My passion for writing, love of investing, and something cool I'm getting paid to do!

I know.

Two posts in one week?  We don't seem to make the time to do that very often, do we?  Especially when you consider that the post April just did was from our trip in JULY...

Anyhow, this will be quick.  Many of you know that I love to write, and that one of these days I plan to retire and be a writer.  Well, April has insisted that if I am to do that, we need to be rich.  So I have been actively investing for the past 5 years or so, and have really become quite passionate about it.  The bottom line it that for most of us, the only way we can have the promise of a better tomorrow is by long-term investing.

So with that said, I have recently begun writing blog posts for the Motley Fool.  For those that aren't familiar with Fool.com, it's one of the best places to go to learn about investing as an individual.  It's all about empowering people to take their financial future in their own hands. 

At any rate, I have been an active member of a couple of the services that they offer (specifically Stock Advisor and Rule Breakers) for about 5 years, and it has really enriched our lives, and allowed us to make up for lost time towards our retirement plans. 

And while picking your own stocks and investing directly in them isn't for everyone, understanding if you are heading down the right path is for everyone.  And while Financial Advisors aren't necessarily bad people by nature, most people don't know that they are just sales people first, and that their interests aren't necessarily aligned with yours.  Doing your due-diligence and understanding where your 401(k) money is invested and why you are being recommended specific Investment Funds by Financial Advisor is just as important as questioning your Physician about your health, and the prescriptions that he gives you.  This is your future.  Don't just leave it up to a sales person. 

Okay, so I am really starting to ramble.  Check out my blog.  My goal is to post at least once per week, and increase over time. 

If any of you want to talk investing, please reach out to me.  I'm not an expert, and I'm not going to tell you which stocks to buy.  But I can tell you where to start!

-jh

Diving trip to Key West

It has been on my to-do list to get the blog updated for some time... this particular trip was taken the first week in July.  We headed to the Florida Keys to get in some scuba diving, and spend time with Rob and Tia.  We haven't had an honest-to-goodness vacation in some time, so we made the most of our time.

We rented a house on Key Largo.  During our stay, we went diving with Island Ventures.  This was a great diving outfit.  On our first morning out, we were the only four people on the boat.  In fact, all the dives had fewer than a dozen people on them.  You don't always get that with charters - often they pack as many people as possible onto a boat.  In total, we had six dives with Captain Al.  All were beautiful, warm, relaxing... ah, what's that?  Nausea?  Seasickness?  Well, I had a new secret weapon!

Do you see that little patch just below my ear?  That is a scopolamine transdermal patch.  It led to my first trip on a boat without motion sickness.  In fact, while others on the boat did get sick, I remained blissfully symptom free.  For once, it was me bringing water to sick passengers.  I loved my first experience diving without nausea.  It was incredible!



Jason complained about the equipment he used to take photos underwater.  We dove at several sites, including the Benwood wreck, Turtle Ledges at the French Reef, the wreck of the City of Washington, Elbow Reef, Christ of the Abyss at the Dry Rocks, and the Horseshoe Reef.  We saw so many beautiful, colorful fish, and although the coral reefs are not faring well with global warming and other depredations, they were still amazing.

Having a blast without feeling sick!

Brain coral.... brains....

Me reading the plaque at the Christ of the Abyss site.

Stoplight parrotfish, one of my favorite to spot! 

When we weren't in the water chasing parrotfish (or yellowtail snapper, bar jack, French grunt, butterfly fish, spadefish, French angelfish, Blue angelfish, Sergeant major, damselfish, goby, Spanish hogfish, or any other of the beautiful species we got to see) we were enjoying the other delights of the Keys.  For one, we went kayaking in the mangrove forests.  We rented two-person kayaks at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, then promptly got lost.  We spent about 30 minutes getting lost, then about 2 hours finding our way back.  Thank goodness for GPS and iPhones.  Map reading is not my forte.   It was a great way to spend the 4th of July!  After we got back home, we grilled out and watched the fireworks from the house.

The back of my head in the kayak, wondering where we are.

We also spent one day in Key West.  On the drive down we stopped at Robbie's of Islamorada so I could feed the tarpon.  And I spotted this giant lobster.  Who wouldn't want a vacation photo with a mutant lobster?

We visited the southernmost point (just a short 90 mile swim to Cuba), then headed to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  It was magical - air conditioning, gorgeous butterflies everywhere you looked, and the cutest birds!

Posing at the marker for the southernmost point... clearly.  It was brutally hot that day.

 From there, Jay and I headed to Ernest Hemingway's house.  I'm sure it's a lovely house, and I enjoyed the tour.  I have even read an Ernest Hemingway book or two... but let's be honest here.  I went to see the famous six-toed cats.  There are around 45 cats that live on the property, with free rein to do as they please.  All are descendents of Hemingway's original six-toed cat, Snowball. 

Count the toes on that paw... that's right, six.  And he let me shake paws.  Love.

From that point, we ran flat out to get to the Key West Shipwreck Museum before it closed. 

I am leaving out the naps, the enormous amount of seafood, and all the fun we had just hanging out.  There's only so much room for pictures!