CheetahhhhhhhBlog Mark III

As I have said many times in the last year, housing prices are going to flatten, and then decline. I’m no brain-bank. I simply read the Economist. Anyway the median price of a new home was down 9.8% from March to $229,100 (from $254,000).

This interests me primarily because my next goal is to get a condo in Makate, in Manila. And when the USA coughs, the Philippines gets a cold. So I anticipate this time next year, it will be a buyer’s market for Makate condos.

The Bug is a Roman Catholic if you didn’t know. Well admittedly he doesn’t know it himself, yet, but he is. Anyway he attended his first mass today and was apparently quite excited about it, chattering with everybody in church.

The New York Times has a new screen reader which I quite like. I might buy their $160/year subscription.

Anyway I went to a “party” on Wednesday, a BBQ with colleagues. This was a typical Saudi “party” with no girls, music, or booze. It was nice and actually one of the Pakistanis made chicken tikka, which is one of my favorites. However I still fail to see the point behind a “party” with no girls, music, or booze.

Anyway my fishing flies finally arrived and I was incredibly excited to go fishing. Then I woke up Thursday morning sick as a dawg. I’ll hopped up on Panadol cold medicine now and I have a really nasty cough. Usually when the Cheetahhhhhhh says he’s sick, he in truth just doesn’t feel like getting out of bed. This one is for real, however. My cough is so hard it’s hurting my throat. Anyway I didn’t go fishing. It almost seems as if the fates are conspiring to prevent me from going fishing. Seriously.

The American markets had a little bear run last week and one of my mutual funds lost $350. I am none too happy about it. I think the market will continue to rise, however.

Vanessa got the deed of sale for our house yesterday, so we’re officially home owners. People always say a house is a money pit, and one reason I’m buying a little house in Leyte is to avoid this money-pitted-ness. However I might note that the house is already costing me a fortune in refurbishment. There is a carpenter working on a wall, a plumber laying tiles in the bathroom and installing running water and a shower and a toilet that flushes (most people don’t have these things in the Philippines), and we need to have an electrician come and re-wire the house to accommodate AC. Then there is the need to buy appliances, a sofa, beds, etc…

Anyway aside from these points, there is very little going on with the Cheetahhhhhhhh. I spent the weekend laying in bed being sick. Without Van and the Bug here, I have very little to report.

Not a lot going on over here. Van and the Bug have been enjoying themselves in Manila. Apparently Bug has started crawling around quite quickly. This brings a little tear to my eye because I can’t see it for another 28 days. They’re flying to Capoocan tomorrow. Van has a bank draft for the house. So in a day or two we will be homeowners, and cheers. You know what’s cool about our house on Leyte? We own it. Not the bank. We do.

I’m bored out of my mind here in my apartment. I had been planning on flyfishing this month when Van and the Bug were away, but the FRAK-A-LAKIN flies haven’t arrived yet, so all I can do is stare at my new fly rod sadly. I actually don’t know what I’m going to do with myself this weekend.

Anyway out of concern for the rapidly diminishing value of the dollar, I started a euro account. This stuck in my craw because I’m well on record for loathing the euro. However in an effort to understand money better, I now subscribe to the Wall Street Journal and I am taking an educated gamble that the euro will go over the $1.40 mark, which should trigger bullishness with the euro. Also currencies always go down in election years, so the dollar will probably continue to slide. It’s incredibly alarming. What I did was this. I changed $4000 into euro. This will be approximately the cost of our next European vacation, whenever that will be. If the Euro goes over $1.40, I will start making a profit. If not, I will just use it when we go to Europe. In terms of profit, we’re not talking big profits. If the euro goes to $1.46, I’ll make a 7% profit minus the 2% currency exchange loss for a total of 5%, which is money-market interest.
And incidentally, what the hell is the matter with the greenback. It used to be a fine and noble note. Now it’s on a frakkin freefall like a frakkin 3rd world currency.

There was some disturbing cheating on my last test. Somebody got into my office and printed up a copy of the test. Out of 50 students, about 30 tests are almost identical. Really ridiculous when you get down to it. Anyway this prompted the admin to finally get me a key for my office (I’d been asking for months). I’m annoyed and pondering what to do about it. In an American uni, of course, I’d fail them all. Here, there’s not point. Cheating is socially acceptable and is not really punished. Indeed because Saudi students don’t study, they put a lot of effort into cheating. Trying to stop it is like battling the surf with a bucket. If I report it to student affairs, nothing will actually happen. In any case, kids don’t actually fail here. Why, don’t ask me. I’m teaching kids I’ve failed 3-4 times in a row. EVery semester I think I’m rid of them, and then somebody in admin monkeys with their grades so they “pass”. What I think I will do is give the worst offenders a zero, yell at them a bit, and leave it at that.

