Saturday, March 13. 2010
T'ings...
Even from afar, banking in the BVI can infuriate me. A week ago, I started the procedure of transfering the money into escrow to pay for the house up here. Seems simple hey? After all, I had filled out many forms before I left the BVI allowing me to wire transfer the money. Don't think for one second that THIS particular bank account has a means to do it yourself on line!
I emailed and faxed. I did both as the last time I faxed they told me they had not received it when I tracked it down days later. About 18 hours later I received an "out of office" reply from the person I had been told to send it to last time. Out of office for the entire week. Yes people, for some reason, most of us find that ANYONE we ever want to contact in the banks down there is "on vacation"
There was however, 2 email addresses in the out of office reply to forward on to. Score! Off I emailed both of them. Only to have them both come back. So I redid it. AND, just to prove to me the BVI banking gods are still on top of their game, the emails I sent to a BVI address came to my address. Never seen this before. THey are correct, addressed to the right person, from the right person, but they show up in my in box looking like they are being sent to me.
I could not figure it out. I tried to call, but for some reason the phone rings, and rings and rings......Not unusual, so I fax it again. It is now a couple days later. My teeth are starting to set on edge.
I finally resort to the tried and true method of emailing my request one more time to the bank manager. I have always found when I do that, it is taken care of within an hour with apologies phoned to me and affirmations that THIS is now the right person to contact for the next time. I only do this as a last resort, as really, it seems so petty to contact the bank manager all the time with these mundane items. But Jocelyn, you do rock!
In a crappy iphone picture, this is the Promenade mall. right where are house is. Karma isn't it? AND this is coincidentally, where an APPLE store is. Some people may say I planned that, but, honestly, I didn't!
Bazza and I went to Olive Garden for lunch. I enjoyed the salad. I enjoyed the pasta as well, it was not bad...
My parents are flying down on Tuesday. I guess I get to find my way to our local airport!
I emailed and faxed. I did both as the last time I faxed they told me they had not received it when I tracked it down days later. About 18 hours later I received an "out of office" reply from the person I had been told to send it to last time. Out of office for the entire week. Yes people, for some reason, most of us find that ANYONE we ever want to contact in the banks down there is "on vacation"
There was however, 2 email addresses in the out of office reply to forward on to. Score! Off I emailed both of them. Only to have them both come back. So I redid it. AND, just to prove to me the BVI banking gods are still on top of their game, the emails I sent to a BVI address came to my address. Never seen this before. THey are correct, addressed to the right person, from the right person, but they show up in my in box looking like they are being sent to me.
I could not figure it out. I tried to call, but for some reason the phone rings, and rings and rings......Not unusual, so I fax it again. It is now a couple days later. My teeth are starting to set on edge.
I finally resort to the tried and true method of emailing my request one more time to the bank manager. I have always found when I do that, it is taken care of within an hour with apologies phoned to me and affirmations that THIS is now the right person to contact for the next time. I only do this as a last resort, as really, it seems so petty to contact the bank manager all the time with these mundane items. But Jocelyn, you do rock!
In a crappy iphone picture, this is the Promenade mall. right where are house is. Karma isn't it? AND this is coincidentally, where an APPLE store is. Some people may say I planned that, but, honestly, I didn't!
Bazza and I went to Olive Garden for lunch. I enjoyed the salad. I enjoyed the pasta as well, it was not bad...
My parents are flying down on Tuesday. I guess I get to find my way to our local airport!
Thursday, March 11. 2010
Do I feel a nice generous post coming on? Or a rant...
On the fence with that one people! On the fence...Maybe this one will be nice and the next one will be snarky!
The house closing is coming. along. excrutiatingly. slow. I know, not really in the scheme of things, but patience has never been one of my virtues and I freely admit it. On the plus side, we are not going to have to pay as much money for the house (not that it was expensive!, not at all...) but it needs to be tented for spraying for termites, and it for some odd reason even though they laid down new roads and we are only a couple blocks off the main street, has no hook ups for town sewer...and it needs new leach feels for the septic, both of which the sellar is going to have to issue us a credit on the house price for and then we will get them taken care off after the closing.
We figure it can be tented and the back yard torn up for septic repairs when we are in the islands just as easily as soon....
