Tuesday, May 27, 2014

Anchoring in Montevideo

Anchoring in Montevideo
We are here in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, which apparently is not pronounced "Mon-tee-VID-ee-o" as I originally had thought. We live, we learn. Once again we were able to score a room upgrade with the hotel when we let the good people at the front desk know that we were celebrating our three year anniversary, and they were so nice that they gave us a suite. After going out for dinner, we came home to find a chocolate cake and a card waiting for us. (And maybe even more importantly, free wifi.) I can't say enough good things about the good people at the Four Points here -- everyone on the staff is so dang nice.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Cash in Buenos Aires

Hi there, blogging buddies. I'm writing from the comfy confines of our hotel in Buenos Aires, while my beautiful wife sleeps in. The hotel is nicer than the digs we'd normally stay in, but Holly from Club Thrifty introduced us to our very first hotel travel hack about a year ago, and we're using our Starwood points to get eight free hotel nights here and in Montevideo. And because we paid with points, I think the guy at the front desk mistook us for globetrotters who stay in Sheratons all the time, as he upgraded our room, gave us free wifi (normally $10 a day here) and, best of all, gave us access to this "Sheraton Club", which may be my favorite thing at any hotel, ever. They give you free breakfast (a really decent one, with eggs, bacon, fancy espresso drinks and everything) and free snacks throughout the day. Like, whenever you want. Feeling peckish at 10 pm? Go up and grab some little appetizer sandwiches and desserts. Want to grab some fruit or a Coke midday before heading out on a walk? No problem. It's been only two days and the staff up front already know me by name. I am totally abusing this system for free food. As always, I feel no shame.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Investment Properties, Indexing, and Use Value

Investment Properties, Indexing, and Use Value
Before diving into the post, I need to apologize for not writing more often and for not reading the posts that you all have written. I swore I wouldn't be the type of blogger who would start out posts that way, but here I am. I've been in a funk the past couple months with Mrs. Done by Forty still abroad (off and on since September), and it is finally catching up to me. I'm a bit depressed. It is impacting a lot: work, health, and writing, of course. Trying to just snap myself out of it has proved to not be effective. Despite my best efforts, I have turned into a sad little monkey. Still, I'm trying to find ways to improve my mood, and that will hopefully improve my writing frequency, too. Thanks for your understanding!