Did You Hear About The 2 Antennas That Got Married?
I spent about a week down in Key West from after Christmas to just after New Year's. My parents rented a house down there. My aunt and uncle came down from Maryland too. I think the weather was actually probably colder down there then it was back in Arizona, but it was nice to get out of town. I got to go out drinking with my parents, which was an experience, not an unpleasant one at that. I came about one drink away from breaking my self-imposed ban on karaoke. That Dr. Hook was calling to me, but I managed to resist, if only.
All in all, Key West was pretty cool. It's a neat little town. It's like a college town, but without the college. Anywhere that drops a pirate wench to ring in the new year is my kind of town. If I had a spare couple of million dollars, there would certainly be worse places to buy a house. I really like the style of houses down there. I could see myself down there kicking back on a second-story wraparound porch, drink in hand, watching the world roll by. Though spending that much on a house located where hurricanes are pretty much a yearly occurrence might not be the best of plans.
I had to do the standard tourist things, though I never did make it to Mallory Square for a sunset or any other time. I did go to the southern most point in the USA. Though that's actually a lie and it's really just the southern most publicly accessible and commercial viable point. Still, they've got a monument and that counts for something. I got to see Hemingway's house too. That was pretty impressive. It's not really big or anything, but it's sizable enough and the tour was interesting. But I suppose it's probably easier to make a house tour more impressive when you can pepper it with tales of sport fishing, great literature, literal war stories, mutant cats and drunken vandalism.
Now that I'm back home it's time to start planning for future vacations. I need to go back out to Albuquerque and see my brother again one of these days soon. I'm thinking about heading up to Seattle in a couple of months for the Emerald City Con. I've been wanting to go check out a mid-major con after the mob scene that San Diego has become the past couple of years. I think it might be refreshing change. Emerald City has a pretty solid lineup. Plus, I'd like to go back and check out my old stomping grounds outside Seattle. I'm also thinking about going back east and seeing my family again. And going to PAX East while I'm there. Boston's only an hour and a half from my folks house, so I could make it a combo-trip. And of course, it's time to start thinking about San Diego in July as well. Esp. since I'm thinking about staying in a decent hotel this time around. Heh, I'm getting too old/lazy to be walking half way across the city every day just to save some money. Though all of this depends on my continued employment, which is never certain in these unstable economic times we find ourselves in.
Man, Kevin Blackistone has a really interesting column about Tiger Woods. I don't know if I buy his conclusions entirely or not, but it's certainly something to think about.