******
Had to laugh when I went or called to hook up one of the utilities, don't remember which one. Because I have not had whatever it is hooked up before in the state of California, unless I could provide a letter from a former utility company stating I paid in good faith, I would have to pay a deposit that I would receive back after I had paid all my bills for the first year.
Being used to the BVI, where deposits of many hundreds to two thousand dollars are not uncommon, I asked what the deposit was and was told $100.00!! I figured I could afford as opposed to trying to get "I am a good girl" letters! Had to giggle though as I had just finished telling the girl that since I would only be here part of the year and would be not here for several months coming up, that I would like to pay it yearly in advance...which in my mind would negate the $100.00 deposit!
Also trying to figure out this bundling of services thing. We do have fibre optics to the house (no sewer but fast internet!) which I could bundle with various other things and was going to give me 30 mb second dowload and 15 mb upload speed. After the internet in the BVI that worked in my books. Bazza tried to discuss with me whether i REALLY needed that much speed, and tried to give me examples like "what does it matter whether it downloads in 1 second or 6 seconds" Those who know me will understand that I just told him to move along...he was not winning that one!
However, since we have Directv already in our RV that has 20 months left on the contract, I did deem to "bundle" with them and Verizon and accept the very slow speed of 15 mbs download and 5 mbs upload.... I have no idea what all this is costing me, as there is numbers thrown out everywhere but you get credits when you take this, and discounts on that for 6 months and this free but add on $3.00 a month for that. I told Bazza that it will just be a surprise when the first bill comes...
******
This is my local costco. Costco is about 4 minutes drive from the house. Yes, that makes me very happy. I have another place I can fill up with "stuff"
We have also experienced our first, what I imagine are, Santa Ana winds...My aunt had a cocktail party over in Palm Desert on Tuesday, so we went over for that gathering (and to pick up my phone that I stupidly left there on the weekend...)
Not only was Bazza absolutely amazed that I had MORE relatives he had never met, he was under the mistaken impression that we were moving somewhere that was far away from all of them! Ha! Fooled him!! To his utter shock I also had to prime him about the people that he has met down on the boat, Promenade, before! Poor Man!
My aunt and cousin Karen had cooked up a storm for this gathering and it was all very good too! You notice everyone has their winter coats on hey?
Methinks my aunt might have had a glass or two of wine, as she was as cute as can be when she stood up and starting singing and dancing to "don't give a ****!" I truly wish I would have had video on my camera as she looked about 4 years old with the biggest smile!
OK, time to do some work...I have about 66 emails in my inbox to deal with and a ton of computer and web site stuff to catch up on !
The house closing is coming. along. excrutiatingly. slow. I know, not really in the scheme of things, but patience has never been one of my virtues and I freely admit it. On the plus side, we are not going to have to pay as much money for the house (not that it was expensive!, not at all...) but it needs to be tented for spraying for termites, and it for some odd reason even though they laid down new roads and we are only a couple blocks off the main street, has no hook ups for town sewer...and it needs new leach feels for the septic, both of which the sellar is going to have to issue us a credit on the house price for and then we will get them taken care off after the closing.
We figure it can be tented and the back yard torn up for septic repairs when we are in the islands just as easily as soon....
******
Had to laugh when I went or called to hook up one of the utilities, don't remember which one. Because I have not had whatever it is hooked up before in the state of California, unless I could provide a letter from a former utility company stating I paid in good faith, I would have to pay a deposit that I would receive back after I had paid all my bills for the first year.
Being used to the BVI, where deposits of many hundreds to two thousand dollars are not uncommon, I asked what the deposit was and was told $100.00!! I figured I could afford as opposed to trying to get "I am a good girl" letters! Had to giggle though as I had just finished telling the girl that since I would only be here part of the year and would be not here for several months coming up, that I would like to pay it yearly in advance...which in my mind would negate the $100.00 deposit!
Also trying to figure out this bundling of services thing. We do have fibre optics to the house (no sewer but fast internet!) which I could bundle with various other things and was going to give me 30 mb second dowload and 15 mb upload speed. After the internet in the BVI that worked in my books. Bazza tried to discuss with me whether i REALLY needed that much speed, and tried to give me examples like "what does it matter whether it downloads in 1 second or 6 seconds" Those who know me will understand that I just told him to move along...he was not winning that one!
