I'm back from a weeklong trip to France for Eden's bachelor party, though it ended up being more of vacation than debauchery. The most action Eden saw all week was the pat-down he received from TSA at SFO on the way out after bypassing the millimeter wave scanner. It was so thorough he almost needed a cigarette after it was done.

Getting online proved more difficult than I'd imagined, apologies for the radio silence here. I traveled lighter than usual, it was my first time on a trip without my SLR and lens kit and my laptop and charger. It proved quite liberating, but I was less connected and less eager to type or even connect to the grid than is normal for a vacation.

Whenever we did get online, usually through some free but painfully slow wifi at the hotel, I'd toss a few of my iPhone pics on Instagram or Facebook to let people know we were alive. This proved more important than usual given that we flew out of SFO the same day the Asiana flight 214 crash-landed and given that we took a train into Paris the same day a train derailed in Bretigny-Sur-Orge, just outside Paris, killing six. Friends and family sent lots of check-in texts and emails to make sure we were okay, but we'd receive them in pulses. We didn't learn about the train crash until we'd checked into the hotel at Paris and our phone suddenly chirped out a burst of "Are you okay?" texts.

It was good to get away, and it's good to be home. Back to work, and back to your regular programming here.