The Taco Traveler

When I returned here to San Diego this past January, I came back for the proximity to an airport, the chance at better job opportunities, and the 100% Internet connectivity via my Verizon v-card. And although I've enjoyed my time and have been pretty comfortable here at the Sun Harbor Marina on San Diego Bay - Shelter Island, the job situation hasn't worked out so well, as the Internet search has been nearly worthless and the in-person and local-contact search has netted two interviews in total (in my field), and of course, rather than restaurants hiring (I seriously considered it and even went to my old college employer to check it out), they're actually shutting their doors.

What went wrong with the interviews? I felt I was definitely qualified for both positions - quite a bit overqualified for one of them - but I think given my history these last few years I'm not coming off as much of a long-term committed employee. And with my blabbermouth, even the mention in passing of my boys half a continent away would sorta make me feel emotional about missing them, and I'm sure I didn't hide that too well.... Bottom line: I think they saw my thin level of commitment to San Diego and that I'd have a hard time sticking around for more than a year or much longer than it took to get back on my feet. There are too many other qualified candidates out there for them to go with, I suppose.

So... in the interest of not paying crazy marina + liveaboard fees anymore, and getting the boat somewhere more financially reasonable where I can keep her while I see the boys and then seek work wherever it may be after that, I'm going to sail Chemistry back to San Carlos / Guaymas, lock her down tight, and then go be with my boys.

A good friend, a very reasonable and conservative friend (G), said to me before I bought Chemistry: "Maybe you should rent a boat. Can you just test it out to see if you really like that life and everything?" And he was spot-on with the conservatism (fiscally - we all know he's wrong about his social conservatism), but what happened is that I absolutely loved the "cruising life" and the people I've met so far in it... what didn't pan out so well, and has made his concern almost Nostradamus-esque, was the economic downturn that caused my startup's funding angel to walk away and leave the company to shrivel as we just tried to keep the thing breathing with no salaries, no more passion, and very little hope.

So yeah, it would have been better if I'd never signed on that line to buy this boat, but I probably would have continued to sink my entire 401k into my vacant house anyway, just because of a need to do the right thing - to pay the debt I owed the heartless mortgage company. But more importantly, I wouldn't have experienced the amazing time I've had in Mexico (or the amazing time sailing down from Seattle, for that matter). And as I watch the trash compactor walls close in around me and my boat (I'm Han Solo and Chemistry is my faithful Chewbacca), I keep reaching for the pole that will slow the walls just a bit longer, and right now that helpful pole is getting the boat back where $100 is a month's worth of a mooring ball in a safe harbor. I've had my R2D2 friends and family, tapping into the Death Star's systems to help with life-sustaining loans, but those loans have been helpful for much more than the boat and my "keeping the dream alive" - they've enabled me to stay almost but not quite current on my responsibilities as a dad - the school and child care stability that keeps my boys from feeling the pain of this economy and this situation.

So what next? After getting the boat back to cheaper digs, I'll get almost a whole month with the boys while R goes on travel. I'll get amazing little kid hugs from a two-month absence, and I won't want to let them go. They'll have grown so big since I last saw them in February, but I know also they'll be happy and content, as R & I do our exceptional job of navigating through this process of divorce, relocation, life change.... And at the end of June I'll travel somewhere, anywhere in the world that could use me. Or, maybe lightning will strike, and one of my projects will hit just the right chord with an investor, or my writing will find its way to Oprah's desk.

TT

Ty (frustrated, out of nowhere): Why am I even alive?

Me: Well, what else are you supposed to be?

Ty: Well, every day is exactly the same.

Me: But we do lots of different things. You do different things like gymnastics and horseback riding and playing with Nan all week.

Ty: But it's not very exciting. There's never any bad guys.

Me: I think we're pretty lucky that we don't have to see bad guys.

Ty (playing with a photo album): Yeah, but I just want to take some pictures of the bad guys and put them in my photo album.

Me: You know, Ty, you're still learning how to live. You're still growing and deciding what sort of things you like to do. And when you grow up and finish school, and maybe go to college, then you get to decide what you really want to do, like help people, or do what daddy's doing like sailing around the world, or be like momma and help the world by being a scientist and fighting bad guys. Or be a mountain climber. Or be a policeman or a fireman and help people....

Ty: I want to be what you are, Daddy.

TT

This content is copyright Sean Anderson 2007-2010, reprinted via site feed. Original content at http://www.tacotraveler.com.

