Information generation

How is it that I go away for one week, and four pop culture icons die? That's it - I'm never leaving Los Angeles again. I can't handle the drama. (Or, more truthfully, the weather in any other part of this country.)

I was in Stamford Tuesday morning when I learned about Ed McMahon. Rebecca and I were sipping homemade cappuccinos on the couch, and I was scrolling through Facebook when a series of sad status updates revealed his passing. Minutes later, The Today Show confirmed it. Not that I was at all surprised.

The TV delivered the Farrah news Thursday, and my mom and I shared a collective, but also, unsurprised, sigh. Hours later, while I was posting a work update on Twitter, I started seeing frantic tweets about MJ; I then horrified my mother with my multitasking multimedia capabilities as I refreshed the laptop with one hand and my iPhone with the other, shamelessly lapping up details to the story.

Facebook was also the bearer of the bad Billy Mays news, this time minutes after my plane landed today and I turned on my phone desperate - after six and a half hours in the air - for a connection with the outside world. Maybe I should just shut my technology down for a day and hope that the rest of Hollywood stays safe.

Oops. Too late.

When I wasn't checking Facebook or Twitter or thanking the iPhone Gods for the GPS that let me drive effortlessly from one friend's house to another, I was, actually, on vacation. I saw everyone I intended to see, met and reconnected with their kids, parents, and/or pets, and generally spent some much needed quality time with everyone.

What I didn't do was see the sun for seven days. It seriously rained every single day I was away, if not the entire time, just often enough to keep anyone from becoming too optimistic. I wasn't expecting beach weather, but it would have been nice to have had some meals and drinks outdoors, maybe go for a walk or a run. As things were, I got very little exercise but a f#&%ing arkload of damp, gray, cloudy skies. I can not underestimate for you my ABSOLUTE and UTTER JOY and RELIEF and ELATION at arriving at a sun-drenched LAX this afternoon.

And what do I do? I stay inside and blog about it.