Time to wrap up...

The same storm pattern that hit downtown Atlanta at the end of last week, headed our way for the weekend. It could have been a dangerous situation for us, or at least a very wet weekend. But the weather system timed itself perfectly to arrive late on Saturday and it was already gone by Sunday morning. And luckily not nearly a hundredth of the punch it gave Atlanta, whose residents are now cleaning out their big mess.

One event that was spared this weekend was the “big” Saint Patrick’s Day celebration in Emerald Isle. “Big” in the sense that this is traditionally the wake-up call for the city to welcome the busy upcoming tourist season. During the last couple of weeks I have already been witnessing the evolution of the town from a quiet winter refuge for the few of us, to what is expected to be a busy time with all the visitors seeking refuge from grueling 9 to 5 jobs, tough school years and regular stressful life in general. Of course, this is assuming the US economy maintains itself afloat from the current choppy economic waters it is currently facing, and that is still to be determined. I’m sure the town, and the beach home rental property owners, are hoping for the best.

The welcoming of the busy season on the island means the beginning of our time to wrap up and say our own goodbyes. This weekend it became obvious for us that the end of our stay is just a matter of days rather than weeks. Most of my house repair projects are complete, packing of our few personal items done, our food pantry is thinning out and I have already scheduled our moving-in date to our Miami Beach condo.

But what made it more obvious was that several of our good friends from RTP did their pilgrimage to pay us one last seasonal visit before we leave Emerald Isle for that big city at the southern end of the eastern seaboard.

Now that the time is finally upon us, the big city looks even bigger from this vantage location. Point in case is a conversation I had with a fellow Cuban that lives on Emerald Isle, all his Miami friends keep talking to him about the problems with heavy traffic, lack of parking spaces, rude drivers and many other big city problems that overcome long—time Miami residents and make them wish to do what he is doing –living on Emerald Isle. Well, no time to look back, this train only moves in one direction and it is now facing south.

Note: Pictures of some of the weekend visitors practicing an AARP version of Tai-Chi or something like that.

$5 a gallon... Now we're talking!

Who hasn’t been impressed with the gas prices these days? B is on the west coast this week and she tells me that in Los Angeles, gas is already over $4 a gallon! Here on the island is over $3 a gallon. Definitely not a good time for long commutes; and for those that make their living in the transportation industry.

However, for years I have been a strong supporter of taxing gasoline to $5 per gallon, because I feel that we are not going to be motivated to conserve, unless it hurts our pocketbooks. Of course, the pocketbooks of those at the lower socio-economic standings will start “hurting” earlier, so I was hoping for a more equitable encouragement.

In 1978 I was driving my first car, at the time when in California we found ourselves making long lines at the gas stations, thanks to the Arab Oil embargo of the time. That experience made such an impression on me that I have always been concerned with how dependent we are on foreign oil, especially oil from the very volatile Middle East. Once the crisis was over, I thought to myself, what a great opportunity to start building our defenses so that we would not be in such a vulnerable position once again. But instead of continuing to fund research into alternative energies, such as the energy tax credits of the Carter era, we went the other way by building larger and gas-guzzling vehicles. Detroit couldn’t produce them large enough, or fast enough to meet the demand.

On the other hand, other countries around the world were dealing with artificially inflated gasoline prices, which in turn made drivers think twice about their gasoline-using habits. Also around those days, a small motorcycle company (Honda) and Toyota, pounced on the opportunity to supply frugal drivers with inexpensive and fuel-economy vehicles. Detroit didn’t even blink. Who cared about that other market? The rest of the world? Where IS that, exactly? We now know the rest of the story.

Another factor that has shaped my way of thinking was my scientific training and mindset. Maybe because of that, I have always appreciated the works of Mother Nature and have been concerned about our carelessness towards the environment.

To me it just made all the sense in the world to control, and hopefully reduce, our use of fossil fuels for energy. Conservation offers the potential for tangible rewards –independence from foreign oil and cleaner air. And more recently, with the warnings about the likely global warming, our heavy use of fossil fuel is getting another slap on the face.

But what will it take to regain some control over our energy situation? The prices at the pump are telling me that we may be doing too little and maybe a little too late. A recent report from Monash University in Australia claims that unless we reduce our fossil fuel utilization by a whopping EIGHTY PERCENT (80%), we will not be doing enough to avoid the upcoming climate change.

Eighty percent! That is alarming! Have you thought of what will it take to reduce YOUR oil consumption by 80%? If you could only do one 1 of every 5 car trips you currently make. Which trips would you cut? Could you go to the supermarket on a bicycle? How much could you bring? Would your babies travel well in a wagon pulled by a bicycle? Would that be the same in rainy or snowy weather?

You see where I’m going with this, right?

Do you see what just happened? I promised to keep this blog “light-hearted” and here I’m sinking again in the depths of cynicism and gloominess. Enough with that!

To close, my wish to my two readers is that if we get stuck someplace without being able to drive or travel, may you get stuck somewhere that you consider enjoyable. In the mean time, get some new walking shoes.

After the storm

The seas are back to normal, the sun is bright and there is not a single cloud on the sky. Had I just arrived today, I could not even imagine that the peaceful sea in front of my eyes was capable of having such a fit just 24 hours ago. I'm not sure if it was hormonal but whatever it was, it was not a happy camper.