I can't believe I didn't blog in two weeks. My days in Florida had two very different looks the last two weeks. The first week was a regular week with the nanny, so I'd take G to school at 8 and then have all day to work in a coffeeshop. I'd go to either Trigo downtown Panama City, or I'd drive out to the beach area and go to Joey's Java Juice. Joey's is better because it was more relaxing - they don't get the huge lunchtime rush that makes me feel guilty for taking up a table by myself. He also makes killer Reubens. This past week was Spring Break for Grady, and the nanny had the week off, too. So I'd work a lot of the night after the boys fell asleep, just like the old days. But our days consisted of waking up at 7:30 (no matter how late I stayed up), playing XBox, swimming, playing putt-putt golf, playing wiffle-ball and/or t-ball, going to birthday parties, etc.... One thing about the smalll, tight-knit school is a very large number of kids' birthday parties.

Today is Ty's birthday. He's five. This past Wednesday we went to get his birthday present at Toys-R-Us because I had nobody to look after the boys so I could go alone.

So Friday morning I got up at 4am, got showered, dressed, tucked in and cuddled the boys one more time, then hopped into a cab and headed for the airport. The flights are so easy now. After 6 or 7 trips the past 9 months, I'm becoming a good traveler. There's nothing like being super-early for a flight and being able to just relax. Especially when you can go into the airline's lounge for free drinks and a comfortable chair. Flying into Puerto Vallarta solo feels odd, though, with all the families and newlyweds and older ladies in pants-suits on the plane, all heading down for a vacation. "How long are you staying?" they ask each other. "Oh, just the weekend. My son has a condo and invited me down. You?" "We've here for ten days! The kids have already researched the entire resort and have planned out every single day." Me? They didn't ask. But the Immigration folks did. On that form I said, under "number of days": 45, to allow till June 1 to get to San Diego, just in case weather or work keeps me in a marina. And under "address you will visit (hotel, etc...)" I put, simply, "mi barco." They don't read them.

When I got back to Chemistry yesterday, I was blown away by how grimy she was. All the new construction on and around the marina had piled up massive amounts of dust all over the place. I spent almost two hours rinsing everything I could, including the shrouds as high as the water would shoot. And of course some of that dust got inside, too. After rinsing her down, we motored out of the slip to the anchorage just outside the marina, where I still have Internet but don't have to pay for the slip, and where there will be much less dust. It's pretty rolly out here, and if it were less crowded I'd put out a stern anchor to keep my bow to the swells, but I'm leaving soon and I sort of like the wave motion. I've missed it. I've got a request into Paradise Village Marina for a slip, where I've been wanting to stay for a while now for some golf/spa/resort stuff. Their prices are the same as La Cruz but with actual amenities and no dust. I also have some significant work that still needs to be done, so I need to have Internet for a few more days before heading farther north.

What's next? My plan is up in the air, as always, but when I leave Banderas Bay I'll make a couple stops (Jaltemba, Chacala, San Blas, Isla Isabel) and then I'll see what the wind is like. If it's favorable for a crossing to Cabo, then I'll do that. Otherwise I'll head into the Sea of Cortez a little bit and stop into Mazatlan and then cross to La Paz. An easier, shorter Sea crossing anyway. The hard part (especially single-handed) is going to be Cabo to San Diego. There aren't many places to stop, and it's a bash against the wind, swells and current, generally.

TT

Yesterday was a very frustrating day trying to get new moorage closer to downtown Puerto Vallarta. I like it here in La Cruz, and I won't be here for the next two weeks anyway, but I wanted to be closer to stuff when I got back and save some money while I was away. The problem with a lot of marinas down here is they don't often feel compelled to answer email or their phone, so your best option when trying to get into a marina is to just go, be there in their marina, get them on the VHF and say, "okay, what's my slip assignment?" Well, it didn't work yesterday. I won't go into detail because it's boring, but it was a complete waste of a day.

So this afternoon I'm sitting here listening to Radio Lab podcasts and working, answering emails and making stuff happen. And soon I'll start packing for my trip inland, which I've decided I'll undertake tomorrow rather than tonight. I'm flying to Florida out of Guadalajara (partly because it was $100 cheaper, and partly because I wanted to see the city), and it's a five hour bus ride from PV. So no point in getting there at 9pm, paying for a hotel room and then just going to bed. The cheaper flight will end up costing me more, of course, with two night's hotel and a 400 peso bus ride, but I wanted to see Guadalajara. It's supposed to be "Mexico's most cosmopolitan city" and I'm ready for a little more culture. We don't get much culture here on the coast (tacos, fireworks and mariachi notwithstanding).

