The things in my head go 'round and 'round

If I haven’t mentioned it before, I am on vacation. Let’s let that sink in for a minute.

This is what a North Carolina vacation looks like.

We have been coming to the same area of North Carolina for the past 7-8 years. A small island called Oak Island, just south of Wilmington. You can find a reasonably priced beach house pretty much any time you need. And if you want to live a little frugally, you can get a house off the ocean pretty cheap.

This is Toki Doki on the North Carolina Shore.

The area is beautiful. Of course, any place that you are on or near the ocean is beautiful. In my opinion, of course.

Tourist areas are pretty interesting to me, being that I work in retail. Being on the opposite side of the counter can be amusing. There are some folks who just do not want to be doing what they are doing down here, but they are kind of stuck. Like the guy who runs, and I assume owns, the convenience store on the island. He is there early in the morning, and up until 6 at night every day. If you ask him how he is doing he says the same thing every time. “Living the dream”.

At least he says that every time that I see him, and ask how he is doing. If you look real close when he says it, though, you will see that his eyes are dead. He is just saying the words. And I can understand that. What I can’t understand is why he just doesn’t sell the business and get the hell out. The store is worth a good bit of money. A cool couple of million at least. He could retire on that, as he is pretty near retirement age. But he keeps coming in day after day. The store closes for the winter, so maybe he just works the few months of the summer and puts up with us tourists so that he can do what he wants over the winter.

Vacations. Vacationing. Being the opposite side of the counter. We are going to keep visiting this theme this week.

Stay tuned.

Inquiring Minds Want to Know

A few dozen of my most loyal readers wanted to know where I ended up in my search for WiFi on Oak Island.

Ok, a couple of my 10 readers wanted to know. Sheesh, that guilty conscious of mine gets to be a real drag at times.

The Flying Pig Coffeehouse is where I ended up. We tried Island Brews Coffee Shop, but had no luck in connecting. And one of you folks out there (Nick, who is heading for the shore as you are reading this. Have a safe trip, Nick.) did a google and came up with The Flying Pig Coffeehouse. So if you are heading to Oak Island, North Carolina and don’t have internet access in your house/condo you should head up to The Flying Pig Coffeehouse. The coffee is great, and they are really nice people.

I did let them know that after I post this, they will have to expand their business due to the phenomenon known as the Dodd Bump. Similar to the Colbert Bump, but different. I figured when the thousands of my readers decide that they have to come to North Carolina just because I did, the business’ that I give the Dodd Bump to will need to expand to handle the flow.

I can have my dreams, you can have yours.

Namaste.

Service Men and Bar Fights.

There is some controversy in the city of Wilmington, North Carolina. And it involves Bars, and Service Men. You know. Marines, Navy, and Army folks.

It seems that some bars in Wilmington have banned Service People from being in their bars. I first saw this story on the local television news, and then looked it up on StarNewsOnline.

The reasons given are rather washed down. “large groups of people tend to end up with some violence, and property destruction.”

Are you kidding me? Service People and bar fights? You obviously don’t know what you are talking about. I don’t think that you can find any evidence to back that up. Just look at popular media, the movies.

An Officer and a Gentleman. Wait. Bar fight.

Top Gun. Oops. Bar Fight.

The Guardian. Crap. Bar fight again.

So, maybe the combination of testosterone and alcohol DOES have a negative impact on personal property. Hmmmm. So it could be a problem when you drop off a bus full of young people, who have been training their bodies to fight , in an area where they can imbibe large quantities of alcohol. I guess that the problem would be expecting them to act responsibly.

And I can hear all of the arguments coming already.

“These kids are training to protect our country. They deserve some fun!” But that doesn’t give them the right to damage peoples property, or beat people up.

“The majority of these kids are just out to have some fun, don’t paint them all with the same brush as a few trouble makers.” A few trouble makers? If we know some of these kids are trouble makers, why are we training them to use heavy duty weaponry?

“What about the townie kids? They are usually the ones who start things.” Just because one guy is stupid doesn’t mean that the next is justified in getting involved. That is what the Police are for.

