While the positive and negative aspects of a vacation-induced two week effective media blackout could be argued for weeks (see below), I can identify at least one positive. In that two weeks, I managed to finish reading the remaining two thirds of my birthday presents, including that epic beast of a book*, Cryptonomicon, which I thankfully read last. Thankfully, due to the fact that it immediately found a place among the top ten best books I have ever read, and whatever I pick up next will likely pale in comparison.
* Let’s just say that finishing it in (significantly) less than a week probably places me in a club with membership in the double digits, and leave it at that.