Flashback Friday | A Day In The Life Of Cruisers & Worker Bees

Today is Michael d’Agostino’s Flashback Friday. The idea is to republish an old post of yours that maybe didn't get enough attention, or that you're really proud of, or you think is still relevant etc. We started this blog three years ago and have lots more followers now then we did back then (thanks guys!) so many folks may not have seen some of our earlier blog posts. 

I wrote this post when I was living in New Zealand. We had sold our old boat and were both working for a while to top up our cruising kitty (savings account in sailing speak) before we headed back to the States to look for our next boat. After having lived aboard and cruised on our boat in New Zealand, it was quite a shock to the system to have to go back and work in an office. This post compares a day in the life of a cruiser living full-time aboard their sailboat and a cruiser wanna-be stuck in an office. 

{This post was originally published in May 2014. You can find it here.}

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Scott and I are working for a few months to top up the cruising kitty. It got me thinking about what my average day looks like cruising versus working. We need to get a new boat pronto.

A Day in the Life of a Worker Bee

You are not my friend.

 
GETTING UP

The alarm screeches at you at 6:00 AM. Grope around in the dark to try to find it so that you can hit the snooze button. Give up, turn on the light and silence the little beast.

Get out of your spacious double bed. Yawn. Stretch. Take a shower with hot water. Wash and rinse your hair as much as you like. No coins required.

Make coffee and turn on the TV. Get depressed as you listen to the news stories about people starving, wars, corrupt government officials and the latest sporting scandal. Get distracted when the way too cheerful weather presenter tells you about all the rain headed your way. Wonder what kind of drugs he takes. It is really possible to be that chipper when talking about the weather? Apparently it is.

Sigh. Get dressed. In clean clothes. In tights, a skirt and a top which silently whispers, “I’m a professional. I know what I’m talking about. I have a PowerPoint presentation to prove it.”

GETTING TO WORK

Get on a train. Full of people. All sneezing and coughing and spraying germs on you. Sneeze and sniffle back at them. We can all play this game.

Stare out the window at the office buildings and the shops. Watch the people on the train think about going to work in the office buildings so that they can get a paycheck and buy stuff in the shops. You can see it in their eyes, "We must drive the economy. Work, work, work! Earn, earn, earn! Spend, spend, spend!"

Hand the lady next to you a tissue – she really needs one. Get off the train. Walk to your office building. Stop in at the shop across the road. They sell chocolate. It's going to be a long day. You'll need some.

WHILING AWAY THE HOURS

Sit in a chair at a desk with a computer. All day long. Stare at the computer. Make fancy PowerPoint presentations to convince people that you’re a professional and you know what you’re talking about. Stare out the window. Such a lovely view of McDonald’s. Think to yourself, “At least I’m sitting in an office building, not serving hamburgers.” You feel better. Because inner peace comes from knowing there is always someone worse off than you.

Send a few emails. Talk to people on the phone. Have a cup of tea. Eat your chocolate. Turn off your computer.

GOING HOME

Wait at the train station. Wait some more. Get on a train. Wonder why people are so rude. Watch the young mother struggle to get her pram on the train. Watch the people right next to the door watch the young mother struggle to get her pram on the train. Obviously, they have been superglued to their seats and are unable to help her. Fortunately, you sat in the one seat without superglue. You help. Poor cute little baby – doesn’t know he has a life of working in an office and making PowerPoint presentations ahead of him. Maybe that's why he is crying.

CHILLING OUT

Stare at the fridge. Will it to produce something delicious for dinner. Give up. Go get takeaway pizza. Sit on the couch. Turn on the TV. Watch a show about people starving, wars, corrupt government officials and the latest sporting scandal. Highly entertaining because it can't possibly be real. Plus everyone is wearing such nice clothes. And their hair looks shiny and pretty.

GO TO SLEEP

Set the alarm for 6:00 AM. Drift off to sleep and dream about sailing.


A Day in the Life of a Cruiser

When you live on a sailboat, you get views like this.

 
GETTING UP

The splash of the water against your boat gently wakes you up at 6:00 AM. Have a good stretch, look out the porthole and smile. While you’re stretching, bump your head against the side of the cramped little v-berth. Stop smiling for a minute. Okay, back to smiling. You’re on a boat and the skipper has made coffee.

Grab the clothes you had on yesterday (and possibly the day before and maybe the day before that) and put them on. They don’t smell any worse than you, so you’re good to go.

