For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three. ~Alice Kahn

I just have to chuckle when I hear people commiserating  about "the good ole days" before computers took over the world.  These poor disillusioned folks  lament how people these days can not do anything without a computer, cell phone, or some device attached to our bodies.  At TEB household we  have tossed our cassette tapes & land line and embraced the 21st Century with a huge cyber bear hug.  The best thing about the world wide web is having a bottomless pit of information at my fingertip (the one I'm typing on my iPhone with).  No longer do I have to call 3 or 4 friends to find out who the missing  Spice Girl is or try to remember obscure song lyrics on my own.  I can google anything, anybody, anywhere, anytime.  My mom even uses me to goggle crossword clues when she is stuck.


 Because of Facebook I can keep up with an entire global neighborhood of friends and family.  In almost real time I can view what they are up to, see pictures of their kids, & keep up with their farms, cafes, and Zynga poker scores.  I can get poked & tagged.  All this virtual contact and nary an audible word exchanged. The iLove Shelling facebook page keeps me up to date on where the shell action is.  When the shelling community posts their finds I can see instantly which beaches are having some shell-worthy activity.  Whether or not  I can get there is another issue.  That's the down-side of TMI.  Too much information  on shells or sharks teeth can be frustrating when you are limited by time or distance constraints. All I can do is view the pictures from afar on my computer screen.  

iLove Shelling facebook page member Holly and her family came to Englewood Beach for some sharks teeth but hit the jackpot with these megalodons.  The recent rip tides caused by winds from Tropical Storm Beryl must have stirred things up for the good.

(Credit:  Holly Richardson Smith)
I posted a question and asked Holly where the heck on Englewood Beach did they find all these goodies?  (Manasota Key is my home court beach after all) Holly replied they were right off the main beach (where I never go due to a volleyball net & crowds) so I skeedaddled out there hoping there were a few megs left for me.

I went to Chadwick Park on Englewood Beach and walked straight out from the pavilion.  It looked promising with shell grit covering the beaches but Holly had found her big teeth in waist-deep water using a shell shovel. The waves were only fit for boogie boarders not middle-aged women holding a shell shovel. (meaning me)

After finding nothing of consequence at Chadwick Park, I drove north a few miles to Blind Pass Beach (not Sanibel's) to see if maybe the surf was more shell shovel-friendly.  Nope, but the kids were having a blast jumping the waves.

No iPods, cell phones, or game boys out here.  Just fun and frolic in the churning surf.

So in the end no big megalodon teeth but salty spray in my face and sand between my toes is the big payoff today.