What a great trip!
We spent most of a week in DC on account of attending our friend and former-roomate Greg's, wedding there. In very brief:

Flew in Thursday night and met up with "everyone" for dinner and drinks. We were fortunate enough to have Greg and his very-soon-to-be-wife Amy meet us at the airport and drive us into town and show us around a very little bit. We were unfortunate enough to have United route one bag to Chicago, but that was no real loss as it only had Steve's heavy coat and some other junk that turned out to not be needed as we were fortunate enough to have great weather. We were yet more fortunate to have one of our favorite people, Keith (best man at our wedding) join us for dinner/drinks as well. He lives in NC, but gets up to DC for business pretty regularly.
After eating and drinking.... plenty.... we made it back to our hotel, the Hotel Sofitel Lafayette Square, only to be informed that they had overbooked. Ugh. You can imagine our faces at nearly 3am after a full day of travel, when we heard that there was no room at the inn. "But," we were assured by a very apologetic manager who was probably really hoping we were a no-show, "we have arranged accomodations nearby at a very nice hotel."
That very nice hotel turned out to be a *very* nice hotel, the Hay Adams. Not only were we now staying in a much nicer hotel, but the Sofitel also informed us that the night would be complimentary. Have to hand it to the folks at Sofitel- even though they screwed up on the reservation, they sure did it will aplomb. We slept very well and woke up refreshed and ready to take on all that Washington DC had to offer. Ok, that may be an exaggeration. AFTER we had a cup of coffee, then AFTER we moved back to the Sofitel to discover that we had another upgrade at no extra charge to "make up for the inconvenience" of staying at the luxurious 5 star Hay Adams, and AFTER we ate a delicious big greasy deli sandwich (corner of 15th and I, wonderful deli)... THEN we were ready to tackle DC.
And just as soon as the pics are presentable, this narrative will continue!

Labels: travel, vacation, wedding

So our close friend, Soop, asked me to do a Day In The Life photo essay. I think that's a great idea. Unfortunately, today it would have looked an awful lot like this lame-o picture since mostly I've been staring at my computer screen. Some adventure, huh? To be fair- it wouldn't look at all like that picture, because that picture actually looks like I'm doing something almost fun (this journal) vs. the truth being that I spent most of the day working with my agents and assistant to get our work website updated. It still needs some work, but is getting there.
Well, I did go to the store to buy some food for lunch, so here you go, try to contain your excitement.

The local grocery store parking lot. Note the Non-USA Landcruiser 2door Prado. More like a mini-4runner than a cruiser, but very nice little 4x4s.	The bridge to Olga's	Our entrance, note snazzy new paint. I'd rather the landlord fixed the Moat (see below)	Big new commercial center next door to the office
Olga's. Our local coffeeing hole.	The huge, stagnant puddle out front, we affectionately call it "the *cking Moat"	View to the right of the office	My daily parking space, unless someone else takes it, which at least 50% of the time

And, of course, the very exciting.... store. Well, it was more exciting to me, because I was hungry.
The good news in all of this is that while I didn't have my camera in hand, I did go to the beach with the mutts and enjoy a spectacular sunset and throw the stick around, which made them happy. Hopefully I tired them out enough that we'll all get a little peace and quiet this evening while I watch a movie at home.
In the famous words of Porky: dbytby dbytby dbytby That's All Folks!

Labels: photo, tamarindo

With October comes a bit of an exodus from Guanacaste. A normal October rainy season is just that, very rainy. So far this year, it seems that we are getting a little bit of rain every other day or so, with the occasional storm dropping a heavy shower once a week. It's great! That is, as long as we ignore the looming potential drought for next April. Of course, there may not be a drought, we rely on aquifers that are fed from both rainfall here and also underground rivers from the mountains. Word is that the mountains are getting pretty normal rainfall. Time will tell.

Despite the not-too-heavy rain, many folks still leave town to go back to wherever it is that they are from, catch up with family and friends, or just spend a little time somewhere other than this little slice of paradise. At the moment, both my business partner and his wife, as well as Jocelyn, are in the states. That leaves me with two bored but loveable dogs. Bored, because I'm only giving them 1/4 of the usual people-hours to which they are accustomed (maybe less, as being the only one here has notably increased my list of things to do). Loveable, because, heck, they're good dogs.

(yes, this post was mostly orchestrated as a long-winded way to post up some pics so that Brian, Carrie and Jocelyn can see their pups and feel happy)

Labels: dog