COLD DAY in AUGUST

We have been in Nantucket since the beginning of June. The weather has been fantastic, except for that one week excursion into HELL in July when everyone on the island stormed the Marine Home Center, the place where fairness prevails, to get their Air Conditioners. These past two days we have gone the other way into cold and rainy. If the whole summer were like this I would demand a refund but this New England Sunshine is supposed to last only a few days. I hear Seattle is like this. No wonder they drink a gallon of coffee a day to ward off depression. If Sarasota got this weather for a few days during August, maybe the plants would survive.

My MacBookPro laptop went tits-up on me yesterday. It had given me some warnings and I backed up my business files to thumb drives (no eternal hard drive with me here) before the screen tuned into a Lava Lamp. White-blue-green-black... the local computer store has a MAC certified technician who can get to it in 3 days for $50 to see what's wrong with it. Then they get a part shipped, then they fix it at $100 an hour, usually one hour, and deduct the initial diagnostic 1/2 hour charge. Not unreasonable especially for this island where Rx drug prices are doubled, toilet paper is sold by the square, and gas is $4 a gallon. In the mean time, after consulting with my friend, Stan, who has all the toys, I ordered an iPAD, and look forward to expanding my APPLE stable of electronic gizmos. I already have the iPhone 3G, Airport wireless router, and the MacBook laptop (as does the Kitty only hers is pristine white and mine is milled aluminum).

For a small island, apparently you can get stuff fixed if you need to. My crown fell off my tooth and I got it glued back on within 24 hours by a nice dentist...$100. My computer is on the fritz...$100. I needed a printer...you guessed it...$100. Dinner for two with a glass of wine, $100. I feel like Rainman where the answer to every question is always $100.