Back to Temecula, CA

Aloha Everyone,

Today was a long driving day. We failed to take into a consideration that Californians head for Las Vegas on Friday afternoons and return home on Sunday. Our normal driving time of 5 hours was extended to 7 hours because of traffic.

Temecula is rapidly growing. New homes and gated communities are springing up everywhere. However, Temecula still has a laid back ambience where we can enjoy a slower pace of life.

The highlight of today’s drive was a take out lunch from Mad Greek Cafe in Primm which we enjoyed at a rest stop on I-15 South. J.J. enjoyed a Gyro with French fries. My Spanokopita was excellent. I also prepared a salad using vegetables from our refrigerator. The main Mad Greek Cafe is located in Baker, California also on I-15, but the wait time is longer.

Aloha -- Cathi

Honu’s Latest Repair

Aloha Everyone,

Home and vehicle upkeep, repairs and maintenance are something all of us are familiar with. If your home has multiple bathrooms, and one of them cannot be used, you might not attend to do the repair immediately.

In our case, we need to have Honu’s engine and wheels and anything related to driving functioning perfectly. Additionally, we must have our residence section including, bed, kitchen and bathroom all in excellent working order.

When the toilet mechanism broke this morning, we had to have it repaired at once.  

Jeff’s Auto & Truck Repair had an ad in the KOA Las Vegas guest directory. Their response to my phone call was quick. Within 30 minutes, I was talking to Kevin, one of their mobile mechanics. Per his request, I texted him photos of the toilet for him to get a better idea of the problem.

The bad news is that the toilet flushing mechanism had broken. The good news is before he came over, Kevin had already contacted a supplier and he was able to install a new toilet.

Mobile mechanics are expensive. We paid $757.32 which included $125 service call to assess the problem, $150 per hourly rate x 2 hours, cost of a replacement toilet unit, new connector for water plus tax. We received one year warranty for parts and service.  Hopefully, we won’t have to make use of the warranties.

The two of us had a lunch at a nearby Vietnamese restaurant. J.J. ordered their House Special Pho and I feasted on fried tofu.

Aloha -- Cathi

Typos in Our Daily Communication

Aloha Everyone,

Typos in our daily communication are quite common. Some typos are caused by what is referred to as a “fat finger” error. Others are due to auto correct programs that are supposed to catch our spelling mistakes but also results in creating grammatical errors. For example, in one of our more recent blog, possessive pronoun “its” was automatically changed to “it’s”. We don’t always catch them so my apologies to those English language majors who must squirm when you see one.

J.J. alerted me on an interesting article which appeared in Business Insider.

Mizuho Securities Co. of Japan has the notoriety of making one of the most costly typo. In 2005, the typo accidentally listed 610,000 shares of their company at 1 yen apiece, instead of the equivalent $5,041 per share. Apparently, the Tokyo Stock Exchange doesn’t cancel orders even if it was mistake. As a result, Mizuho lost $225 million and caused the Nikkei 225 index to go down by nearly 2% that day.

To read the article, go to:

https://m.timesunion.com/technology/businessinsider/article/11-small-typos-that-caused-big-disasters-13811246.php

Aloha -- Cathi

Global Entry Interview

Aloha Everyone,

In response to our Global Entry application, J.J. and I received an email from the United States Customs and Border Protection. We have completed the first step.

Basically, in lieu of scheduling an appointment at a Global Entry Enrollment Center, we could interview for Global Entry upon our return from the next international trip.

We are happy with this information as it would facilitate the interview process.

Aloha -- Cathi

Upgrading My Healthy Living

Aloha Everyone,

The truth is I need to eat every 3 hours or I feel famished. What foods I eat depends on the time of the day. I often munch on cherry tomatoes, celery sticks, cucumber slices, crackers with almond butter or a slice of cheese.

At our recent 6 months checkup, Dr. Codiga urged me to eat more protein to put on some weight.

Listening to a recommendation from my friend, Pat, I decided to add flax seeds to my oatmeal. Trying to upgrade the selection of my food, improve eating habits and reincorporating daily yoga to my walking routine will take some time, efforts and determination.

Aloha -- Cathi