Planning for "Plan B"...

only 30 days left on our lease...but we'll be outta here in 12 days!!

Lisa and I spent the weekend looking at sailboats. There is a 44' Hunter Deck Salon in the bay area that's been for sale for a while. It's a used boat but with only 75 hours on the engine. We had been on a sister boat at the boat show a few years ago and really liked the look and the interior layout. The boat is no longer in production as it was replaced by the Hunter 45 DS. I went to the hunter website and asked for some info on the 45...a couple hours later I was getting a phone call from a dealer in Miami. One thing led to another and I had made plans for us to meet the gentleman in Palm Beach to look at the boat, a new 2008 Hunter 45 DS.

It was a very hot day with little breeze. Bob had started the air conditioning on the boat which was required. It was quite comfortable inside, the living space was awesome, with a very nice aft owners stateroom w/ensuite head and stand-up shower, the galley was ample, nav station had most of the required instruments (but lacked GPS) and the forward cabin had a pullman berth w/head in the fore peak. Cockpit was well layed out with twin wheels, bimini (for shade) and a nice table. We spent well over an hour and a half crawling through the boat. The price was within our range and it was a brand new boat. (but it was a 2008 and the 2010's are already out)...We went back to his office and they had a 41 DS also brand new and "on the hard" (i.e. it was in a cradle but we could still get on the boat)...Bob gave us lots to think about!

We then started to drive north up highway 1, past Jupiter, to Jensen beach and some coastal towns we had not really heard of. Bob had told us of a brand new Marina in Stuart, with cheap rates, great location amenities, etc. We found the new marina and a new Hunter dealership and some new boats to crawl through!!! The boat that caught our eye and was stunning was the 45' center cockpit. It has the same hull as the 45 DS but the layout is very different. The aft cabin was spacious...as in huge and tall!! and well ventilated. We talked to the sales guy and walked away impressed. We did choke on the price...as we left a huge thunderstorm rolled through and rained all 45 minutes back to Boca!! -- when we got home we immediately were on the internet.

On Sunday, we went to see some Moorings used boats from their charter fleet. They also had a leopard 46 and 40. brand new!! The 46 was way to big, while the 40 seemed manageable. The price is also a bit outside our range, but the the roominess was impressive and creates a lot of outdoor living space!! The best part...Saturday the 5th we're going for a test sail!! As we left the Moorings, we decided to head back up to Stuart to see the 45' center cockpit again. Our sales guy John, was not there but Rusty his boss was. We spent another hour with Rusty, kicking the proverbial tires and talking sailing. He was a good sale's guy and asked for the order with a presumptive close, but we didn't bite. He did give us more to think about...

All of this is a prelude to whatever Plan B turns out to be.

planning our move...

only 40 days left on our lease...

We got 4 bids for our relo back to Colorado - United, Allied, Bekins and Wheton (a smaller firm) The smaller firm was the low bidder. We liked the guy who gave us the quote, spoke well, dressed nice, explained the process etc. We think he underestimated the load size by about 700 lbs. Pounds yields boxes, so they were understated too. Boxes consume volume which is the balancer. We had used United on the way down and for our move to Colorado, so we were biased. We chose Allied based on price, JD Powers rating and general feel for Jay who was the sales guy that did the estimate. They will also be responsible for moving our car, though that will be on a car carrier.

We used a site called epinions.com to do a little online research. We had used something similar when we were trying to decide on a place to live. We think only disgruntled people use those sites to bitch...as there are very few favorable comments. The car moving data was even more disturbing.

I guess a lot of things in this world come down to trust and human behavior.

Hurricane watch and other matters...

Only 43 days left on our lease!!!

We had a "date night" Friday night!! Went to Max's Grill in Mizner Park, just a short walk from here. It was a balmy evening with a threat of rain. The restaurant was fairly crowded for our 7:45 reservation. Lisa had made the reservation here. They are running some pretty good specials in the Summer when fewer people are here. They had fixed price menu of appetizer/salad, entre, dessert for prices ranging from $18-$27 AND 1/2 off bottles of wine. Food was awesome. We had "firecracker" wanton's, I chose scallops and Lisa had Ahi tuna and we both skipped dessert. We chose a nice Chardonnay (Ferrari-Carano) and at half price bought a 2nd bottle which we corked and enjoyed Saturday night too, when we had Swordfish from Wholefoods!

