A Day at the Beach

I just got back from two days at the beach with my children. We decided that, since I do not see enough of my children, we should make the most of our Summer together and drive to the beach for a couple of days. The time was mostly spent riding inner tubes in the ocean, watching my eldest daughter fearlessly leap into waves that were bigger than she is, and braving rides at the little fairground there. We also picked up some dresses for the girls. All in all, 'twas a great way to spend two hot Summer days, and a great excuse not to go to work.

Over the past two years I have been working on learning how to swim. Two and a half years ago I could barely swim from one side of a pool to the other--the short way. Now, I routinely do quarter-mile swims after work. On our little beach vacation I learned that I am now able to swim in the ocean when my feet can no longer touch the sand. My swimming has become strong enough that I can swim back to shore even when the undertow wants to drag me out and drown me like a kitten in a sack. To be realistic, it was not a strong undertow, but two years ago I would not have been willing to go in much above my knees. My transition from human to squid is proceeding ahead of schedule.

Off to the Beach

This is just a brief post before I leave for the beach. I was originally planning to write something about the people who are vying to become the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in the 2008 US presidential election. However, when I started writing I realized that it would take me a while to organize what I want to say, so I will postpone that discussion until later. The grist of what I intended to say is that the Democratic slate of candidates is probably far weaker than most Democratic supporters realize, and that it is not obvious to me that the Republicans will not just walk all over whoever is eventually selected.

And now, off to the beach for a couple of days in the Sun. With luck, the weather will be nice and the water will be warm.