It’s a rough way to go for everyone involved. The business owners don’t want to lose the business, but they also don’t want to keep repairing their business’. The Service People want, and deserve a place where they can have some fun. They do deserve it, as we all do. And considering our nations love affair with alcohol, having fun to most folks means getting wrecked. No pun intended.

Don’t know the answer to this one. All I know is that when I found out that the Mayor of Wilmington ended up on Fox News, I got pissed. It isn’t as if Fox is unbiased. Right-wing dipsticks that they are.

Namaste.

Go away on vacation, and you immediately stop reading what is going on here. I told you that I would be away until I found a reliable WiFi on Oak Island.

Sheesh.

Anyway, here is what has been going on:

There are a couple of things that you should just not do to make your life that much easier. Well, actually, there are a lot of things that you just shouldn’t do, but lets talk about a couple of simple things that, on a first glance, look like they are no big deal.

You should never talk smack to a Police Officer who just pulled you over. And you should definitely not talk smack to a Police Officer when you are being stopped at a Sobriety Check Point.

Not that I have done either. I am more of the “Yes, Sir.”, “No, Sir.” Variety when it comes to talking to an Officer. Always hoping for the no ticket situation. But a couple of weeks ago I did get the opportunity to participate in a Sobriety Check Point and did see 2 cars in front of me, and one car in back pulled to the side so that they could do the “Just How Drunk Are You” two-step.

I have been calling things the “Whatever” two-step lately. That and the “Dosey-Do”. I don’t know why, but I have and it is making The Princess crazy. With her being 13 now, EVERYTHING that I do makes her crazy. Makes life simple for me. I don’t have to worry about what I do, because no matter what I do it is wrong.

Cool.

Next item. Don’t plan on a major house renovations prior to leaving on vacation. This would seem like a no brainer, but my brain wasn’t thinking when I got talked into gutting our kitchen, and putting new flooring in our living room while we are out of town.

See? On a first read through that looks like a good idea. We will be out of the way of the contractors, they will get the work done, and when we come home it will be wonderful.

But I still had to work, and that left MLW to do a lot of the prep work. Like cleaning everything out of the cupboards. Because the cupboards are being ripped out and replaced. And cleaning out everything from under the sink. Because the sink is being ripped out and replaced. And cleaning out the refrigerator, because the frig and the stove need to be moved so that the new floor can be put down. And the old carpet had to be ripped up, I did that, along with all of the tack track and the staples.

And those are just a few of the issues that should help you decide NOT TO EVER, EVER, EVER decide to have someone work in your house while you are on vacation.

So, I lost my train of thought. Hmmmm.

The ocean is calling, the water is wild. There was a tropical storm that came through last night and the waves are really high today. Gotta go.

Namaste.

Some of the things going ’round in my head today:

Two more days until I go on vacation. Actually a day and a half until we get on the road and head for North Carolina.

20 hours of spending time with people that I don’t want to be around, so that I can have a week with the people that I love the most. Not all of the the people that I love the most, but this year there are too many things going on with the rest of the kids.

Sunshine, sand, and alcohol. Those are the top 3 items on my to do list for the next 7 days.

Don’t be a hater.

Namaste.

For Tuesday.

The things in my head:

I need to get a digital camera for myself. MLW has hers. The Princess has hers. I need one of my own. There. I said it, and I mean it.

Now if only I had the money to buy it.

Sigh.

We are leaving for North Carolina this coming Saturday. We should be leaving early Saturday morning, but due to circumstances beyond my understanding, I have have to work for part of the day on Saturday. That being said, MLW and The Princess along with her sidekick will be picking my up from work and we will be jetting down the freeway at warp speed.

If you are heading south on 95 this weekend, just get out of the way. It will be fine.

Which leads me to “The things that WILL NOT be in my head”. Namely music. I have been rhapsodizing about Ipods and the such lately, but in truth I have none. Again, MLW has hers, and The Princess has hers, but me? Nada. Zilch.

To be upfront, MLW did offer to purchase one for me not long ago and I demurred. I have my CD player for my truck, I figured that I didn’t need something to pour sweet music directly into my head.

I was wrong. I need something for this drive as I won’t be able to play the vehicles CD player without keeping everyone awake and bitching at me to TURN IT DOWN!!

I tend to listen to my music loudly.

