Vacation Update

Things are wonderful here on St. John, though it has turned out to be a little hotter than we anticipated.  I can hear you now, "duh, why'd you go to the Caribbean in August?".  All I can say is the average daily norms are lower here than the Outer Banks, so that one's a wash.  We do happen to be right down on the water--which is usually a good thing in for breezes.  Problem is, we also back up to a mountain/hill, and the prevailing westerlies are blocked a bit.  Not too much to complain about though, as the house is airconditioned and we've got a ton of ceiling fans.

Anyone looking for a good business opportunity?  Open a brake/clutch shop on St. John.  The roads are all very hilly, and I gotta believe people tear through brakes and clutches at an amazing pace.

I feel really bad for the Kitten.  She spent something like a dozen summers here as a young woman running a sailing program for teens.  She knows the USVI and the BVI's like the back of her hand, she's a font of knowledge of a ton of cool things to do and where to do them.  But the whole broken ribs/cast on the hand thing is holding her back a bit.  She watched from the porch as the Kittens and I snorkled in the Bay---a little sad, I've got to say.

In an interesting arrangement of things, you drive on the Brit side of the road here, but the cars all have the American steering wheel position.  You gotta stay on your toes.

It is fun to watch the girls together.  They fight sometimes, as many do, but they really are very good friends.  Situations like this--cut off from the familiar--seem to really reinforce their friendship and mutually supportive natures.  I remember my Mom and Dad wondering if my brothers and I would grow up close, usually after one of the big Thunder Dome brawls that seemed to break out from time to time.  Truth is, we pretty much have grown up close.  I have no fear the Kittens will.

As most of you know, I consider myself a pretty clever guy (often, I'm the only one who considers me that).  One place where my cleverness completely escapes me though is in game playing--games of ANY kind.  Card games, board games, video games.  I have about a 3 second attention span, and I am profoundly bad at any game requiring memory (Alzheimers candidate here).  All three of the Kittens are amazing game players--and they take great joy in my ineptitude.

One final thing--some folks--moreso on Facebook--have chided me for writing/blogging/thinking etc while "on vacation".  The folks who do so generally don't "get" me.  This is what I do to relax--and it is hardly inconsistent with vacation.  Working. Driving from the farm to the Pentagon three or four times a week.  Writing papers and speeches.  Putting together communication strategies.  Thinking really hard about hard problems--those things are work--and I'm doing little of that down here.