I’ve been trying to convince my dad to retire. He’s one of those old guys who thinks he just has to work, and the last time I bugged him about it, he insisted that he wouldn’t know what to do with his time. But he could come up with a list of 10 things he would do if he didn’t have to work. That’s what you’ll be doing when you retire, I told him.
Maybe all those years I went to school for 2 months and spent the …

We met many interesting people during our trip, and it seems that everyone has different reasons for moving to Costa Rica, with the two most common are cost of living and climate. Here are 5 reasons why moving to Costa Rica works for me.
1. Climate
I prefer hot weather over cold, by far. Costa Rica is in the tropics, where there are two seasons: Dry and Wet. The majority of the population lives in the Central Valley, around the capital of San Jose. San Jose is about …

Last year, I vented a bit about Christmas giving.  Trish and I revisited the issue and instead of my $10-15/person gift idea, she and her sisters decided on doing a ‘Secret Santa’ deal with a $50 budget.  That would allow for one nice present rather than 5 books/cds/t-shirts/etc.  And the gift has to be thoughtful, though some family members have still released lists of preferred gifts. (shame on thee, ye of so little faith )
I’m really happy about the idea, though I’m still working on what to get for …

We are already starting the cleaning out process in preparation for the move.  Part of me is enjoying it.  But then there is the other part.
Arp has this tendency to look around the room and zero in on piles of my crap that he thinks should go.   Today’s target was my collection of Martha Stewart Living magazines.
Here is my response, verbatum:
“Arp, when we are living on the Carribean Coast of Costa Rica, far from everything that I know, what exactly do you think I will turn to so that …

We joined a CSA at a local farm recently and have been enjoying our super-fresh, peak of season produce. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. It’s basically a subscription to produce – just like paying a subscription fee and getting a magazine every month, we paid a subscription fee and get fresh produce every week for 6 months.
The farm is a family-owned farm and they were nice enough to invite us for a farm tour the other day. We got a look at where our food comes …