I thought I learned my lesson years ago but good lord did I over pack for this trip. I think because I was going on a “working vacation” I tricked myself into bringing too many what-ifs and nice-to-haves.
So here's what I brought with a secondary column for should-have-brought.
I took a vacation over Christmas to Costa Rica with Gap Adventures (code CRA) so here is my packing list, including some much needed info about Rara Avis.
I was the last to speak at my step mom's funeral, this was my tribute…
My “local mom”, Golda Elliott passed away a few days ago. Here is her obituary.
Valentines day is a fake holiday invented by DeBeers (aka The Devil).
Don't believe me?
Read Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? and then The New Diamond Age or a similar article Diamonds are Bullshit.
I'm home from my trip. I have lots of work to do regarding sorting my pics, picking some good ones and posting them here, plus do a write up and my packing list.
Without any warning Ditech decided to close up shop in Calgary so I was laid off on Sept 25th. I guess I might as well leverage this little website as best as I can by linking to my resume.
Here's my condo to contrast with my house.
My condo is officially sold as of April 11, 2007. Sweet.
Mitch and I have hit a snag in Oregon. His cars head gasket blew and needs some serious repair. Supposedly everything will be fixed by tomorrow (for US$1000) but if not I'm going to try and meet a nice hippie chick here in Ashland and settle down.
Will keep anybody who actually reads this updated as events warrant.
Well I'm back in Calgary as the car was fixed. Took less than 24 hours if you can believe it. Turns out the old head gasket sprung a leak (a small piece chipped off and allowed coolant to enter cylinder 3) and needed to be replaced. The good news was the head was fine and didn't need planing or anything like that.
Bad news was it was still an 8 hour job and buddy charges what you'd expect per hour. Total damage was US$725. At least our dollar is kicking ass.
Funny story about Dave the mechanic. The guy is huge and filthy with a goatee. The kind of guy who looks like he's done time. So he's got a wad of chew in his mouth and squirts it out every few seconds. We're telling him the symptoms of the car so he takes his filthy finger, sticks it up the tailpipe, then sticks it in his mouth to taste it.
“Yep, it's a coolant leak. It tastes sweet, that's how you can tell”. Mitch and I stare shocked at him and respond, “Right…”. When Dave turns around I look at Mitch and pretend to play a banjo ala Deliverance.
