Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Work Done part 2
We decided to have the house painted white where it once was green – that’s the part that had to be done over. The reason is, it’s hard to match up the paint and people will see the difference. Also, when touch up has to be done – because of the rain – white will match perfectly. It’s also cheaper than colored paint.
Pictures: Jayne and Craig part 1
Here are some pictures that were made of Jayne and me in October. The place was about a 30 minute ride from home and it’s in a national park. Other pictures you’ll see is of the work done on our home.
Important Tip
Important Tip
I started copying my CDs and DVDs on to my external hard drive. I found out from Richard that copies made on CDs and DVDs have a life expectancy of about 4 years. The surface they use is vegetable based (I didn’t know that!) and you start losing the sound and picture. If it’s manufactured the life expectancy is about 25-30 years.
If you want to preserve your pictures or other information you should make copies on a hard drive. The hard drive has a different surface so they will last a long time. Of course, if you notice that your computer is having trouble starting to read your external hard drive you should buy another one and copy everything from one to another.
The reason why I say external hard drive is that most people will fill up their computer hard drive with DVDs that made. The info that you don’t access often put on your external hard drive.
I bought an external hard drive that Richard’s friend brought into the country from the US (they are cheaper than in Ecuador). It only cost $139 for 500 GB. You can buy larger hard drives if you want.
If you purchased any CDs or DVDs, and paid a good price for it they could still have made it from CDs bought in a store and copies made from their computers. So it’s good to copy them on your hard drive. I bought some that cost a good bit and I can tell they were made on store bought CD/DVDs. Others I know they are made by the manufacturer, so I won’t copy them unless there’s enough room. (It’s always good to have a back up made as you never know what might happen to them.
After all, can you image all your family pictures/videos made with a digital cameras gone!
Hope this tip is helpful.
I started copying my CDs and DVDs on to my external hard drive. I found out from Richard that copies made on CDs and DVDs have a life expectancy of about 4 years. The surface they use is vegetable based (I didn’t know that!) and you start losing the sound and picture. If it’s manufactured the life expectancy is about 25-30 years.
If you want to preserve your pictures or other information you should make copies on a hard drive. The hard drive has a different surface so they will last a long time. Of course, if you notice that your computer is having trouble starting to read your external hard drive you should buy another one and copy everything from one to another.
The reason why I say external hard drive is that most people will fill up their computer hard drive with DVDs that made. The info that you don’t access often put on your external hard drive.
I bought an external hard drive that Richard’s friend brought into the country from the US (they are cheaper than in Ecuador). It only cost $139 for 500 GB. You can buy larger hard drives if you want.
If you purchased any CDs or DVDs, and paid a good price for it they could still have made it from CDs bought in a store and copies made from their computers. So it’s good to copy them on your hard drive. I bought some that cost a good bit and I can tell they were made on store bought CD/DVDs. Others I know they are made by the manufacturer, so I won’t copy them unless there’s enough room. (It’s always good to have a back up made as you never know what might happen to them.
After all, can you image all your family pictures/videos made with a digital cameras gone!
Hope this tip is helpful.
Dollar and Euro Exchange Rate
Monday November 17
I went to Quito today to meet Judith. She arrived late as usual. we went to my bank where I wanted to withdraw some money to pay for the materials and workers this week. I had planned to go to my other bank but I forgot the last utility bill!
I asked for the exchange rate as my account is in Euros and I wanted dollars. I was told that it would be $1.21 to the Euro. However she said she asked if she could get a higher rate for me – which she did. I got $1.22. The other bank on Friday said I would get $1.14, so there is a big difference.
Judith said that there is a bank down the street that changes currencies. I thought for a minute – why not get Euros out of my other bank and change it at the other bank!
I could not do it at the bank I was at now as I had already told them I would like them to convert it. However, the next time I go to the other bank I’ll just take out Euros and save money.
I know that there is a kiosk in the center that does this, so I’ll go there. It’s not like a bank that you need an account. I’m sure that the bank I was at today is probably closer to what the kiosk pays, but it’s not close to the bank that I didn’t go to today.
Between the two banks that I have an account in the difference is 8%. That means on 1,000 Euros it’s $80.00 difference. I know that there wasn’t that much change in one business day.
That’s lot of money!!
When I take, say, 500 Euros out I’ll get 500. So there is nothing that they can cheat me on.
I went to Quito today to meet Judith. She arrived late as usual. we went to my bank where I wanted to withdraw some money to pay for the materials and workers this week. I had planned to go to my other bank but I forgot the last utility bill!
I asked for the exchange rate as my account is in Euros and I wanted dollars. I was told that it would be $1.21 to the Euro. However she said she asked if she could get a higher rate for me – which she did. I got $1.22. The other bank on Friday said I would get $1.14, so there is a big difference.
Judith said that there is a bank down the street that changes currencies. I thought for a minute – why not get Euros out of my other bank and change it at the other bank!
I could not do it at the bank I was at now as I had already told them I would like them to convert it. However, the next time I go to the other bank I’ll just take out Euros and save money.
I know that there is a kiosk in the center that does this, so I’ll go there. It’s not like a bank that you need an account. I’m sure that the bank I was at today is probably closer to what the kiosk pays, but it’s not close to the bank that I didn’t go to today.
Between the two banks that I have an account in the difference is 8%. That means on 1,000 Euros it’s $80.00 difference. I know that there wasn’t that much change in one business day.
That’s lot of money!!
When I take, say, 500 Euros out I’ll get 500. So there is nothing that they can cheat me on.
Richard Visited
Sunday November 16
Richard said he’d be here at noon. So I went to the mall this morning to do some food shopping. I looked first for a gift to buy him for his 50th birthday which was November 12. I found a crystal bowl made in Germany that I thought would go good with his apartment. Then I went to another store to buy a birthday card. Of course, it is in Spanish, but he can read and speak the language.
Richard came with some plants that he had started to grow in his house but they were getting too big for the pot. One is a vine that originally came from Cuba. This we can really use to have it grow on the concrete wall – as the wall in the back of the house is ugly.
We had a nice talk and Richard liked the gift.
Jayne had made brown rice salad along with egg salad and bread with olive oil.
Richard left about 4.30pm.
Richard said he’d be here at noon. So I went to the mall this morning to do some food shopping. I looked first for a gift to buy him for his 50th birthday which was November 12. I found a crystal bowl made in Germany that I thought would go good with his apartment. Then I went to another store to buy a birthday card. Of course, it is in Spanish, but he can read and speak the language.
Richard came with some plants that he had started to grow in his house but they were getting too big for the pot. One is a vine that originally came from Cuba. This we can really use to have it grow on the concrete wall – as the wall in the back of the house is ugly.
We had a nice talk and Richard liked the gift.
Jayne had made brown rice salad along with egg salad and bread with olive oil.
Richard left about 4.30pm.
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