Saturday was mostly chores (Hoovering the condo, Costco, Wine store, Wholefoods) but we did sneak out to have Starbucks and go to the beach. It was nice with a breeze, some small waves and good people watching. We hit a "Kojac" parking spot, you know the kind, very crowded street and there is the one open parking spot with time left on the meter!! A small "Tropical Wave" was passing through...

Sunday was a lazy day, reading the paper, workout, Starbucks/Beach, buying a few "Hurricane Preparedness" items and a quick stop at Publix. Oh and we walked to "Baskin Robbins" at 9:30 pm for some ice cream and the $%#! store was put away. The sign on the door said open till 10 but the kid had pretty much closed down. The only things available were small cartons, which we grudgingly bought and left.

Did you here about Tropical Storms "Ana" and "Bill"?? -- Bill is the one we are watching...at this point, we are in a fairly wide "Cone of Uncertainty" -- Kinda of exciting don't ya think?!?! -- Plus we're learning some new terms...

48 days and counting...

We are back in the condo in Boca!! -- We have 48 days left on our lease. -- I approached Miguel (VP for Latin America) with a problem to see if I could get some input from him. Here's the problem I asked for help on. Our lease expires on September 30th. Given the Oracle uncertainty, what should we do? Sign another year long lease?, go month to month? (with landlord approval) etc. Miguel thought for 30 seconds and then offered..."If I were you, I'd move back to Colorado!" (OMG, "Right answer!", little TD dance!!, High 5's all around...etc...all in my head of course)

I'm putting Lisa in charge of the move back. She works from home and can coordinate estimates, do some packing, etc. -- we found move.com a kinda auction site for moving...put in your info, you start getting phone calls/emails within minutes. I think our prelim estimates are 1/3 of what was charged to move down here.

We sold our Townhouse in Westminster to our tenents!! took awhile and we're offsetting some negative cash flow and we're not getting much if any of our down payment back...our first bad real estate investment...live and learn...we can add to our already large "Tax Loss carry forward" balance. Now we need some gains!!! (tax free gains!!) I wish we could sell 'em...maybe Obama can help me with that one!! -- oh yeah he doesn't like me 'cuz I'm in the wrong tax bracket!!

oh well less than 48 days in Florida to go...I started my blog with counting...I guess I'm ending it the same way!!!

Summer fun...Maui style!!

What an awesome 10 days of fun in the sun in Maui!! -- We had planned a summer get-away to Maui well over a year ago. We own 2 weeks at the Westin Kaanapali Ocean Villas resort, which we had purchased back in 2002. Each is a 2 bedroom lock-off with a larger side with full kitchen, living room, bathroom and big bedroom. The smaller side is just a studio size with bedroom, small kitchen and bath. We had 13 people in total, 8 adults and 5 children.

We enjoyed a mix of activities, dining experiences and just sitting in the sun and enjoying the pool!! 11 of the 13 people left on Saturday August 1st, while Lisa and I stayed until Tuesday 8/4...We enjoyed the down time!!

The event of the trip occurred on Tuesday July 28th when we all went on the Trilogy to Honalua Bay a marine sanctuary in West Maui. We saw dolphins, turtles, eels and a Bat Ray!! The highlight for me was seeing the wild eyed look of Evelyn snorkeling for the first time in the ocean...and to see the elusive smile on Jordyn's face when we saw the dolphins. (She did not want to go on the boat). The crew and people at Trilogy have always treated us very well!!

Bob and Kathy treated the adults to an awesome dinner at the Lahaina Grill!! -- We also feasted on fresh fish from the fish market whenever we could!!! Trying a new fish that I forgot the name of...but it was a kind of Jack fish that the locals love. The fish market makes it easy with already made marinades and aluminum pans!!

If anybody ever needs any Maui recommendations...just let me know.

Gator-Tales will return to it's Florida roots next week when we get back!!