To do list for this weekend...

- Get a haircut and beard trim.
- While everyone is out of the office: Bring down office network, setup machine accounts, reconfigure the routers, bridge IP's, initiate IPSec, supervise the contractor doing the ethernet drops and help him certify the cabling..
- Go to Target for a pair of beach trunks and flip flops

Ive been doing a fair imitation of Shaggy for the last 2 months, so the haircut was mandatory. (Even if I were shaving my head bald, I wouldnt trust myself to give me a haircut.. trust me on this.)

Now here is the catch - if Im in a strange town, getting a haircut is not a simple process.

My choices are immediately circumscribed (?) by my racial ancestry.

I cant simply find the nearest salon/chain cuttery in a mall.

"We dont cut black hair." is what it comes down to.

(Sidebar: Its not usually prejudice - its just that many folk of non-afro heritage have not had much experience cutting black hair. However, we wont get into the other reasons...)

I have to find a black (or caribbean hispanic - if it comes to it) barber.

Even in multi-racial and multi-cultural areas, Ive still gotta search.

Gay salons are often surprisingly adept, so they are also a choice in a pinch.. but since attitude and hipness costs money, theyre way down on my list.

The routine is to go to the 'black' part of town and find me a barbershop - nevermind finding a good barbershop.
Its potluck, which is why I hate doing it.

I let instinct be my guide.. and in the South one goes to the railroad tracks, and *literally* crosses over to the 'other side of' to find the black areas.

The technique hasnt failed me yet.

I made a left and a right, looked for likely establishments and voila.. Ive got 5 to choose from.

Heh, as my eeny-meeny-miney-moe luck would have it - I got a Jamaican barber.

When I got up from the chair, his hairstylist looked at the neat coiffe and said.. "Damn, you look good."

Yeah, not too shabby.

I'll go back if Im still here in South Florida for the next haircut.

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Network stuff.. the less said the better... and flip flops and swim trunks..

Ive been so used to NOT being able to go swimming in crowded urban areas that havent bought any swimming stuff in the last 10 years.

Why am I even depriving myself here?

I dunno if I'll even use 'em after I leave.

But shit.. it wouldnt be right to not go paddle in the Atlantic.

Dude, its tropical waters. The Bahamas are directly due east of me.

Ohhh, I remember why now. Riptides, sharks, jellyfish and manmade ickies...

Still. Flipflops and trunks.

Check.