However, since we have Directv already in our RV that has 20 months left on the contract, I did deem to "bundle" with them and Verizon and accept the very slow speed of 15 mbs download and 5 mbs upload.... I have no idea what all this is costing me, as there is numbers thrown out everywhere but you get credits when you take this, and discounts on that for 6 months and this free but add on $3.00 a month for that. I told Bazza that it will just be a surprise when the first bill comes...
******
This is my local costco. Costco is about 4 minutes drive from the house. Yes, that makes me very happy. I have another place I can fill up with "stuff"
We have also experienced our first, what I imagine are, Santa Ana winds...My aunt had a cocktail party over in Palm Desert on Tuesday, so we went over for that gathering (and to pick up my phone that I stupidly left there on the weekend...)
Not only was Bazza absolutely amazed that I had MORE relatives he had never met, he was under the mistaken impression that we were moving somewhere that was far away from all of them! Ha! Fooled him!! To his utter shock I also had to prime him about the people that he has met down on the boat, Promenade, before! Poor Man!
My aunt and cousin Karen had cooked up a storm for this gathering and it was all very good too! You notice everyone has their winter coats on hey?
Methinks my aunt might have had a glass or two of wine, as she was as cute as can be when she stood up and starting singing and dancing to "don't give a ****!" I truly wish I would have had video on my camera as she looked about 4 years old with the biggest smile!
OK, time to do some work...I have about 66 emails in my inbox to deal with and a ton of computer and web site stuff to catch up on !
Tuesday, March 9. 2010
House shopping, boat shopping, busy, busy, busy
We took off driving in another direction Sunday afternoon, over the San Bernadino forest area to Palm Springs area. The scenery was spectacular, and it was a nice drive...
My aunt and uncle are spending the month down here, so we thought we would surprise them in their airstream and take them out to lunch! This is my aunt, she is actually my grandmothers (on my mothers side) youngest sister, and they look very much alike!
We went over to Marie Callenders for lunch, and I had their pot pie and REALLY enjoyed it! It was just out of the oven!!
Silly me to make a long story short, lost my iphone, spent time looking everywhere for it and did not bother to go on ME and use the "find my iphone" feature until I got back home!! Good thing we are going back over their this afternoon for a cocktail party I can pick it up again!!!
It has been positively busy trying to do all the inspections for this house. We did walk through yesterday...Here is the outside...
and today Bazza went back over for the termite and septic tank inspection. The septic tank is screwed, but we should be able to hook up town sewage right in, so we will see. It all means the place is going to cost us less anyways as they have to be done! It also has to have some cement poured for earthquake laws now too..... and the house tented for termite control, so there is a lot going on!
This is a picture of our greehouse AFTER the sellers cleaned it out! Yes, there is less in there....
I apparently also have a kitchen aid (whew, I was worried about that!) and a blender. The blender will come in handy!
Then yesterday afternoon it was going to the gas company to show them our ID up in Corona so we could get service and calling Trash, electric, water etc etc.
After all that we thought we had not had quite enough fun yet and went shopping. And those who follow my blog might have seen pictures like this more then once or twice in the past. Full carts lined up outside of a costco...
That usually means one thing. Correct! Boat shopping! I went to get the "stuff" the boat needed. And then we stuffed the car full...
And then Bazza got to pack it all and now we are on our way to the post office!
My aunt and uncle are spending the month down here, so we thought we would surprise them in their airstream and take them out to lunch! This is my aunt, she is actually my grandmothers (on my mothers side) youngest sister, and they look very much alike!
We went over to Marie Callenders for lunch, and I had their pot pie and REALLY enjoyed it! It was just out of the oven!!
Silly me to make a long story short, lost my iphone, spent time looking everywhere for it and did not bother to go on ME and use the "find my iphone" feature until I got back home!! Good thing we are going back over their this afternoon for a cocktail party I can pick it up again!!!
