Vignettes of Vacation “Values”

I’m still on vacation in Boston for a few more days. Vacation probably isn’t the right word as we’ve been running around to meet every relative and friend we can. I thought I’d share a couple of our expenses and savings in bits and pieces.

• The biggest reason we made he trek from San Francisco to Boston was for one of my closest friends’ wedding. It was a black tie affair. Luckily a good friend gave me his hand-me-down tuxedo years ago. Though I really need to get it dry cleaned, it worked well for the event. My wife, on the other hand, was not as lucky purchasing a new dress and getting her hair and make-up done for the event. We have a bit of a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy with these things. It doesn’t look like we have any more black tie weddings coming up so this is a one-time splurge.
• On the trip up, my “1989 luggage” (as my wife calls it), seemed to meet it’s demise. The zipper on the carry-on broke. I’m sure I could get it fixed for probably a small amount, but it was a very cheap set that has survived around 15 years (no it’s not from 1989). I was never very fond of it as the wheels are too close together, making the luggage tip right or left if you move faster than a Slowsky. We found new luggage at the Air Force base we are staying at. The bonus with that is that it’s tax-free. We compared it to Target last night and the value seemed good. I would have purchased it again to watch my wife say, “nu na-nu, nu na-nu” like the typewriter on Seseme Street as she marveled in the freedom of having four freely moving wheels.
• I shouldn’t gloss over the Air Force base too quickly. At $37 a night in Boston, it’s the cheapest thing around. It includes a small fridge and microwave. It’s quite sizable as well. The downside is that the building and the hallways looks like a college dorm from the 1960’s (or earlier). The inside is a little more renovated – with the exception of the bathroom, which is ancient. There’s no option of Internet access in the rooms. This is why I’m not writing as much as I intended. I’m writing into a text editor and at some point will go to the business center and publish this. If you see that the above Seseme typewriter story doesn’t have a link to YouTube, it’s because I simply can’t do it while I’m in “writing mode.”
• My dryer in my my tenants place needs replacing. It seems the vents in my place were not made wide enough and it takes a tool on the dryer’s life. The Air Force base has them fairly cheaply, but they leave the installation up to you. I’m not very good at that and will take Home Depot’s free installation. The dryer itself will cost another $30, but we have a $100 gift-card there. It might be less than $250 for an entry-level version, which is what was in there before. I will have to consider that a big win.

That’s about all I have for now…