Wisconsin Dreaming

Katie & Katie

Ironman WI  - September 11, 2011:  7am swim start (Rick's by the ski jump!!)

Rick running on State Street

Finish line family - less than 13 hours later!

Signing their lives away

I think this one is Rob :)

Celebrating after everyone is safely down (Bloody Marys to follow)

Silly cheap pumpkins, big red barns, and lots of corn fields?!?!

My parent's 4 legged beasts - Paco and Lola

Where is Cinderella??

Dad & Nana with the puppies up at dad's house

The team that makes it all possible.

Huelga = Strike

This whole not having a car thing is....

1) Coming to an end today.
2) Managing to crack me up regularly!

Coming to an end?!?! YES! I'm buying a lovely little black volvo. It's 2002. It's Turbo. It runs. WOW. Hurrah!!

Cracking me up?! YES! I decided that naming my last car Pituffo (and calling it Pit) was just setting myself up for failure. It lived up to it's name. I decided I'm naming my new car Suerte (Luck) and buying fabulous and ridiculous car seat covers and adding a Bucky Badger sticker.

Cracking me up?! YES! Last night (when I was still a non-car-owner) I was waiting for the bus...waiting...and waiting...and waiting. Normally the bus stop is full of people, last night it was different. After ~20 minutes of waiting and not seeing a single bus, the only other guy there came over and told me his buddy just told him that all of the bus drivers went on strike. STRIKE = STRANDED! Option 1: Go to the mall, buy work clothes for Thursday and commit to sleeping under my desk at work until the strike ended. Option 2: Pay megabucks for a taxi. Option 3: Call el vegitariano. Ahhhhh it's good to have friends!!

Feels like home

I flew back to San Juan yesterday afternoon after 2 action packed weeks in WI. I saw the WI people I needed to see, ate fish tacos, cheese curds and apple pie, and am now ready to begin the second phase of the Puerto Rico adventure. Today I see new car prospect #1, I go back to the noisy Latino office, and I start researching Spanish classes so I walk away from this with the best language skills possible, and as many new friends as possible.

Speaking of friends, el vegitariano and my new friend Carla plotted out my whole evening. El V picked me up at the airport and we all went to the coolest beach restaurant (hang out in hammocks and look left to the sea and right to the mountains). I got my much needed dose of fried food and plantains. Ahhhh it's good to be back.

Pictures of WI to come. Here's what I came back to :)

Photos of Life

Blue skies & Palm Trees - this is in Pinones where I go biking on the weekends.







This is me out and about with my bike :)

















This is Old San Juan on a windy kite-flying day.













A different part of old San Juan - a better shot of the historical parts!













City Lights and crashing waves - this is Escambron, a beach on the way to Old San Juan. It's a thinking and relaxing get away from life spot.

I sold it. HURRAH

Today I feel like my fun is just starting, like my PR discovery can FINALLY adventure outside of San Juan, like I have the world on a string. *#(&*&%$#@% Pittufo is no longer my set of wheels.

Ironically... that means I don't HAVE a set of wheels...which would explain why I found myself on the train this afternoon with $4,700 in tens and twenties. Sundress, flip flops, pockets full of cash.

Hoy, a mi me encanta la vida.

4 wheels and a headache

Dude 1: Not only did he show up an hour late, he then proceeded to slip the mechanic $$$$ to tell me the car was in great condition (and was stupid enough to think I wouldn't see...). *(@#$^!&*# I hate being a girl alone in a big city - let's just tattoo victim on my forehead, ok?! WOW.

Dude 2: Arrived on time in a suit. The car was beautiful on the inside and he knew exactly how many miles until the next oil change and when the tires would need to be changed. His wife was the first owner and they are selling because she bought a new BMW. BUT, he wants $1,500 more than the Kelly Blue Book value of car. WOW.

Dudette 3: Sent her son to get me when I got lost on the way to their house. When I arrived, she proceeded to tell me that the car was hit when parked in front of her house 2 days earlier and needs the bumper replaced. I couldn't test drive it...and it's really not even for sale until she gets it fixed. Why did I go there today?!?! WOW.

Perfecting the Shadow Puppet

Dearest blog followers,

Sunday night we lost power. Monday work started at noon and ended at 4:30. Tuesday my car swam to work and then got redirected on my way home because all the streets were flooded. (I resorted to back streets and got lost because there were trees down across the road.) Wednesday I got ready for work at the gym so I could shower with more than a flashlight's worth of visibility. Perhaps you think, ahh tropical storm, no big thing? Here are the headlines from the paper:

• Huracán Irene en Puerto Rico deja al menos un muerto y mil 500 damnificados (Translation: Huracan Irene in Puerto Rico leaves at least one dead and 500 damned)
• El paso de "Irene" por Puerto Rico provoca perdidas de 70 millones de dolares (Translation: Irene's passing through Puerto Rico provokes losses of $70,000,000)
• 1 million lose power in Puerto Rico as Hurricane Irene heads towards US
  

Somehow, though, PR culture sneaks in and turns this into a party. That would be why I spent hours last night at my neighbor's place hanging out in candlelight with people from the apartment. It was a glamorous shin-dig focused mainly on eating the food that would otherwise rot in our refrigerators and gossiping about PR government/apartment dwellers/famous people. Brilliant.

Work also increased in social exchanges, as everyone is curious to catch up on who has lights and running water. PLUS people stop by constantly to ask how I survived the storm (Let's be serious - I got all the "scared" out of my system with the non-existent storm Emily... I SLEPT through Irene's 60 mile an hour winds!). Overall, it's been an amusing change of pace and routine, but I am sooooooo glad the lights are back on!!!

Here was my drive to work on Tuesday morning (note, this is 48hrs+ after the storm):