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From persoanl experinece, the newer laptopc omputers, such as the Dell XPS will allow you to change the country code, but the quantity of changes is limited. To avoid viewing the movie on a small screen, you could use a laptop as the CPU and play on a large monitor.
This subject certainly precipitated some lively discussion. As I have mentinoned before on this site, I operate under the premise that at least 50% of Americans lack sufficient intelligence to even vote. 50% of the remaining 50% don’t give a care becuase they are corporate slaves and have it good…for now. I have seen the writing on the wall for some time and have made some drastic changes in the last two years, like quiting my job and starting a highly successful constrcution business as a corporation, deferring as much income as possible not to be taxed to death, paying health insurance and getting reimbursed via an expense chack (Bush wants to tax health insurance benefits too), eliminating all credit debt including cars, refinancing to a fixed 15 year mortgage, etc. It is time to be as liquid and as invisible as possible. My property taxes went up 23% last year since we have one of the healthiest and most stable real estate markets in the country in the Seattle area, but that will also change eventually. All the people who could not really afford to buy a house have mortaged themselves into bankruptcy with those slick adjustable rate or interest only loans. We will see a crash within the next two years and defaults are at an all time high.
The bottom line is, we have a generation of younger folks (30 or less) that lack basic, fundamental education, lack work ethic, spend everyhting they have on consumer goods (toys) and were never taught the simple principle of compounded interest, like what $5K saved would be in 20 years @ 10%. Ben Bernenke the Fed chairman has publicly stated that the gov’t should have addressed the obvious fact that 78 million baby boomers will retire into a system unable to support them and the people that will supposedly provide that support DO NOT WANT TO WORK! Anyone with a remedial understanding of accounting principles would have known this decades ago. The current situation in the US has prompted myself and my wife to vacate this country as soon as we are financial able. Fortunately, my education in architecture and construction, my natural fluency in Spanish (Argentine mother), both of us being foreign born (residency status simplified if born in Spain and a Spanish citizen) and my love for Costa Rica will be an invaluable asset. If the government continues to spend $8,000 per second as they are now, I believe the doom will be accelerated and eventually the US will simply collapse which will impact the entire world and create an ideal environment for extremists. China alone has a $1.06 trillion US dollar reserve and could single handedly create another stock market crash in an instant. What I cannot understand is how so many of my fellow Americans can be so flagrantly ignorant.
Thanks for the recommendation Lotus, we will make our 2nd trip to CR for 15 days next week and are staying in Nosara for 5 days.
I am a US citizen, however, I was born in Spain (fluent in Spanish), my mother is Argentine, her parents were Spaniards and my father was American. I am in the process of trying to obtain Spanish citizenship. If successful, does this not grant me the ability to get CR citenship as I have read in Roger Peterson’s book?
If the US would make basic EDUCATION their top priority rather than military, social programs and prisons (3% of our population is in jail, on parole or on probation), the need for outsourcing would be drastically reduced. The bottom line is that we are turnig out a generation of degenerates that can’t think for themselves, are lazy and have an entitlement attitude. As a business owner it has been exceedingly difficult to find average employees less than age 30.
I am fortunate enough to be fluent since my mother is Argentine, however, my wife is not. She recently purchased Rosetta Stone software (Spain spanish, which is very formal and lispy)and I was extremely impressed with their picture learning format. She has been studying for 2 weeks now and we can actual converse already. Definitely worth the $300 and I am confident she will be able to speak with the locals on our 2nd trip to CR in February.
National Geographic Explorer is the best overall map I have found. If you want local topographic maps, try http://www.omnimap.com.
We have been planning to retire in Costa Rica for 2 years now and we are only 43 and 35. I once considered myself conservative, however, my distatse with what is happening in this country transcends political boundaries, if those really exist anymore. The two parties are equally ethically and fincially irresponsible now. We do not teach our kids much in school, family is not the core of our society (in CR you can sue your kids for support)and 50% of the population is now supporting the remaining 50%. Not to mention that 50% of the population is not educated enough to vote. Besides the political changes, increasing legislation from the bench, state and local governments overturning people intitiatives and the loss of freedoms (big brother is back), my concern is also financial:
Not far off is the day my property tax bill will equal my mortgage and my health insurance bill will exceed it. Why labor for 30 years only to pay twice what you originally owed?
High pitch sonar pulses above the frequency we can hear will drive them … batty. Unfortunately, I have the same problem in NW Washington State, but my bats migrate away every October. If your bats were migratory, the off season is the time to seal up all openings as suggested. Also, I believe 1 in 20 bats carries rabies.
