Snowmelt

It is beginning to look like spring, feel like spring and sound like spring. I naturally find this hard to believe since I've missed most of this white New England winter working during the months of November, December and half of January and then traveling for all of February. This sits fine with me but I do feel a little shorted on snowstorms (Which satisfy me greatly), though I never announce this publicly in the presence of bitter full time winter residents who want another foot of snow as badly as they want an icy spin out on I-95.

Being gone for most of the dark days of midwinter I've missed a lot of action here at home. The elections (For which I voted in absentee as usual), the inauguration, friends having babies, other friends coming and going, the economic meltdown, the normal stuff of life. Having a few weeks at the end of my vacation and adventures abroad provides just enough time to catch up on piles of mail, fixing whats broke around the house and meeting with the few friends that I have the time and energy to maintain relationships with.

I've also had some time to meander all the newest modes of Internet communication, some of which I would be better off ignoring. I love the ease of accessing information on the many things that interest me in modern life but the sheer volume of it all is somewhat overwhelming. The new spat of media publicity for Twitter encouraged me to sign up for the service but I have yet to understand how one rationally uses it to any benefit without becoming a cell phone addict, something my girlfriend frequently pins me for. Blogging has been enough of a rewarding challenge that tweeting about what I'm doing every single day seems utterly fruitless.

The lack of media stimulus we endure at sea is akin to the lack of major U.S. media observed while we were traveling in Central America. Sure there are television stations and Internet cafes galore when abroad but we were so busy that we rarely had the time to read all the day's news and there definitely wasn't any National Public Radio on the dial. Instead of feeling the usual twinge of being left out of the world when making a three week ocean passage I felt more lightened since there wasn't always that non stop stream of information coming out of the car radio or iPhone or television.

I realized that the typical Guatemalan could care less if Wall Street was in a crises or of Bernie Madoff's malfeasance since it had little affect on the price of goods at this weeks market. Instead of turning on and tuning in to endure statics about unemployment and home foreclosures I simply dropped out, something almost as memorable as liquified beans and star fruit juice. Probably one of the reasons travel is such a relief from the normal pace of life in wired America.