banging on the pipes

Our rental car is a Toyota Prius, but we're not straying far from the condo and in a small state like New Jersey, "fuel efficiency" goes a long ways, believe me. The condo we're renting: location is perfect; it has way more space than we need; the decor is way over the top, kinda feels like it might have been decorated by a 70-year-old drag queen. It's great! The week is going fast.

We did drive the twenty miles north to Atlantic City a couple times, where we both came out ahead, gambling-wise. We also took a three-hour tour of Atlantic City Convention Hall, the tour mainly being centered around the hall's historic pipe organ, which happens to be the largest pipe organ in the world. It takes that long to tour because the pipes for the organ are placed literally throughout the building (The largest pipe is 64 feet long). I happen to love pipe organs, and if I ever start going back to church again one day, a primary reason will be that I miss hearing (and occasionally playing) a pipe organ (Of course, these days that awful contemporary music, with guitars and drums and garage-band-reject singers, has taken over the music programs at a lot of churches, but that's a topic for another blog).

Back to the Convention Hall pipe organ. I played it once (briefly!) in 1969, which apparently was one of its last years of being fully operational. At present, the organ is being totally restored -- finally -- and I hope to get to hear it again sometime. The highlight of this tour was being able to sit at it again and at least pretend to play.

the gadgets in my backpack

Traveling used to be so much easier, and I'm not talking about what a pain security is or how awful the airlines are. I'm talking about all the stuff you gotta bring with you these days. There's the laptop and the cords; the digital camera and the cord and the charger; the cell phone and the charger; the iPod and the cords. I mean, I forget one of these items and I'm screwed. I get so obsessed with remembering all this junk that I'll probably forget something essential (?) like underwear! And how many of those items will I accidentally forget and leave in New Jersey??

Anyway, here's the plan: tonight we arrive in Philadelphia, stay overnight in NJ with my sister Mary and brother-in-law John; the next seven nights after that we'll be staying in a condo at 14th & the Boardwalk in Ocean City, as well as visiting relatives in Millville and vicinity; then one night in center-city Philly at the Alexander Inn; home the next day.

I'll blog from Ocean City. Unless I forget my laptop.

meanwhile, during the offseason.....

Two reasons why it's so hard to solve a redneck murder:
1. The DNA all matches.
2. There are no dental records.
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Has it come to this ? Me telling redneck jokes??
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We have decided where to go on our post-Ides of April trip, although it turns out that we're not leaving until the Ides of May. The choice was almost Montreal, but then we decided that we needed something less hectic than a big city where everybody is speaking French, so we're going to someplace familiar and relatively manageable -- Ocean City, New Jersey, after all (as I was guessing on March 28th). Once we decided, Jerry immediately started looking for offseason deals (he loves planning a trip way more than the trip itself) and found us a cool condo on 14th and the Boardwalk at a good rate. So that's where we'll be if you're looking for us third week of May.

The advantages of Ocean City are, of course, that we love Ocean City, and relatives to visit are nearby, and that there is so much within driving distance (the advantage of the East Coast). Weather-permitting, though, we'll probably mostly just sit on the deck and vegetate and continue our recovery from a tough winter. It will still be quiet at the Jersey Shore in May, and, who knows?, maybe the weather will be almost summer-like. Or not. Who cares.