One of my closest friends from back home is coming this week for a visit. It’s wonderful, and it will throw my normal work schedule out the window. I haven’t seen much of her in a few years so we will doubtless have lots of good talks. And she will be my excuse for going over to Isla Mujeres or maybe down to Playa del Carmen or Puerto Morelos or Tulum for a day. We might even, god forbid…could it be?…go to the beach! Maybe even more than once during her visit.

People who don’t live here often assume that folks who live here have a life of leisure, that we have one foot in the sand and our fingers wrapped around a margarita at all times. Well, when you live here you learn quickly that beaching it is a luxury (you also learn that tequila is for people who like hangovers). Some folks here manage to make it to the beach pretty often. But I’m not one of them. And I don’t care. I love beaches. But I also love not having skin cancer. And I love getting my work done. And beach days mean too much sun, and, for me at least, they usually mean getting basically nothing done. I guess being on the beach makes me tired, or stupid, or time flies while I’m there, or something.

Anyway, my friend is coming. So I will be making an effort to have some fun around here. Instead of making my usual effort to get some work done around here. Who knows, it might be good for me to kick back and not work so much. Maybe.

My ambitions for today were really not very strong, really they were not. But this is ridiculous.

I arose late, feeling guilty but satisfied because I finally got a good night’s sleep (after several weeks of restless nights). And I went for a late, sloggy, sloshy, dance-around-puddles run in El Lago Kabah (normally a park, but recently a lake). But it was a run and a novel thing after days of having my run get rained out. And after that we decided to take the dogs down to Puerto Morelos for a romp on the beach (this would have been Lucy-the-invader-puppy’s first beach experience).

But it never happened. We got halfway there and then it started to rain. Again. More rain.

So hubby turned on the wipers. And the wipers went…up…up…and then they stopped…frozen…not moving…frozen at their apex…in the middle of the windshield.

We pulled over…and I proceeded to get a headache while hubby got wet checking both the wiper motor and the fuses. Then my headache got worse while hubby got wetter checking everything again.

We sat there on the side of a busy, dangerous highway, with cars zooming past us at high speeds, stricken, broken, unable to see out of the windshield…the sweet warbling of Coldplay coming from the speakers…and me slightly amused at how stupid it all was…and, frankly, enjoying the whole Impressionism rain-on-the-windshield thing.

We sat there for a while, trying to decide if we should make a plan…if we should call a tow truck and then battle the insurance company for a towing charge reimbursement…if we should try to drive slowly on the shoulder to somewhere…if we should wait it out…wondering how soon it would be before we actually would get in a real argument if we sat there waiting…

And finally the rain slowed a tiny bit and we could just barely make out a sign ahead…there was a gas station ahead…so we did decide to limp along in our Impressionist fog and blur until we reached civilization…not only a gas station but also a convenience store. Over priced Gatorade and MSG-laden potato chips. We’d been saved.

But the rain continued. And so did our dilemma. Do we call a tow truck…does one of us take the bus home to get the other car…but then what? Do we wait out the rain…but what if it gets dark…what if the fucking rain never ends? We punted…we walked the dogs.

My Neo-Impressionist view of my afternoon

And after that clarity came, not to the windshield, but to our feeble brains. Hubby removed one windshield wiper, wielding it like a weapon and decided that he would damn well wipe his own windshield while he was driving. Fortunately it wasn’t raining hard anymore so this was actually a workable solution.

Windshield Wipe Thyself!

We turned around and drove home with hubby wiping his way… By the time we got home we had honed a whole series of jokes about how shitty other cars were, except for their working wipers…and he would ask me if I could see something ahead…and I would reply “I can’t see shit,” but then I would warn him not to hit a pedestrian who wasn’t there…by the time we got home we were giggling like fools…

Today was my big day-o, mi cumpleaños, my big 4-one. Last year on this day I was nurturing grandiose thoughts about how my 40s would be the time of my greatest power, the time when I knew what I knew, didn’t take any shit, and could make it all happen. I was there. A little fat, but healthy and empowered.

