This place is a little too familiar now

A view from our dock. Behind the birdhouse is a
yacht you can buy for $6.2 million (reduced).

The guy that brought our fire extinguishers back after being serviced accidentally discharged the big one for the engine compartment that costs about $500 to recharge. He was fiddling with it, trying to get it just right when all of a sudden there was a loud hissing noise. He just put his face in his hands and stayed like that for 5 minutes. I guess he has been working for the company for five years and this was the first time this had happened to him. At least we know it works. It uses a super cold gas so it didn't make a mess but it was really cold in the engine compartment for a while after that.

The Ft. Lauderdale area seems to have everything that Chicago has. You just have to drive 10 miles to get to any of it. Today Matt visited a railing company in the area that is known for having extremely cranky and rude owners/staff. Both times Matt has been there, he starts explaining what he needs and the guy cuts him off saying, "West Marine. Just go to West Marine. They have that." Matt: "But you didn't let me finish. I just came from West Marine and they didn't..." The guy: "West Marine. I'm telling you." They routinely send people away. They told one person we talked to that he had to call before coming to the store and then as he was leaving came out to the parking lot asking, "Are you still here?" Monopoly maybe. Or money laundering front.

In other exciting news today, while the last toilet was being replaced, it was determined that a SCUBA diver was needed to stabilize a broken valve. That's one thing we didn't have to do when renovating the house.

The good news on the income front is that the kids created a bunch of drawings to sell so that they can buy their own iPad. Mark sold one to the co-owner of Just Catamarans for 35 cents, so he sold his first piece. Although the asking price was $10 so he needs to work on his negotiating skills.