The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Where are you and where are you going?
distracted_at_work
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by distracted_at_work »

Sooo I've been in Nicaragua a week today and it has been a time so far.

I booked everything ahead of time due to it being Semana Santa or "Holy Week" due to Easter. This turned out to be a minor mistake (to the tune of $30), I normally don't book ahead and should have known better. I crossed the border into Nicaragua with some expats and they insisted I go stay on a hippie perma-culture farm called Zopilote. We parted ways and then I went on to my next travel connection and found some girls who said the same. So I forfeited deposits and first night stay fees and went with the girls ;) . In general, glad I did.

Zopilote was different than any other hostel I have stayed at. It truly was a meeting of the minds. Heavy topics about life, time, the point of working etc were discussed with surprising openness. The entire farm was huge and built on the side of a volcano. We slept in hammocks. Nothing here went to waste. For example, shit was collected and used to fertilize the vegetables. If given more time, I would have liked to spend a month here volunteering to learn about self-sustainability. I met a very interesting agriculture engineer from Spain doing that exact thing. I attended a very emotional cacao ceremony about opening up to fellow humans, how we all share similar fears and desires, looking people in the eye, among other topics. It was the trip-iest, four hour long, thing I've ever done without being on drugs.

Unfortunately, all the free-love lured me into a false sense of security. We hiked up the volcano for two hours (ow broken leg) in pitch darkness for a full-moon party complete with LSD (I refrained), a massive bonfire, trance music, rum and hammock sleeping. Being the trusting Canadian I am, I left my phone, wallet, and american cash in my hammock while I joined in the all-night party. In that sense, I was lucky only my phone got stolen.

Serendipity shined on me though, within four hours of hiking down the next morning I met a fellow Albertan who by pure chance had an extra smart phone. He sold it to me for $30! We struck up a convo and he was a small business owner near my hometown. I appreciated being able to pepper him with questions all week. Talking to him was probably worth the $300 I'll spend on a new phone when I get home.

Everyone here was gluten-free (no real celiacs tho :roll: ), vegetarian, vegan or some combination. Eating here taught me that being vegetarian doesn't suck and can probably save me lots of money. I know I read this in a certain lifestyle book but I needed this experience for it to sink in. As a result, I'm committing to eating meat, at most, once a day (down from 2-3).


Some general thoughts from the trip...

-It's fucking hot here. I bitch about the cold plenty but I take it all back. How do so many humans live in constant +30 degree weather. At least in the cold I can add and remove layers. I can't shed skin to cool off. Not a complaint just an observation. I've been in tropical climates before but clearly I romanticized what it was like.

-I got food poisoning on Good Friday and I thought I was either going to die or spend a night in a hospital. I was so dizzy and shaking so bad the (very nice) hostel owner had to help me stand up and walk me to the toilet to puke. I spent all yesterday in bed and have spent all of this afternoon on the computer due to fatigue. I've never had anything that bad before. I think I lost 5-10 lbs based on how my shorts are fitting. That leads me to my next thought...

-Expat ERE probably isn't for me... between not being able to eat gluten and generally having a low tolerance for heat, I don't think I'm cutout for the lifestyle. I love the adventure, meeting interesting people and speaking Spanish but certainly my next trip will be to a first-world locale requiring a first-world income. Valuable lesson I suppose.

-Could 2017 stop being awful maybe?



Sorry for the wall of text with no pictures. I will upload some when I get home and back on decent internet.

distracted_at_work
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by distracted_at_work »

Still abroad

No long post today. I've been settled down in a surf town all week and wanted to spam the forums a bit with my downtime.

-I have succeeded in having a cheap vacation. Averaged under $50/d rather easily. Will do a final before/after look at the bank account when I get home but I'd call that a success.

-Nearing six figure NW which should be an exciting milestone, should come right after my 24th birthday. Maybe I'll actually celebrate this one. I hate birthdays.

-Mentally steeling myself for the week when I arrive home. Need to finalize moving plans, physically move, move my office to the new building, buy fancy dress clothes (fuck), buy a new phone. Those are the big ones among a million little things. Very glad I do not own furniture other than a work desk.

-Bought back into Canadian real estate. Had been following TSE: SOT.UN for a number of months and went in after they reported a good quarter. Minor oops. It's a REIT that invests in "non-trophy" office real estate. Love it. Shouldn't have been dicking around gambling in weedstocks. Going to sell my position in PEY as soon as I'm back to even or near. I'm done playing in the upstream energy industry. I was right that gas prices would go up and then the gas company went down. Go figure. Every time I feel an urge to buy an upstreamer I'm going to buy an index. Let it be known.

