fyl's blog

I'm working on the wireless link to my house. It looks like I need to mount the radio in a tree to get it to work because of all the trees in the path. I suppose that means I have to put it in a plastic bag. :-)

In any case, I am sitting in a chair in the trees near the VSAT right now with my EeePC doing email. It's about 22C here with a very light breeze. All in all, not bad.

But, back to work. Hopefully I will have the reliable wireless link in place today. Also need to get back to my place as the bread I am cooking should be done now.

I went to Estelí a couple of days ago to:

1. Catch up on email, NL and such
2. Bring the solar panels I had there up to CT to run the VSAT

I got a few NL things done and a bit of email. Then I went to run errands. The power went off. Well, it was off all the rest of the time I was in Esteli--apparently a big grid upgrade. So, nothing.

I am not standing in the VSAT shack at CT catching up. I should have a link to my house but clearly the radios dont like the wet trees in the path.

I just like the fact that you have to go off-grid to get reliable power.

I want to apologize for my absense from NL. Or, more generically, my absence from the Internet. I should be around most of the time now but I was busy learning things.

When I wasn't on-site at CoolTop I learned the following:

• Workers don't really do what you had told them to do.
• When questioned about something, they have the ability to "de-regulate" the truth.

Well, I have been on-site for a bunch of corrections to work done on my house and additions such as the kitchen counters and piedra zopalote floor. What I have learned is:

It's Monday morning at CoolTop, just a bit after 6AM. With the exception of half a day mid last week, I have been here full-time for almost two weeks. This note is inspired by a change in the weather.

While it rained during two days about two weeks ago, it has then been sunny ever since. It was actually great as it showed us that we needed to seal our dome followed by sunny weather to do it. Well, rained one millimeter during the night. Not a lot but enough to make sure everything is green and clean. It stopped around dawn (about 5AM) and is absolutely calm and

There is one thing I am having a hard time with here. It is trying to accept that "thinking isn't work". Did I say that right? What I mean is no matter how much I know thinking is work, others will not accept it.

Let's start with the basic concept that time is not always interchangeable. Even having someone recognize that time matters is difficult but trying to explain that this 30 seconds was really worth five, 10 or 60 minutes is virtually impossible.

Really, I am not trying to spend a lot of words getting to my point but

Most of the time, besides being the construction worker (mostly plumber and electrician today), I am the cook and the maid. In return, Ana is the person who has to go looking for odds and ends in the stores As my goal is to get our house done, I want to minimize time away from actual construction work. But, I also want to eat three meals a day.

Breakfast is easy and no different from breakfast in the city. While the coffee maker is brewing coffee, I can whip up a batch of gallo pinto and/or some eggs with leftover tortillas. What I want, however, is a no

I receive an assortment of "financial" newsletters. In general, they tend to be amusing in these interesting financial times. That is, they tell you all is well with stocks and then, a short time later, they tell you why something bad that they missed happened but now everything will be ok now.

I have been at CoolTop being a construction worker and night watchman for days. Seriously, I don't remember how many but probably about five. I just realized it is like camping only better.

First, I am in a pine forest away from most everyone. It reminds me of when I would run away to the Olympics, hike in five to ten miles and be away from most everyone. There are, however, two big differences that make it so much better.

First, the weather. While being in the snow in the Olympics sounds romantic, the reality is that it is downright cold. You buy down

When I lived in Seattle and worked all too much, I would run away to the mountains for a break of sanity. It usually took three days before sanity would appear. Well, I have been at CoolTop working on our house for for four days and sanity seems to be here.

What I mean by sanity is that I get around to thinking about my life, what makes sense, what matters and what I would like to accomplish. I contrast this with thinking about how to make money, how to deal with traffic and, in general, lots of external things. While I am not

Ok, beer in the supermarket has gone from C$77 a sixpack (said as sixpack in Nicaraguan) to C$90. That I can deal with. But, the last time I bought a tamale from a street vendor it was C$5. I considered that a reasonable priced dinner. (It was, of course, plus chile.) Well, Ana is casa-sitting in Tisey so I bought my own tonight. C$7. I am just not sure C$7 is an "affordable price" for dinner. Of course, it is still less than the beer to go with it. :-)