It has been positively busy trying to do all the inspections for this house. We did walk through yesterday...Here is the outside...
and today Bazza went back over for the termite and septic tank inspection. The septic tank is screwed, but we should be able to hook up town sewage right in, so we will see. It all means the place is going to cost us less anyways as they have to be done! It also has to have some cement poured for earthquake laws now too..... and the house tented for termite control, so there is a lot going on!
This is a picture of our greehouse AFTER the sellers cleaned it out! Yes, there is less in there....
I apparently also have a kitchen aid (whew, I was worried about that!) and a blender. The blender will come in handy!
Then yesterday afternoon it was going to the gas company to show them our ID up in Corona so we could get service and calling Trash, electric, water etc etc.
After all that we thought we had not had quite enough fun yet and went shopping. And those who follow my blog might have seen pictures like this more then once or twice in the past. Full carts lined up outside of a costco...
That usually means one thing. Correct! Boat shopping! I went to get the "stuff" the boat needed. And then we stuffed the car full...
And then Bazza got to pack it all and now we are on our way to the post office!
Monday, March 8. 2010
Odds and ends, and even little updates about Simeon and Brent...
We have had fun exploring our new home and seeing what we have for restaurants. I am a pathetic person, as some of the restaurants I had to be near were NOT an option. I am too embarassed to even talk about that! I will say that we have found some good really casual restaurants near us, and in a move that just may beat costco's hotdog, we have a hot dog shop that has a hundred different combinations of dogs! My dad will be in heaven....
Bazza had bbq sauce, baked beans and bacon on top of his. I have swiss cheese and baked beans. Yum....Plus they serve beer in there, which would be a real plus for most!
In celebration of finally purchasing a place, and also to get into practice for making them again next month on the boat, we celebrated with blue drinks! funny, I have not make any for months but I had all the ingredients besides cranberry juice in the RV tucked away safely....... They were tasting way too good and I was on a bit of a high since we purchased the house that i had to physically stop myself from drinking too much.
My friend Janice over in Virginia is towing her boat out of storage for the summer. Considering I just saw snow in all her pictures it seems like 2 weeks ago I am not sure boating is the thing to do yet! I certainly know it is not warm enough to boat on this side!!
Question all: Does anyone recognize this fabric? I saw it on a couch and I think it would be perfect for the salon couch on the boat. I want it. Just not sure how to find it!!
And with the kite jam being last week, and apparently everyone in the world getting their picture taken with Branson as there was not enough wind to actually kite sail....I thought I would throw up this picture of blog reader Drew and Branson from last night. I know some of my girlfriends think Branson is incredibly sexy so...... An eye candy picture!!
Hello hello. So how many months have passed ? Its hard to remember, and yet I seem to miss those days more and more. I follow your blog, looks like you guys are doing great. I am happy to see that.
I am now 8 months into this company. We have grown and are doing well. (For those who don't know, he went into a landscaping company with a friend of his and he is now really grown up and looking at buy a place to store all the STUFF that goes with that!)
It has been a very steep learning curve. I do payroll, WSIB, accounting, book keeping, sales, and fix and maintain most of our equipment. So my hours are long. Too long, almost half as long as Promenade's
I have to thank Bazza for the little electrical skills I learned from him. I have a volt meter and have repaired many things. On one occasion I even saved the day fixing a salter motor. AND, on occasion, someone cleans up tools after me
How the days have passed.
And then I even heard from Simeon and he had this to say about him SMILING for new employers!!
"I know, I admit i was smiling on the photos, my first thought was I hope kerry does not see this. We were just messing around with no real posed shots, honestly."
And apparently, he is doing most or all of the captaining..."I've been on the helm from minute one and do 99% of all driving, he's busy cooking so he leaves me to it. Diving is all down to me as well."
We will catch up with him in April, and I will take new pictures and see if he gained any weight!
Bazza had bbq sauce, baked beans and bacon on top of his. I have swiss cheese and baked beans. Yum....Plus they serve beer in there, which would be a real plus for most!
In celebration of finally purchasing a place, and also to get into practice for making them again next month on the boat, we celebrated with blue drinks! funny, I have not make any for months but I had all the ingredients besides cranberry juice in the RV tucked away safely....... They were tasting way too good and I was on a bit of a high since we purchased the house that i had to physically stop myself from drinking too much.
