It's official.  I no longer have an internet life.  I check my email and I have 88 unread messages.  Do you know how crucial it is that I am daily able to receive messages from Loan Consolidators of America and Jamie X*70 who has posted new pictures for me to view?  Yeah, so I guess I come back looking around, wondering what all the hype was about when our DSL crapped out.  After all, you can always find a spot on the couch with one of the many cans of soda in hand, watch TV, lounge with the fam.  Wrap a few presents and take another nap.  Who needs Dooce and Ingliseast and Fuglys anyway?  It's been nice, this little hiatus from the world of work and routine.  The weird part is, I'm not going back any time soon. 

I'm in Big Stone Gap, VA where there are big stones in between gaps, but they also have high-speed internet.  Christmas is pretty much over except for a traditional girls' breakfast tomorrow morning.  I will be passing through no less than 7 coal and small Appalachian towns to get to Cracker Barrell, where I will have the opportunity to eat grits and more country ham if I want it.  At some point I'm going to eat a salad and try exercising again.  Might be a good idea to try that before I start a 2,175 mile hike in March.