It rained a lot Friday night and from inside we could feel the wind puffing against the house. By mid-day Saturday the rain had subsided but the winds were now gusting up to 50 mph! I walked down to the beach and had to cover my face from the blowing sand. Any exposed skin felt as if being poked by hundreds of needles and my pockets were filling with sand as I walked. It was like swimming in a pool of sand. Then just beyond the dry sand, the beach looked like a race track with the froth from the waves racing as if being pulled by some invisible force. But enough talking about it, see if for yourself. Below is a compilation of some of what I experienced (minus the needles and the background music). Hope you enjoy it.

Stormy Friday

No sunset today. South winds and rain are hitting us straight on at about 17 mph with gusts to about 30 mph. The rockers on the deck are swinging as if they were having all the fun in the world. The visibility is poor but you can feel the ocean roaring behind the fog. The waterfront windows are trembling and gusts of wind come in if even a small gap of the sliding doors is open. It has been gloomy all afternoon and it seems that this is going to be a whole night event.

Today, as if perfect for the weather, I was listening to a song that keeps coming up in our local radio station. I thought it was so fitting that I went to singer’s Website to read the lyrics and listen to the song a few times. The song, “In Your Arms” by Plumb (Tiffany Arbuckle Lee), turned out not to be a romantic ballad as I thought, but a song from a mother to and about her baby son cuddled in her arms. The chorus says:

“Knowing clouds will raise up,
storms will race in,
but you will be safe in my arms
Rains will pour down,
waves will crash all around
but you will be safe in my arms”

It seems as an eternity ago that B and I had our babies in our arms and were for them all that mattered in the world. In our arms, they felt that nothing could harm them. No storm or wave that the ocean could muster was a threat to them. As we saw them grow up, we also saw them stretching their umbilical cords to far away places where our arms could no longer protect them. Eventually the cord does break and they realize that our arms were not as strong as they once thought. And so the cycle of life continues.

As a consolation, at least the air temperature is a Spring-like 69F degrees. And with the time change coming up this weekend, we know that Spring is finally just around the corner. With the change in season, we also know that the weather becomes rather unsettled and that same ocean becomes alive with potential for even bigger storms, at least until autumn. Perfect time to have some strong arms protecting us, our home and our readers, from what this, sometimes not so peaceful ocean, can come up with.

This too shall pass. It will be sunny again tomorrow!

Note: To listen “In Your Arms” click on the link.

Learn to live like a zillionaire!

For only $29.95 I will send you the secrets of how to live the glamorous AARP lifestyle today! If you send the $29.95 within 15 minutes, I will also throw in an instruction booklet on how to look like an AARP, even if you still have years to go!

If I could increase my readership to more than just two (or three) readers, I too could become a billionaire like the ones on TV! $29.95 at a time.

Let me explain.

One of the privileges of the AARP lifestyle, is that it gives you plenty of time to linger on the different TV channels as you click searching for something worth watching. It doesn’t cease to amaze me that so many of the Infomercials try to appeal to those that want to make a quick buck and live rich forever after. Interview clips of common folks that were also doubtful and are now millionaires, loudly send the message that anybody can do it. “I was unemployed with three children at home and now make $30,000 a month, by simply following the advice in” such and such video or book, says one woman. A carpenter says that he had no idea on how to use the Internet, and now profits from it with his own online businesses and lives sipping piña coladas outside of his beach estate.

After a few minutes of watching the “testimonies”, you almost feel guilty about being so skeptical or dumb for not taking advantage of such a unique opportunity, before everyone else jumps on the bandwagon.

Presenters promise to give you their inner secrets of how they made their millions by buying real estate for pennies or no money-down, and selling for huge figures, just at the right time. Or by creating “10 Websites” that practically “sell themselves”, and the only thing to do is collect the money at the end of the month.

Is almost like a religious campaign: to embrace it, you have to pay; rejecting it means going strait to hell, or poverty in this case. But, how can I get a taste of it, without contributing to the sellers with my donations? Well, as it turns out, I got an opportunity to do just that last weekend while in Durham for a couple of days. One of my in-laws loves to support all those types of schemes, hoping, like everyone else, to “make it big one day”. This particular book was filled with lots of anecdotes about how successful entrepreneurs, have gone from rags to riches in just a few weeks by following some simple advice and doing their simple homework.

Scanning the whole book, I didn’t find a single “gem” of information which I didn’t already know. But in reality, the chances of finding banks willing to “sell” you foreclosed properties with zero down, just for having a good credit score, are closed to nil. If such bargains were truly available, the common investor would have to fight tooth and nail with the bankers themselves, realtors or anyone else the bank would deem with enough Cash Flow to make this transaction worth their while. But of course, the book’s argument is exactly that most people don’t chase these opportunities for being so incredulous. And if I wanted to learn about the real gems, I would have to attend the next available “seminar” at a city near me. I was almost convinced!

Being AARP, I have also learned a little about earning a buck. In my lifetime I have even managed to owned a few pieces of real estate and a small business. After reading and watching some of these schemes on TV, I now think that I have found the true source of real wealth. The source of real wealth is to claim that you have the key to richness and wealth, and that you’d be happy to share that with those willing to fork out $29.95 for your book, and $399.95 for your seminar. What didn’t I think of that earlier?

So, to my two readers, please send me $29.95 and I’ll tell you the secrets of the AARP lifestyle –filled with many true gems-. But don’t delay, the AARP lifestyle doesn’t last forever, I got to make some real money quick!