My friend Janice over in Virginia is towing her boat out of storage for the summer. Considering I just saw snow in all her pictures it seems like 2 weeks ago I am not sure boating is the thing to do yet! I certainly know it is not warm enough to boat on this side!!
Question all: Does anyone recognize this fabric? I saw it on a couch and I think it would be perfect for the salon couch on the boat. I want it. Just not sure how to find it!!
And with the kite jam being last week, and apparently everyone in the world getting their picture taken with Branson as there was not enough wind to actually kite sail....I thought I would throw up this picture of blog reader Drew and Branson from last night. I know some of my girlfriends think Branson is incredibly sexy so...... An eye candy picture!!
Hello hello. So how many months have passed ? Its hard to remember, and yet I seem to miss those days more and more. I follow your blog, looks like you guys are doing great. I am happy to see that.
I am now 8 months into this company. We have grown and are doing well. (For those who don't know, he went into a landscaping company with a friend of his and he is now really grown up and looking at buy a place to store all the STUFF that goes with that!)
It has been a very steep learning curve. I do payroll, WSIB, accounting, book keeping, sales, and fix and maintain most of our equipment. So my hours are long. Too long, almost half as long as Promenade's
I have to thank Bazza for the little electrical skills I learned from him. I have a volt meter and have repaired many things. On one occasion I even saved the day fixing a salter motor. AND, on occasion, someone cleans up tools after me
How the days have passed.And then I even heard from Simeon and he had this to say about him SMILING for new employers!!
"I know, I admit i was smiling on the photos, my first thought was I hope kerry does not see this. We were just messing around with no real posed shots, honestly."
And apparently, he is doing most or all of the captaining..."I've been on the helm from minute one and do 99% of all driving, he's busy cooking so he leaves me to it. Diving is all down to me as well."
We will catch up with him in April, and I will take new pictures and see if he gained any weight!
Sunday, March 7. 2010
A sunday afternoon drive..
Well, hello there. Coming to you from a rainy Sunday morning...Just finished my SaildiveBVI charter blog web work, now I will try and get up a personal blog and then I think I am free to roam for the afternoon.
Have to explore our new living environment you know! Yesterday we went up a bit to Lake Elsinore and then over to San Juan de Capistrano before going down the coast to San Diego and back.
This is just north of where we are, about 10-15 minutes, Lake Elsinore. We looked at about 17 different houses out there one day. I really think the realtor misunderstood us when we said we did not want any yucky areas. Although not yucky and scary, it certainly was not my idea of an "ok" neighborhood (for me, let me clarify that...)
Housing was affordable. If you wanted a place for a hundred thousand, you could find one. Of course you had to debate whether you wanted the ten dogs beside you with the jacked up cars on one side of you, or the condemned HUD houses on the other. When we left there, I did not ever want to go back. It also has somewhat of a hippie/biker feel, at least the area we were at. But then the next day I saw the tattoos on our realtor and realized why she said she would like to live out there!
Anyways, here is a couple pictures of the lake there, just as we turned. Yes, I did climb a hill. Yes, I thought I was going to die. Moving right along...
Drove through some forests, watched the clean up from a car going over the mountain! and was glad we were in the car NOT the RV while I was looking over...Made it to the coast a short time late and turned south...
Ah, yes, forgot this picture...Bazza enjoying the view in the hills, threatening me about putting the pic on the blog! Hey Bazza, it is so much better then a conch shell picture isn't it?
There appears to be no shortage of seagulls here on the beach either. Thank god. I would hate to not see a ton of them like everywhere else we live. In Victoria they are very bad at shitting on our car!!
Down to the Enbarcadero in San Diego. Lots of glass, lots of flash... What we could see in between the rain drops anyways!
We wandered around looking at the boats in the Maritime Museum...
And saw the Star of India...
And even though there is not ONE single solitary boat here that I want, I LOVE the rigging on them all....
Watched more birds who were not afraid of us at all...
Watched a couple cruise ships leave in a monsoon. Somehow cocktails on the back deck was not sounding like such a great idea watching! Also instead of tshirts watched the outside vendors selling jackets and the tourists with socks in their teva sandals! Had lunch at the Elephant and Castle and was immediately jealous of Bazzas roast beef and yorkshire pudding instead of my fish and chips, took him down to the border with Tijuana so he could see it and back home!
