A neato way to Make MONEY!!!

The gravity is different here.

Really.

Here's how some folks make money:

1. Get a big boat.

2. Fire up a web page; advertise "swinger's cruises" aboard your boat.

3. Take deposits.  Make sure the money is wired to your account; no one can dispute the claim later. 

Am I making this up?

Nope. 

http://www.scaminformer.com/scam-report/brian-salle-karen-brian-salle-karen-salle-islands-duo-yacht-charters-brian-c28375.html

I'm impressed.  Simple, elegant and effective.  When folks catch on, change the name of the boat; lather, rinse and repeat. 

It's Key West, baby! 

(shaking head) 

Amazing. 

The boat came up on the hard about six weeks ago; surprised a bunch of people, as it had been moored in a local marina for a while sans payment.  The very first thing they did was pull the most recent name off the boat.  The owners wanted to get some work done - then they disappeared.  One intrepid contractor removed the components he was asked to work on and brought them to his shop for "repairs" - he figured payment in full was required to get them back. 

Meanwhile...

It appears the long hand of karma caught up with this yacht.  An interested and savvy businessman from up New York way noted this was one of the larger boats in foreclosure and took an interest in the saga.  According to a source close to the adventure, the businessman had an operative place a GPS tracking device on the boat whilst negotiating with the bank for ownership once the boat could be found and siezed.  

Bought for pennies on the dollar, this 104' mega-yacht is now being refitted for what one hopes is a legit Caribbean adventure.  Given the history of this vessel, however, it is believable the change in ownership may be yet another chapter in the three-card monty that is life on the edge of the tropics.  

Yes - the boatyard is a place filled with adventure.

PS - DO NOT try to click on the URL associated with this boat charter service - according to one of the posters on scaminformer, the latest gig of the former owners is to use the address to install spyware on your computer so as to access credit card, bank account and other personal information.  

Just another day in Paradise...

Resurrection.

A funny thing happend on the way to obliviion...

I received a Facebook message from Len Bloom the other day.  I'd made a reference to a small general store called The Store where I could get Hot Zotz as a kid; it's a candy confection which I've missed for many a decade - as in about four.  Anyway, Len found some - and then found me on Facebook.  

If you're curious, I'm on FB in Key West; intrepid folks oughta be able to figure that out.  

I was both surprised and humbled by Len's sincere appreciation of my blogging efforts, so...

I'll make an effort to return to the process of blogging.  

I'd show photos, but I've been focused on the process of running a business, and what photos I've take are quite mundane - records of projects completed or estimated.  It's and adjustment, this.  I'm not regretting the decision, just making an adjustment.  

We're at in interesting time in our lives, as we're walking the walk whilst talking the talk.  No TV, no land line, just an internet connection and each other (plus friends) for social intercourse.  We've welcomed a new couple to the neighborhood - they've been here not quite a year - and we introduced them to backcountry kayaking and the simple joy of Geiger Key Marina in the early afternoon.  They'd not done either - escorting a group through green tunnels barely as wide as one's kayak is engrossing and entertaining.  

It's different, being 100% in the community.  Sure - I lived here before, but my work was elsewhere.  I hated the schlep to Key West International, followed by the free-for-all that is Hartsfield International Airport.  All I wanted was to be here, in this place, this Key West.  

I am here now. 

For the doubters, those with hesitation - You can get a job here, you can live.  No.  It won't be your life on the mainland, measured in miles driven, possessions, big box stores and nights of endless TV commericals.  We'd pulled into Geiger Key with a loakd of kayaks atop the car, only to see a man in his late 50's trimming palm trees on an early Sunday afternoon.

"Why you working on such a nice day?" I queried.

"I'm not working, " he responded flatly.  "What I did before, traveling the world as an executive - that was work.  Look around you - I wake up every day to this", he said as he spread his arms wide, "and this - this is not work.  This is Paradise."

So between Len's hot Zotz and a retired exec atop a ladder late one Sunday, I knew it was time to start writing again.  Trust you'll enjoy the ride.  

Moving to Key West I - The Savings

No pix - just words today.  

When we did our due diligence on KW, we realized life would be fundamentally different down heah.  There are significant savings involved with living at the end of the line, including, but not limited to:

1) Income Tax.  Florida has none; where we used to live there was a 3.9% levy on every dollar we made.  3.9% may not seem like much, but that's two years worth of pay raises in the brave new world we live in.  

2) Heating bills.  With the exception of the occasional cold front (typically counted on one hand with fingers left over), there are none.  I had $500 heating bills up north; they have pretty much gone away.  

