haggling |

Coffee with Valentino?

June 12. Day 347.

This afternoon I passed through Cetona, a thimble-sized town with an oblong piazza (pictured below), fat old men sitting on the shady patio of the only open bar around 4 p.m., and, my business acquaintance told me, Valentino’s vacation home — tucked behind a thick wall.

“Are you serious? You have it on [...]

haggling |

Ballad of the slimy coupon evader

May 25. Day 329.
I went kayaking on the lake today!!!

That sentence definitely takes three exclamations points. Here’s how they break down:

! — I, as in me, La Roxy, went kayaking. Not some outdoor type, not an athletic pro, nor any of my very adventurous ziplining trapezing rock climbing friends. Little old cafe-a-day meeee!

!! — I [...]

bending the rules |

9 negotiation lessons from the trenches

May 12. Day 316.

What do buying a car, locking up the Chicago mob and being a total rockstar have in common?

Negotiation!!!

This afternoon, I found myself in the living room of Gay Hugo-Martinez, a professional acquaintance. (It’s related to the side work I do.) Once our meeting was over, I asked her about her background, since [...]

haggling |

Coming soon to a blog near you

May 7. Day 311.

Guess what.

I think I need to sleep.

I could keep writing, and it would probably be somewhat coherent, but it won’t be fun for either of us.

I realized this when I reread the first sentence of this post: Today, we went to Ocean Beach.

Yes, I’m down to one sentence paragraphs.

Eww. Not enticing.

That one [...]

asking for others |

Better price if we buy two?

May 5. Day 309.

Unt zee blogothon continues!

Eau and I ended up in Old Town. It’s Cinco de Mayo, you see, and Old Town is San Diego’s pseudo Mexican touristic mecca. Brimming with cute boutiques, women in old fashioned clothes and quite delicious margaritas.

We visited an old schoolhouse (from the outside, since it was closed), spotted [...]