A Portuguese Man-of-War. These were all over the beach while we were there. They were about 6 inches long and really cool looking. They are like little balloons - I'm sure that kids get stung all the time by these things. I had never seen one before, and I didn't know what it was, so I poked at it - with my finger. Duh. About 15 minutes later, I got an intense numbing and burning sensation on the back of my hand, then 30 minutes later my lip started burning the same way. It hurt for about an hour. I didn't even touch the tentacles, but evidently I got some of the nematocysts on my finger, which I then proceeded to transfer to my hand and to my lip. I can't imagine what a real sting would feel like. The tentacles on these things can grow over 100 feet long and contain trillions of stinging cells. I learned my lesson the easy way.

We recently took a fun semi-working vacation down to Miami. It was a great time - a highly recommended vacation destination!

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tilt > The lights along the shopping district

tilt > Laura answering questions at the conference

tilt > A Portuguese Man-of-War. These were all over the beach while we were there. They were about 6 inches long and really cool looking. They are like little balloons - I'm sure that kids get stung all the time by these things.

I had never seen one before, and I didn't know what it was, so I poked at it - with my finger. Duh. About 15 minutes later, I got an intense numbing and burning sensation on the back of my hand, then 30 minutes later my lip started burning the same way. It hurt for about an hour. I didn't even touch the tentacles, but evidently I got some of the nematocysts on my finger, which I then proceeded to transfer to my hand and to my lip. I can't imagine what a real sting would feel like. The tentacles on these things can grow over 100 feet long and contain trillions of stinging cells. I learned my lesson the easy way.

tilt > even when it's overcast, there are still rainbows

tilt > Laura makes a friend along the boardwalk. We started out for a short walk on the beach and then just kept going and going. The boardwalk was really cool. We walked all the way to South Beach and got some good exercise.

A Portuguese Man-of-War. These were all over the beach while we were there. They were about 6 inches long and really cool looking. They are like little balloons - I'm sure that kids get stung all the time by these things.

I had never seen one before, and I didn't know what it was, so I poked at it - with my finger. Duh. About 15 minutes later, I got an intense numbing and burning sensation on the back of my hand, then 30 minutes later my lip started burning the same way. It hurt for about an hour. I didn't even touch the tentacles, but evidently I got some of the nematocysts on my finger, which I then proceeded to transfer to my hand and to my lip. I can't imagine what a real sting would feel like. The tentacles on these things can grow over 100 feet long and contain trillions of stinging cells. I learned my lesson the easy way.