I took my family to the Oregon coast this last weekend from Thursday to Sunday for a min-vacation... fully expecting the beach house we rented to have wifi, or at least a cable Internet connection. I figured I'd be able to sneak in some laptop time in the wee morning hours, before anyone woke up, and before my wife could catch me in the act and conclude the my work is still more important than my family.

But would you believe they had zero Internet connectivity?!? I finally found a coffee shop on the 3rd day that had free wifi, so I could at least check email and see if I had sold any software licenses, check on my online Java class I teach at PCC, check my affiliate advertising revenues for the dozen or so websites I run, check the stock market, and my account balances.... dang! - am I pathetic or what? Definitely overloaded and in need of some scaling back.

The almost-zero-Internet weekend turned out to be just what I needed though; and just what my family needed too. Once I made it through the first few rounds of technology withdrawals, I was able to focus on my family, relax, and even realized how nice life can be without my web-enabled vices.

We went for a long family bike ride, climbed sand dunes, ran down sand dunes, grilled steak and chicken kabobs, watched movies, and drank wine. I finished reading Babyproofing Your Marriage, and was even the one who suggested a shopping trip to the outlet mall in Newport - something I knew would help recharge my wife's batteries. We had a really great time!

Life seemed full of bliss, until we got home and reality found its target. The battery on our Sequoia is about 5 years old, and for some reason it decided to go belly up on us just as I finished vacuuming the sand out of it. My wife went to start it to get some groceries, and it wouldn't even turn over the engine.

I put it on the charger for a couple hours and it started right up, and my neighbor used to be a mechanic so he hooked up his voltmeter to verify that the alternator was working fine. But he suspected the battery was on its last leg and suggested we replace it. So I headed over to GI Joe's and bought a new one.

As I was putting it in the truck, I didn't notice that the terminals on the new battery were opposite from the old battery. Positive was on the left and negative on the right, instead of the other way around. When I hooked up the cables, sparks flew, the horn went off, and the 120 amp alternator fuse blew to pieces.

But wait, the story gets even better.

I took the battery back to Joe's (I was still in their parking lot) and swapped them for the old one. They didn't carry the fuse however, so I called my wife to come pick me up. We drove around town for a half hour or so at around 6:30, only to discover that all the shops close at 6:00 p.m. on Sundays.

The Sequoia spent the night in Joe's parking lot, and I had to call a tow truck in the morning to take it into the shop to replace the fuse. It turned out to be the kind that's bolted in underneath, but you can't tell by looking at it. In fact, I couldn't even tell after breaking it completely to pieces trying to remove it with needle nose pliers.

Two hundred and ten dollars later (pulled from our emergency savings account), and two hours late to work, we finally had it working again and life went back to normal.

I had to work until 6:30 to make up for being late for work (since I had used up my vacation time on Thurs and Fri), but the ordeal has passed and my wife can resume carting our kids around to their various activities - such as T-ball tomorrow afternoon for my 5-year-old son.

Life is good though, and I'm grateful for the chance to get away for the weekend without all the distractions of reality, and just enjoy my family.

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