lbs

I watched a great movie tonight called Lbs. In a way, it reminded me of Krakauer’s book Into the Wild.

The story is of a New York fat guy that has a heart attack due to his weight. He tries to lose weight to improve his health, but the environment he finds himself in prohibits success. On impulse, he leaves the city to purchase a trailer and some land. He lives in the trailer, struggling intensely, for what seems like a year or more. He suffers miserably, but with time, lots of hiking, biking, and little money for food, he transforms into a healthy guy.

He then returns to the city and to reunite with his family. He looks great. But it doesn’t take long for him to resume his former lifestyle. The movie ends with him regaining the weight that he had at the beginning.

Depressing movie to be sure, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. It was a clever analogy, perhaps unintentionally, of the destructive, yet seemingly magnetic, cycles experienced in life.

Posted in movies | Leave a comment

craigslist success

Our house is slowing coming to completion. It’s been no small task to be sure. The exterior was finally painted a couple of weeks ago.  Not-so-easy when it has been in the 100s. However, I bought a high powered paint sprayer when we were painting the interior that made all the difference.

Paint can be expensive. Five gallons of exterior paint runs about $130 for decent paint. But Yun, being the crafty Mexicana that she is, found a place in Phoenix (from craigslist) that sells the leftover paint from commercial projects. We ended up buying around 50 gallons for $125. Not bad for Sherwin-Williams paint (a high-rated interior and exterior paint). 50 gallons in the store would have run about $1250. That was a savings of $1125. I love craigslist.

I think our inspiration for using it comes mostly from Jeff and Beth. They have made some killer purchases that have prompted us to attempt the same. We bought a ~$1200 stainless refrigerator for $200, a ~$500 dishwasher for $200, and our favorite purchase was the oven.

It was sitting on a pallet and didn’t turn on when we went to see it. We took a risk and negotiated to a price of $400. That may seem like a lot, but it retails for over $2000. When we got it home, I took the front electrical grid a part. Did some research online. Took a guess that it was the button console, so purchased one for $75. Received it a couple days later and the oven has worked brilliantly since. It’s a great oven and we love cooking with gas.

Those craigslist purchases listed above have saved us nearly $2000 all-together.

Posted in casa, home restoration | Leave a comment

Guaymas May 2012

Yun and I spent last weekend at Abe’s house in Guaymas. We left far too late on Friday night. We were pretty exhausted from a rough week, so it made for a fairly difficult trip.

Even so, I love getting there Friday night to get a great night’s rest and to wake early to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. Scout and I get up before anyone else and head to the beach. He loves to swim. We spend hours throwing his ball as far as we can out-to-sea and he never really seems too tired to stop.

We spent all day Saturday on the beach. Later, we decided to take a nap around 8pm to help better prepare us for a long evening. It wasn’t until 3am when I realized our nap had run a little long, so scrapped the idea of going out and went back to bed. The excessive amount of sleep was much needed.

Sunday and Monday were mostly a repeat of Saturday. I brought a long a book I had been looking forward to reading.

Eric Metaxas’ book on Bonhoeffer. Luke had recommended it months ago. I was never really a fan of Bonhoeffer. I read his Ethics years ago and was not impressed. However, after reading this book, I must say, I really enjoy his story and would probably have a far greater appreciation for his writings now. Understanding the context in which they were written would certainly help. Despite being nearly 600 pages, it was well written and went quick. I too would recommend the book.

 

Posted in books, holidays, Mexico, weekend getaways | Leave a comment

La playa

image

It’s a good day to be at the beach. The water is warm and the light wind feels great. It is very tempting to move here.

Posted in Mexico, travels, weekend getaways | Leave a comment

Dulles Washington

Work ended early today. My flight doesn’t leave until 7pm. I have 5 hours to try to avoid boredom. Netflix on the phone is helping, but it’s getting old.

Posted in work | Leave a comment

Signs of a tanking economy…

Work has called me to DC for a week. I arrived this afternoon. I forgot a few things, like hairspray, toothpaste, and bubble bath. So I did a little shopping. Whole Foods was my only option within walking distance.

Seven items. Over forty dollars. What a deal.

Posted in work | Leave a comment

I found this very true.

Posted in work | Leave a comment

Scout taking himself for walks…

We have busy schedules. When we get home we’re generally exhausted. But we have two dogs and with that comes the responsibility to ensure they’re getting adequate exercise. Fortunately, we’ve been training Scout over the last few months to run on the treadmill. He’s now at the point where he can run endlessly independently.

Posted in scout! | Leave a comment

goat tacos for breakfast.

We haven’t had a whole lot of rest so far on this trip. We got home rather late last night from a little fiesta at Alejandro’s house. This morning we woke early as we were invited for breakfast at Tio Fernando’s home. Good times. We had goat tacos for breakfast. I don’t think I’ve ever had goat meat before. It was pretty good. Not a whole lot different than beef roast, though the salsas and other accompaniment make it hard to discern the actual taste of just the meat.

I would eat these again.

Posted in food, Mexico, travels | Leave a comment

Street musicians taking requests

image

Posted in Mexico, travels | Leave a comment