Aren't We supposed to be Slowing Down?

Are we busy or what!

Between finishing the house, rehearsing for some more music, my guitar practice every day, acting class with lines to memorize and learning Spanish we are busy...not to mention socializing.

I have noted this before. We go out about 2 to 3 times a week in the evening to socialize.

We didn't go out 2 to 3 times in 6 months back in Colorado. This seems natural here. There are so many available and interesting people to hang out with.

This doesn't include bumping into people during the day. As we go about our day, we see friends around town and stop to visit, sometimes for a couple of hours. Maybe that's why we feel so busy!

So much to update you on....

The house is moving along. The pressure water and filtration system will be completed tomorrow. That is a big step. Next step, fixing the crappy plumbing installed by our illustrious builder.

Speaking of builder, he has been texting us saying he is finished and he wants his last payment. So we have been putting The Great Panamanian Avoidance Dance back on him. After all, he taught us well. It has been fun, fun, fun.

We effectively fired him 3 weeks ago and until today, he had no idea. You see, he hasn't been to our house in 3 weeks, so how would he know we are busy finishing it without him.

We bumped into him late in the afternoon today. This was my trick, track him down driving around town. He turned it against us and caught us unaware! We sat him down to tell him that we were finishing the house without him. We did it with kindness and finesse. I think he was left OK but still chagrin about his lack of performance and completion. Perfect! We want to maintain a friendship with him for the future and we want him to shoulder his responsibility in the matter. I think we got both.

He will go up to the house and see the plumbing mess tomorrow. This is good. He needs to know how his workers messed up. He knows that we have hired another plumber to fix his mess and he is out of the loop.

I feel sorry for him in a way. He is a good guy. He didn't rip us off for 10's of thousands of dollars like so many down here. He is simply a Panamanian builder...this is Panama after all. We are not going to change them nor should we...that is the Ugly American thing. And, it's not personal. Everyone gets the same slow construction with no completion.

Yella and I have been spending a lot of time at our house. This is good. We are "bonding with the house" and "being one with the house." OK, you can stop puking now.

All kidding aside, it feels good to be involved with the completion process. All in all, when we are in the house, it will mean more to us because of the extremely tedious process.

I hope!

I went to David to see union Fenosa about our power or, I should say, lack of power. After about 30 minutes, they said we had a 100 amp service when our plans specified a 60 amp service so they didn't do anything. They just stopped. In order to fix it, I bought a 60 amp breaker and screwed it in...$20 and 5 minutes.

Now, they don't tell you ANYTHING. You have to go dig it out. Another 3 weeks lost time.

We are getting used to it.

Now about our car...

You may remember that the motor is being rebuilt. And rebuilt and rebuilt and rebuilt and rebuilt...

This is the never ending rebuild. Why? A very thorough Panamanian mechanic who works linearly. So we take the block to the David machine shop, wait a few days, get it back, see something else, take it to David, wait a couple of days, do the next step, take it to David and so on.

We will have The Perfect Motor! I think it will be worth it. We are willing to spend a couple of extra weeks without a car to get a great job. It should all cost less that $1200.

Tomorrow...Tom to the house to run parts and anything else, Yella to David to see our attorney.

Life in the fast lane!