Recently, I've been hanging out on photography forums almost obsessively in my free time. Sites like DPReview, NikonRumors and the photography board at MacRumors became much more interesting once I decided it was time to make the jump to a more professional camera body. Perhaps more surprisingly, my interest in these forums hasn't entirely disappeared even now that my pre-purchase research is over and I have my shiny new toy. I've learned quite a bit from the forums, but there are a few pervasive themes that really, really frustrate me.

I've been reading up quite a bit about analytics recently in preparation for a presentation I'm giving tomorrow morning for alumni directors. In the process, I found out a bit about the new Facebook news feed and EdgeRank. I'm still not certain I completely understand the algorithm or its ramifications. What I've learned so far is somewhat distressing to a professional communicator; however, as a user, I'm glad it effectively filters out hundreds of Spotify playlist updates.

Venice is quite possibly the most beautiful city in the world. It's also a crowded, expensive and frustrating place. I'm glad I saw Venice, but I wouldn't want to spend too much time here. I wish I had another day to see more museums and the full Biennial, but I found myself ducking into side alleys (even if it meant getting lost) just so I could escape the crowds and vendors for a moment and breathe. It's time to go home, and my bank account agrees.

While on vacation somewhere far away and expensive to reach, one may feel a certain pressure to maximize time spent there—to squeeze every drop of value out of the opportunity. The problem is, that attitude is somewhat antithetical to the whole point of getting away from work. The scenery may be different, but the striving is, if anything, intensified.

Things I'm glad I brought:

Our group going to Postojna was only eight strong, so instead of a bus, we had a van. It was a diverse group of single-serving friends thrown together, and I think we all had a good time.

• Dark haired and tanned with a little goatee, the driver once was a competitive cyclist, but says he's “too old” now. He can't be much over thirty. He's traveled quite a lot as a professional guide for Slovenian tourists, and has worked in Egypt and Greece, among other places, and speaks English fairly well, but listens to a German radio station in the van.

I tried something different to save time, but the Internet in the hotel is so slow, I fell asleep before it finished uploading.

The last two days, I started using my phone to type out thoughts as I have them instead of waiting to blog. It's almost like microblogging, but without the Internet connection. Some of it I fleshed out this evening. I think you can figure out which bits.

Sunday, Sept. 18

I spent today walking the circumference of the lake. No, that's OK, you don't need to be impressed. It's only about 4 miles. But it did take me most of the day because I kept getting sidetracked. Well, that's not really the right word for it. The asides were the point, not getting back to the hotel efficiently. So no, I didn't go to church today, but I did take many, many pictures of the church on the lake from all angles. I also have an embarrassing number of photos of people running, swimming and biking.

I ended up taking four trains and two taxis to get to Bled. It's a long story, and I'm not going to get into too much detail. Let's just say the schedules and plans of the peak tourist season are starting to unravel this time of the year and you can't believe everything you read on the Web, even when it's an official timetable. Still, the total cost of getting from their to here was less than $100, which isn't horrible.