And we’re here, in LA, for a week, for a break from Winter and a visit with The Bob’s family in southern California.  Basically I think we pushed away from the Christmas table, hurridly threw the giftwrap scraps in the trash, and rolled our suitcases into McGhee Tyson just a very few hours later.  And now, 300 years later (or so it feels), after a brief in-out visit to The Great White North Minneapolis, we’re in the land of fruits, nuts, & flakes.  Already had an In-N-Out Burger and some potato crack fries.  And, of course, already had a fight with Hertz, and we’re now driving our usual – a black Lincoln Navigator with an inoperable Sirius Radio.  Um, yeah.  Reserved a normal car… they fracked that up… and just to make the experience complete for us, they threw in a two hour wait for free.  So we got an upgrade, and we got a $100 gift certificate.  But, at this point, I have to mention that I’m coming to the realization that our loyalty to Hertz is somewhat idiotic and more than a little misplaced?  Yes, yes it is.  Since this is the fifth time in two years that we’ve ended up with a Navigator when we booked something else.  Yes. Misguided and misplaced,  that’s us!

And as for Christmas, since we’ve flown right past that, it was a little bit of both – merry and happy.  Santa Claus be’d very very good to me, for true!  Got my Macbook… blogging from it as I type right now.  But wait, there’s more!  Because I apparently was the right mix of naughty and nice, he threw in a little lagniappe in the form of a Kindle.  As in an Amazon Kindle.  As in a sold out Amazon Kindle.  As in somebody in my family made me simultaneously the happiest and most envied person in my circle of friends.  Thanks Bob, Mom, Jim-Bob, Thi Thi, Bub & Kaylea!!!! Both my new babies came in real handy today… until I finally fell asleep an hour before we landed in LA.  And, of course, I had to laugh when I looked down our row and saw two adults, one teen, three Ipods, two Blackberries, two laptops, one RAZR, and a Kindle, all simultaneously in use.  Yep, that’s us! The Geekersons.  Coming soon to a wifi connection near you.

So, that’s the update.  I’ll post as I can.  But understand, we’re on vacation and at least semi-incommunicado, or at least as much as you can be with all our monitoring devices turned on.  Enjoy your holiday too!  Spend some time with the family, even if everybody is texting across the room to each other. M’kay? Cyabai!