Wednesday, December 29, 2010

In case you haven't heard: baby Zoe passed away

I realize that I should probably save some people the embarrassment of asking the "Has she had the baby yet?" question. So if you haven't heard...

My wife and I lost our baby about a month ago when Zoe was at about 6.5 months. It was a brutal experience, and has left a scar that doesn't easily heal, and certainly hasn't done so yet. She talks about it being the worst thing to ever happen to her.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas in Mar del Plata

Christmas in Mar del Plata was a nice change of pace.

I would never go to Mar del Plata during January or February, when the city is full of folks from Buenos Aires. But even during Christmastime, a week before the crazy madness is at 100%, it is relatively tranquil.

Will write more later when I put pictures up.

Monday, December 27, 2010

End of December is the worst time of year to live in Buenos Aires

We've been having a ridiculous amount of power outages recently, as well as internet outages. It's driving me up a wall. And it seems to fit the same experiences I've had at the end of my previous two Decembers here.

Summer arrives here around mid-December, and people start using their air conditioners so energy usage spikes. The school year also ends in mid-December, so kids are all in their houses full-time. That means that not only are commercial properties hitting full blast with AC, but all residential properties are likewise being air conditioned or at least using multiple fans (as air conditioning is far from 100%, even in stores).

Everyone goes on vacation January 2nd though, so the infrastructure isn't nearly as taxed for the month of January. Though the temperature is hotter, many businesses close and from an American perspective, it's just amazing how many people leave the city. I've written about this in previous years, so I won't repeat it. But both years so far, it has been kinda mindblowing.

School doesn't start until mid-February, so the infrastructure isn't taxed because there are still a surprising percent of the city on vacation. I guess the people who don't have kids but want a slightly cheaper vacation go on vacation in late February. A few people go on vacation in early March, as well.

But yeah, like 95% of Buenos Aires vacations happen in a very small timeframe...which we are about to arrive at, but haven't yet. So until then, the infrastructure is just overwhelmed. That's my theory.

And that means that I continue being super annoyed every few hours when my electricity and/or internet cut off. It's something like low 90s, so it can be annoying to be both hot and with nothing to do.