fresh bread…

We dropped off the boat in a small town just south of Guaymas yesterday morning. On the way back we saw a small store advertising bread and we could smell it from outside. Fresh bread. Yum.

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Endless Journey a Guaymas

Holiday weekened. Yun and I traveled south to the beaches of miramar with Jeff and Beth and our pack of dogs. It was a really long trip.

We took our boat with us this weekend. It esentially doubled the amount of time it took to get here. It was a lot of little things.

As we attempted to depart Tucson, we were pulled over by the police due to the driving lights on the trailer not working. Just a warning, but we couldn’t continue until the lights were working. It was around 8pm at this time. Fortunately, it was just the bulbs that needed replacement, so within 30 minutes we were on our way.

We made it across the border into Mexico and were off to the customs building south of the city. As it was nearly 11pm, we had assumed the lines for importation would be minimal. Sadly, that was not the case.

The last time we waited in this line, we left with a permit for the boat that lasted a week. We were told we couldn’t get a lengthy permit due to the length of the boat (just under 15 feet).

This time we had a different approach. Rather than have Yunuen try to obtain the permit with me by her side, Yunuen suggested I obtain the permit myself. This proved to be a wise approach. Without any problem, we fairly promptly were on our way with a 10-year permit for less money that we had previously paid for a week. I’m convinced these people simply make it up.

Roughly four hours later, around 4pm, we were making our way through Hermosillo when we found ourselved being pulled over by the police. The allegation was that my trailer lights were flickering (they’re weren’t) and that I was speeding (I wasn’t). We were told how inconvenient our citations were for our vacation and then were given an expectant look. Yun wasn’t about to offer them a bribe (which is what they wanted) and asked that they take us to the station to resolve the citations. Moments later we were told we were told we could go due to their graciousness – apparently they didn’t want to go to the station to resolve our ‘citations’. Calling the bluff seems to be the way to resolve these situations.

A little over an hour later, we rolled into Guaymas. It was 5am and the sun was just starting to come up. We have never arrived this late, nor has it ever taken this long to get here. Even so, it is so worth it.

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eBooks….

For the last 6 months, I have changed the way I read. I now do it only (when able) electronically. I read with word flashing. This is where one word flashes on the screen (or my phone) at a time at variable speeds. The average reader is somewhere around 100-150 words per minute reading a physical book or piece of paper. Reading with word flashing, I can read comfortably at 500 words per minute. Not only is it faster, but my retention is exponentially better.

When I read conventionally, my eyes go back and forth. After about 20-30 minutes, my eyes get rather tired. At regular speeds, 20-30 minutes has yielded about 2500-3750 words. Because my eyes get tired, I lose concentration. I find myself having to go back and re-read certain parts.

With word flashing, my eyes don’t move back and forth, so they don’t get tired. Also, because of the speed, I’m not sounding out the words (which isn’t necessary for comprehension). Therefore, in 20-30 minutes, I am reading 10,000-15,000 words. That’s a substantial increase in a manner that allows me to retain what I’ve read much better.

For reading on the computer, I use spreeder.com and for reading on my phone, I use speed reader lite.

The options for electronic books are huge. I have nearly my entire physical library (~1600 books) in electronic form, along with nearly 9000 additional books. I add about 50-100 books to my collection weekly.

I just backed up my books to an external drive and found they consume nearly 6gb of drive space!


Reading physical books is a thing of the past….

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I like me this.

I have been searching for bathroom things lately as those final stages are upon us. We are doing vessle sinks in both bathrooms. I like the round-style for the guest bathroom. But for the master bathroom, I like the rectangular style as seen above. I find this geometric shape more attractive because there will be two sinks next to each other. Two round might look a little weird next to each other. Rectangular would probably look symmetrical. Studies have shown that humans have an inherent disposition toward symmetry. Studies at Yale have shown this is the case even among newborns. This makes a compelling case toward the rectangular.

My problem at this point is finding an affordable rectangular sink. They aren’t cheap. The one pictured above is priced over $500 each.

It was so very hot today. Something close to 110 degrees. Poor Tavo. He works hard even in this heat. Right now I have him leveling all of the floors in preparation for the tile. He’s making progress.

Floors should be done by Wednesday of next week. Thursday through Saturday will be spent with the many little things. Gable vent fans, electric attic fans, final silicone sealing to ensure no leaks ever, and other such related funness. The following week will be dedicated to installing sheet rock and insulation in the ceiling. We will then be ready for texture and primer for all walls and ceilings in the following week.

It’s suppose to look something like this:

Week of June 27: Complete floor leveling and install attic and gable fans, install gas lines for hot water heater and oven
Week of July 4: Install ceilings and insulation
Week of July 11: Texture and prime all walls and ceiling
Week of July 18: Tile entire house
Week of July 25: Master bathroom; toilet, tub, sinks, mirrors, tile, etc

We’ll see what happens….

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enchiladas for lunch

It is a sunny Sunday. Yun’s parents and brothers are up for the weekend. Abe bought a 60″ LED television which I am hoping he will forget to take with him. We had to bring it home in the SUV from BestBuy, so I have no idea how he thinks he’s going to get it home in his car.

We had enchiladas for lunch. Yun’s mom made them. They are so much better than anything you get at a restaurant and is precisely why I would never order something like this from a restaurant.

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watching the NH republican primaries now…

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status on the house…

The house is coming along nicely. All of the walls are done as are the bull nose edges. The rounded corners on the walls look so much better than the older style 90 degree edges.

Next week I am having the new air-conditioning system and duct-work installed. It’s a fairly involved job which requires a crane to come out to remove an old furnace and to replace everything. Fortunately, it’s a one day job, so on Wednesday we will have cold air.

I am going to add some better ventilation to the attic. I bought a gable fan (that straps to the gable vent) and a couple of attic fans that will go on the roof. This should significantly reduce the temperature in the attic. Coupled with a brand new a/c unit and and all of the new insulation, we should be pretty energy efficient.

I bought a new thermostat to go with the a/c system as I don’t like the plain unit that comes with the system.

And then finally I bought a few recessed outlets for the living room, office, and master bedroom. With the recessed receptacles, furniture will be able to be flush with the walls as no plugs or coaxial cable will be sticking out.

Tavo was working on the master bathroom last week. We are having him design a vanity that looks like this:

To the left of the vanity is a sliding pocket door for the toilet room and to the right is the elevated bathtub. The mirrors might be a little different than what is seen above. All that remains is the tile.

Here are the sinks I like:

With these faucets coming out of the wall (similar to the photo above):

The walls will be textured and primed next week and then the following week the ceilings will go up. I hope to have all of the ceilings done in a week, along with their texture and priming. Once that is done, we will be ready to level the floors (some of them are pretty unlevel) and then we’ll go ahead and tile the entire house.

Once the tile is done, then we only need to finish some details in the master and guest bathroom, some small things in the master and guestroom closets, and then the final big task will be the kitchen.

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poker…

Had some guys over last night for a poker game. It’s been a couple months since we’ve done this last. We should do it more often.

Winner: Steve
Second: Luke
Third: Liam

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Package of Polish soup for dinner..

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Breathing treatment at Urgent Care

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