I’m doing fine, although the chaos aboard the boat is approaching epic proportions again. I get too many projects underway all at the same time. I need to learn to be more selective on what I have going. I also need to learn to put away everything that I possibly can, every chance I get.
And then yesterday I screwed up and washed my brand-new residence permit and my US passport. The US passport seems to have survived. I don’t think it’s any worse than it was before washing it. But it was pretty bad because, I was told that you’re supposed to have it with you at all times, which meant that it got very sweaty. I suppose I could learn to carry a purse.
In the night I had an idea for a better pick pocket proof place to keep it. But I can’t start that project until I finish at least a few of these others. Even I realize that.
On Monday, I got up about 5:30 AM and went off to Kemer about 730, because they had overcharged me for my residence permit and much like the bureaucratic circus in Portugal, it created a mountain of paperwork. Also, on that day there seem to be no one around that spoke very much English, and so as a result I have essentially no clue as to what really happened. What I think I learned was that they were going to give me back US$60 that I was overcharged. However, it turned out that they could not give it back to me. They had to deposit it into my Turkish bank account. So that meant I had to open a Turkish bank account. Fortunately, I assume it was fortunate, I was with several British ex-pats who told me a bank that was right by the Marina that is very easy to set up an account in. It actually was kind of a hassle, but I did succeed.
I say I assume it was fortunate, because in the master scheme of things, I might’ve been better off just to abandon the $60 then to go through all of the hassle that I have gone through. Plus I may end up spending more than $60 on bus fare going back and forth to sort it all out.
So, on Monday 29 July, I went to Kemer and I think that they are going to deposit the money in my account, effective 17 August. Bureaucratic nightmare again. It had to be carried around the building and signed by a whole bunch of different people. And then they kept my paperwork proving that I was owed the money. So, I certainly hope it works. Because the very poor copy that I have of it may not convince anybody that I was ever owed any money. I need to remember to take a really clean copy of everything that I might need copies of. But that means getting the scanner working properly again. But that’s another story.
I got done with that early enough in the day that I took advantage of being already more than halfway to Antalya, and took the bus on in to Antalya, and was able to get a bunch of chores done there. It is a major bother to go that far. So, some of these things on my to-do lists were many months old.
However, it involves a great deal of walking, in the hot sun, with my pack getting heavier and heavier all the time as I kept buying things. By the time I got home about 830 in the evening, I was getting kind of tired and my feet were sore. Actually my feet are still not up to speed even today. Thursday. Due to the heat I was not wearing socks, and so had a few chafe problems.
But, I am definitely on the mend, and it is wonderful to get a bunch of those projects done. Not many would notice, but I was able to clear up some of the collection of stuff that has been growing like some kind of wild mushroom or kudzu. If you’re not familiar with kudzu, perhaps you’ve seen how morning glories just take over an area. Well, it is like that here, even though almost every day, I make a concerted effort to try to put away what I can put away at that time. I’m sure Janet is just shaking her head, but in the distant past, when there was a spell of total chaos like this, then, afterwards, I tended to be much more careful about keeping things put away.
I certainly hope I can learn that lesson again.
There is no place for more than one person to sit down at the moment. But, hopefully soon there will be more room.
And my computer projects continue. I hesitate to use the word upgrade, because whether it is an improvement or not has yet to be decided. At times it seems like a downgrade. But I changed the operating system on my main computer over to Windows 8 a couple weeks ago. That has been taking a huge amount of my time, but was definitely on my to do list. And I have gotten a lot of computer related to do list jobs done. But I have many more. Anyway, there are all sorts of problems with having changed operating systems. Not having a clue how to even do the simplest thing is only one of them.
I will admit that Windows 8 does seem to do several things much faster than Windows 7 did. And that is good. However, I’m having trouble finding drivers for my scanner and printer and some hardware things on the computer. Of course, some of the problems may be just operator error. It is certainly not a user-friendly program. At least if you want to do is many different diverse things as I am expecting to be able to do. So, the jury is definitely still out.
So, I will get back to that project, but I wanted to bring you guys up to date.
Dave
Alegria1976's Blog 
Hmmm! Makes me want to pick up and put away the tools from around and amongst the various unfinished projects
It’s a “man bag”, Dave! Very European, very manly to hold your “stuff”!
Hi Glenna & Lily, I have also heard the pun ‘male bag.’ Janet and I were quite ‘liberate’ compared to most, but I think it used to still bother her if I carried her purse. I thought that odd, but we all have our own ideas about propriety. I like to think that I am just practical. At times, when it helped her, for me to carry her purse, I did. I tend to be upset by dogma. I prefer logic rather than blind obedience.
Of course, everyone has their own twist on exactly just what is logic, so that is often debated, but I do the best that I can.
In Europe, especially Spain, pick pockets and ‘snatch and run’ thieves were a major problem. We were in Madrid for just 3 days and caught pick pockets once each day. How many did we not notice?
A male bag or any similar thing seems kind of risky and a nuisance. But, I am considering alternatives. A male bag with a Glock might be a bit too much for the authorities. But, after all, I was born in Texas. (Attempt at humor.)
Dave
Ever hear of a bureaucracy being called Byzantine? It was that way when I was there, sounds like some things are still the same.
Indeed. The poster child for bureaucracy.
As everyone has figured out, I like Turkey very much. Which is good because, almost always, I really WANT to like the place I am. And also because there are so many, really wonderful people here. Who are so polite, and so kind and helpful. That I want to return the favor.
