Settling In (Sunday)
So, because I was mostly focusing on travel and such in the last post I didn’t mention it, but when I got back home, the pool was about half empty. Turns out something went wrong after we installed the pump and a pipe came loose. The roommate has been slowly filling it back up over time, but today was the last day. Once it filled completely, I turned the pump back on, and everything’s flowing fine. I checked the balance, and strangely it still has a ton of chlorine in it. Just need to add some baking soda to get the alkalinity up.
Other than that, I really didn’t do much today. I got QuickBooks installed and activated on the new laptop. Looks like the old laptop just gave up the ghost, luckily I have everything I need from it already. I did play a bunch more Sky Factory 4 though. I’ve progressed so far.
Back to Work (Monday)
This work thing isn’t as bad as I remember. I did my usual morning thing, coffee, reading the internet, breakfast, shower, etc. After that I headed out to work on my truck, starting issues, serious corrosion built up on the battery terminals. I couldn’t get the screws to turn, so I did that Coke trick and scrubbed it with my old toothbrush. Hopefully it helps, waiting for it to dry before I try.
After that I went to work on accounting. Lots of data to enter into QuickBooks from the time I was away. Luckily, it’s not such a pain to enter since I’ve become accustomed to it now. Haven’t finished entering it all, but I did take some time to look back at our P&L for the early year and things are good. We’re pulling in pretty decent profit each month. Mind you the data isn’t completely complete, but it’s complete enough to get a decent picture of what we’re bringing in.
Early afternoon I headed out to meet a guy about a roof. There’s a shingle issue with one of our villas and he’s the man to fix it. Looks like we’ll need scaffolding to get it done though, hopefully he can find some. Once that was done, I headed over to the local hardware store and picked up jumper cables. They did the trick in getting the truck started and now she’s charging.
Pools (Tuesday)
Early in the day I started out going to one of our villas to check on new doors to install. It seems the owners ordered the wrong thing and they’re not the right size . . . Of course, we have no idea what they ordered as they never sent us any information about it.
So it’s time to get back to the hard work. But first I need chemicals. Picked up muriatic acid, they only had one bottle. Then ran by the dock to see if the sodium bicarbonate I ordered yesterday was waiting for me. Luckily it was. I really wish they would tell me when they put stuff on the ferry instead of making me guess.
Hard Work
First time doing pools since I went on vacation. I was not ready. It really wasn’t that bad though. I started with a pool that had been resurfaced while I was gone. They moved all the water from the pool into one of the house’s cisterns during the work then replaced it. Left the pool with a good bit of sediment. Just needed some sodium bicarb, a scrub, and a vacuum.
After that was my nemesis. It was easy work this time because the chlorine levels were off the chart (literally). Chlorine was so high that the alkalinity test was funky. I did have to add some sodium bicarb there too. I guess that’s just what it takes to keep that pool clean. No idea what was done to get the chlorine that high, but it seems to work.
Then I did a little work on our pool . . . more sodium bicarb. I went through over half of that 50lb bag today. Otherwise, the pool was in good shape, chlorine was surprisingly high. I gave it a bit of a scrub, but it’s looking good. I’ll need to put some real work cleaning it on Friday but it’s usable now.
Social Call
The boat captain came over to hang out and do laundry this afternoon. We had espresso martinis and hung out, it was a nice relaxing afternoon after the hard work on the pools. Lots of talk about customers and the immigration amnesty thing going on. And of course there was lots of island gossip.
During the visit the roommate’s vacation was discussed. I knew it was coming up soon, but it’s only ten days away! I’m excited to have the place to myself for a while. No need to share shitty internet for her to stream news constantly. No need to disappear into my room to watch my own TV or play video games. Mind you, that means work will be different, but I think I can handle it.
Going to Town (Wednesday)
Videos
Today I got an email about Humble Bundle’s latest offering, Vegas Pro. I jumped on that in the hopes that I’ll finally get back to making videos again soon in some fashion. It will be nice to have real software that isn’t pirated to make videos with. Dunno what I’ll do or when I’ll do it, but it’s a start.
Tortola
Mid-morning the roommate and I headed off to Tortola to get me added as a signatory to the checking account. Surprisingly, we were successful! Banking down here seems so backwards compared to the states. It took a while to do, but we didn’t have to jump through any extra hoops. Once that was done we had lunch at The Rooftop. Food was delicious. And we still made it in time for our ferry home.
QuickBooks
Once we were back home it was time to get back to accounting. Starting to get caught up. All the checks are in now. I got caught up on all payments received while I was gone. Now I just need to go over the invoices from April and enter information for the stuff I’m missing.
Bad Start (Thursday)
Ugh, so the truck still won’t start reliably, need to get it fixed. Had to borrow the roommate’s car to head over to the government building. Getting the process started to renew my work permit. Once that was done, the car had a flat! Got the tire changed with the help of a guy there (I could have done it solo, but I was thankful for the assistance).
Once that was done I headed to the auto parts store for a battery for my truck. Wouldn’t you know it, cops checking people’s registrations. The roommate hasn’t done her registration yet because she doesn’t have a local driver’s license. Might get cited for that, who knows.
Got the battery though! Now just need to get the truck to the shop to get it swapped (and hopefully swap a tire too cause I’m still running on a spare). Normally I’d be able to swap a battery no problem, but the nuts are seized on the terminal.
Things are looking worse for the truck. The handyman came by and he took a stab at disconnecting the battery. He was able to get one terminal free, but the terminal clamp looks broken. Hopefully I can find one on island to replace it. Still need to be able to disconnect the other terminal though. Oh, and the battery might be the wrong size.
Well, we got the old battery disconnected, but the battery was the wrong size. Had to make a quick run back to the auto parts store and swap it out. Wasn’t too bad getting it put back in and now the truck cranks with no issues!
Dinner Out
The roommate had a gift certificate for The Restaurant at Leverick Bay she won from a charity raffle so we went up there for dinner. The food was amazing as always. I had some lobster risotto (took some home for another day) and roast duck. If you’re ever on the island and want to try some amazing (but expensive) food, you gotta hit that place up.
More Trouble (Friday)
So it’s pool day again, but my truck is still having trouble. Seems that the crack in the terminal connector is preventing it from staying on. So as soon as I hit any kind of bump, it comes free and no more battery. Luckily I got it in for repair and they took care of it quick for me while I waited, and it only cost twenty bucks.
Pools
Pool service was pretty easy. I started at one villa, left my truck running because of the issues. Then headed over for the repair. Once they were done I dropped by the amazing house and their pool was super low! I had to let the hose run for almost two hours to refill it. Luckily, the actual work on the pool wasn’t too bad, just a bit of a scrub and vacuum after throwing in some bicarb.
After that I hit up our pool. Balance was good, just gave it a big scrub all over. I didn’t fight my nemesis today because the guests are leaving tomorrow. Instead they get one more day without my interruption and I service it tomorrow after they are gone.
Saturday
Started out early fighting the nemesis. It was an easy battle, chlorine is super-high still so there isn’t a lot of cleaning. The housekeepers were already there, so not much choice of leftovers, but I did get some rum! Pool was really low, ran water for over an hour to get it topped up.
Other than that, not a huge day. Played more Sky Factory 4. Got my truffle achievement. Slowly making cookie singularities (as well as the the ultimate singularity). I have upgraded my important fluxducts to enderium. Now I need to look into the power generation achievements.
Featured Image
Today’s featured image is a rainbow on a wall. I saw this rainbow on the wall of the bathroom while I was peeing and I just knew I needed to share it. It was created by the sunlight passing through the shower glass in just the right way.
Remember to go check out my Gallery for more photo goodness!