No shower. No hot water. Oh well. You’re on a boat. It could be worse. You could be starving, living in a war-torn nation run by corrupt government officials and watching the news on TV about the latest sporting scandal.

GOING TO WORK

You don’t.

WHILING AWAY THE HOURS

You have a leisurely breakfast. You go for a hike. You have a picnic lunch. You stare at the incredible views all around you. You sail to a new anchorage. You enjoy a sundowner in the cockpit and watch the dolphins play and the sun set. You eat a dinner of fresh snapper. And you sigh with contentment.

GOING HOME

You’re home already. On your boat. Home is where the heart is. Your heart is on your boat.

CHILLING OUT

See above – whiling away the hours.

GO TO SLEEP

Drift off to sleep and dream about sailing. No alarm required.

If you work, what's your favorite and/or least favorite parts of your job? If you're retired or not working at present, what's the biggest difference between your days as a worker bee and what you get up to now?

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Wordless Wednesday | Glow Plugs

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - The engine on our boat works now! {If you've followed us for a while, you'll know how darn exciting this is.}

2 - We had to remove this panel to access the glow plug starter and replace an inline fuse.

3 - There's a reason for panels like these. They hide all of the scary bits and bobs that lurk behind them.

4 - Whenever I hear the term "glow plugs," I think about glow worms which makes me think about the "Inchworm" song from the Hans Christian Anderson musical. I can't get it out of my head now. 

What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

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Finding A Wee Beastie In The Eggs

I had a rather ordinary start to my day. I got up, had some coffee, went for a walk with Scott and then started to make breakfast.

When I opened the egg container this morning, I found a wee beastie lurking inside.

Here's what he looks like up close. Doesn't he look a little cranky to you? I'm guessing he hasn't had his morning coffee yet.

 

Scott brought him back from Glasgow with him. Every day he keeps turning up in new places. Scott's fun like that.

We used to have another wee beastie on our boat in New Zealand.

Here's a close-up. Clearly, he's had way too much coffee. And he's got a weird kind of drool thing going on.

For some reason, neither of our wee beasties have names. Odd, isn't it?

The rest of the day was far less entertaining than the egg incident. We worked on the engine. There were wire brushes, grease, grime, oil, dirt, dust and other unpleasant things involved. Plus a lot of paper towels. Lots and lots of paper towels. There's a reason why boaters call paper towels "white gold" - they're essential to most boat projects.

Just in case you needed proof that I actually worked on boat projects today, here's what my hands looked like at the end of the day. That's oil and grease under those fingernails, not a new trendy manicure. Living on a boat is just so darn sexy and glamorous.

How did your day start and end? What do you think we should name our wee beastie?

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Happy Holidays!

Image courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

We'll be having our usual holiday festivities over the coming days - enjoying a Christmas curry and watching Monty Python's The Life of Brian. Whatever your plans are during the holiday season, we wish you heaps of joy, good cheer and happiness and a wonderful New Year!

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Wordless Wednesday | Nativity Scene In Tenerife

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - Several years ago, we spent Christmas in Tenerife. Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands, located off of the coast of West Africa.

2 - On Christmas Day, we went to Loro Parque, a zoo in Puerto de la Cruz, and then walked around town checking out the Christmas decorations. 

3 - I got a kick out of the nativity scene and how they used dolls to represent Mary and Joseph. I love the beard they drew on Joseph with a magic marker. 
 

What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

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Sandcastles | Anna Maria Island, Florida

One of the first things we did once Scott came back was to go through the very long list of boat projects that we have to do before we can head off to the Bahamas.

Here's the problem with project lists - they're utterly depressing. They make you realize how much you have to do, how much it's all going to cost and how much you don't have a clue about.

What do you do when you're overwhelmed by your boat project list? You lock up your boat, get in the car and drive as far away as you can before you run out of gas. We got as far as Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida where we rented a cottage for a week so that we can chill out and muster up our courage to tackle the boat project list.

We've been going out for long walks on the beach while we've been here and admiring sandcastles.

This one isn't so much a sandcastle as a sand snowman.

And it wouldn't be Florida without a turtle made out of sand and shells.

There were plenty of more traditional sand castles. Some were pretty elaborate with complicated moat systems.

Do they have better sandcastle making equipment nowadays? The ones I made as a kid never looked as good as the ones we saw.

