Sunshine

Tim is currently attending a material science conference, which is conveniently located in Daytona Beach (despite the freezing wind, Florida is much warmer than South Carolina and Georgia, both of which are subject to snow and ice). As mom was able to keep Isaac this week, I've had a few days all to myself to sit in the sun (fully dressed with Starbucks) and get ahead on some very boring reading material concerning early American literature. The beach is inundated with Asians wearing black suits and conference badges, carrying poster tubes and brief cases. The only people brave enough to strip down to a bathing suit are senior citizens (go figure). As I am neither old nor Asian, I am quite out of place. The staff at the Wyndham give me suspicious stares whenever I leave the beach and enter the hotel, apparently doubtful as to why I am here. One staff member actually followed me onto the elevator, pointedly stared at my hotel key (which I had taken out to avoid confrontation), entirely changed his expression, and immediately exited. Either that or he was hitting on me (in the somewhat disconcerting style common to most men in Daytona).

I convinced Tim that Florida should be on our list of possible places to move after he graduates (in either December or the following May) - which is a fairly huge accomplishment, considering Tim hates Florida.