Big Day

[kurtdesign1]

I am so salty about this very theme. People (generally Americans) tend to defend Americans with a common line about us being the most generous people/nation in the world. This is generally bull shit. We give, often only because we get. You are seeing that first hand. I will talk with Elly tonight about making a regular monthly contribution instead. And I don't want a fucking thing for it! Argh!

On a related note, I had no idea that the change in standardized deduction would have this negative impact. More accurately, I hadn't taken the thought on to its logical conclusion of less needing to be donated in order to reach some expected level of tax break. This just makes me feel dirty for my country.

[Kip]

Sorry for the rant guys. I'm not so pious as to believe I'm immune to letting things get the better of me. Little stresses are cumulative and seem to pile on at times....

[kurtdesign1]

Sorry for the rant guys. I'm not so ious as to believe I'm immune to letting things get the better of me. Little stresses are cumulative and seem to pile on at times....

Hey man, if we were all in the same room we'd say that you were just blowing off steam to your buddies. Why isn't text the exact same thing? That said, you weren't complaining about bugs or the smell of tiled rooms. You were feeling a pretty damn honest and important reaction to something in your life. Not much need to apologize in my book.

[Kip]

So Nick and I arrived at the mountaintop with a busted hose on my truck today. Thankfully, it occurred at the last curve before the Gracesquis' house. So, William and I stayed back during the class to try and MacGyver a repair. The hose split near the neck where it attaches. So far, so good. But, when we tried to cut off the end and reattach we realized it was too rotten to use. Being many miles from home, and way out in the boondocks, we decided since it was only a heater core hose we'd just rig up a bypass. I give you....the "guayaba gaff". We whittled a limb from a guava tree and stick it in the hole. This made it almost back home, until we'd leaked out all the coolant and overheated again. Nick and I pulled over and waited for it to cool a bit....whittled another stick for the other heater core port, poured in 2 gallons of water we had with us, and made it the rest of the way. I have been very irritated with life here lately, but strangely this didn't really make that worse. If anything, I'm feeling better than before. It's a small thing, but every little episode like this that ends with getting home safely helps.



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[Kip]

In the southwestern corner of the country, there's a border area called Pedernales. A Haitian recently killed a man and attacked the man's wife. This, as per usual, caused no small amount of uproar and attempted lynching. That's par for the course here, and expected. But, on this occasion, the unrest has grown to much larger, more violent expression. The local Dominicans, apparently fed up with similar situations from a very large population of illegal Haitians, have taken the law into their own hands. They began riding through the streets with loudspeakers warning all Haitians to leave by 10am yesterday morning or face death. The military stepped in to try and maintain control, but even with an ongoing mass exodus of thousands of Haitians there is a really big disturbance still going on this morning. The idea is routine; the scale is new. Since the police are often viewed as unhelpful at best (and more often, criminals themselves), local residents often stage lynchings of offenders. That isn't news. This particular situation, though, having grown to a much larger proportion to encompass an entire town, sets a dangerous precedent. I'm interested and a bit concerned that it could set a pace for the remainder of the country. I suppose we'll see in the days to come.

[Stewmuse]

Not cool. Do any of your students have reason for personal concern about their safety? Good luck to you...

[kurtdesign1]

Good gracious, the life you lead...
Is it only Haitians? Please tell me its only Haitians. Not that I'm saying that's ok. Far from it.

[Kip]

Wait gents....this is in the far SW corner of the country. Not at all in my neck of the woods.

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[Kip]

So it turns out buying fitted heater core hoses that are specific to a vehicle isn't really a thing here. Nick and I went to a hose store (which oddly IS a thing here) and got some flexible heater hose. It was slightly too small, and my port was slightly too big (probably stretched from driving a stick into it). Enter....the Kleen Reem pipe reamer, pictured below. This thing adjusts to your pipe's bowl size by turning the bigger knurled knob on its rear end. I was able to put it onto the hose and expand it - no turn/cutting, of course - enough to stretch the hose about 1/16" extra so it would go over the lip of the port. Boom. Back in business for a grand total of 149 pesos for a length of hose and 3 clamps....about $3US at current exchange.

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[Stewmuse]

So it turns out buying fitted heater core hoses that are specific to a vehicle isn't really a thing here. Nick and I went to a hose store (which oddly IS a thing here) and got some flexible heater hose. It was slightly too small, and my port was slightly too big (probably stretched from driving a stick into it). Enter....the Kleen Reem pipe reamer, pictured below. This thing adjusts to your pipe's bowl size by turning the bigger knurled knob on its rear end. I was able to put it onto the hose and expand it - no turn/cutting, of course - enough to stretch the hose about 1/16" extra so it would go over the lip of the port. Boom. Back in business for a grand total of 149 pesos for a length of hose and 3 clamps....about $3US at current exchange.

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Good call, MacGuyver...