And of course, sandcastles as a reminder that everything fades with time. I wonder what this one looked like originally before the water and wind eroded it.

When's the last time you made a sandcastle or played on the beach? 

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Kililing Time At The Airport

Scott made it back yesterday, but not without a wee bit of drama one comes to expect from air travel. His connecting flight to Orlando got canceled, but they were able to reroute him on another flight which got in an hour later.

Since I had time to kill at the airport while I waited for him, I wandered around taking pictures and doing some people watching.

For those tourists flying into Orlando to visit Disney World, the whole experience starts at the airport. 

I had fun watching all of the little girls sit next to Snow White to get their picture taken. I kind of wanted to get my picture taken with her too.

Traveling on airplanes is hard enough as it is, fighting your way through the crowds and struggling with your bags. It's even a million times harder if you aren't fully mobile and have to get around in a wheelchair.

 I did a double take when I saw this statue. It looked really life-like.

The airport was decked out for the holidays. There was a great a cappella choir wandering around the airport and singing Christmas carols.

And that's it for today. Scott's got jet lag and he's still a bit shattered from his trip, so I forsee a lot of napping on today's agenda.

Do you like air travel? What's been your best and/or worst air travel experience?

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Wordless Wednesday | Chang Beer In Thailand

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - We like trying local beers when we travel. 

2 - One of my favorite beers in Thailand was Chang.

3 - Sometimes, they served it over ice with a straw. I thought that was kind of weird.
 

What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

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Making Lists

Since Scott is going to be back this week, I've been madly making lists of things that need to be done before we leave for the Bahamas.

I like making lists. Lists bring order to chaos. Or else at least they give you the illusion that you have some sort of control over the chaos. Lately, I've been dividing my lists into categories to get a handle on what needs to be done.

Some tasks are incredibly unpleasant. 

You'll notice that there's only one item on this list - change the joker valve in our marine toilet. Anything to do with toilets is unpleasant by default. It's not a difficult job, it's just gross.

Then there are the tasks that you should have done already, but didn't. 

As we all know, I'm a real pro when it comes to procrastinating unpleasant and boring tasks. There's always something better to do, like watch videos of cats on YouTube. I should probably try to get at least one of these things done before Scott gets back.

Lots of boat related tasks will drive you to drink.

There are some tasks I've been saving to work on with Scott, many of which we'll need to tackle before we head off to the Bahamas. They're the types of tasks that are bound to be frustrating or go pear-shaped. I suspect that they may drive us to drink at the end of each workday. If not drink, then into the arms of a comforting chocolate cake.

Some tasks are downright annoying.

Anything that has to do with computers, the government and filling out forms is automatically annoying, like taxes. Then there are the tasks that you thought you had ticked off the list, but nope, it didn't work, so you have to do it again. I'm thinking of our teak shower grate here. The first two times I tried to fix it failed. So it's back on the list again.

Some tasks fall into the category of arts and crafts.

I've got a number of sewing projects to do. They'd be a lot more fun if they involved glitter.

I love doing anything related to food. Except dishes.

Because groceries are so expensive in the Bahamas, we'll stock up as much as we can before we leave. I've already done an inventory of what we have on the boat so that I know what we need to stock up on. Now I just have to figure out how many cases of beer we should bring. Last time we were there, we ran out.

Internet research can be fun. And distracting.

There's a number of thing I need to research on the internet. The only problem is that I get sucked into sites like Bored Panda instead of researching more important things like dinghy anchors.

Those are just some of the things on my To Do List. What's on yours?

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Look What Santa Brought Me!

I must have been on Santa's nice list this year, because look what he brought me - a Honda generator!

Well, he didn't really bring it to me. He just sent me a link to the Honda holiday sales site and told me to go pick it up myself. That was kind of a drag, but I thought to myself, give Santa a break. After all, this is a busy time of year for him.

But then it turns out he expected me to pay for it myself. What the heck Santa? This isn't how things used to work when I was a kid. I remember getting an amazing Barbie Dream House one year. It was awesome. It even had an elevator that the hamsters used to love riding in. What made it even better was that Santa didn't ask me for my credit card details when he dropped it off.

My how times have changed. Who would have thought that I'd be so excited about getting a generator for Christmas and that I'd willingly fork over my credit card to Santa's elves.

Some of you may be thinking that maybe I was actually on Santa's naughty list. After all, who writes to Santa and says, please bring me a generator? Well, I did. And I really was nice this year. Well, most of the year.