But this year…guess what I was thinking…it was quite a bit more base than last year…this year I was thinking how nice it was that we are financially comfortable enough to just buy what we wanna buy and eat where we wanna eat…and I was thinking that it’s nice that my hubby had the day off so we could just hang…and I was thinking how nice it was that the puppy (se llama “Lucy”) is starting to “get it” about not peeing in the house…and I was thinking how much I hate the choices for buying bed sheets here in Cancun.

Not my most prosaic of days, I admit.

But hell, I made it this far.

In the end, my husband bought me dark chocolates, brought me bugambilia flowers from the yard and took me to a sporting goods store so I could buy myself (and him) some new running shorts. I think I got suckered into buying my own birthday present. But when you share your moola how the hell can you tell.

I rarely buy running shorts and will run in any falling-down pair of old-lady skivvies…so having two brand-new pairs of Nike running shorts…with the elastic intact and everything, is going to be heaven. I can’t wait to go running into my 42nd year.

It’s been raining a lot lately. And I mostly like it. Rain is special when you live somewhere that gets more than 200 days a year of sunshine.

But there is a lot of laundry that’s not getting washed because it won’t get dry if I put it on the line (about 10 times a year I think we ought to have a dryer). And the dog-faces are not getting enough walks because they are both whiny little putzes that don’t want to set foot out there if there’s a single raindrop in sight. And with all this rain the pets keep tracking mud in through the cat door, so we are having a bloody mop-fest here trying to keep the house from being overtaken by sludge.

But I do like the sound of the rain hitting the (flat concrete) roof. Right now the rain is that slow, gentle, consistent rain; the kind of rain that the Navajo call “female rain,” different from crashing, torrential, pelting “male rain” (which I also like and which we had this morning).

One challenge with all this this rain is keeping track of which windows it’s hitting. We keep the windows open as a general rule. But when the rain starts we need to rush around and determine which window is getting hit, and shut that window. This morning the north windows had rain hitting them. Now it’s the south windows that are getting hit. Sometimes I am late to shut a window and find that the bed is soaked, or that my shelf full of web development reference books is getting damp.

But it’s OK because no matter how much it rains here, it’s never cold. I can put up with a lot, so long as I’m not cold. (I’m seriously worried that I will struggle to adapt if and when we move back to a place with winter.)

I complained recently that I have not been running enough lately. Well it’s not for lack of trying.

The other day my hubby and I went to the Parque Kabah to run. We got about halfway through our first lap when the sky started to get really dark. A storm was coming. As we neared the entrance to the park, completing our first lap, the sky opened up. But instead of taking shelter under the thatched palapa roof at the entrance we kept running (don’t ask me why). Within moments the path was flooded with 3 inches of water and my running shoes were soaked!

One thing I’ve learned over my 18+ years of running is that running shoes are never the same after they get wet. So normally I will run in any weather, but will run back to my car FAST if it starts to rain. This time I screwed up and soaked my shoes.

We got home and waited for the rain to stop so we could put our shoes in the sun to dry. But it rained for most of the rest of the day. The next day it was sunny, so I put our shoes out in the sun. And then suddenly, crash, flood, it was pouring! We had the single strongest downpour I’ve ever seen and it started all in one second. I raced to shut the windows in the house. And I didn’t collect the shoes from the rain until they were well-soaked through all over again.

The next day the weather cleared and I decided I wanted to run. But my shoes were still wet. So I dug out a pair of old running shoes from the closet. They were a pair of Sauconys that I had stopped running in about 3 years ago, but for some reason they had never been thrown out or donated, they were just sitting in the closet.

I donned these old cruddy worn-out shoes and figured my run would be less than ideal because of them, but at least it would be a run. I got in the car and drove to the park.

But as I was walking into the park I had the feeling that something was stuck to the bottom of my shoe. Then I felt the same on the other shoe. Then the sensation changed and it felt like the heels of my shoes were loose and were flopping. I looked down. All of the foam that made up the heel cup of my shoes was disintegrating! With each step I was leaving a trail of foam bits. The more steps I took the more my shoes fell apart!

It took me a few minutes to accept that I wasn’t going to run that day. I made myself do my normal stretching routine. But after 10 minutes of stretches I left the park and walked back to my car, trailing foam bits the whole way.

