Welcome back!

Sup?

Had a nice little vacation last week at Massanutten resort, a few miles outside of Harrisonburg, Va. Very relaxing. The highlight of the trip was a solo hike I took up the ridge trail to the peak of Massanutten Mountain. It was a very difficult, but very rewarding hike. Along the ridge there were probably three dozen hawks gliding on the thermal updrafts. I hate birds, but watching them soar so close that I could hear the wind race across their wings and through their feathers at such an elevation was an unforgettable experience.

The other mega-hit of the week was the utter and complete absence of a T-Mobile cell phone signal at Massanutten. When last I blogged, I wrote that one of my goals for the week was to completely unplug from technology. No RSS, no email, no WWW. With the exception of two evenings spent in Harrisonburg where there was scattered coverage, I largely succeeded in this endeavor. My in-laws brought their laptop and were able to dial-up, but I resisted the temptation. Sure, on Monday and Tuesday I checked the CrackBerry for questions from my colleagues about a PowerPoint presentation that our Chairman needed. But after Tuesday, it was total unwiredness. And it was superb.

Because I was undistracted by technology while at the resort, I was able to read the two books I won from InBubbleWrap back in February (I’ll review them for you later). I spent quality time with my immediate and extended families. I must have 25 minutes of videotape of my daughter and her cousins doing silly dances and songs for the camera. I didn’t catch up on sleep, though. Maybe one day…

I need more downtime like that.

Anyway, looking ahead, I'm planning a leadership conference that is coming up in under three weeks, so if I'm a little silent, you'll know why.

Tagged: Association; Association Management; Associations; BlackBerry; books; CAE; Certified Association Executive; Harrisonburg; hawks; hiking; Massanutten; technology; tmobile; vacation; Virginia