Tony Brewer

My girlfriend just showed me a website about taking a vacation by going Lehigh River whitewater rafting with the Whitewater Challengers in Pennsylvania.  She has always wanted to try whitewater rafting; and I agree that it sounds like it could be a lot of fun.  We have friends who have gone on whitewater rafting trips and they come back with tales of adventure and fun that certainly make the whole idea enticing!  The Lehigh River is in the beautiful Poconos Mountains, in Pennsylvania.  I’ve only been to the Poconos a few times, and those few times were in the winter time, for skiing trips.  The Poconos is a great vacation destination if you enjoy outdoor sports!

Anyway, my girlfriend wants to book one of the whitewater trips.  It looks like they have several different options; one includes an overnight camping adventure.  I think that is what my girlfriend wants to do, but I’m not sure that I want to go camping.  I’ve never been much of one for sleeping in a tent – I love hotels!  Their website has a link to what they call an Adventure Quotient Quiz to help you decide which rafting trip is best for you.  I took the quiz and found that I would be best suited for their Lehigh River Easier Whitewater Trip.

I’ve been there so many times, but going to Vegas has some kind of magic to it. Perhaps it’s the neon lights everywhere, or the moving sidewalks at the airport. I’m sure for many people it’s the gambling and clubs, but for me it’s more than that.

I love the fact that there is this huge mega city right in the middle of the desert, it amazes and saddens me in some ways that there is so much energy and water spent to make this mecca shine. People are paying for it all one way or another, I do wonder how they will keep this town going strong with the local real estate market taking such a tough hit though.

Sure people will fly in from around the world and spend millions hoping to win millions, but if the local people can’t afford their mortgages, there won’t be anyone there to deal the cards and clean up the buffets. I am sure the casinos are aware of this and probably putting pressure on government officials to make things easier for the local, or maybe they will just step in and start buying up real estate themselves.

It certainly would be a sad state of affairs if the only housing people can afford is corporate sponsored, but the way things have been in the news lately, it may be the only way to keep enough workers there.

Why can’t we schedule some of the conventions at the smaller beaches? It seems that ever time I have the opportunity to attend a convention at one of the beaches it is always Miami – maybe Fort Lauderdale on occasion, but why not some of the smaller beach resort towns?

I would love to travel to cocoa beach, palm beach, even the Florida Keys, but all the conventions end up at the bigger cities. I wonder if it just easier to book events at these locations, or if there is some kind of discount or financial incentive, or do the organizers just assume that we all want the glitz and glam of the larger venues and associates hotels and nightlife? I’d like to know, and cast my vote for some smaller more intimate beach destinations for next years beach travels.

I have been looking forward to the possibilities of the metaplace applications. I had seen a post there at boing boing some time ago, and the concept is awesome. 3d virtual worlds you can create and have hyperlinks inside, it will be great if this becomes an affordable easy way to take people from the 2d web into 3d worlds and back. It’s coming soon!

I am really hoping that America (and the rest of the world for that matter) will really learn that adjustable rate mortgages are dangerous for many homeowners. I had thought that was common wisdom that getting an ARM was not the best idea if avoidable, but it seems there are many people today who are suffering because they did not follow this wisdom. Sure there are other factors too, including declining housing markets and such, but if any good is going to come of this situation, it should be a giant learning experience for the masses. I haven’t really seen much in the way of stories focused on this, and perhaps my hopes will fall short, but we’ll see.

It would be nice to have a broad paradigm shift in the common sense in this country (on this issue and many others of course).