I had all kinds of good plans about how I was going to document this chase to a PhD, but when it came right down to it, I just did not have the energy to write with both a full-time day-job and and a full-time load of research and classes. Actually, all of these kinds of things are choices in the the end–and I chose laziness in self-defense.
Today is a seminal day in my trajectory. My thesis advisor gave me permission to submit the final draft of my dissertation so the “readers,” two members of the committee can read it and decide whether they think it is worthy of defense. He also told me there was literally nothing for me to do until they got back to me. Actually, that is not quite true. I can work on the slide presentation for my defense just in case they approve the dissertation.
This post is an update because I have not written for a long time. We continue to make progress on both our little places down in Mexico. As a reminder, we bought the first one because my lawyer brother-in-law who also has a construction business ran into a very good deal for a house with a nice view on the less affluent side of the valley that passes through San Pedro Garza García, Nuevo Leon Mexico. Right about when he had finished up the demolition and cleanup, a deal came up for another great place on the last street with houses further up Sierra Las Mitres, the mountain where both of the houses are located. At that point, we decided to turn the first house into a small apartment complex and build out the one up on the hill for ourselves when we stay in Mexico with Lorena’s mother Conchita.
That was quite a while ago. The apartments are almost finished. At first, we were going to stop with four apartments and an azotea (grilling and entertainment area on the roof), but Lynn, the lawyer, figured out a way to add an additional two apartments for six total and an additional azotea on a roof at the back of the house. Construction continues, but we are in the process of getting the apartments appraised and hope to put it on the market soon. The picture at the left is the appearance of the apartments from the street. The one below is the view of the mountains on the other side of the valley from the second azotea that will be poured in the the next few days.
There is a lot of work going on at the house further up the mountain, too. Most of the demolition is complete, electrical and plumbing infrastructure has been add, and new stairways to the basement, second floor, and azotea are in process. I will save a description of our progress on that house for another post, but Lynn sent me a video of the valley from the balcony at the back of the house that I thought was nice, so I included it. Construction on the new Tesla Giga-Factory is planned to start in a few months. We are about 15 minutes away and there is a good chance we will be able to see it from the azotea which is higher than the balcony from which the below video was captured.
Since this is my first post since before the first of the year, I thought I should start with a high level update. A couple of big efforts are coming to an end, God willing, before the end of this year. Hopefully that will give me more time to do things like write in this blog. I will start with a post on each of the following over the next week or so. I might disappear for a few days due to travel and finishing up the PhD work and house remodels, but that should not take much to complete.
The first draft of my dissertation has been submitted to my thesis advisor and a time and date has been set for my defense—June 8, 2023 at 10:00am. When that is complete, the expectation is that all I will have left are some changes to the dissertation which will leave me nothing left to do other then apply for and walk in the graduation ceremony and hooding on December 15.
The first house has been turned into a six unit apartment building which is in the process of being appraised before we put it onto the market. When the apartments are sold, my role in our little business down in Mexico will decrease a good bit because there will be resources to buy another place and remodel it without any input from me. That just leaves the finishing of our house higher on the mountain where we hope to live at least part of the year.
That leaves retirement. Right now, God willing, I hope not to have to retire for at least 2-3 more years. It is really rewarding work with good stress as opposed to the kind that makes one want to hide from the world, I am working with friends, and I can work from anywhere.
