Chiriquí Chatter

I just received the following ACS message.

THE U.S. CONSULAR SECTION (AMERICAN CITIZENS SERVICES, FEDERAL BENEFITS, AND VISAS UNITS) WILL BE CLOSED ON FRIDAY, MAY 23, 2008

(ONE DAY ONLY) DUE TO TRAINING

The American Citizens Services, Federal Benefits, and Visas Units of the U.S. Consular Section, U.S. Embassy Panama, located in Building 520, Clayton, announce that they will be closed to the public on Friday, May 23, 2008, due to training. Only emergency services will be available.

On Tuesday, May 27, 2008, the Consular Section will resume full operations with its regular schedule: 08:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon for the American Citizens Services and Federal Benefits Units, and 08:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. for the Visas Unit.

Tags: ACS

I just returned from spending a few days in Costa Rica. Most of the time was in a little town, not far from the border with Panama, called Rio Claro. Some of the people that live there describe the town as where they sleep. They get up in the morning and go to other nearby towns to work, but return to Rio Claro to sleep. Continue Reading »

Tags: Bakeries, Costa Rica

My Web Host has moved CC back to a shared service. If you tried to visit CC yesterday, you may have found that the site was not available.

Now you know the reason. This new environment is supposed to be an improvement. Time will tell. At the present, I can see that my old secure FTP connection no longer works. Until I figure out how to upload photos again, posts will be limited to text only.

Nothing is perfect. Some things less so than others.

Tags: Web Host Related

As usual, I am behind. I happened to be at the David airport last week and all of the auto rental companies are now in their newly constructed homes in the parking lot.

Continue Reading »

Tags: Tourist Related

If you have lived in Panama for a while, you know that each new day will probably bring some new challenges to over come. Today was one of those days. I have a short trip scheduled to go to Costa Rica. What were the odds that today the regulations changed for driving to Costa Rica.

As of today your documents for the car you are driving must be sent to Panama, authenticated, signed and returned with a signature from the Panama City office. That process took from 9:00 AM this morning until 5:00PB this evening.

I understand the reason for the change is to prevent stolen cars in Panama from being able to be taken into Costa Rica. All I really know is that it is a pain in the A**. If you are planing on driving from Panama into CR, you better give yourself a couple of days to get the paperwork done. Then assume that the day you go, there will be one more thing you weren’t told.

Tags: Rants

I decided to install XP SP3 update today. It went on without a hitch. It has been some time since I have booted up windows and I had forgotten how long it takes to boot. While I had Windows up, I also updated all other software to the latest version.

With that task being complete, I am now back on Linux. Sometimes it is good to visit old friends, but it is always good to return home to familiar surroundings.

I consider XP an old friend. We spent so much time together. Now that MS has finally gotten XP to the point where it is basically a very good system, they are going to put it out to pasture.

I doubt seriously that Windows Vista will ever come up to the level that XP has finally reached. Better luck to MS the next time. In the meantime, Linux continues to move forward. With each step it moves more and more into the desktop arena.