Hahahahah! We tested the AC yesterday and the compressor unit wouldn't switch on.
Good day Stroock's Books reader(s) and Chag Pessach Sameach. So, since the Stroock family was in Florida when Passover began and Mrs. Stroock's relatives are on vacay themselves we won't be doing a Passover seder this year. The Stroock family has faithfully held seders for a quarter of a century. Missing one just isn't that big a deal.
Oh, and Happy Good Friday to our Christian reader(s) across Christendom.
Today we begin our report on the glorious Stroock family sojourn to the great state of Florida.*
Notes on a vacation: travel.
Flying out of Newark last week the TSA line was about 40 minutes. As the agents were then unpaid and quite harrowed at the 6 PM hour, we scrupulously followed their directions and thanked them for sticking things out. Somehow the politicians have made the TSA sympathetic. Flying out of Miami yesterday the TSA line was about 30 minutes.
We rented a Chrysler Pacifica hybrid, and it grew on us over the week. We did the driving. Mrs. Stroock was the navigator [Don't you mean Mrs. Stroock was the captain?-Ed]. We hang our head in shame and yes.
Miami sure is somethin'. We drove into town from the airport and saw a wall of shiny skyscrapers, turquoise bay, cruise ships, all accented by palm trees and shimmering in the warm sun. We're not even doing the sight justice. The drive into Miami was phenomenal, fabulous. We see the Manhattan skyline a couple of times a month and used to drive past the Washington Monument every day. Our point is that it takes a lot to impress us. We were impressed.
On South Beach's Ocean Drive, one see's more turquoise water on one side, and art deco hotels on the other. The streets are lined with tall palms and filled with people of all stripes. When one thinks about 'vibrant' diversity, this is what one is thinking of. We'll have more to say on the Miami vibe in another post.
After three nights in Miami we took US-1 out of Miami south for the Florida Keys. For a few dozen miles we drove along a two-lane highway surrounded by swamp. We found this mildly disconcerting. We're a Yankee after all and had a vague but persistent sense that air-boat riding rednecks would burst out of the tree line and take us hostage - or we'd be eaten by giant mutant alligators.
Through the Florida Keys the drive is stunning. Very often one gets the sense of driving out into the ocean. The water is a patch work of blues and....turquoise again. Very often one is just on a patch of landfill. It's not all scenic though. One passes endless strip malls, gas stations (gas prices increase the further out one goes), marinas, tourist attractions and on and on. There's also urgent care centers, schools, auto parts stores, etc etc. People do live in the Keys.
DOGE Report.
Ahh....we see that less that 24 hours after making World War 1990: Ireland available on Kindle Select, nearly a thousand pages have been read, with Australia leading the pack. Thanks, mates.
We did some work on a nuke novel short story yesterday. We plan to finish it today [You dare plan on Passover? Do you really mean to be such a tempting target for the lord Hashem? We plan, god laughs. For as it is written, we plan, god laughs-Ed].
We also realized we got four other unfinished nuke stories. But they're in good places.
*A quick note We deleted our twitter account and cut our blog reading in half. Sorry Ace, Powerline, and Small Dead Animals. While we are less informed (we miss getting hourly updates on what the IAF and USAF just hit) we are at least 50 percent less worried and 25% happier. Not running to see INSERT TWITTER GUY HERE hot take on INSERT HEADLINE HERE
so inspiring
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