Vacation!

OK, enough with the politics for the time being. There are other things in my life, like cable television and beaches. Perhaps I should start with the cable television.

For almost as long as I can remember, cable television has been a utility more than anything else. Whenever my family moved anywhere, getting cable was a priority. It really wasn’t until I went off to college that I met rather affluent people who simply did not watch cable. The concept was strange to me. Cable was a necessity. This December, however, I decided cable was not a necessity. CNN Headline News had become odious, the Discovery Channel’s documentaries were much more shallow and sensationalist than I remembered them being years ago, and frankly the commercial-to-quality television ratio had been a division-by-zero problem for some time. When I was home I was on the Internet, playing Playstation 2, or watching movies from Netflix. In addition, I was paying upwards of $50 a month. That was in addition to the $50 a month I was paying for Cable Internet access. It just … wasn’t … worth it. So I canceled cable.

It’s been an interesting experiment. For the most part, I haven’t missed it at all. However, I have been out of the cultural loop. Alias? They make 3-d software, right?

Anyway, just before Sarah and I went off on vacation this last weekend Comcast called with an offer for me. Take basic cable for the rest of the year for a monthly rate of $0 for the rest of the year. That’s right. Nothing. So I said “yes.” Not only that, it looks like they’ve given me the special rate on the cable Internet access now because I also have cable TV. Now I have cable TV and Internet access for $5 less a month than just having Internet access. That’s a pretty good deal. Remind me to cancel my cable again in eight months, though.

Anyway, after negotiating that deal, Sarah and I went off to Virginia Beach for the weekend. It’s still not tourist season there, although it’s getting pretty close. We walked around the boardwalk for awhile, and Sarah bought some new jewelry. The next day, we went to the Virginia Marine Science Museum, where we learned about skates and rays, watched baby sea turtles, saw an exodus of tiny fiddler crabs, caught two horseshoe crabs mating, watched a male turkey vulture being turned down cold by a female turkey vulture, and determined that river otters are actually water cats, whereas sea lions are water puppies. If you’re in Virginia Beach, go see this place. It’s great, and it’s only $8 for each adult ticket.

After we left there, we went back to the boardwalk where Sarah bought some jewelry. [Edit: Sarah points out to me that she did not buy jewelry this time. She merely picked up a ring she had left behind to have sized. This is true, but it destroys the narrative flow of my story.]

The next day, we checked out of our hotel and walked around the beach for a while. It was pretty cold, so the beach was almost empty. But we got to watch pelicans hunting while we searched for shark teeth. I put my shoes down well out of the way of the waves to take some photographs, but was foiled when a large wave came in and threatened to take my shoes away.

Before we left the city, we went back to the boardwalk where Sarah bought some jewelry. This last trip was my idea, however.

It was a nice trip, very nearly news-free, and quite relaxing. Someday, though, I hope we’ll be able to take a vacation that’s longer than three days.