Vacations remembered...

I spent Friday afternoon developing a list of things that someone at work may need to know in the event that my boat doesn't float, my plane doesn't fly, the bears find out that they REALLY like amateur photographers or I win the powerball (sitting at 216 million as I type this) before I return to work.
Wow... 2 weeks off...I'm not a fan of long vacations but sometimes that's just how things work out. Personally after 5 days I get very disconnected from work. In 2007 we toured Italy for about 10 days and I was ready to get back home and to work. Italy is very cool. Culturally and historically it offers some off-the-chart attractions but vacationing in a foreign country doesn't offer me much in the way of relaxation. That being said, there were some very cool/relaxing moments (Dinner on the Piazza Navona, the 9 dollar beer in Venice, the day we visited Lake Como and siestas almost every afternoon between a day of playing tourist and eating dinner).
I think the longer I work for my employer (Flair Data Systems) the more I understand that this is probably the best job in the world for me. As I've come to learn that, the leash can be let out longer and longer with no fear that this dog won't come home when his vacation time and money run out.
I'm also learning that I really like to travel... Sometimes I think that I use my camera as an excuse to go see some of the most amazing places on Earth. Its a passport of sorts. I know that the pictures that I take do not do these places justice when it comes to capturing an image that really shows the beauty and majesty that I witness... but I try...
That being said, I understand that I can take a few shots and then lay the camera down and just take in the view with the most extraordinary photo device in the Universe... Knowing that you can't capture the perfect image frees a person up to back away from the camera and selfishly soak in the image for my own enjoyment. I almost feel bad for the good photographers... :)
If you couldn't tell, this blog's a rambling mess.
I need to get day 1 of vacation started. LOTS to do today.
On a completely separate note, we started the vacation by staying up way past our bedtime with friends listening to a really cool band.
Life is good...