Nothing like friends joining you for breakfast

PI have fallen into a pretty good routine over the last few days...yoga, breakfast, beach, dinner, with nap in there somewhere. Paradise time is dwindling, but still going strong. While checking out the accommodations at the place I've been taking yoga, I decided to stay for breakfast after class today. 

I had the pleasure of a friend coming to join me and stay with me throughout the meal...

AND in a very Jurassic Park moment, the family joined him!

They waited there through my whole meal, I'm not sure for what. I was pretty grateful that none of them chose to jump up on the table as happened to the couple at a nearby table...of course it was one about the size of the big guy. They were none too pleased. The people, that is. When we were in Tamarindo a couple of years back, there were beautiful magpie jays that sort of did the same thing. They would actually swoop down and start eating your breakfast if you weren't paying attention. Not quite as creepy as these critters, I must say. Actually pretty cute:

Before I forget, along with the multitude of iguanas, I also grabbed the view from the yoga rancho. Pretty sweet vista for a focal point.

Anyhow, I've tried some new restaurants which have been great, even with the prehistoric company. Most notably, a place called Red Snapper (They specialize in seafood...who woulda thunk it?) and another called Al Chile Viola. Both have spectacular food, service, and atmosphere. I'm scouting so Scott and I are all set for our trip in February. Yes, we are coming back...and no, I won't be alone next time for a change. That'll wait until next summer.

Al Chile Viola...amazing tuna & avocado ceviche and grilled octopus. I'm continuing the octopus trend I started in Chile whenever possible. Too dark for photos when the food came, unfortunately, but I loved the lighting.

  

I have also tried some wonderful new dishes at the Bakery - it's not just for croissants and coffee anymore! Who doesn't love iced coffee that's just a blended shot of espresso, vanilla ice cream, and ice?

  

And the most beautiful and yummy fish tacos ever. Yes, I finished them, btw.

Just three more days to go, and I'm gong to try to pack them full...of nothing but relaxing.

This is what I get for bringing work on vacation...or is the issue postponing deadlines?

So, I had made quite a bit of progress with the work I neglected to complete before leaving for vacation and brought along with a July 7th deadline. No biggy, I thought, work a couple of hours a day, and Presto! All caught up. Only one problem...

Got up today, beautiful and sunny, monkeys even louder than usual, so, thinking they were close, I packed my things and headed out early, figuring I could get a closer glimpse than yesterday (oh, yes, forgot, did see them in the trees yesterday, but not close enough to photo). No such luck - they hunkered down and out of sight before I could get to them. Turning back, I headed to the bakery and settled on the patio as they weren't yet open. Took out the laptop, logged in, opened email, read a few, then nothing. Black screen. No response. Charged overnight, so that wasn't it, but plugged in just in case. Green light, but no action...laptop is D-E-D "ded," as my old friend Henry from FNX used to say. 

Not panicking yet, I text the IT director who walks me through a few things, only to tell me he's never seen this before except with a spill. "I promise, I didn't spill!" I texted back. We decided it might be the humidity, so, since I don't use AC down here and couldn't comply with his suggestion to leave out in AC for a bit, it now sits cozily in the lockbox its neoprene case.

Still not panicking, I figure, I have the Baseline Edge iPad app...it goes without saying that in addition to the laptop, I also traveled to my far away beach destination with iPhone and iPad. I know, very 21st century of me. Unfortunately, I quickly found that 1) the BLE iPad app only allows observation entry, not evaluation forms, and 2) though only Safari (blecchh, as Charlie Brown would say) will run the full app on my Macs, not EVEN Safari will allow me to enter into the data fields for the EOY evaluation forms. In essence, I'm screwed. 

Believe it or not, I have still not panicked. Called HR, Cindy (secretary) and James (assistant principal), created one work around plan that was foiled, and then another that will get me through. What would we do without Google Drive? And I now know that the matching Google Apps, Drive, Docs, and Sheets are pretty sweet.

Oh, and the rest of my day? Truthfully, every so often I pulled out the laptop and tried it again, just in case. I spent a good part of the day organizing my newly created forms and evidence notes, but, BECAUSE I AM SUPPOSED TO BE ON VACATION, 

I made a new friend in the pool:

And this is how my evening concluded:

Never can turn down a passion fruit mojito with my favorite orange limes. A perfect match with the squid ink paella. yum! 

And tomorrow's another day in paradise. Pura Vida!

Rainy days, relaxing days

That spectacular lightening storm that hadn't hit the peninsula arrived last night and stayed through today. It poured buckets overnight...love the sound of rain pounding on the tin roof, with thunder in the background, and the warm, humid air wafting in through the windows, propelled through the room by the whirling ceiling fans. Rain slowed the pace of the day today. Spent some time catching up on email this morning, then went for a swim and read by the pool. Had to move under the umbrella for a bit when the rain started up again, but only did that to keep the iPad drier. The temp of the air and rain made it quite comfy to sit outside; I was already wet from swimming anyway.

Since it wasn't a beach day, I decided the only way to dismiss my work stress for good was to bang out some product, so off I went to the Bakery to soak up the wifi. And the lovely steak & blue cheese panini followed by passion fruit cheesecake and a latte didn't hurt. I hit my stride, so I am thinking that by the end if tomorrow I'll have just my assistant's and my own Eval data to wrap it up. For the first time since I've been in this position, I have some hope of completing the current year's work before having to start the next one. How cool is that?

Here's to tomorrow, another day in paradise, and more laid back cafés to stumble upon.