A day, or part of one, at the beach

Here is Mr. Mikey Gannon at Lighthouse Point Park, where today we enjoyed some sun, sand and swings to take advantage of our status as free-spirited vacationers. The day's agenda also included spending more money than I'd expected on some casual summer clothes, seeing Iron Man 2 (Mike really liked it; I less so) and working out, which is among my summer foci.

And so proceed my final days of freedom as I draw closer to my 12-week internship at The Associated Press in New York. I'll be moving in a few days and starting work on Tuesday. I'm definitely ready to get working again, and I'm eager to see what working on the business of things is like in more ways than one -- the professionalism, the camaraderie, the work itself, the hours, the pressure, the perks, etc. In a way, even though I am 31 and have been supporting myself since I was 22, to some extent I feel like a college student who's about to work for the first time. I find myself wondering what it will be like as if I've never had a job before.

I'm particularly curious to experience the culture at AP. Recently, my friends at the San Antonio Express-News were telling me about major changes there. Many of them are being either transferred to Houston or laid off. It's just another example of the cost-saving measures that are pushing many journalists into different careers and causing general anxiety and demoralization. I hope, of course, that the atmosphere at The AP is hopeful, innovative and exciting, not doom-and-gloom. We shall see.