Must work on presentation. Must!

But first, I wanted to share something from a travel ad in a recent New Yorker:

Jamaica is a bit of a dichotomy. Wrapped in a paradox. Smothered in irony. Which would probably go great with a Red Stripe.

Now, I think it's great, and clever, and I quite like the ad. But "smothered in irony"? If I go there, is everyone going to be sardonic at me?

Tom, it's the local Fox affiliate - 12 on cable/32 on broadcast.

I insisted on that particular cruise because I fell in love with a picture of Curacao in the brochure. It didn't hurt that we both really liked St. Maarten when we stopped there on our last cruise.

That sounds wonderful, as long as you get some time to explore each island. I loveg Curacao, and I have wanted to go to Bonaire for years. Do either of you dive?

eta: Shrift, that is gorss. You need to move to California.

No, we don't, Perkins. We're more the land-based sightseeing type. Though I think we have birdwatching planned on -- maybe it's St. Vincent.

The downside of cruise ships is that you only get one day at any port. And there's usually enough on any island to justify a longer stay. So a cruise is more of a sampler than a way to get to know any place. On the up side, warm enough to wear shorts in January.

We're still new enough to cruising to take the tours offered by the cruise line. (In Jamaica last time, we saw Rose Hall. Home to Annie Palmer, who became the subject of a Johnny Cash song.)

There's absolutely no wind. I think the wind froze.

At least there's no wind?

It's 31 degrees here, wind chill of 20. We're a little startled.

So a cruise is more of a sampler than a way to get to know any place. On the up side, warm enough to wear shorts in January.

That is so appealing to me -- I'm going on a cruise in January, too, and totally looking forward to it. I've never been on one!

Oh, and ION, I totally shouted out the podcast as word of the year thing in class last night. Because I am that dork.

At least there's no wind?

Yes, that's a positive. Because if we had a significant wind chill today, I might die.

Isn't that convenient. My online bill pay option has vanished from my online banking account. WTF?

Timelies,

Re Alias: I know the show usually isn't big with the sense-making, but why the heck would terrorist dude put so much time and resources into acquiring a state of the art bomb and then just leave it behind to try and kill Sark with it instead of just shooting him in the head and escaping with the bomb. I did like Jack's MI-6 friend a lot though. And I'm thinking Sark is still hung up on Lauren considering the whole blond british woman thing, especially with the letting her into his hotel room and the cuddling afterwards.

That's funny, Cashmere, because mine's supposed to be offline today too (except I was warned about it a while ago). I'm sure we don't have the same bank though, so how weird.