Have to explore our new living environment you know! Yesterday we went up a bit to Lake Elsinore and then over to San Juan de Capistrano before going down the coast to San Diego and back.
This is just north of where we are, about 10-15 minutes, Lake Elsinore. We looked at about 17 different houses out there one day. I really think the realtor misunderstood us when we said we did not want any yucky areas. Although not yucky and scary, it certainly was not my idea of an "ok" neighborhood (for me, let me clarify that...)
Housing was affordable. If you wanted a place for a hundred thousand, you could find one. Of course you had to debate whether you wanted the ten dogs beside you with the jacked up cars on one side of you, or the condemned HUD houses on the other. When we left there, I did not ever want to go back. It also has somewhat of a hippie/biker feel, at least the area we were at. But then the next day I saw the tattoos on our realtor and realized why she said she would like to live out there!
Anyways, here is a couple pictures of the lake there, just as we turned. Yes, I did climb a hill. Yes, I thought I was going to die. Moving right along...
Drove through some forests, watched the clean up from a car going over the mountain! and was glad we were in the car NOT the RV while I was looking over...Made it to the coast a short time late and turned south...
Ah, yes, forgot this picture...Bazza enjoying the view in the hills, threatening me about putting the pic on the blog! Hey Bazza, it is so much better then a conch shell picture isn't it?
There appears to be no shortage of seagulls here on the beach either. Thank god. I would hate to not see a ton of them like everywhere else we live. In Victoria they are very bad at shitting on our car!!
Down to the Enbarcadero in San Diego. Lots of glass, lots of flash... What we could see in between the rain drops anyways!
We wandered around looking at the boats in the Maritime Museum...
And saw the Star of India...
And even though there is not ONE single solitary boat here that I want, I LOVE the rigging on them all....
Watched more birds who were not afraid of us at all...
Watched a couple cruise ships leave in a monsoon. Somehow cocktails on the back deck was not sounding like such a great idea watching! Also instead of tshirts watched the outside vendors selling jackets and the tourists with socks in their teva sandals! Had lunch at the Elephant and Castle and was immediately jealous of Bazzas roast beef and yorkshire pudding instead of my fish and chips, took him down to the border with Tijuana so he could see it and back home!
Saturday, March 6. 2010
Mi casa,
...have to learn Spanish now having a place in Southern California! Not sure of my chances as I have not learnt how to do anything more then to order beer after living next door to Puerto Rico for the last 12 years!
These pics have nothing to do with the house or my blog entry. I just thought they were spectacular and wished I was able to crouch down in the surf to take pictures like that, but it is not going to happen!
These are done by CLARK LITTLE
Instead of boring everyone and their dog with a billion pictures on the blog, I put them on a separate page for those who want to look at them. They are not in any order of "good areas to worst" in fact, I would say the first pictures are the worst, but carry on, they get better!
I think I finished my blog entry there too!
You can see them by clicking here...
That was my major blog entry tonight..I have so much work to catch up on tomorrow from doing this the last few days...
I am not sure Bazza was impressed when I sent him links of boats for sale too!
These pics have nothing to do with the house or my blog entry. I just thought they were spectacular and wished I was able to crouch down in the surf to take pictures like that, but it is not going to happen!
These are done by CLARK LITTLE
Instead of boring everyone and their dog with a billion pictures on the blog, I put them on a separate page for those who want to look at them. They are not in any order of "good areas to worst" in fact, I would say the first pictures are the worst, but carry on, they get better!
I think I finished my blog entry there too!
You can see them by clicking here...
That was my major blog entry tonight..I have so much work to catch up on tomorrow from doing this the last few days...
I am not sure Bazza was impressed when I sent him links of boats for sale too!
Sail-Dive-BVI-helping you get off the beaten path in the British Virgin Islands!
Click on the logo to go to our online cruising guide, with dive sites, dive wrecks, beachcombing, shell collecting, maps, charts, sailing, snorkeling, anchoring on the British Virgin Islands
Calendar
Quicksearch
Syndicate This Blog
Powered by
