charliedoggett.net
I will be checking email.
So I have a subscription to My Expat Network which means I can get anything from Netflix that I could get in Tennessee. Funny thing is that I hardly use it because I’m too busy enjoying real life in this neat new country. But I will probably use it more in rainy season and it is good feeling to “be connected.” There are other reasons like security and limiting some marketing efforts over the internet, but Netflix was my main reason to get a VPN.
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| I get same movie titles available in the states with a VPN internet connection. Including a lot of junk! But I have more choices this way. |
Netflix somehow detected I was using one and knocked me down to their fewer titles Costa Rica version. At first I just canceled them, then decided it was still better than paying for TV channels here which I no longer subscribe to. And rarely watch Netflix now, though I like some of their nature documentaries.
And here’s a video someone asked me to add here:
¡Pura Vida!
And my more practical suggestions for a retiree that I’ve listed before:
More later. -Charlie
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| Arenal Volcano
I made this photo from the “Hanging Bridges” in the area in 2010. It is the most popular volcano because of its nearly perfect conical shape. It also reminds me of the strength and steadfastness of God in my life. |
I just shared this on my spiritual blog called HIS SPIRIT which has been neglected lately with my focus on Costa Rica (and no longer using), but because it is as much about my move to Costa Rica and the risk so many here in Nashville think I am taking, I decided to share it on this blog too:
As I am two days away from the move to Costa Rica, I am trusting God more and expecting Him to give me more purpose in life than I have felt in my simple volunteering in church and other places here in Nashville. And the fact that I don’t know everything that will happen is part of the adventure and excitement of the move. I am abandoning a lot of supposed security here in the states, though financially I know it will just get more difficult for me in the states. (And friends will still be friends from afar!) In the process of this thinking I was reminded of the poem/prayer by Thomas Merton which I may have shared somewhere earlier. I discovered it in 2012:
My initial thinking was either Panama or Costa Rica as a retirement home and at first I focused on Panama, my most recent visit. The InternationalLiving site and products were the first ones promising I could live very nicely on my social security check or $1,500 a month in most Latin American countries. Then I found both Panama and Costa Rica sites saying something similarly. My hope were up! I can live a tropical life and have money left to travel to the other countries I don’t live in and all over the one I live in. I subscribed to the InternationalLiving Magazine, which I now would not advise, though I’ve only received one issue. Actually, there is good information, but that organization is pushing buying property and I will definitely rent for many reasons I’ll list later. They also have a free InternationalLiving Postcard (daily email) which has some good stories of people who have retired in many different places around the world, but focused on Latin America which is good for me, but again they are selling something in each email. So I’m learning from these but peeved at the way they keep asking for my money.
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| Panama City from Cruise Ship in Canal, Photo by Charlie |
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| “Blue Jeans Frog: in Tortuguero by Charlie |