Although we have solar panels on our sailboat, they're not always going to be enough to meet our power demands, especially when it's cloudy out. This generator is going to make things so much easier, especially when it comes to keeping the electronic devices charged. Because without a fully charged computer, I can't blog or work on my writing. And if I can't blog or write, that would make me cranky. And if I got cranky, I probably wouldn't be very nice and we know how important it is to stay on Santa's good side. After all, I'm hoping Santa brings me a composting toilet next year.


Did you make a list for Santa this year? What's on it? Or, if you're not into Santa, what would be your ideal birthday present?

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Tick, Tock...Time Is Running Out | IWSG

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a place to share and encourage, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without appearing foolish or weak. It's a great place to mingle with like minded people each month during IWSG day.

Every month there is a question which may prompt folks to share advice, insights, a personal experience or story. Some folks answer the question in their IWSG blog post or let it inspire them if they're struggling with what to say.

This month's question prompt is:

"In terms of your writing career, where do you see yourself five years from now, and what’s your plan to get there?"

Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and writing topics they may have shared by visiting the IWSG sign-up list here. If you want to know how I answered the question, have a read below.

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When I read this month's question all I could think of was that five years from now I'm going to have a lot more gray hair and way too many wrinkles. I'm not getting any younger. Time is running out. I probably should have started this whole writing thing a lot earlier in life. {Sigh}

It was all kind of depressing so I decided my best course of action was to ignore the question. Not to brag or anything, but I'm a real pro when it comes to procrastinating difficult and unpleasant tasks. Instead, I turned my attention to searching for that bag of emergency cookies I stashed someplace.

While I was digging through the cupboards, I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. I screamed and jumped back, bumping my head on the cupboard door.

"Well, hello there! I'm Esme, your personal life coach," a woman said brightly as she sat down on the settee. "I'm here to help you work through this month's IWSG question."

"My personal life coach," I spluttered as I put the bag of cookies on the table. "How did you get in here?"

"Never mind that," Esme said. "We're here to talk about you, not me. Do you know what a personal life coach is?"

"Of course I do," I snapped as I rubbed the lump on my forehead. "I used to do career and development coaching as part of my job. I even went on a week-long course in Sydney to become an ICF credentialed coach."

"Oh good, then you know how this works," she said. "Let's start with some questions using the GROW model. You know - G is for Goals, R is for Reality or your current situation, O is for Options or how you can achieve your goals and W is for Will or what you're going to do and by when."

I folded my arms and glared at her, but she didn't seem to get the hint that I wasn't interested in a coaching session.

"Can you pass me those cookies?" she said as she settled back into the settee. "So, what do you want to achieve in the next five years in terms of your writing?"

"I know what you're doing. You're going to ask me a bunch of open ended questions and try to get me to increase my awareness of the situation and identify my desired outcomes," I said. "It won't work. I'm on to you and your coaching Jedi mind tricks."

Esme just smiled at me and ate another cookie. At the rate she was going through the cookies, there weren't going to be any left for me.

"Fine," I said as the silence grew uncomfortable. I tried to grab the bag of cookies from her, but she was too quick for me. "If I answer your question, will you leave me alone?"

She countered with another question. "If you were in my shoes as a coach, what would you do in this situation?"

I hated to admit it, but it was a good question. "I guess I'd try to get my client to understand why they're resistant to being coached."

She handed me a cookie and didn't say a word. More uncomfortable silence. I shifted around in my seat and after a few minutes said, "I guess I don't like answering questions about goal setting because I might not achieve them."

She handed me another cookie. I was beginning to think my middle name should be Pavlov. "Okay, fine, I give up," I said. "In five years, I'd like to have finished and published the murder mystery I'm working on."

"And...," Esme prompted.

"Isn't that enough to accomplish in five years?" I said, noting that she hadn't offered another cookie.

"What do you think? Is that enough?"

"All right, I could aim higher. Maybe I could also write and publish the second book in my mystery series." I really wanted another cookie so I continued. "I suppose I could also turn my short story into a novel and try to get a couple of other sci-fi/fantasy short stories published," I said as I held out my hand for another cookie.

"Looks like our time is up and there aren't any more cookies left. We'll have to tackle the other parts of the GROW model another time," she said as she passed me the empty bag. "One last question. What specific actions are you going to take between now and our next coaching session?"

