Ah, the beach. No, not that amazingly bad Leo DiCaprio movie from a couple of years back. I'm talking about the actual sand under your feet, enjoying the warmth of the sun, splashing around in the waves kind of beach. Whenever I'm near the ocean I just feel good; I love the salty air, the sound of the surf, even the pesky seagulls. And whenever I enter the water I'm suddenly 12 years old again as I try to bodysurf my way into shore before heading right back out to try again.

The beach always brings back childhood memories of visiting my grandparents in Daytona Beach, Florida. Those trips were great, despite the 24-hour car ride reading cheesy comics and counting cars of different colors. Or falling asleep and missing one of the stops at the gas station, which was the only chance to use a rest room. It was usually a disgusting rest room, but when you've been waiting for hours it's amazing how long you can hold your breath. Travelling by car today must be much different for kids with the integrated DVD systems that are so common in minivans and SUVs. Spoiled brats. They don't know the joy of keeping a lookout for the next South of the Border billboard. : ) Instead, they watch movies like The Beach.

And speaking of bad movies, here's a great site for those of us interested in both movies and science (oops, once again I expose my dorkiness to the world). You'll need to scroll down the page a bit to see the list of movies. And yes, geek types wrote it, but it's VERY funny. I often laugh outloud while reading one of their "reviews."