I tried to get a disciplinary policy implemented this semester… one of my initiatives… but this came up against resistance and is now, as far as I can tell, dead in the water. Why you would want to resist a disciplinary policy is beyond me. Anyway it would have given a strong penalty to cheaters.

Vanessa and The Bug are in Manila. Apparently The Bug has taken quite a fancy to nanay. Nevertheless there is no AC in nanay’s house and this is making him very cranky. You know, here in Saudi, we never turn it off.

I got a shipment of flyfishing gear from Orvis. I am pleased as punch. Unfortunately the flies have not arrived yet, so I can’t go out to the reefs this weekend. Such a pity. I could never have afforded Orvis until now. It’s pricey. Add to this the cost of shipping to Saudi, and it was very costly indeed. Some of the guys at work are fishermen and they were admiring my new gear. I can’t wait for the flies to arrive!

While in Jeddah before her flight, Van picked out a diamond ring. She picked out a rather small one actually but it looks best on her because her hand is quite small.

Me, I picked out a Breitling watch. I got a Montbrilliant. It’s quite fancy. Actually, I don’t know if I mentioned it in the blog before, but when I first came to Saudi, I promised myself a Rolex at the end of this contract. That was my incentive to stick it out. And indeed it’s been touch-and-go occasionally. Generally speaking I like my job and it’s pleasant enough… but sometimes I can’t help but think how I’m out in the damn BUSH… anyway I had this incentive in my mind but when the time arrived, now, I simply couldn’t bring myself to spend ten grand on a watch. I would still like a Rolex but hell with it, I have a kid now, etc. So I got a Bretling which perhaps is my second choice of fancy watch but actually in many ways I like them better, partly because Breitlings are historical.

And yes indeed, you may remark, the Cheetahhhhhhh is dropping a lot of cash. Well this has all been planned meticulously in advance actually. The ring and the watch were just a start. In a week, there’s the house on Leyte, refurbishing it, and then the wedding. I’ve never spent so much money in my life. It makes me quite nervous actually. But I’m committed to all of this and it’s been carefully thought through, so the nervousness really just stems from seeing money go away.

And the Cheetahhhhhhh has 35 days to go. I am sick to death of the college and can’t wait. Teachers inevitably get burnt out. That’s why we need a summer holiday. And DAMN I’m burnt out. In September I will be fresh and eager as always but at the moment…. aaggg….

Vanessa and The Bug fly to Manila tomorrow. I have taken tomorrow off from work. We’re driving to Jeddah tonight. I already miss them both.

The Bug finally figured out how to crawl yesterday. He’s not very good at it yet, but we caught the big moment on video. He’s very proud of himself and enjoys exploring. I’d say he managed to crawl a whole 10 feet yesterday, which from his perspective is a whole new world, I imagine.

The Cheetahhhhhhh invested in 2 mutual funds, the Saudi-American Bank SR International Trade Finance Fund – (Al Sunbula) / SR * and US$ International Trade Finance Fund – (Al Sunbula) / US$ * . He’s also opening a brokerage account in Jeddah tomorrow. Why, you ask? Well, thinking of the future actually, which seems to be the only thing that really interests me any more. The future specifically being very early retirement, The Bug’s orthodontia, and The Bug’s education.

I have a big shipment from my buddies at Orvis waiting for me. Hopefully they will deliver it to my office before I leave for Jeddah. I’m getting a slew of flyfishing gear for saltwater. My flyfishing has been confined to tiny Wisconsin freshwater streams until now. I don’t actually know how to fish for saltwater fish, if truth be told. However I concluded a month ago that I needed a hobby, and flyfishing was a hobby that I kind of forgot about, mostly because I was in grad school and had no time or money. There should be excellent fishing in the salt flats outside of Yanbu. There’s also a big mangrove swamp. I don’t know about the fishing in Leyte, but I sure hope it’s good.

I have purchased a 10-day holiday to Boracay island Aug 3-13 with me, Van, Bug, and Nanay. My family are also invited incidentally. Boracay is the Miami Beach of the Philippines. Van is tremendously excited.