"Buy more cookies," I said.

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In all seriousness, this isn't really how coaching sessions should work, although having plenty of cookies at hand isn't a bad idea. The GROW model is a simple and well-established coaching model (there are lots of other good models out there too). If you're interested in finding out more about it to help with your own goal setting, you can find information here and here.

What are your goals five years from now? Have you ever had worked with a personal life or performance coach?

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Cost Of Living Aboard Tickety Boo | October & November 2016

It’s time for our regular cost of living update, which I do every two months. We've been tracking how much it costs to live aboard our Moody 346 sailboat, S/V Tickety Boo, at Indiantown Marina in southern Florida, where we were initially laid up during last hurricane season and where I'm now living while Scott is working overseas. While Scott has been in Scotland, I've been staying on our boat and slowly ticking things off of our project list. So, our live aboard costs are pretty much just that - cost of my daily living aboard our boat and occasionally buying stuff for Tickety Boo to keep her happy.

You can find links to other cost updates from ourselves and others on this page, as well as on The Monkey's Fist. If you want to know how much we spent over the past two months, have a look below.


Cost of Living Aboard | August & September 2016

Overall, we spent $6,706 during October and November which is up a whopping $4,265 from the previous two months. Yikes!

The primary reason that we had such an increase in spending was due to healthcare bills from an issue I had way back in March. I wish I could say that was the end of the healthcare bills for the year, but sadly there's more coming due. And all of this is even with insurance, thanks to the huge deductible and out-of-pocket expenses that we have to pay before insurance kicks in. Remind me never to get sick again.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of what we spent, here are a few things to note:

1 - All costs are in US dollars.

2 - Not all expenses are included - here's what we've left out:

(a) We don't report how much we spend on alcohol. I remember reading some horrible, judgy comments in a blog post a few years back about how much someone spent on booze, so I left it out when we first started tracking our cruising costs back in New Zealand. For consistency's sake, I've continued to leave it out when tracking our cruising and RV costs.

(b) We haven't included costs related to storing our Scamp travel trailer ($21 per month) because we track the cost of our RV and cruising adventures separately.

(c) We've also left out our costs for medical insurance. We didn't think it made sense to include insurance costs as they can vary so widely depending upon your nationality, where you cruise, what level of coverage you want and can afford etc. In case you are curious, while we're back in the States, we do have insurance through the health insurance marketplace (aka ACA/Obamacare), primarily to protect our assets and cover us in case of a catastrophic medical condition. After spending a pretty big chunk of change for health insurance during 2015, we were in a bit of a quandary about whether we should go ahead and get coverage for 2016 or take the risk and pay the tax penalty for being uninsured. In the end, after weighing up the potential tax penalty, possible tax credits and risk of being uninsured, we ended up getting insurance for 2016. If you want to know more about our health insurance options and quandary for 2016, check this post out.

3 - Scott has been in Scotland taking care of some work projects and tending to some other matters, so grocery and entertainment costs are less than they would be normally.

4 - I've included any shipping and taxes we've paid in what we report. Florida has a 6% sales tax. Boo.


GROCERIES | Total = $357

This category includes everything we put in our bodies in terms of food and drink (excluding booze) that we prepare ourselves. It doesn't include things like paper towels and ziploc bags, which I know some people would classify as groceries. Sure, you could probably eat them, but they wouldn't taste very good.


PERSONAL & HOUSEHOLD | Total = $56

This is the category where we include household things (like paper towels and ziploc bags) and personal hygiene items (like soap and shampoo). We also capture items for the "home" here - like bug spray.


ENTERTAINMENT | Total = $169

One of the great things about hanging out in Indiantown is that there really isn't all that much to spend your entertainment dollars on.

In terms of drinks and eating out, this includes everything we don't prepare ourselves, even if we get something to go and eat it back on the boat. We also track how much we spend on books, magazines, DVD rentals etc. in this category, as well as the occasional lottery ticket.


COMMUNICATIONS | Total = $140

Our cell phone is actually one of our biggest non-boat related expenses. I have a $60 monthly GoPhone plan with AT&T which includes 6GB of data and unlimited calls and texts. While Scott is away, I've also added on a $10 monthly international call plan so that we can have our daily phone call.


BOAT FUEL | Total = Nil

Because our boat hasn't left the slip, we haven't needed to spend anything on diesel or gas.


