Tag Archives: Costa Rica

Auction Loot (or “It looks like Christmas”)

So I made out like a bandit at the auction at school. I ended up with five baskets (three of them were the hugest ones there) and two gift certificates. I got good deals but I still spent some cash but I use to donate to the foundation by having it taken out of my check, which was boring, now I just go nuts at the auction and spend it there.

Results on the stuff I donated: My Costa Rican coffee basket had gotten quite a few bids but I think it still only went somewhere in the thirty-ish dollar range. My Cat in the Hat Visit basket wasn’t selling very high at all (it had a few books, an audiobook, stickers and a visit from the Cat in the Hat [that would be me] for story-time or a party) so I bought it. The few times I’ve done it before I did birthday parties and it’s hot inside the costume and the parties are usually outside and if someone isn’t interested in donating enough money I’ll donate it myself (and keep one of my Saturday afternoons free). Plus this means I’ve already got my basket made up for next year!

Auction 2007 BasketsSo here’s the loot I got (click the image for a larger photo):

  • Margarita Basket – Glasses, mix tequila, chips, dip, etc.
  • Another Margarita Basket – Glasses, mix tequila, gift certificate for a mexican restaurant (no address or phone, just a name) and some kinda frozen popsicle molds. The basket was a serving tray.
  • Christmas Basket – This had some beautiful things in it: a cool serving bowl that the spreaders look like light up bulbs (but they don’t light), paper, ribbon, candles, beautiful ornaments, and lots of other stuff. This was the best deal and I got it for a steal. I don’t know where I’m putting this stuff since all the Christmas stuff is in storage.
  • Family Basket – Four board games, Uno, some books a puzzle, a movie, popcorn and movie candies (and the basket was a laundry basket).
  • My Cat in the Hat basket – Ready for donating next year!
  • A gift certificate for a hair cut – at the Fantastic Sams by work (where I go anyways).
  • Another gift certificate for a hair cut (but not really) – when I opened the envelope I saw it was for something else, I’m assuming someone else complained and I’ll switch with them, otherwise I have month of free karate lessons. Continue reading
  • Auction Tonight

    Usually I post this earlier but I forgot this year. Tonight is the South Redford Schools Auction (actually it’s run by another organization but it’s for the schools) and you can always get a pretty good deal on donated items so if you’re not doing anything tonight…

    As usual a basket with a few Cat in the Hat goodies that includes a visit from the Cat in the Hat for a party or just to read stories. I’ve been doing this one the past few years.

    New this year (and I’m going to start doing this one) is a basket of goodies from my vacation to Costa Rica. Bags of coffee, some muchs, chocolate covered beans, a hand made box (with a toucan on it) and a few other oddities. Assuming this sells, I think I’m going to make a package of stuff each time I go on a trip from now on.

    $400 bucks a month (or a free car) to drive around a car with advertising.

    Pringles Drivers.Freecarmedia.ComGet a free car or get $400 a month to drive yours. If you get a car from them it looks like it cover maintenance and tires too. I’m not sure how I feel about this but if it was a product I loved and I could make (up to) $400 a month, that doesn’t seem to bad.

    If you are chosen, you will receive a new car, wrapped in an attractive advertisement, to use for two years or you will be given the option to wrap the vehicle that you currently own and get paid up to $400 a month.

    I could drive something like a TiVo, Apple, SixApart, some musical performer I like or a travel costa rica wrapped car. I’ve said before I like my convertible because I can put the top down, not because it’s sporty and I could be happy driving a box. Well, it would definitely take away any considerations of being sporty and getting paid would be nice… Continue reading

    Tortuga Island

    Cr Tortuga MapSo almost everyone was giving us mediocre reviews of the volcano this trip, so we decided to skip it. Since we skipped it we were staying in Montezuma for another day and then going back to Jaco.

    Staying in Montezuma (Costa Rica) resulted in us taking a tour to Tortuga Island. Every travel group in town seemed to offer a similar tour to this. A trip on the water (hopefully spotting some whales/dolphins) some snorkeling and some time on the beach with with lunch cooked there and then some more (optional) snorkeling and back along the coast. I’m glad we went but the day went by really fast.

