Good to be Back

I’ve slowed the pace of blog posts lately.  That means I have a few things to catch up on here – so I have a few posts coming up over the next few weeks. 

First, though, a thought or two about the state of the blog.  Back in 2008 and 2009, when I started the blog, I used to try and post 12 to 16 times a month – 3 or 4 times a week, but as my activities at Hawksbill Cabin have settled into routines, I adjusted that down to where my goal is now 8 posts a month, or 2 per week. 

I attribute this to a combination of an intensive round of day job work deadlines, coupled with all the effort it took to bring off Hawksbill Hop Yards this year.  That’s enough for excuses:  I just read the latest issue of Outside magazine, a favorite, and I found myself inspired.  So with this post I will start getting caught back up.

Now, a few weeks back I took a business trip to speak at a conference in Orlando.  This is the same conference that has taken me to Las Vegas in the past – their new strategy will be to alternate between the east coast and Vegas every other years, so I will try to keep up.  There is always something interesting happening in my field as new technologies are incorporated into the built environment.

I grew up in Orlando, so a part of me was looking forward to the trip.  The photos accompanying this post were taken from the flight – first, on takeoff, as we flew over the Pentagon; and then on descent, when I was surprised to look out the window and see Cape Canaveral stretching off to the south down below.  Just to the west of the southern end of the Cape - the view is to the south - is Melbourne, the town I lived in for two years until I decided to move up to the DC area in 1990.

Another highlight of the trip was the hotel I stayed in, the Doubletree at Universal.  It used to be known as the Sheraton Twin Towers - long before Universal was built - and it was the location for our high school prom!

The Orlando trip was a success, and I followed it up with a week of vacation at Hawksbill Cabin.  The next few posts will be about that experience.

It’s good to be back!