When I got to the car I realized that the floor area of the driver’s side was covered in foam. When I got home I saw foam in the driveway. And when I got inside the house there were foam bits everywhere (and I had just vacuumed too). My husband professed that he’d seen foam all over the house and had been wondering what the heck it was.

Here’s a photo of the crumbling shoes:

Since moving to the tropics we’ve noticed that lots of foam and rubber things fall apart, especially if you don’t use them. We’ve thrown out a number of nice pairs of shoes and boots that we had expected to last for many more years. Tropical heat somehow wrecks rubber and foam.

My regular running shoes have since dried out. They don’t feel as comfortable as they did pre-rain, but at least they are intact. I’ve got a good friend who is bringing me new running shoes from the U.S. in a couple of weeks, so I’m looking forward to that (can’t buy my brand here)!

I’ve written before about the wonderful work that RAP Cancun Animal Rescue is doing to rescue and rehabilitate street dogs in Cancun. RAP is also working hard to provide accessible preventive health care for pets in Cancun and so last week RAP’s clinic was the host location for Cancun’s first-ever free Spay and Neuter clinic. The Spay and Neuter clinic was co-sponsored by Cats and Dogs International (CANDi) and VIDAS, which is a wonderful organization that travels the world sterilizing animals. You can read personal accounts of the RAP Spay and Neuter clinic on Cancun Canuck’s blog and on CancunTom’s blog.

On the last day of the sterilization clinic I went over to RAP to help out, but my plan backfired when Darci, the president of CANDi handed me a puppy to hold. The puppy is a female who is about 2½ months old, she had been found in the street. By the time I met her Darci had already spent more than an hour picking fleas and ticks off of her. Well, you can guess the rest. I walked around for the next few hours carrying this puppy and I couldn’t leave her behind when it was time to go home.

We have not named her yet. We’ve got a list of possible names, but so far none of them has stuck. Sam, the pre-existing dog, is adjusting in fits and spurts to this little puppy. He’s really jealous that she’s getting so much attention, but he also likes her and has been playing with her quite a lot. It’s good to see him with a playmate, he needs that.

The cats are mostly just annoyed. My old lady cat, Grace (who is 17) is having the worst reaction, she’s decided that the puppy is a huge annoyance and refusing to eat much. Emma-cat has attached herself to the puppy and follows the puppy around and then sits and watches her, she’s fascinated although it seems a bit like morbid fascination if you ask me. Moopie and Lilah just think the puppy is stupid, which is an appropriate and expected cat reaction. The other cats are pretty much just avoiding the puppy. I’m sure all of them will adjust as the puppy calms down and gets used to the rhythms of the house.

Here are photos of the little girl.

This puppy is a girl of action, she’s hard to photograph when she’s awake because she doesn’t stop moving. She will settle into your lap, if you let her. Otherwise she’s a-runnin’.

Here she is sleeping, or rather just thinking about waking up. She doesn’t sleep for long periods of time, but she does that cute puppy thing of running around and then suddenly falling asleep in one minute.

And here she is chewing, which is her favorite thing to do. She chews and chews and chews and chews whatever is available. It’s a full-time job chasing her to make sure she’s only chewing on proper dog chews. (I think my shoes are history.) Right now she’s chewing on Sam, who is chewing right back, so that works. More puppy updates will inevitably follow.

I haven’t been posting much lately because someone invented days that are simply not long enough. So sorry. Things are good though.

Work is flowing along. Have found myself noticing that my web design business has become stable and consistent, with no advertising. All my work is now coming entirely from referrals and I’m able to pick only the jobs I want to do. And I’m getting better at estimates and I make fewer mistakes in my estimates than I used to. And I’m more efficient and am making more money (even though I have not raised my rates, yet). So that’s all good.

I’m about to release a web application that has been in the works for far too long. I designed it and had a good friend who is a master programmer write the engine to make it run. It’s one thing to build a web site that’s pretty and ranks high in Google. It’s an entirely different thing to design an interactive application that takes a database and manipulates the data in a new way. It’s cool. And it’s proprietary and password protected, so ya’ll can’t see it, you just get to wonder. I will tell you that it’s also pretty…I made sure it wasn’t just functional.

