Day off

Took the day off from preparations to go to the Annapolis boat show
As always a wonderful event, with lots of opportunities to spend on things I didn't realize I needed.
Thus time I purchased two things.
One is a PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) a gadget a little smaller than a deck of cards that once activated sends a signal, via satellite to an emergency network that then notifies the coast guard and other agencies that might help. The signal contains your GPS location so they know where you are, and keeps broadcasting for up to 24 hours. Amazing technology. Gil Blankenship, a good friend conceived of and had a lot to do with creating this system. Thank you Gil

The second is a satellite based communicator (I got the Delorme Inreach SEfor reasons I can elaborate on later if anyone cares). It uses GPS to determine my location and Iridium satellites to allow me to send and receive texts from anywhere in the world (sorry Verizon ). It also uploads position information to Spotwalla every 10 minutes so it can generate the map of the voyage which you can view by clicking on the link to the right of this and every post

Just awesome technology!!

I'm writing this on my Nexus 7, while sitting in the airport waiting to board the plane to Madison to visit with Sam and Kate, our beautiful and brilliant granddaughters (and their parents, who aren't bad either) and to sit in the Sukkah 

New technology blended with a 4000 year old holiday...what could be better

Looking forward to the weekend