3) Fuel expense.  With gas at $3.00 a gallon, we were spending $300/month on fuel for our cars.  In Key West, fuel economy is measured in months per tank of fuel - we're averaging one month per tank these days, up from three months per tank.  On a 2X4 island, it's possible to walk/bike most everywhere one needs to go, resulting in a 90% reduction in fuel expense.  

4) Property Taxes.  They're a fraction of their Midwest equivalent; I pay 60% on double the value.  

When we analyzed this over four years ago, the resultant savings was equivalent to a $20,000/year raise.  No, you don't live like you do on the mainland, but...you don't miss it, either.  

There are incremental savings on things like boots, gloves, hats, coats, snowblowers, etc, but that's just the icing on the cake.  After four years here, I can tell you this - we're never going back.  

Return from Exile

Sorry for the gap in posts.  

I'd been in Northern Ohio for the past three weeks learning the tricks to high end canvas work from one of the best shops in the nation.  The first week draining, the second engaging.  

The third week?  Exhilirating...right up to Wednesday, when symptoms of norovirus kicked in.  First thought it was bad salsa, but when it went on for 2-1/2 days, no.  A virus which sapped every ounce of strength.  

So if you're wondering where the posts are - the've gone missing, as every non-classroom moment was spent betwixt sheets in a solitary bedroom off the shores of Erie.  

 

I found the experience quire surprising.  At 51, I was afraid the mental passegways were stiff and would not respond to new material.  They did fine, although it was very much like starting an exercise regimen - taxing at first.  Really enjoyed learning as a kid - was quick to pick up concepts, and once in the groove the same thing happened four decades later.  

I'm back in Key West as of Sunday afternoon, and it's GREAT!

This is my normal.  This is my home. You can keep that frigid stuff.  

I've thought about the blog whils in bed and on the plane ride home.  Since it's no longer afilliated with CS, it will migrate to an alternate format, as this is his trademark color palette and concept. May take a few weeks, but it will go that way.  

Valarie's comments regarding income vs. relocation shall be the catalyst for a new direction; the blog will still provide a daily fix of life in the lower Keys - but the perspective will be on quality of life vs. measurement of success via mainland metrics.  I was a highly compensated exec who chose to drop out; 2012's W2 will be a fraction of what I made last year.  My wife's disorder makes living here an imperative; the corporate hamster wheel and its false promises no longer attract.  If one uses mainland metrics to justify the move, you'd need a huge cash reserve to replicate that lifestyle down heah.  

At the same time, there are thousands of people living the dream at $15/hr.  How do they do it?  Well...we'll try to explore that.  

Thanks for tuning in,

Chuck.  

Palms and Clapboards

In exile in Ohio still.  Went through a small town on Lake Erie, Lakeside,  which shared many of the architectural features of Key West, save for one important element - swaying palm fronds.  

A repost on a day where the palm is sorely missed. 

****** 

When we lived in Southern California, I thought palm trees to be one of nature's more absurd constructs.  Raised in Hemingway's hardwood forests, a spindly stick with feathery fronts atop seemed a caricature of a tree.

Yes, they're supposed to represent a drink in hand, toes in sand sort of thing, but they lacked the majesty of a green cathedral formed by thousands of sugar maples in their prime.    The only palms I liked were a small stand of native California palms at an oasis deep within the Anza-Borrego desert.  We had to hike several miles to get there, sharing the canyon with bighorn sheep.

When we left California, we felt we'd left palms far behind.

Enter Key West.

Palms aren't native to the island (as far as I know) but then again, neither are clapboard houses.

Like our homes, there's tremendous variety of palms on this speck of land on the edge of the tropics.

We had a predielction towards historic homes before moving here; the palms were along for the ride - part and parcel to the experience, rather like cockroaches and termites to my deciduous mind.

A false front store in a neighborhood? As cool as it gets.  Palms framing the building?  Well...

It struck me just the other day the two are quite complimentary.  Salt and pepper.  Peanut butter and jelly.

An old home is an old home, but a ramshackle cottage framed by palms means but one thing:

You're in Key West.

Plant enough palms and the green cathedral of my youth is replicated.

There's a home behind those trees, and you can bet it's well shaded from the afternoon sun.

The same is true of our sidewalks - cool and shady.

Perhaps my perspective has changed from drinking coconut water - packed with nutrients, it's as refreshing a beverage as can be found.  The best part?

We have our own private stock, courtesy of a magnificent India Brown palm.

I'm a convert.