This morning I got a kick out of checking the weather back home. It said -21 C on the weather network. For the last few days around here it has been just to hot to do anything substantial. Daytime highs up here in the highlands are around 30-35. That is just a guess.

I spent ten minutes out in the sun dedicated to working on a tan yesterday, and that is all it took. I wasn’t beet red or anything, I just knew that I had had some sun. Once I have a bit more of a tan, I won’t have to sit under a tree all the time.

There is a saying. “Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun”. I have no idea who coined it, but it makes sense. The sun down here is STRONG. Not like up north where you can feel it burning. There is still a layer of ozone here to keep you from melting into a puddle of DNA. Maybe I should have spent a little time at the tanning salon before I came down, but that is just boring to me.

I have had the plates on the car for two days now and haven’t gone anywhere with it. That doesn’t really upset me, except for the fact you you guys don’t have anything new to read about.

Truth be told, I have been paying attention to the markets, and wasn’t able to walk away from it just yet. The price of gold has risen dramatically lately, and I have a lot of skin in it right now. It touched $660/oz on Thursday before retreating to $645. Over the course of the next two months it should rise enough to catch everyone’s attention again. Sell in May, go away.

Anyways, now that the launch-pad has been cleared, I should only have to check on it now and then.

Carnival is approaching here in Panama. It happens everywhere (just about) starting on Feb. 15 and goes on for 4-6 days. The main epicentre is on the Peninsula de Azuero (isn’t that lucky)and I guess it gets pretty hard to get a room around there at that time. People book a year in advance for this, so I guess I will just have to take it as it comes.

I need another coffee…