    Cr Snorkle 2007-01-05 10-59-57.Img 4592The photo with the island (big rock) in the middle is not Tortuga, it’s nearby and it’s where we snorkeled (if you look real close you can see people snorkeling). Now remember where we are, there aren’t real lessons. They hand you some flippers and a mask and a snorkel and off you go! I asked some of the other tourists and got the gist of it but was always afraid of somehow getting a big gulp of water somehow (which never happened). The fish were awesome, different colors and if you stayed still you could be in the middle of a big school of them. Different colored rocks and coral, it was all very cool. Now one some of the people who had gone down to the Caribbean (or other exotic snorkeling places) were a little disappointed but the rest of us were happy.

    I also saw some kind of Eel and some kind of Sting Ray. The eel was a squiggly but I’d guess it was about 3-4 feet long and the Sting(?) Ray was probably a little less than 3 feet (from wing tip to wing tip). They were 6-10 feet below me so it’s hard to judge the size. Continue reading

    Montezuma Waterfalls (the Movie)

    Costa Rica Montezuma WaterfallSo here’s the Montezuma Waterfall that we climbed way up into the hills to get to. We swam and (I) jumped into the pool there and then we climbed way farther up into the hills to get way above the waterfall (and there were a few more pools up there too) and then I climbed down past them so that if you were where I was when I took this movie you’d seem me at the top of the falls.

    I know I’m behind in getting stuff up, but I’m getting there. FYI, I rotated this movie, so if it doesn’t play, can you please let me know?!?

    Random Thoughts…

    So I’ve just been behind with blogging and posting info from the trip to Costa Rica. Partially since I’ve been so busy and sick in the parts in between. So, some little tidbits:

  • $1.79!!!! – Okay so I’ve mentioned gas prices occasionally and that I get excited with great prices, but today I got it for $1.79, I think that’s my record since I started blogging…
  • Wine bags – So I was cleaning up today and put away bottle of wine that I received for the holidays. It came in a wine bag (which was really cool) but what do you do with the wine bags after you take the wine out? Do you re-gift the bag the next time you take a bottle of wine somewhere? I have more than a few wine bags and I just don’t know what to do with them (I’d probably reuse them but I never think of it when I’m taking wine somewhere).
  • Christmas cleaning – I hate putting away the Christmas stuff when the holidays are over. It’s a pain in the ass for one thing, but I miss the holiday atmosphere and the lights. Actually, it’s mostly the lights that I miss. Continue reading
  • More photos uploaded

    So I’ve added some photos and maps to some of the earlier posts and I’ve added some photos to Flickr, Yahoo! Photos and in my Gallery (I hadn’t been putting any in the latter two lately). They need to be cleaned up and titled a bit, but at least they’re are new ones…

    Sunsets

    sunset jaco costa ricasunset jaco costa ricaOne of my favorie parts of the movie Running Scared (1986), is when Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal (who play Chicago Cops) are in Florida (Key West, I think) and see a bunch of people standing by the pier. They think ‘someone must have found a body’ or ‘a car must have drove off the pier’. As they try to get closer they ask someone ‘what happened?’ and the response is, ‘they’re just watching the sunset’ and the both look at her and say, ‘no, really, what happened?’ and she replies, ‘everyone comes down every night for the sunset’ and they just don’t believe it. But sure enough, it’s just the sunset and they’re hooked they watch it every night get hooked.

    That’s what it’s like here in Jaco, Costa Rica, everyone starts showing up on the beach in the evening. Even if they aren’t going to get in the water they just show up to watch. Some show up just a few minutes before, some show up an hour or so. They bring the kids, the babies, the grandparents and just watch it set and the colors fade away…

    sunset people jaco costa rica(I’m just paraphrasing the movie, I can’t find the actual quotes, anywhere on-line, but you get the gist of it.)

    As usual, click the photos for larger views.