But, like every place I’ve ever been, and I’ve been several places so far, there are pros and cons. A couple of the cons are:
I wish the language were easier to learn, and that I were better at learning it.
I wish that Customs did not have a reputation of obstructing and extorting money. I appreciate that any country needs rules to organize commerce. But, it is so easy to find what you want and buy it and have it sent to you quickly and inexpensively inside America. And I certainly miss that. The logistics of living on a boat, and a small town, that often does not have even simple things, gets kind of tiring.
I much prefer Finike over Marmaris, because Marmaris was so touristy. Clearly I am a tourist, but in the sense I mean that, so many people, they were touts, were constantly trying to sell you something. It became quite tiring. Also, there were beggars. Not nearly as many as many European cities, but more than I like.
In Finike there is one tout, and one beggar. I haven’t seen the tout for probably 3 months. And I see the beggar about every 2 weeks. I have no hard feelings toward either one. They’re just trying to make a living. I’m sure they’re both nice people. But, I do enjoy the fact that they hardly ever see me.
I guess another con would be that it is expensive and tiring to travel back and forth between America and Finike. But hey, the world is a big place. Them’s the breaks.
But back to bureaucracy. Clearly a large group of people, needs rules and organization. And even though, my own personal opinion is that the people claiming to be Republicans are usually even crazier than the people claiming to be Democrats, I do agree with the Republican opinion that we should have small and efficient government.
In my dream world, I would design a government that quickly and efficiently does what needs to be done for the best interest of the people. However, it appears to me, that governments that are designed to employ as many people as possible, are quite common. To me that seems a really dumb idea. Most of them are very good people. Why not find a useful job for them? Where they actually perform a useful service, and everyone is happy. I guess you need to find out where Mr. Rogers neighborhood is. If he has palm trees and beaches, and clear, clean water, I might move there.
Dave
Dear Dave,
We’ve been cruising in British Columbia for a month now. Wifi reception is very limited, much less than when we were up here three years ago. Seems we have gone backwards, not forwards in technology. Well, maybe the wifi’ers got smart and figured they needed to lock down their wifi. Bummer. Means we’ve had difficulty getting connected for even basics like weather and checking our banking. Caught an “opps” I did when setting up a credit card payment, I set it for next month not this month. They love us and forgave us – I think. I’ll find out tomorrow.
We go into Cambpell River, where we meet up with my youngest son, Nick, who will join us for about 10 days. Nick has been greatly influenced by Bruce and now has his USCG Unlimited Second Mate’s license.
I am sorry Janet isn’t there to keep things organized. You two made a great pair, it is obvious. My heart goes out to you. I know everything has changed – and because I know how we go about, losing your mate that made up the other half of the process is hard – to say the least.
Windows 8. We upgraded about 5 weeks ago. I hate it and totally empathize with your pain. This is not easy, and really for computer folks like you and me, it ought to be no big deal to move up a notch in operating systems. And, it does take forever to figure stuff out, and with us on the move, I have just put it all aside, then need something and it is a battle. I say really bad things – things even a lady sailor shouldn’t say…but I say them anyway and it doesn’t help, either!
Regarding drivers. I re-installed my HP printer software and the system said sorry you can’t run this. HUH??? I went to the HP site and they had new drivers for WIN 8. Maybe that will help. What we haven’t been able to do is get our navigation software to work on this new laptop/computer. It is our back up and now we don’t really have a back up. Can’t believe it can be so damn frustrating. Opps…there I go again..swearing. Of course several companies are willing to sell new navigation software for $100’s of dollars and we were quite happy with what we have.
I also upgraded to the new Microsoft Office and that is a whole different challenge. So frustrating!!
Do try to get your home organized. It will feel much more – well, homier.
Good luck with the battles for your reimbursement. You may be right and the battle to get your money back may cost more than it is worth.
We are sitting at a new place – to us. Shark Spit and there is one of the most glorious sunsets we’ve seen in awhile – and we do see a lot of sunsets. The other night I woke a little after midnight, hearing odd blooping. Sort of on our port beam. I got up to see what was going on. WOW! There was a light breeze, but on my gosh the stars!!!!!!!!!!! I hadn’t see the stars so close! And then I realized we hadn’t seen stars in several weeks. We are so far north it is still light when we go to bed and it is light LONG before we get up. It was beautiful. I do wish I had a camera that would take that shot. I felt could have reached up and touched the Little Dipper. Oh, we were in the outer harbor of Squirrel Cove and there were probably 40 boats around us. With all their anchor lights on it was a bit eerie, sort of like eyes staring back. The anchor lights cast a shadow on the water and it seemed all their lights pointed to us. Silly, I know, but it did feel odd. Bruce said it looks like Disney Land with all the anchor lights.
Well, that’s all. Just wanted to say I feel your WIN 8 pain, and that we are thinking of you, though we don’t write back enough.
Big hugs,
Angie and Bruce
om: Alegria1976’s Blog [mailto:comment-reply@wordpress.com] Sent: Thursday, August 1, 2013 12:27 AM To: angk@nethere.com Subject: [New post] Update on Dave
Dave on ALEGRIA (and he really misses Janet) posted: “I’m doing fine, although the chaos aboard the boat is approaching epic proportions again. I get too many projects underway all at the same time. I need to learn to be more selective on what I have going. I also need to learn to put away everything that I “