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This will all change 100-200 years from now. People whose lives were only recorded in bytes will occupy a new dark age.

'Tis the season for returning to the homestead. Before looking homeward tenants clean out their pantries of perishables and not-so-perishables. Our Thanksgiving menu this year was determined by the discarded sweet potatoes, broccoli, dates, onions, garlic, yams, carrots, apples, peppers, avocados, Brussels sprouts and two unopened bags of coffee found this week. Thankful indeed.

What a bounty.

Thanks Ego, I finally finished watching the 4 episode documentary 'The Century of the Self' that you linked to somewhere, impressive.

@guitarplayer.... sorry about that. Curtis always seems to leave everything unresolved and convoluted but somehow makes it feel like a crescendo.

Ego wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 29, 2021 4:05 pm

Our relationship with the property management gig couldn't be better. We are happy with the job and they are happy with us. We know the building well and have the systems set so that we could - in theory - leave for a month in the spring and another month in the fall while managing things from afar. Over the past few years we recommended two of our friends as managers of two nearby properties with the same company. They could back us up if a situation arose that required someone to be physically present at the building. These types of situations are very few and far between.

I must have been delusional when toying with this idea. A few weeks of rain and two small leaks brought me back to reality. Over the years I have gotten pretty good at dealing with leaks. It isn't really all that hard. Soft skills when communicating with the tenants combined with attention to detail and persistence when managing contractors. It does not take all that much time but I can't imagine doing it from afar and I can't imagine the owners would be too happy with me delegating it for a month or more. Oh well.

So, we are back to our regularly scheduled programming. November 2022 - November 2023 on the road.

Earlier this week I found this book in the trash. Each morning since Mrs. Ego closes her eyes, flips through the book and says, "We are going to start our next trip.... ", then she sings, "La vida es una tómbola, tom tom tómbola..." and plants her finger on a page. Both yesterday and today she has landed on places we have already visited. I paged through the book today and am getting a little worried that she is going to land on something crazy and then insist....

Ego wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 02, 2021 12:35 pm

The quality of my life is directly influenced by the quality of my decisions
which depend on the how well I perceive and interpret reality
which depend on my mental, physical and spiritual health

Could you secretly swap out the pages of the book for something like, say, tent camping in N. America?

Then, all you would have to do is “guide” Mrs. Ego’s perception of that vacation destination!

Hah! I wish I was smart enough to fool her at ... anything.

Since you guys went to Morocco last time I imagine walking across the Sahara is out of the question? Maybe Mrs. Ego will settle for floating the Amazon.

Mrs. Ego and I have had an ongoing feud regarding a few paintings I have purchased. I find them at very low cost from the swap meet so if I find something she likes she will adopt it by making room on the wall and forbidding me to resell it.

One painting in particular irked me. I thought it was possible that someone might pay a thousand dollars for it. She said no and refused to even consider it. So I asked her sky's-the-limit price. I asked her to imagine there was someone out there willing to pay $X for it. How much would that $X have to be for her to accept the offer. No limit. What amount would she be unable to refuse?

At first she was reluctant to give a number, but after I pressed she eventually said an amount that was outrageous. Ridiculous. Absurd. Slightly more than what it had cost us the last time we traveled for a full year. Much of that year was spent in Europe so it wasn't exactly cheap. Think brand new small car.

I was not even slightly hopeful when I listed it on ebay. But I listed it anyway. Just for the hell of it. With the outrageous, ridiculous, absurd price. This morning someone bought it.

Sweet! So Italy trip paid for or does Mrs. Ego get her own crypto portfolio to play with?

To the contrary, the more I talk about crypto, the deafer she becomes. Not even a hint of interest.

So yes, the next trip is paid for. Now we have to figure out where we are going.

That’s incredible, well done! You have me wishing there was a swap meet here.

Also, you are quite good at telling stories. I’m curious, what have you done to cultivate that over the years?

I echo it, good at telling stories. Would be nice to read your book!

Thanks guys. I dropped it off at the art shipper this morning. They will create a custom hex box (whatever that means) and send it Fedex.

@theanimal, Young women growing up in certain social circles of Mexico in the '70s received a Count of Monte Cristo-like education in etiquette, manners and charm. Ingrained would be the nice way to describe it. Unforgiving another. The ability to tell a good story was one of the fundamental skills they learned.

I distinctly remember the panic of Christmas '91, having just met everyone for the first time while sitting around the dining table at the familial homestead, thinking I was in way over my head with this one. My Philly rowhouse kitchen table banter with Entenmann's cake and burnt coffee did not prepared me for this world.

Adaptation? Osmosis? I can't say.

Ego wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 4:20 pm

My Philly rowhouse kitchen table banter with Entenmann's cake and burnt coffee did not prepared me for this world.

I'd think we'd all love to hear the story of how you and Mrs Ego met : )

Ego wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 12, 2022 7:43 pm

I was not even slightly hopeful when I listed it on ebay. But I listed it anyway. Just for the hell of it. With the outrageous, ridiculous, absurd price. This morning someone bought it.

I think you qualify as an official art dealer at this point. Is the moral of the story to listen to Mrs. Ego more often?

chenda wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 13, 2022 5:06 pm

I'd think we'd all love to hear the story of how you and Mrs Ego met : )

I had just driven across the country in an old VW campervan after graduating from college. I applied for a job managing the youth programs for a small city recreation department and was scheduled for the first interview of the day. As usual I arrived a few minutes early and was wearing the only suit the thrift store had that more or less fit. It was tan.

Mrs. Ego had just started working as the Admin Assistant to the director and was the first person to arrive that day. She was very friendly, explained that the director was running late and we had a wonderful conversation while she began her day.

The director offered me the job. My office was the old Harbor Master's cottage, a two minute walk from her office at the municipal pool. For the longest time we were just friends. Every so often we would go to lunch together with a group of my employees, but I just assumed she was way out of my league. She had never dated a gringo. I didn't know any Mexicans. She had lived in Europe twice and spoke three languages. I had been to Canada once for an afternoon and was monolingual. But somehow we always seemed to peel away from the others and stumble into great conversations.

One night a big group from work went to a waterfront bar to celebrate someone's birthday. She was a few minutes late. I saw her smile when she realized I had saved her the seat next to mine and I felt the flush of possibility. Later when everyone was getting up to go home I thought it is now or never and quietly asked if she wanted to go across the street to the dive bar with the live blues band. We danced until they kicked us out, then sat on the beach and talked until four in the morning. It took just a few months for the conversations to turn to marriage.

At the time I couldn't believe my luck. To this day I still can't.

@WRC, I think maybe it is.

Ego wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 14, 2022 3:23 pm

At the time I couldn't believe my luck. To this day I still can't.

Such a lovely story, thanks for sharing Ego.

+1 chenda. Is that tan suit the same one you used when you guys went to the mall to get the wheel on the luggage fixed? Sounds like a lucky suit, or at least color.

Great story. Lucky man.