Have you ever had one of those "I Hate Costa Rica" days?

I can just see Jen reading this and jumping up and down...."I have, I have"!

Last Thursday was one such day. It started off like any other weekday....heading off for the daily grind. Traffic wasn't too bad and I though to myself..."self, this ain't so bad." Once at work, I am pleased to see that I have a 3 hour window without meetings through lunch. Being the wonderful husband that I am, I call the Mrs. and we plan to meet for lunch. So far so good. Then lunch comes around and I head home. We decide to try a French restaurant that comes highly recommended. While the food was excellent, it is not much of a place for kids...good thing the Mrs. thought ahead and brought food for both of the chillins. Then we head over to the local mercado to pick up some grapefruit...oops, no grapefruit....there goes the salad for dinner tonight. Then I give the chillins and the Mrs. some kisses and head back to the grindstone.

Oh wait, I should stop at the bank and deposit all those checks that have been coming in the mail (most are related to selling the house and closing out insurances and utilities...). "Self, you are so smart since you just happen to be close to the bank and happen to have all those checks with you." One hour later I finally deposit some of the checks. You see, first they didn't want to allow me to deposit international checks...then they took the ones made out just to me but not Jen's or Payton's. See, Jen's checks were in her married name and her account is in her maiden name (since that is how her passport was made). Finally, they agree to deposit the checks with both mine and the Mrs. names but still don't take Jen-only or Payton checks. Oh yeah, and one of those checks to Jen expires today. Qwest is going to get a freebie....grrr....

So I begrudgingly leave the banco and head over to Cemeco to try and return our BBQ tank to the new BBQ since I can't get it filled anywhere...ANYWHERE (that is another "I hate Costa Rica" story). After about 30 mins of playing charades with the cashier, I finally get someone who speaks English and we get the task taken care of...well, I have to settle for store credit but that's ok...I can't recall a single time the Mrs. has ever permanently stopped shopping.

Then I decide to stop at the local hardware store (EPA) and return the two broken fans we bought. One came out of the box with dirty fan blades and a blown fuse (did I mention there were little pieces of wrapping paper on the outside of the box?). The other had a big chunk missing from the base of the fan. Quality in Costa Rica is not a requirement apparently - everything is dirty and broken....the ultimate Caveat Emptor country. After another 30 mins I finally get those returned with the help of someone who speaks broken English.

Now that I am three hours into my "lunch" I decide I better get back to work quick since I have a meeting for which I am already late. So I bomb out onto the autopista and immediately run smack dab into the leading edge of rush hour...oh yeah, forgot about that. So it takes me 45 mins to get back to work and I barely make it to my 4:00 meeting. Just in time to turn around at 5:00 and head back through all that traffic...BEAUTIFUL day.

At least one thing went well, the cookie goo that Kade got all over me at lunch was close to the color of my shirt (green) so it was only mildly obvious that I had a big goober of cookie on my shirt for the entire afternoon.