THE LETTER "P"

What a week of fluctuations and constants. For the fluctuations, at the start of the week, the weather here was sunny with low humidity and warm temperatures, but they were bearable (high 80's). Today being Friday, we are expecting the temperature to hit 100 degrees with heat index of 105-115 degrees. Records may be broken. Gas prices are going down, down, down. Today, a gallon of regular gas in $3.14 in my area and $2.95 about twenty minutes south. Earlier in the week, we were seeing $3.25 for regular gas. The stock market as usual is bouncing around. Will Spanish banks be helped out by the EU? At the start of the week, it didn't look likely, and the market was UGLY. Today, it is reported that they will get help. And it is up just about 2% for the day! Obama's health reform was a huge deal this week. Is it Constitutional or not? At the time of the vote, the President saw four television screens simultaneously. Two showed that healthcare reform was upheld and two that showed it was knocked down. For now, healthcare reform is a go. But there's the possibility of an appeal, and let's not forget November. Ups and downs.
And where nothing seemed to really get done in my life this week (Ray did the laundry--yay), I felt busy. The letter "P" was the constant for the week.
*P is for Panama Power Point Presentation. Ray and I have been sitting down with our International Living Panama: Lifestyle and Opportunity Conference Power Point that we ordered and downloaded (we listen to this past April's four day conference seminar to seminar, and we watch it slide to slide). Some questions have been answered, some answers were given to questions we found we already knew, and some things still go un-answered. We decided to set forth and make contact through email with an attorney through IL. She responded quickly to my questions. That's a plus! Our hope is to move to Panama and start working with an attorney to obtain a Pensionado Visa. It seems new laws are being added left and right in Panama (two laws recently went into effect--so the April IL Conference is now a bit "dated" on the visas gringos can obtain.) Don Winner, of Panama-Guide.com, reported yesterday (and this attorney translated and emailed this new law to me) that there is now Permanent Residency for Nationals of Countries Friendly to Panama. This may be the way we obtain a Residency Visa. And in May, the government created a new category of Permanent Residency allowing individuals to start a business or obtain a work permit (as long as they are from an approved country). With all that is happening, by the time we get there, who knows what will have changed or stayed the same for that matter.
*P is for Photos being organized and developed this week. Ray asked me why I am getting pictures of our Alaskan vacation developed at Costco. What do others do with all the digital pictures they have? I have mine on an external hard drive. I keep mine on CD's that are kept close to my bed so that I can grab them fast if there is a fire (!). And I also take so many pictures from my recent vacations and either create an album through Shutterfly, or I buy a small photo album for that destination of pictures. I like looking at albums. I will keep them at the lake house until I can slowly bring them to Panama. 
*P is for Pinterest. What I do know is that this past week I added Pinterest to my life. (My sister and daughter have been wondering why I wasn't sucked into this sooner! I've been too busy learning how to blog! And put pictures in photo albums. Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. According to Pinterest.com, it lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. The boards that are missing and will soon be added will be "Panama Places to Go" or "All Things Panama" or even "What I want for my Panamanian House".

This is the picture I just added to my board "All Things Panama".   Second largest swimming pool in the world!  A must go to and see!

*P is for Posts. A blog is, according to Wikipedia, a discussion or information site published online that consists of discrete entries (called posts). Like this post all about P's. Or the posts I keep up with that tell me the ups and downs of living in Panama, trying to build a house in Panama, owning a restuarant in Panama, how to make calls and Skype from Panama, and so much more.
*P is for Politics. I will leave this one alone. But it certainly is a busy time for America.
And now I realize, while I did nothing last week, I sure did feel busy too!