So I fly out of Guadalajara on Friday early morning, and as soon as I land in Panama City I'll get to see the boys play t-ball. R's been giving me great reports, and it sounds like they're doing great. G is great in the field and Ty hit a grand slam last week to win the game. He can also, apparently, do a backflip into the pool. Not a back dive or occasionally a back flop, which he was doing last time I was there, but a back flip, all the way around and his feet break the surface of the water. Since he's not yet 5 (2 more weeks) I can say "my four-year-old can do a freakin' backflip into the pool. From the edge of the pool." Look for that video soon, destined to be the equivalent of Tiger Woods on the Johnny Carson Show at age 4.

So on April 10 I'm back to PV and checking out of La Cruz on 4/11 and heading either to PV for a few days or more north, stopping along the way at places like Chacala, Mazatlan and Topolabampo that I skipped over before. Then again, if the weather's right, I may just float on north and save some of those places for next year. My plan currently is to do the Baja Ha Ha next year (they leave San Diego Oct 30) and give this trip another shot. But who knows....

TT

...and Potentially its Mathematical Calculability, and Yeah, Frankly, Probably a Nobel Prize for Science or Math or Something
 
I’m the world’s greatest shower thinker. A few mornings ago, after getting the boys settled, fed and playing in their playroom, I went to take a shower and wake myself up. It was going to be a great day, as the boys and I had planned to take off their training wheels and then go to a local park, where we’d talk to a local swim team coach and then head to a grassy area where they’d crash their newly training-wheel-less bikes and get mad at me for taking them off. After that, our plan was to stop on the way back to R’s house for some Dippin’ Dots (“Ice Cream of the Future”) and they’d be great again. But back to the shower… after like 3 minutes it became apparent that I had a problem, as the water started to rise in R’s large, 2-headed tile and glass shower with no drain stop. With no drain stop, there was no logical reason for water back-up except unseen masses of gunk and hair below the drain. I guessed there were those pesky cross-beams below the grate that the grate screws into, and they often catch what makes it through the grate. I shuddered at the thought of getting cold walking to the other side of the house to get a screwdriver, let alone pausing my shower to unscrew the drain and gouge all the junk off those cross-members. So instead, I stomped and splashed. Not angry, desperate stomps, but very calculated stomps. Like a human plunger, I used compression: foot spread as widely as possible in order to completely cover the drain, and up and STOMP! And again. After the third perfect stomp the level started to fall, and the clog released entirely. The water level went down to nothing with a satisfying slurp at the end, and I felt like Fonzie with the jukebox. Aaaaaaaaay….

My brain, released from problem #1, apparently felt a need to keep working, and soon was spinning off on its usual way building solutions to database / website development problems, and eventually it meandered over to this: “Is my absence causing Ty problems at school?” The short answer is no, I don’t think so. There is a definite possibility that things would be better if my relocation were complete, but I don’t care to share all the details of those thoughts here. The key item is this: in contemplating Ty’s needs, I started developing an algorithm for Longing. How much are we wanted or needed where we’re not? The idea stemmed from Ty but goes well beyond anyone needing me, specifically.

Is this an ambitious enterprise? Yes. I don’t think I’ve ever come up with anything this genius before. In the shower. The root of it is as follows:

Longing = (D + AD((SD/TD)*0.3301103)) * N(A*R*P) / T

In long-hand that true mathematicians would smirk at:

Distance (D) + (Anticipated Distance (AD) * (Starting Distance(SD) / Total Distance(TD))*0.3301103) * Need(N) * (Age (A) * Relationship (R) * Personality(P)) / Time (T)

Whereas distance is a great enough factor in and of itself, Anticipated Distance must be factored in. And Anticipated Distance must have a multiplication factor because if someone is already a long ways away, them moving still farther has less impact. This needs to be configured so that the AD factor increases when SD is close by, and TD is much greater. And then of course it has to be multiplied by a constant, the Pants Constant, which I figure to be 0.3301103. You don’t even want to get me started on the Pants Constant.

Okay, you don’t want to get me started on it because I don’t know. As soon as I decided it needed to be Zero-Point-Three-Three-Zero-One-One-Zero-Three (for strictly personal reasons of rhythm and symmetry), the water went cold.

Who knows what I could have been, or where our world might be right now, if, during my more formative years I’d had access to a double-headed shower with room to roam, no drainage problems, and an unlimited supply of scalding hot water.

He never walks. He floats. He glides. Sometimes he leans so far forward when he sprints that he just falls over, not because of clumsiness, but because of some sort of inate desire to do more, faster. When on dirt or gravel or pavement he just gets back up, brushes himself off, and takes off again in the opposite direction. But on the static electricity-driven rubber trampoline, he just keeps bouncing on all his various parts until once again his toes feel pressure, and like a Porsche he's at full speed again in seconds.