Vacation | Mr. D's Neighborhood

Tag Archives: Vacation

February 17, 2010 · 5:37 pm

Winter Break Malaise

It’s rare that I have little to write about.

I should be opining at length on the contrasting attitudes towards snow across the United States. People are too damn sensitive about the stuff. Maybe a good dose of the Blizzard of 1888 will give them some backbone.

I should probably also note the quadrennial farce that is the Olympic Games, albeit the cold, wintry kind that I like (although Vancouver could use a little more winter). There may have been a mention of the continually “awkward” event that is the two-man luge–flying down a track at 90 miles per hour riding on your partner’s testicles.

I should also mention how Presidents’ Day got stretched into Presidents’ Week. Probably gives time for Bill Clinton to recover from another heart scare.

Or maybe about my upcoming Cuba trip.

I’m just not in the mood. I’m on vacation.

Give me until next week to be a little more loquacious. At least until I’m so bored that I may actually write something useful.

Back Again, then Back to Vacation

Phew! August is turning into quite the traveling month in the Neighborhood.

Just got back from a week in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, followed by several days in Atlantic City, NJ. Yet once I returned, I learned that our friend’s cabin in Maine is open, so I’ll be off to Maine next week.

I will be posting every day this week as time allows. I am going to try–emphasis on TRY–to post at least once, maybe twice, from my rustic manse to all of you. Until then, a few thoughts:

Rehoboth Beach has to be one of the best vacation areas in the United States. Mr. D has been here three times, and I enjoy it more and more each visit. The beaches are clean and wide, the towns are quaint and manageable, the restaurants are plentiful–if also on the pricey side–and the people are generally nice and agreeable. You can truly relax there, so make it a stop next summer, unless you like to be rowdy. The frat boys can go to Dewey Beach, one town over.
Atlantic City, on the other hand, is a dump. Everything I rhapsed about Las Vegas has found its polar opposite in AC. The beaches smell, and they’re dirty. It’s too crowded. The boardwalk has the rumpled-down look that’s a cross between a late-80’s Coney Island and Calcutta, with the charm of neither. Amidst the casinos–which are pale comparisons to their Vegas brethren–lie some pretty appalling slum areas. I can’t say it’s safe, even though we weren’t victimized. The place is just miserable and depressing, and its nearby towns are no better. Ocean City, NJ is an eyesore without the “quaint charm” of its Maryland counterpart.
I heard that mayoral control of schools has been restored in New York, with some minor tweaks. This is to be expected. Although I think the tweaks are much too minor, mayoral control works for the time being. That doesn’t mean however, that we shouldn’t find an alternative.
What is this nonsense I hear about Obama considering lengthening the school day and year?! I’ll cover the resurrection of this dimwitted idea in tomorrow’s post in which I will put forth my own proposal for education–strengthening graduate education programs, from admissions to academic rigor.

Have a good night, everyone!