-Rest of my portfolio is kicking ass. Dividend income revs my engine.

Pictures edit if anyone is interested


On the way to Isle de Ometepe.
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Taken from bus ride through Nicaragua. Typical landscape.
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Playa Remanso, my favorite surf spot.
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A nice shot of San Juan. Not the "tourist hell" it's made out to be if you're smart.
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How to use the infinity pools to watch the sunset:
Guard: "Where are you going." Me: "To the swimming pools." Guard: "Have fun!" (In Spanish).
Image
Last edited by distracted_at_work on Wed May 03, 2017 9:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Jake9870
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by Jake9870 »

Great stuff man. Your Nicaragua trip has me itching to travel again!! I miss the freedom and sense of adventure. I'm also living somewhere quite frigid (just south of the border for you). How's your Spanish? Do the locals speak English well? Are there a ton of mosquitoes/ aggravating insects? I've heard Nicaragua is a great blend of security / cheap living for Central/South America.

SustainableHappiness
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by SustainableHappiness »

That's a bad ass trip. I also probably would've skipped the LSD as long as the beer was cold.

Also, I noted you are an Albertan. I spent a student summer semester working in Fort Mac, cruising around the province on the mandatory long weekends every 2 weeks because no one wants to be there. Now that is a weird place to live for so many reasons. Difficult to comprehend so many high paying jobs with such volatility in relation to oil prices, it almost requires frugal thinking so you are prepared for the next economy dip! Unfortunately most people just bought ridiculously expensive houses (now probably worthless) and trucks (now probably worthless). Oh well.

Now I just get the occasional work trip to Calgary, but for some reason none of my bosses have every sent me out there during the stampede. Stupid work calendars.

Jason

Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by Jason »

Well you haven't mentioned loss of limb so that's good. But food poisoning on Good Friday? Damn. Did you check to see if your wrists were bleeding?

I have stopped looking at "The Ten Best Places To Retire In South America" articles for many reasons, specifically the heat. I also saw Anthony Burdain eating locale cuisine in one of those countries and from what I can tell it was like shopping for groceries at a PetSmart.

On top of all this, these drug cartels are now dropping corpses from airplanes in order to menace people. So imagine you work your whole life, save your money, move to South America, and then one day your leisurely walking down the street, enjoying a beer buzz after an epic lap dance, watching the kids kicking makeshift soccer balls or whatever the fuck they do down there and some guy who pissed off El Chapo falls on your fucking head. I mean with everything wrong in America these days, at least you don't have to worry about dead people falling out of the sky.

distracted_at_work
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by distracted_at_work »

Jake9870 wrote:
Sat Apr 22, 2017 11:30 am
How's your Spanish? Do the locals speak English well? Are there a ton of mosquitoes/ aggravating insects? I've heard Nicaragua is a great blend of security / cheap living for Central/South America.
It's good for a Canadian! I choose to study Spanish rather than the government-recommended French and have never regretted that decision. They do not speak English well so it has been invaluable to at least understand everything they say, even if I cannot always reply adequately.

Not many mosquitoes. Just this week I had my first bites. I am here at the end of dry season, however. I'm sure that changes when the rain comes. I've also encountered spiders/scorpions the size of my head while sleeping outside. Perfectly friendly if you do not disturb.

I've traveled a decent amount of the backpacker trail in my short life. I would put Nicaragua as my top destination. Safe, cheap, locals are extremely friendly, good surfing beaches, not touristy beyond other hippy backpackers. Close to North America. This place is about to explode into tourism I reckon so check it out while you can.
SustainableHappiness wrote:
Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:12 pm
Now I just get the occasional work trip to Calgary, but for some reason none of my bosses have every sent me out there during the stampede. Stupid work calendars.
It is the weirdest place to live. High salary, lowest taxes in the country and low cost of living, relatively. Yet, everyone blows money on giant homes, pickup trucks, drugs, snowmobiles, atvs, speedboats... you name the poison. Fantastic place to get ahead if you can ignore the distractions.

Open invitation for anyone to stay with me during Stampede Week! For better or worse, it's a paid week of vacation where you wear cowboy boots, hats, jeans etc and start boozing at 7 AM, if it's a corporate function. I could tell stories for quite a while about my Stampedes. If you do not know what you are doing or do not have a corporation sponsoring it, it is probably the least-ERE event out there. $9 beers, high cover charges, everywhere jacks up rates etc.