So I have a couple of things to work on the next few days. Along with:

Tearing out the rest of the carpet in the living room.

Cleaning out all of the cupboards, and under the sink in the kitchen.

Cleaning out and moving the refrigerator from the kitchen.

Moving as much of the furniture out of the living room as possible.

Because while we are down in NC, gnomes are coming into our house and demo’ing our kitchen, and putting down wood flooring in our living room.

This is going to be interesting.

Namaste.

I was looking for vacation posts from last year and came across this one that was written just before we went.

What the hell is it with me, anyway?

“I have these weird patches of poison ivy on both of my legs.

And on my left arm.

The patch that was on my head seems to be gone. Thankfully.

I have been taking benedryl the last couple of nights to keep from scratching. It is not working that well. And the real pisser is that the patches on my calves not only itch, but they hurt like a bitch also when I scratch them. And heat makes them scream at me, “SCRATCH ME, SCRATCH ME.”

And then they hurt like hell when I do.

I am not getting this. And I am not happy about it.

Luckily, vacation is coming up in 10 days. I can’t wait.

Which is a stupid statement, because unless I hit the lotto this week, all I will be doing is counting down the days. But, I over explain.

Come August 18, my Wife, The Princess, and Pierce will be getting in the van and heading south to North Carolina. And the ocean. And sand. And alcohol for me. We will be carting along 2 cases of Dodd Legacy Red Ale for my imbibing pleasure. Haven’t figured out what we will be eating that first night, but think that either pizza might be the ticket.

Will let you know.

Namaste.”

At some point in my 50 years on this planet, you would think that I would learn.

Sheesh

In one week I will be sitting in the drivers seat of a Dodge Caravan traveling at just a bit over the posted speed limit, still being passed like I am standing still by the rest of the populace, heading for North Carolina.

Just the sound of that makes me wistful.

Sun, sand, heat, ocean breeze, alcohol, a fine cigar, good cooking, family, no internet.

What?

NO INTERNET????

Yes, the house we chose this year does not have internet. Not until I pushed the button that sealed our reservation, did I find this out. Silly man. In the time since I have been scouring Oak Island, North Carolina on the internet looking for a Wi-Fi hotspot that I don’t have to pay for. The only one I have found to this point has been a McDonald in Southport. I am not one to hang out in McDonalds, though to get my daily fix of internet crap I will do what I have to do.

But lets just be clear on this. If any of you know of a Wi-Fi hotspot in, or around Oak Island, North Carolina please tell me where it is. Other than the McDonalds. I already know about that one.

With that being said, starting next week you will be seeing less of me here. Please don’t freak out and desert me completely. I could go the “Guest Blogger” route that so many of my peers have gone, but I just can’t choose which of my 2 readers to hand the keys to. Both of them are so worthy. I will be taking the lap top with me so that I can write while we are on vacation, because the voices just never seem to quit talking. And that should mean a veritable flood of posts when we get back.

Any questions? Good.

Gotta go rip up some more carpeting.

Namaste.

Jubilee Day is coming. Less than a week away.

And yes, I am already sick of talking about it. The Princess and I went to lunch today, as she is leaving with some friends to hang at the Outer Banks for a week and today was the last I would have to spend some time with her. She wants me to send some pics to her via my phone. That will cost me a bundle on my phone bill, but you know that I will do it. Dad’s do those kind of things.

It is being a hot June day here in the ‘Burg. And I am thinking of taking a nice cool nap under the air conditioner.

Namaste.

The things in my head today:

The youngest son telling me that on Thursday he is going to be jumping out of an airplane.

For the fun of it.

And paying $170 for the privilege.

What am I going to do with that boy?

Here is the company that he is paying to kick him out of a plane.

I have a well deserved week end off this coming Saturday, and Sunday. And of course rain is in the forecast. I am not digging on that at all. How can I nap in the hammock if it is raining?

We are going to North Carolina this year for vacation. I am thinking of investing in a camping hammock so that I won’t go through hammock deprivation while we are down there. Hammocks, along with beer, are Gods way of telling us he loves us.

At least that is my story.

Where are you going on vacation this year? Or are the gas prices going to keep you closer to home?

Let us know.