Updates and Transitions – Preparing for the move to Costa Rica

All kinds of fun stuff going on since the last post.

Coleman got back to us with a big thumbs down on our trip sponsorship. The reason, no budget. Really Coleman? If your CEO decided that he wanted to finger paint our truck I think that you would have found a budget. We thank you at least for replying that was very nice of you David. Chevy hasn’t even responded yet. I’m thinking about branching out to Whole Foods, Krogers, etc, smaller & maybe more accessible companies.

We did get a car stereo Yea!It’s a Sony & we are installing it this weekend. I will let you know how it sounds. We got all of the features we wanted & it was off of craigslist for only $25.

Our truck decided to start making noises. We have a friend, Noah, who replaced the belt & made it louder! : ) He thought it was a tensioner and a belt but because the new belt made it louder he thinks it is now a harmonic balancer (betcha didn’t know that there was one of those in your car!). As we left Noah’s house, Barry & I were discussing how hard it would be to be have picked auto mechanic as a career choice. You always have to be under some hot, oily vehicle, the sounds could be just about anything and most of your friends want you to look at their cars for free. Noah was really nice about it and fixed something in the front brakes that we didn’t even know was broken. BTW, Noah just asked a girl named Andrea to marry him so if you see him tell him congrats!

Barry has started missing his job already. He just started the new (his last) semester but already he wishes he could be a part of Antonelli for longer. It reminds me that this will be an emotional trip as well as an exciting one. I know that it was easier for me to leave my job because I wasn’t exactly crazy about it but Barry truly enjoys his. For the most part, a lot of things are getting a little tense around here. If we want to get through this move without saying mean things we should probably take a step back every so often and think about what a big step this is & that we should respect its enormity.

I did finally receive the documents back from the Costa Rican consulate. I first have to scan & send to ARCR to make certain that all the i’s are dotted & t’s crossed, then we need to head down and get our stuff to CR immigration. I looked up flights and it is ridiculous what it cost to fly from Cincinnati to San Jose! Almost $700! If we fly from Washington D.C. it is only $250 and “most” of you know that D.C. is farther away from San Jose than Cincinnati is. We are going to try and fly into Fort Lauderdale, see family & friends and then on to CR. It cost less for those two flights than for the one out of Cincy. And that brings me to the big news…

Barry is officially an Uncle! Brent & Tiffany were nice enough to have Kaylin Jo just so Barry could fulfill his destiny and become the best damn uncle ever. She weighed in at some baby weight & was born on some day in June but he doesn’t really like to think about specifics. He is more interested in the day she turns two and can make an airplane out of her. He is truly excited.

And we found a great home for our kitty but that is an additional emotional experience that I don’t want to talk about right now.