Random Vacation Thoughts

Just some stuff that crossed my mind during my vacation.  You be the judge.
If you are going to buy a boat…

If you are going to buy a runabout for fun get togethers, you may want to consider buying used.  Here’s why…
I ran into a boat dealer on one of the docks during my vacation who said the newer models are adding more electronics and gadgets.  That’s good to an extent, but one of the most important accessories to have on your boat is an ice chest.  Used runabouts often have the coolers built into the boat itself. 

In fact, I didn’t realize I had one built in until he pointed it out to me.  The compartment I was using for storing cleaning supplies is actually an ice chest.  Woot.

No stumbling over an ice chest.  Just throw a bag of ice in the onboard cooler, dig in some drinks, put your sandwiches on top and you’re ready to go.

How to beat the heat
- be lazy, save your more difficult and strenuous tasks for another day.  They’ll still be there when you get back. Or hire someone who likes to work in the hot weather to do it.  Many of the hotter climates accept this as the status quo.  While in Hawaii, helping my grandmother move, none of the others would show up mid day.  I asked a lawyer friend who lived there about why they never showed up on time.  He said "It’s Hawaii man, too hot , no show..  Nobody does.."

So skip it…your work will still be there when it cools off to 80 degrees or so.

Book Review
While on vacation, I read the true thriller Under and Alone.  It’s a true story about another North Carolinian William Queen who went undercover to infiltrate the violent underground Mongols motorcycle gang in California.   If you like reading suspense.  I recommend you pick this one up.  It’s a real page turner where I found myself reading some nights till 2am.  Yep, it’s that thrilling

Camping Psychosis

No matter whether you consider RV’ing camping or whether you tent camp.  There is a strong likelihood that camping psychosis can set in.  Camping psychosis is a temporary insanity that occurs when you go camping with someone you don’t know very well. 

Here’s an example of it.  For one person, camping means "it’s not quite camping until you have a cup of hot chocolate prepared using stream water heated over an open fire." 

For someone else it’s not quite camping if it happens in an RV…only tents. 

Others say "it’s not quite camping until you use the bathroom outside under a tree."

For me, "it’s not quite camping until you catch your own fish for a dinner."

But whatever camping psychosis that makes it’s way into your vacation, we all need to realize it’s not really camping in a true sense unless you are dropped off in the woods with a knife and nothing else.  That’s real camping..it’s not for me…probably not for you either if you are accustomed to luxuries such as electricity and the Internet… Who knows could be wrong.. But I don’t think so.

Pale People Unite!

One observation that occurred to me on this vacation is pale people don’t have a club. 

You see, as a decendent of Irish heritage, I have red hair and pale skin.  I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about my skin tone unless I am at a pool or in a game of shirts vs. skins football.  But I noticed at the lodge’s pool there was a general lack of paleness.  Even among the other redheads in the vicinity.  Hey, I know you guys are wearing spray on tanner!

Here’s a much easier way of dealing with the social problem of having fair skin.  Show it off, be proud of it.  Put on your 55UV sunscreen and avoid the fake tanning sprays and lotions. 

Only until we of pale skin accept ourselves and our skin will we start to see an end  to the  bombardment of images and attitudes that our appearance at the beach is somehow unacceptable. 

Acceptance means not wearing jeans and long sleeve shirts to the pool.  It also means not trying to cover it up with the self-tanning stuff.   

So if you’ve got it, flaunt it – pale skin that is…