LPG | Total = Nil

I've been primarily using our microwave, an electric burner and crock pot for cooking, so haven't needed to top up the LPG tanks. Electricity is included in the slip fee so it makes sense to use that for cooking.


MARINA COSTS | Total = $1,166

Keeping Tickety Boo in a slip is one of our biggest expenses. The monthly cost of a slip with electricity at Indiantown Marina for a 34.5' boat is $572.40. The guys at the marina will also come pump out our holding tank on demand - $5.30 for each visit.


BOAT STUFF | Total = Nil

This category is for all the stuff we've been buying for the boat. We've got a long list of stuff we need to get for Tickety Boo - some upgrades, some maintenance related items, equipment etc. I haven't been working on many boat projects lately so there has been zero spend in this category during the past two months. The expenditure in this category will probably increase quite a bit over the next two months as Scott gets back and we start buying things again for the boat and ticking items off of the project list.


TRANSPORT | Total = $49

This category is for costs related to our vehicle, mostly for gas to keep it going and drive into the nearby "big city" of Stuart for errands. Gas is so cheap these days that I've really been able to keep these costs down.


MEDICAL EXPENSES | Total = $3,558

This category includes medical expenses outside of our monthly insurance premium (which aren't included here - see section on exclusions above), like over the counter medications, prescriptions and things for our medical kit. It also includes the costs of doctors visits and medical tests which aren't covered by our insurance.


OTHER | Total = $1,210

In this category, we break out how much we spend on clothes and travel expenses. We also include a catch-all miscellaneous group for stuff that doesn't fit neatly anywhere else - things like laundry ($3.25 for a wash and dry at Indiantown Marina).

The big expenses in this category were for travel related expenses - Scott's plane ticket back to the States ($840) and airport parking and taxi fare for my trip to Portland ($99).

Do you budget and/or track your expenses? If so, do you find it helps you manage your money better?

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November In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left corner: (1) IPA - my favorite kind of beer; (2) Andy Warhol exhibit in Portland; (3) Press on nails - research for my mystery novel; (4)  Family fun - searching for gravestones; (5) A new coloring book!; and (6) Thanksgiving festivities and friends.

It's time for the monthly recap in numbers - an assortment of odd tidbits and random thoughts that popped into my head when I was reflecting back on the month.

• 1 – The number of beers I had during election night coverage. I went with a nautically themed beer – a Boatswain American IPA. It was a delightful distraction.

• 9 – The number of hours it took to fly from West Palm Beach, Florida to Portland, Oregon to visit my family. Once you add in travel time to the airport, time spent waiting in lines and sitting around time, it makes for a long day. My flights were on time, which was good. However, on one of my flights, the guy sitting next to me was in a serious need of a shower, which was not so good.

• 3 – The number of times my mom and I visited Lone Fir Cemetery in search of dead bodies. I realize saying “dead bodies” probably doesn’t make sense. One expects the bodies in cemeteries to be dead. But you never know, so it doesn’t hurt to specify to the universe that you’d prefer the bodies in the cemetery to be dead.

• $20 – How much my new messenger bag cost me. I had been hanging onto my old one for a really long time in an effort not to spend money unnecessarily. But it finally gave up on life and, to be honest, it was starting to smell bad like that guy on the airplane.

• $1.50 – How much it cost to rent Star Trek: Beyond at the Red Box kiosk while I was in Portland. I had no idea what Red Box was all about. What’s even more astonishing is that I had no idea they have one in Indiantown. I just always assume anything I really want or need requires a drive to Stuart. Turns out, DVD rentals can also be found in Indiantown. Dunkin Donuts and Red Box - why would anyone ever want to leave this place?

• Gazillion – How many boats there currently are in slips at the marina. Okay, maybe not a gazillion as there aren’t a gazillion slips here, but after the long, quiet summer, it’s starting to seem a little crazy here with all of the people.

• 7,505 – Number of words I wrote on one of the days during the NaNoWriMo Challenge. I was mentally exhausted by the end of that day.

• 4 – Number of days of Thanksgiving festivities at Indiantown Marina. The owner puts on a huge celebration for everyone here including live music, meals (including Thanksgiving dinner), drinks and more. A good opportunity to catch up with friends and eat far too much.

In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite posts from last month:

Emigrating to New Zealand | How & Why We Did It
Some Secrets are Dead Boring
Morning Coffee | Random Thoughts & Oddities


How was your November? What are you looking forward to in December?

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