Last year I was fortunate enough, through contacts I had made, to get the opportunity to volunteer at the rodeo barns. I served food (steak and lobster) to the rich and famous of Calgary/Canada while taking advantage of a top shelf liqour open bar. Usually, I managed to get invited out to all the after-parties that went till god-know-when in the morning and still made it to work the next day to do it again. That is what stampede is about. Fucking beats smuggling plastic bagged whisky in my cowboy boots through security.
Jason wrote:
Sat Apr 22, 2017 12:35 pm
Well you haven't mentioned loss of limb so that's good. But food poisoning on Good Friday? Damn. Did you check to see if your wrists were bleeding?
I seriously didn't leave bed until Easter Sunday. Trust me the comparisons were made. Other than losing a limb, everything that could have gone wrong this trip kinda has. It's all in one's attitude so I don't really mind. That being said... had someone told me it was all attitude while I was curled up wishing for death on Good Friday, I probably would have tried to kill them.

distracted_at_work
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by distracted_at_work »

Life is a changing

I'm spending one last night in a lazy hostel in Costa Rica before boarding a plane back into snow. Please excuse the essay that is about to take place but I don't often get so much time to engage the forum.

Moving into the party house

It hath been decided. I'm putting my ERE-money where my mouth is. I haven't worked out all the details but my rent will be going down by at least $150/month. The downside? I'll be living in a double-sized mattress bunk-bed. Should be fine. The lease is up in August so I'll have the option to move again should I desire. The house is an absolute castle compared to the apartment I am in now.

I exaggerate slightly when I say party house. All the guys are engineers and I'm sure are very professional.... wait maybe I'm not exaggerating.

If I stay the winter I will get to learn to snow bike which is exciting! I think I saw Pedal2Pedal using zip-ties on his tires? That's something I will certainly try.

Should I drop everything and be a ski-bum/traveler

I don't think so. The YOLO thread has sorted my head out quite a bit and I'm very grateful for that.
I present a list of pros/cons of dropping it all and leaving for low expenses low income in faraway lands:

Pros:
-Adventurous, exciting.
-Growth as a person in certain ways.
-Time to read.
-Learn about new cultures, languages.
-Sex, drugs, rock and roll

Cons:
-Difficult to cook for myself.
-To spare details, consistently using the washroom due to accidental gluten intake.
-Not contributing to society or community or humanity. Not building something original.
-Lose momentum in career, which has been going quite well not considering that I don't really like the work.
-Risky, financially.
-Often hot.
-Delays Canadian FI. I don't think I could live abroad forever as of right now. Moves "reality" to a later date.
-Need to stop drinking due to budgetary reasons. Can't bring homebrew equipment on road.
-Can still have fun micro-adventures (thanks for the word olaz) such as my ski guide job on winter weekends or long multi-day hikes while working full time.
-Sti's, overdoses and loss of hearing.

If I ever get fired, all bets are off. I'll be taking another hard hard look at alternative lifestyles. Van living or low cost international traveling are the first things that come to mind. Finding a job in the U.S.A is the second.

Should I drop everything and buy a Hostel?

I'm sitting in a hammock last night and a thought enters my mind about this cool hostel I stayed at last year in B.C. Part of the inspiration to write this post came because an unrelated thought had me check the commercial real estate in this town. Lo and behold this hostel is for sale. $700K. Guy had rock solid bookings for $15/night dorms not to mention private rooms. Even made me gluten-free waffles every morning that I stayed there as part of the price. Dam does part of me want to buy it, live in this place and run the hostel. Working in a rain forest paradise every day. Surfing. Meeting people from around the world. Everywhere being in walking/biking distance. Everything about it would be a ton of fun.

It's a dream but a nice dream. I still think I want to build up my NW to ~FI before jumping into a full-time project.

Cornerman
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by Cornerman »

I would not go for the hostel option, work will never stop, all year round and not easy to sell on if you want to change again.

thrifty++
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by thrifty++ »

Interesting move to stay in a bunk bed. Dont think I could handle living in a shared room while working a professional job. Its ok while bumming around and travelling but when doing intense work I need more privacy to relax. I draw the line at having my own room in a shared flat. Good for you taking things to the next level in true ERE style. Will it result in a huge cost saving?

Dragline
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by Dragline »

Yeah, owning a hostel sounds like an endless life of cleaning, restocking and repairs and no way to really take time off unless you have trusted partners. The people that do best in those situations always seem to be married/partnered with someone with a similar mindset and/or have some family around. Or just pay someone to manage it for them.

You've done a good job at maximizing current optionality. That's probably the best thing right now.

distracted_at_work
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by distracted_at_work »

I think the hostel would be a blast with a wife to help run it. However, a value-priced AirBnB would be easier to turn on/off.
I'm going to put that idea on the shelf for now.

