Saturday, February 16, 2013

Two Alberg 30 Sailors Stuck in a Winter Funk!

    I know I promised more updates a month ago and yet here we are nearly 30 days later and no post, pics or updates. But somehow, in a feverish effort to simplify my life and prepare for cruising, I find myself with less time and money than ever...what gives?
    I have started going to school in an effort to make more money at my current job.This college thing to me is a big scam but that rant is best saved for another place and time. I am attending classes to become more educated to make more money to eventually quit working and go cruising. The logic in it is this: In order to maintain our current life my pay somehow needs to go up. Gas costs more, insurance costs are rising exponientially, groceries too....EVERYTHING except my pay rate. I know I am not alone, many people people living the "American Dream" are suffering financially. I still consider myself very lucky to even have a job. I figured more education would lead to a better position at work, however, school has surely taken up a lot of time. I am taking 9 credits this semester, some of which is an online pre-calculus class. I am begining to see that this was a mistake as I am basically teaching myself the material while paying hundreds of dollars to earn these ever-so-precious credits. I will continue on this path for another few months, and I have been encouraged by peers that all this hard work will pay off in the end. Time will tell.


A couple of land locked sailors, we are! Here are a few pictures of us in better weather, doing what we love...



    I was able to get out sailing quite a bit the first few months of winter this year but Mother Nature has since put a stop to that. With temps in the mid 40s most of the time and water temps hovering around 40 I am finding that this is not a good combination for having a good day sailing. Right now, it is actually snowing as I write this. This is our second snow fall of the year and I sincerely hope it is our last. Tomorrow's high is forecast at 35 degrees, so no sailing in my near future. We check on our Sal every week and have a good liveaboard friend at the marina that watches her daily but I wish I could start counting the days until we cut the lines for good. Biggest problem now is we just don't know how many that will be. Right now, it looks like 3 or 4 years yet. This is ok with us as we still need to complete a refit of all Sal's major living areas and operation systems, and with current incomes where they are it's going to take at least that long.
   With every passing minute we are getting closer to Spring and another great year of coastal adventures aboard our Salacia. With each passing day, we are getting closer to moving aboard and cutting the docklines. And in the meantime we are living life one day and one dollar at a time.

3 comments:

  1. Good luck with the classes. I'm taking online classes too but only one at a time. Any time I try taking two at a time, I get a good score in one and not so good (but still passing) in the other. I'm in a 16wk Lit class that is pretty boring although some of the reading material is interesting. I'm working towards a degree in accounting because I want to do something compeltely different than what I'm doing now. If it wasn't for online classes, I probably wouldn't have time for them. Always busy with other things as it is.

    All this studying takes precious time away from working on the boat :-)

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  2. We surely can empathize, Dan! We're keeping our eyes on the prize, always though...

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  3. Hello, just found the blog and can sympathize. My wife and I went through the same events several years ago. I would suggest your one mistake is " In order to maintain our current life". We found that by selling the toys and living well below our means the day to cast off lines came much quicker. And in so many ways life is better when simpler:)
    Good luck on your journey.

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