One of things I miss about Mexico is this:
I went for a walk today and found a bar where everything on the menu was 21 pesos. That is, everything was a $1 by today’s exchange rates. Every beer was $1. Every shot of tequila was $1. Every food item on the menu was $1. I very much enjoyed this place. So much so that I got lost for hours after I left and wandered for 5 miles before I finally made my way back to the hospital. It was far too much exercise.
Yun had her surgery a couple weeks ago in Guadalajara. It was a tense moment, because she was away in surgery nearly 10 hours (we were told it would be about 4 hours). It turned out to be really complicated. She has an excess of endometrial tissue causing all sort of havoc to her organs. As such, three surgeons spent an entire day doing all sort of reconstruction. It was no small miracle and we are so grateful for modern medical technology. She spent the last couple weeks recovering from a fairly traumatic situation and had done a great job.
Last week, a complication arose which was serious enough for us to catch the next flight from Hermosillo to Guadalajara. I was in Tucson and raced to meet Yun in Nogales. This was devastating news because it has been incredibly difficult for her. But there was no choice. So we caught the next flight.
Despite the misery of a fourth surgery, Yun did great and is trying to hard to be positive. She will get out of the hospital on the third day and then we will continue in GDL for another week or so. These are trying times.
On a positive note, the staff and surgeons here are without comparison. They are incredibly kind and we are so happy to be here. We get multiple visits from each of the three surgeons daily and they usually end up spending an hour plus in the room just answering questions and being social. It’s a really nice thing for them to do and Yun loves that they are so caring.
Tila is normally attached to Yun. She follows her around all day every day. So in her absence, I think Tila is a bit confused. Last night there was a rare moment where these two were semi-comfortable sitting next two each other.
Yun was able to meet with Ana and Lupita last night before her departure from HMO. I am sure it feels so strange to be back there.
Yun just sent this photo from the airport in HMO. She is on her way to GDL for what we hope is her final surgery. I wish I could be with her, but am thankful her parents were able to go.
I love our Element. The fact that it has Sonoran plates presents a bit of a problem. Normally it is not difficult for us to import it. US Customs let’s us do this for free. The problem is that we lost all of our titles in the move. So we need to get back to HMO and find out how we can get that reissued, OR find the box of super important documents that has somehow disappeared.
We still use it on occasion here (like when we buy furniture on craigslist). It still has Mexican insurance which applies in the US, but I really don’t want to have to explain that or justify why I am driving a foreign vehicle if I were to get pulled over. Even so, we still use it at times.
A few weeks ago the clutch began to go out. I called for a quote to the dealership: $1500 parts and labor. I called Matt and Dana’s mechanic that works out of his home and he wanted the same ($600 for an aftermarket clutch kit which I could buy myself for $98 and $900 in labor). Honda parts and labor always seem more expensive, but those prices are just stupidly absurd.
So I ordered a clutch kit for $98 and a new slave cylinder for $60 (the old one had a tiny leak). Yun then took it to Mexico and we paid $2000 pesos to have the clutch and slave work done. That’s like $80 US in labor. So the clutch replacement itself was under $200….versus $1500 in the US. That is one enormous benefit of living close to the border.
A couple weeks ago, Yun and I happened to drive past the colossal new GEICO complex on the south side. Just seeing the building stressed me out, while at the same time left me wondering how much money I would be making had I remained there (assuming it didn’t kill me from the stress). It made me think of my friend Chad that I used to work with. We started on the same day in 2004 and we gave our notice on the same day 10 years later in 2013. If anyone kept in touch with people from GEICO, it would be Chad for sure. I called him to see how he was doing and to hear about our former peers.
It was nice to catch up with him and to hear about those we once knew and about how he was doing. As it turns out, Chad has an immensely successful wealth management firm in Mesa. Last I had spoken with him, he was bringing in $350k a year working for a firm in Utah. That sounds pretty successful, but he gave it all up to start his own 3 years ago in the Phoenix area. He clearly made the right decision.
Unsolicited on my end, but hearing about my present set of depressing unemployed circumstances, he spent a considerable amount of time trying to persuade me that I would be a good match for his company. I was reluctant and suspicious, because I have no background in finance. But then, we have known each other for 16 years and Chad has a ton of integrity, so he is someone I trust. He persuaded me to come up form Tucson to visit him a few days later so we could talk more about possibilities.
Chad was very persuasive and seeing what he does actually excited me about the possibility. I came home to share with Yun and many conversations later, I was sold. Last week I spent my first week in Mesa training (I rented a place in Gilbert so as to avoind driving 4 hours daily). I got to see the work first hand, to sit in on meetings with his staff and with clients, and I am fully persuaded it is something I have the capacity to do (time will tell of course). I really like the work a lot.
The best selling point for Yun was that we do not need to move. She loves Tucson and she wants to live here. Chad wants to open an office in Tucson and I can run it. Pretty good match and pretty good timing. Although, after visiting Mesa and Gilbert, I would move there in a second. It is so beautiful compared to Tucson. But for the time, we are in Tucson and that’s where the opportunity exists. I don’t mind driving to Mesa once or twice a week. I will have to do that weekly going forward, but it is only 2 hours to his office from my house and it is a pleasant drive (I listen to lectures the whole time which is what I do at home anyway).
Matt and Dana are doing bread sales on Saturday mornings now due to the heat and this is the last month until it cools down. Despite a host of unfavorable variables (the hour of sales, the pandemic, etc), they bread still sold out. I hold on to the dream of one day having a bakery somehow, somewhere.
I took the photo above with my d800. It does such a spectacular job and I need to remember to bring it more often to capture the bread awesomeness.
I should mention, the bread sells out 1. because of pre-orders, and 2. because I am ridiculously talented when it comes to selling bread.
There was a package outside my door today from Dee. Within was a set of 6 wine glasses which I gave them 24 years ago (1996) when I returned from a trip from Poland.
It is amazing they have kept them all this time AND that they weren’t destroyed being shipped to our house. We love them and are excited to put them to immediate use.
Ever since we have returned to Tucson and have been mostly confined to the home, my weight has pushed new limits. I was nearly 210 a few weeks back, but that’s slowly returning to something a little more normal. I have been hovering around 198 to 204. I have a route on my bike that is a bit over 10 miles which I try to do as much as I can. Ideally it would be daily, but I haven’t got to that level yet. I think my best looking weight would be around 180 (assuming some of that was muscle).
