Surfing

Last year Jill really wanted to learn to surf however she got sun poisoning and could not be out in the sun the last few days of vacation.

On Monday she finally got her chance to learn to surf. The resort had surf boards and lessons available.

The water conditions were perfect for learning. The waves in the afternoon tend to be 3 to 4 feet high and break easy.

 

 

After 2 hours of lessons and an hour of practice she started to get the hang of surfing. At the end Jill was able to paddle start and get up on the board and ride the waves into the beach

Para-Sailing

On Sunday, literally 30 feet from our beach chairs there was para-sailing. We watched a few people take off and land.  I had the thought of having Jill and MJ go para-sailing.  Before I could say anything Cathy turned to me and asked about Jill going.

Ten minutes later Jill was in the harness getting ready to go up.

As Jill took the sky, I went to find MJ in another private cabana.  I pointed to the para-sail and said “That’s your sister. How would you like to go para-sailing?”. “Oh cool, Sure I like to go!” was his response.

Right after Jill landed, MJ took off.

The whole thing was so caviler and nonchalant that it took MJ by surprise.

Crowded Beaches

The beaches at Nuevo Vallarta are unbelievably crowded. NOT!.

I took these pictures on Sunday, when according to the staff was expected to be the most crowded for the week.  Monday the schools in Mexico began for the year.  This week we practically had the beach to ourselves with the resort staff waiting on us.  The kids are completely spoiled with the service.

The water is 80F with morning waves being 1 to 2 feet in height.  In the afternoon the waves would be 3 to 4 feet with a very nice breeze blowing in off the water.

With the beaches to ourselves, we always had chairs with an umbrella to keep most of the sun off of us.  Being in Mexico, the sun is very strong.  Everyone is lathering up with sunscreen.  The daily temperatures have been in the mid to high 80’s all week.

Bored Engineering Students

So what do 2 bored engineering students do to fill up their time on summer break?

They build 2 motorized bicycles.

In May MJ and Greg bought 2 Schwin bicycles and modified them to fit a 50cc 2-stroke engine onto the frame.  I was thankful to see that they bought new bicycles for this little project and not modify their existing bikes.

They spent about 4 hours on each bike installing the engine, sprocket, gas tank and controls.  The rear wheel sprocket and engine sprocket were a bit of a pain to line up.  They also had to fiddle with the brake controls so the clutch control worked.

 

The engines need to be pop started by pedalling the bikes and slowly releasing the clutch.   After assembling the bikes, it took another 2 hours to tune the carbs and get everything working smoothly.

The bikes will run at 25mph with a 75 mile range.

It’s pretty cool to watch the bikes go.

Busted Jet Ski

The jet ski season has just started and we have already busted one ski.  Jenna was down visiting MJ this weekend.  We figured we would have an afternoon of fun on them.

As MJ left the ramp area, his ski started to bog down and wouldn’t get out of the pocket.  We could hear the engine rev, but it didn’t develop any power!  I told him it sounded like something got sucked up into the impeller.  He jumped off the machine and went under to clear the intake.  In the water he couldn’t find anything plugging the jet pump.  He brought the ski back to the ramp and together we put the ski on it’s side.  There was a 1 1/2″ nylon web strap wrapped around the drive shaft and in the impeller.  We couldn’t clear it at the ramp.

When we finally got the nylon web strap out, it was 10′ long.  There was a family at the ramp that had no clue about the water and they were trying to paddle a canoe.  Of course they flipped the canoe.  We think the strap may have been a tied down strap they used to transport the canoe and they left it in when they flipped.

MJ got lucky and sucked it up.

This morning we went back to the ramp to go out and found that the starter wouldn’t engaged the flywheel.  We could hear it spin but the engine wouldn’t turn over.  Turns out when MJ was in the water trying to clear the blockage, he got back on the machine, started it and limped it back to the ramp.  In doing so, the starter sheared the teeth off the flywheel.

Aladdin on Broadway

logo-aladdin-newA few days after Christmas, we had family day in NYC.  We took MJ and Jill to see Aladdin on Broadway.  I managed to get really good seats, third row orchestra.

Jill, who normally cannot sit still for 30 minutes, loved the play.  She came home, downloaded some of the songs and walks around the house singing.

Just before the show we walked around Rockefeller center and had dinner at Trattoria Trecolori on 47th Street.

Kinky Boots

kinkybootsThe Broadway play, Kinky Boots, is awesome.  Cathy and I took Lindsey and Elizabeth on Tuesday, Dec 1st.  We got lucky, that night was Wayne Brady’s debut as Lola.  He was absolutely fantastic!

Wayne Brady brought an unbelievable amount of energy to the show.  The music and dancing was just superb.  Kinky Boot’s is in my top 5 Broadway plays of all time.

The Return of Depression Economics

I’ve been reading “The Return of Depression Economics” by Paul Krugman.  It is an attempt to explain the financial crash of 2008 and why efforts by the Fed and Treasury were largely ineffective.

The book goes into the shadow banking system, the products created by investment banks that largely parallel the depositor banking system but avoids the regulatory aspects.  Paul makes the argument that the crash began as a currency crisis which precipitated a “run on the bank” of the shadow banking system.

He goes on to explain that most of the tools the Fed has are meant to shore up confidence in the depositor banking system. The shadow banking system is not at all backed by the Fed.  When the US Govt came up with special efforts, such as TARP and quantitative easing to add money into the economy, their efforts were thwarted by private investors pulling out money.

The author clearly explains that we are not heading into a depression. A lot of the monetary policy controls the Fed has become ineffective, we are exposed to the economic risks that existed during the era of the great depression.

Anyone interested in economics should read this book.  It provides an interesting explanation of what occurred in 2008.  It also lays out the risks we face in the current economy and those risks are largely not being addressed by the government.