTrails". The rest of us know them as con-trails, ie, condensation trails from high-altitude jet exhaust, but he's convinced they're full of psychoactive compounds and has "conclusive data" that these "toxin-laced clouds" are the #1 cause of irrational behavior (to which I bluntly ask if he'd been breathing jet exhaust again. heheheh). His cause-du-jour presently is letting people know that all these internet cameras mounted in laptops are being monitored by the "gov'ment". Yeah right.
This made for an interesting after-dinner discussion, and it reminded me that you can't really educate someone who refuses to listen. But I did give Uncle Roark a hot new conspiracy link:
www.officialdisclosure.com. I spent some time one night Googling to find the grand-daddy of all conspiracy sites, and that one took the cakes. When I got back to Texas, he emailed me to express his appreciation for that link. Apparently, he found a bunch of "like-minded" folks. LMAO!!!
I managed a trip to the beach, too.
Took Roark Junior about 60 seconds to get soaked... and I approved heartily.
And I got Toyota Tush. Or RAV-4 Rump, if you please. 24 hours of drive-time to get there... and the same back. Drive 12 hours/day and I guarantee if you're not intimately acquainted with the seat when you start the journey... you'll be well-introduced by the end of it!
So thanks for asking! What did YOU guys do for fun over the holidays?
Roark