I am up early this morning. Sound sleep seems harder and harder to obtain as I grow older. I try to do the things that would ensure a good nights rest. For example, I generally go to bed at a reasonable hour. I exercise during the day I no longer eat late at night and I take a non-prescription sleep aid about an hour before retiring. But.. here I am sitting in front of my computer since 4 am.

I usually have to get up at least twice during the night to ah.. visit the facilities. Also usually I can stumble back to bed still groggy from the sleep aid and go back to sleep. But, when I get something on my mind ..... no chance. Tonight, I guess the subject is the condo.

I have signed a contract to buy a condo at Daytona Beach Shores. I gyrate towards Daytona, I think because of the memories of a youth spending summer vacations there with my family. There were no high rise condos there in the 1940's. There were houses scattered along A1A and along Ocean Drive that were rented to the tourists. The summer tourists were generally working class people from the southern part of the US. The houses were generally owned by much wealthier people from the North who spent the winter months there and rented the places out for the summer. Both came to the beach for the same reason - to escape the bad weather - the bitter cold of the north east and the unbearable heat of the southern summer. There was not much air conditioning in those years.

Back to the condo. Three bedrooms, north east corner of the 14th floor. Stunning views of the coastline from north to south. And, thanks to the big wrap-around balcony, very good views of the river (which is part of the great inter-coastal waterway of our eastern coast) to the north west. I am looking forward to long morning walks on the beach - good for controlling my blood sugar as well as for soothing my soul. If it were not for taxes, I would be a happy man.