Spring Training

Sometimes I feel like Nikola and I are smack in the middle of the traditional family fairy tale. Of course, I arrived at it in a roundabout way, 10 years after the fairy tale usually starts. After all of my adventures, this one feels quaint and frustratingly slow. At the same time, I have never felt more stable and more happy than I do here, with my husband and son, in our little one-bedroom apartment in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. The conflicting emotions are strange, to say the least, but not altogether bad.

At the moment, our goal is to get Paiyak Development off the ground. Honestly, it is going great. Nikola's profits are steadily growing. His interns are turning into junior developers that can make great contributions to the company. His clients are more than happy with his work and his client base continues to grow. At the same time, we are working on building a brand that is socially aware and makes a contribution to our community.

All of this comes at a price, though. Nikola is at the office for about 10-11 hours a day, Monday through Friday, and another 6-8 hours on Saturday. All that leaves for us as a family are Sundays. Four days a month that slip away too quickly. When I don't think 24 hours a day every day would be enough to satiate my desire to cuddle with him and explore with him, how could Sundays possibly be enough?

While I refuse to be the family that always puts works first and ends up miserable slaves to money, I realize that Nikola loves his work and is not unhappy in front of his computer, solving problems. I also realize that this is short term. In a few months, he should be able to scale back his hours a little bit, and within a year we hope that he will be working just over full-time. Until then, Sundays will have to do.

Last Sunday, we decided to test Peatuk's new bike seat on a longer ride. We were originally going to go to Etera- the classic little water village/museum at the end of town. However, in the morning, I found this interesting looking house for sale in a village about 11 km away from our current apartment:

It is a bit beyond our budget, but architecturally, it is quite different than anything I have seen available in our area, and we were both enamored with the huge windows. We decided to ride up the mountain to see if we could magically find this house and see it in person. 

On the way up, I had to stop for several miniature breaks and push my bike up the steeper hills. I realized I have not been this bad at riding in several years. I also realized that without a lot of training, getting a house up in the mountain village, even if it is less than 10km away from the city, would not be doable with the anti-car lifestyle I have created for myself. Besides hauling my baby and groceries up and down the mountain multiple times a week, I could not imagine sending Peatuk down on his own to go to school 5 years from now.

Despite these realizations, I was having an amazing time. The exertion felt incredible. Spending time with Nikola and working towards a common goal felt great. Getting out of the city and taking advantage of the mountains we moved to felt great. I was quite happy.

By the time we got to the top of the mountain, Peatuk had had quite enough of his bike seat. Even though it was t-shirt weather down in the city, it was quite cold up on the mountain, especially with the sun tucked behind clouds. As we climbed, we realized snow was still on the ground, and spring would be coming to these last 5km later than it does in Gabrovo proper. 

We tucked Peatuk in for a snack and wandered the (rather dead) village to find our home. It was just as gorgeous as it was in the pictures but, perched precariously on the edge of a mountain, I realized that it would allow no room for a garden and no room for Peatuk to play. No, the house was not for us, and neither was the village. 

Still, coming down from our mini adventure, I felt a great sense of accomplishment and bonding with my family. After all, this is what life is really about. Making small achievements together. Creating memories. 

Someday, we will buy a house. Someday, we will have a successful business. Someday, we may even be able to take vacations and have grand adventures. Until then, these moments make the wait not only bearable, but incredibly sweet in its own right. 

Nemo: My Little Orange Lenovo

My macbook pro has been on the way out for about 3 years now. Sometime before I left for Peace Corps in 2010, its battery died (has it really been five years since I came to Bulgaria!?!), but it lasted through my service. About a month before I left Bulgaria, it decided to simply not start up. Luckily, with a thorough cleaning and some new fans it was able to keep running. I installed a fan booster and got an external cooling pad to help keep the temperature manageable. Then, in Turkey, I Frankensteined its power cable and had to do another deep cleaning of it. Its graphics card blew, and I replaced it. But a few weeks ago, when I noticed that it could barely run skype anymore, I decided it was finally time to get a new computer. My first new laptop ever (the macbook had been used).

I wavered between the ASUS Transformer flip book and the Lenovo Yoga 2. The ASUS was a bit more affordable and had greater potential for upgrades, but the Yoga was just a bit more sleek.

I often have a difficult time making decisions when it comes to large purchases, especially electronics, which I know very little about. My last two decisions for electronics were quite terrible, and so I was nervous about this one. I fear that I drove Nikola a little towards insanity with all of my back and forth and obsessive comparisons. When I read that ASUS considers their warranty void when you open the back cover to install the upgrades I would have made upon purchase, I decided to go with the Yoga. So far, I think it was a great choice.

I got the 13", Yoga 2. Not the pro, which is about 400 more dollars. (Although it was tempting, it was not something I really needed. I did get the version with 8GB RAM and a 128 SSD (I wanted 256, but they don't have a 256 in the basic model). It is a touch screen, convertible laptop/tablet. I somehow doubt that I will use it in tablet mode very often, but I have already found stand mode great for watching videos. It is my first full-HD screen, and the keyboard and casing is beautiful to touch. It is just so dang sleek :)

It already inspired me to start writing a bit more. I transferred my files from one of my novels into yWriter, which I have been eyeing ever since I considered switching to windows. I love it as a program. It breaks the book down into short scenes rather than chapters, which I might actually be able to work on if Peatuk ever decides he wants to take a nap again. (For the moment, he has decided that sleep is the most evil thing ever and he will never sleep again, and I am going rather ragged over it).

I also tried skype. I can actually run skype, have a conversation, and still check out other programs on my computer. So, you know, I can look something up while talking to someone! My old laptop had gotten so slow that I had no control over anything else if I was in skype. Or if a web page was loading. Or, whatever.

I also find that my work is a little bit faster, probably because I am so excited about the laptop and none of my keys on my keyboard stick in the least.

I had a difficult time treating myself to a large purchase ($1000 on my current income is quite a chunk of change), especially because Nikola's new laptop, which he codes on, was about $100 cheaper than mine. Does a writer really need a fancier toy than a programmer? Perhaps not, but I am ecstatic about it at the moment!

Ohhhh- and I got the little convertible blue tooth mouse that goes with the yogas. It is amazing. Very responsive and a pleasure to touch. AND- no cables for Peatuk to play with. Win!