Computer's On The Beach

There's an article in the New York Times online edition Please Don’t Make Me Go on Vacation that has the typical description of people who take cell phones, computers, laptops...BlackBerrys with them on "vacation".

I could see that being okay in an "everything in moderation" point of view. On the other hand there is something to be said for a vacation that frees us from the tether's of technology. I used to like the idea of the vacation cottage without a phone or TV - before the advent of more modern devices like cell phones, laptops, pagers, BlackBerrys.

Nowadays I'd be more prone to want access to any of those devices if and when I decide I want to access them - rather than vice-versa where they intrude on my space.

To the point though...the thing that fascinates me about the article is this picture of a woman sitting on a sandy, sunny, occasionally wet - beach; with a laptop - supposedly working. I don't know about you, but my experience with using laptops outside has been less than satisfactory, and I kind of think a picture like this is either set up for the article or the woman is faking it to impress people. I used to have a picture that I'd hacked up that showed me with a laptop - not on the beach but actually in the water with my laptop - as a joke.

Maybe if you had a superbright screen and a keyboard/case protector of some sort that kept out saltwater and sand...and some sort of "wireless anywhere" setup this would be possible...but still it seems like an exercise in futility, given all the more interesting things there are to see and do on a beach.