I’ve been taking a different multi-vitamin than I used to and it gives me more energy, it’s like mixing a cup of coffee with some endurance, it’s working. I rarely need naps and I can focus and I feel awake. Good vitamins make all the difference to me.

The only things that are really lacking right now are in the workout department (have not been running my normal amount) and in the housework department (house is a mess and I can’t be bothered). Will work to rectify the running issue over the next week. And will condescend to fold some laundry at some point today in a concession to the laws of chaos which seem to want to force me to think a messy house is actually worth my brainpower. Ahem.

Have been not watching my investments nosedive. Am repeating the mantra to myself that I am a “long term investor,” that I put that money there for 20 more years and there it should stay. Meanwhile husbandito gets all alarmist on my ass and says I will “lose it all.” Will certainly lose a lot if I jump out of the market right now…

And finally in an effort to not have to buy and move into a new computer I’m upgrading the old one. I detest setting up a new computer, I mean it’s fun in a way, but there’s so much starting over. I have at least 40 programs that I’ve downloaded that would have to be reinstalled. Too much work. So I’m making my old puter faster and updating it and am getting a nice new monitor. The monitor should make it so that I can spend 20 hours a day in front of my computer instead of my regular 16…fun, fun.

While we were in Costa Rica local Cancun TV show host Oscar Cadena was there as well. He and his film crew visited Arenal as well as other areas of Costa Rica. This week they are editing their Costa Rica footage and, so I’ve heard, will put their Costa Rica show on the air next week.

We were told the show will appear on Unicable in Cancun (often channel 10) on Monday, September 29th at 5 pm. I have not been able to confirm this airing on any published TV schedules. But we heard this from someone in Oscar’s crew so the rumor source has merit. If any of my readers finds confirmation of this airing schedule please post a comment. I’ll be looking for the show next Monday at 5 pm.

About a million years ago (who me, exaggerate?) I owned a computer store. And I noticed that year after year the store’s busiest months would be September and January. You would think December would be busy for a retail store. But not for us, our primary clients were businesses and from what we saw businesses make decisions to spend gobs of money on computers in January and in September.

For the last (What year is it? Oh yeah.) 12 years I’ve been getting paid to make 1’s and 0’s look good in a web browser…and in that time I’ve noticed that my web design clients have the same “buying” pattern that my computer store clients had. My busiest months are always January and September.

It makes sense. People get done with the end of year holidays and think “I need to finally update that web site.” And they do the same at the end of their summer vacation. September is a time to get down to business.

But then when you live in Cancun September takes on another meaning. Here September jokingly gets called “Septihambre” which is a running together of the Spanish “Septiembre” (September) and the Spanish word for hunger which is “hambre.” The reason for Septihambre is that this is the slowest season here. The tourists do not come. The normally-full planes come with 10 or 20 or 30 passengers in them. The hotels are empty. The restaurants are empty. And so all those people here who live paycheck to paycheck and depend on tourism to keep them in the black end up suffering.

We get more crime in September here. People here are hesitant to travel in September because they figure their houses will be more likely to be broken into in September.

The other thing that happens in my house in September is that my husband’s job gets much more relaxed. Instead of needing to work 14 or more hours a day he is suddenly getting out early and is working many fewer hours. He is a bureaucrat so he gets paid the same whether he works a 24-hour shift (as occasionally happens) or a 6-hour shift. But what this really means is that he’s home a lot more in September, home bugging me (sometimes) and home distracting me (usually).

So while I’m running from one end of the day to the other, while I’m struggling to keep up with all the details of my business, while I’m rushing here and there, while I barely have time to eat or sleep or take a run, my husband is just hanging out.

Like right now…right now he’s here in the office hanging out in the hammock (along with the dog, who loves the hammock) blathering on to me about something or other. Good thing I’m not actually working right now.

In light of the fact that Hurricane Gustav is looking like it might effect Cancun my good friend Steve has just de-mothballed the Hurricane Cancun web site. I’ll be posting any hurricane-related posts on that site, so be sure to check it out.