@Thrifty++ Sloppy writing on my part. I'm the only one staying in the bunk-bed. That too would be my line drawn while working. I thought it was a bit ridiculous for an adult to be sleeping in a bunk-bed and wanted to share was all :D I'll have to take a picture. It's a bunkbed with a double bed on the bottom, single on top + dresser in this tiny guest bedroom of a large house. Should save ~10% off my current expenses, still need to work out some details with roommates.

Jason

Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by Jason »

I'm not sure exactly what a hostel is, but if it's the European equivalent of the American Inn, I have never seen anyone go in and not eventually regret it.

I believe that is why they are now corporately owned now and hire and train inn keepers.

The dream of that lifestyle ultimately reduces to the reality of drudgery and annoying patrons.

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TheWanderingScholar
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by TheWanderingScholar »

Eh as someone who has been to hostels, it probably is not going to be fun managing one.

Too many variables and too much work.

I agree with dragline; continue on your current path.

CS
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by CS »

I'm confused on your Gluten-Free beer recipe. Malt Barley (and Barley) have gluten in them. How can this be gluten free?

distracted_at_work
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by distracted_at_work »

@CS. It's a grey area. Omission uses the same process that I do to remove the gluten. The key is this clarity ferm. I haven't tested the beer using a kit but it has worked out fine on my celiac body. I'm confident it's under 20 ppm. I'll buy a kit and test my next batch if you want.

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jennypenny
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by jennypenny »

@distracted -- You're lucky you can tolerate malt barley that's been processed. I'm a celiac and can't tolerate any of those types of beers including Omission and Daura. I have to stick with sorghum beers like Redbridge and New Grist.

distracted_at_work
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by distracted_at_work »

@jennypenny I wonder if it's due to having it caught so early on in life? I think I was 10 when I had my endoscope/diagnosis.

I've brewed sorghum beers as well and can post the best recipe I managed if you are interested.

Jake9870
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by Jake9870 »

I also have a dream of owning a hostel. That started back last year when I was bumming around Croatia. I love the idea, but without settling down for awhile it's Not feasible. A good AirBNB would be a great middle ground. That's where I want to be at.

distracted_at_work
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by distracted_at_work »

What is going on

My old boss called and met with me this morning and offered me a job. Details to be worked out but would be increase in base pay of 20K-30K, full benefits, RRSP matching, ........................ can't write a full post on it right now.

Edit (May 2nd):

I have the offer in hand. My base pay would be mildly increased to $82.5K. I took 5 weeks off last year and made $78.5K total, for comparison. I'd join a quarterly bonus pool that my, trusted, old boss assures says puts me into the 100K's annually. The caveat being that our division needs to be doing well. I'd be eligible for RRSP matching following a probationary period. I'd be eligible for benefits immediately as they would wave that probation (I'd get to go to the dentist, yay). 3 weeks paid vacation. Transit allowance. Cell plan. I'd be moving from an hourly wage to a salaried position. This role would be half-sales, half-technical. I'd still be able to get my professional license. They want me to start asap.

The two pathways before me offer wildly, wildly, different careers.

I could stick with what I'm doing which, honestly, isn't much. It's probably a matter of time until someone realizes. The growth in this role would be into a specific type of highly technical work that I've had a taste of and do not like. I'd continue to bill hours and take 5 weeks off a year unpaid. I may get benefits within in the next three months but nothing has been stated concretely. The new company that we merged into reminds me a bit of Dilbert cartoon.

The other role would be sales, marketing (client ski trips woo), presentations and analysis. I'd be working, once again, with a very small team (less than 10 people), including the best manager I've ever worked for. The only reservation would be that I do not see a career as a highly respected engineer with tons of education and letters behind my name in this role. Not something I want, but I think moving now would close that door, if not forever, for a long time. I think the new job would take advantage of my soft skills better than my current.

I'm leaning towards taking the new job and need to decide at the end of the week.

In the meantime, this weekend I moved into the bunkbed and it's actually really nice. No more street noise and I get to sleep in total darkness.
My stuff fits into ~5 carloads, one of those being an SUV load. I think that's a healthy number of possessions.
I'm biking into work again and the morning cardio is glorious.

James_0011
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Re: The life and times of ... distracted_at_work

Post by James_0011 »

Five carloads?

May I ask what you own? that seems like a lot to me. Also, I wanted to mention - have you considered buying an online business? It would be a good way to be location independent, without the hassle of starting a business up.

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