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Showing posts from April, 2009

All That You Leave Behind

When going on an extended overseas trip, there are things that may need to be addressed before you leave. It may be relatively easy to dump pets and furniture on friends and relatives, sell everything, or break your rental lease, but what if you have a mortgage? What are your options? Sell Sell Sell! There are some very attractive advantages to selling: freedom from debt having  cash to spend  There are also many  headaches associated with selling your home: losing your current fortunate position of homeownership future homeownership is likely to be  unaffordable   an  unpredictable market cannot guarantee that you will be able to sell where to live when you must vacate Renting Out A better option is to perhaps rent out  your property. Advantages of this include: keeping an asset that at holds capital value rental money  earning potential to contribute to the mortgage Disadvantages  of keeping your home and renting it out include: occupation  

The Main Sneaker

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Following my Incredible Three Shoe Plan  has led to the purchase of my main sneaker; the Hydro Power II amphibious trail runner by Helly Hansen . Advantageous features over regular sneakers include: light weight removable mid-sole grippy sole dries quick easily washable versatile; good for dry regular sneaker use and water adventures There is a very important disadvantage to this type of shoe; it is not designed to take on weight . If you plan to lug a 15kg backpack on 10km treks, a shoe like this will not have enough support or cushioning. If your backpacking adventures does not include hikes or long walks, then these may be suitable.

Learning Spanish

It would be foolish or lazy to neglect learning the language if you plan to spend a decent amount of time in any one country or region. There are many ways to immerse yourself in a new language: phrasebooks dictionaries online translators websites podcasts night classes each other Busuu.com :  an interactive site where you are encouraged to connect with other learners and native speakers. The lessons move quickly for absolute novices and a subscription is required to access essential lessons like verbs. Study Spanish :  a well-structured site with lessons that build from the basics. Highly recommended. Johnny Spanish podcast is an excellent resource to learn how to listen and pronounce Spanish sentences. The Spanish Cat :  a Spanish school with schools in Australia as well as Mexico. Classes are available for all levels and at reasonable prices too. Spanish is not difficult to learn once you are accustomed to the rules. Yo puedo hablar un pocito Espanol ahora. I