A few odds and ends:

• There’s nothing quite like taking a two-week-plus sabbatical from proper eating and exercise to remind me that my default setting will always remain stuck at fat bastard. I never cease to be amazed at how quickly I can pack on pounds when all caution is thrown to the wind.
• All the planned LEGO beach builds I envisioned were mercilessly trashed by the realities of attempting to place them on the sand — particularly near the waves. Even though none of them turned out the way I would’ve liked — notably the planned Trumplestiltskin build, which I decided to scrap — I learned a lot for the next time we go to the beach for a vacation. Nonetheless, I have material for Brick à Brac later this week.
• Now that this vacation is out of the way. I’m now eagerly looking forward to the middle of November, when I’ll be making my longest trip to Philly since the spring of 2009. I enjoyed myself during our stay in Kure Beach, NC, but spending a week at the beach isn’t my preferred variety of vacation. Yes, Philly is my home, but any multi-day trip to a major city will recharge my batteries more than a week on the beach. I also feel like an extended stay in Philly is long overdue, so this particular trip will be especially welcome.
• I polished off two books while at the beach, but I’m still way behind last year’s pace. I really need to set aside more time for reading (I’ve been rather consistent with my audiobook listening for quite some time now.) A new Stuff Read post is forthcoming.

That’s all for the moment.