Foreign Exchange Wiz - or just lucky???? Plus, where did the $$ go?

If you ever need to do any foreign exchange transactions, or even heaven forbid, wish to speculate on the forex futures market, then do check out Eldridge-Lynch (www.fx.co.nz).

I bought a bunch of USD a month or so ago, at $0.76, and converted some of my leftovers back to NZD today at $0.695 odd. I can't really claim any great insight into the market, so the 9% odd profit is more by good luck than good management. The transaction fees are very reasonable in comparison with doing a wire transfer through any of our trading banks, and it's all done very painlessly over the web. Brilliant! Good customer service too. Big 'ups' for these guys, and they are 100% Kiwi owned to boot.

That leaves more than enough on a/c to pay for Kermit the Vette - here's hoping I don't find any nasties at the mechanic tomorrow morning.

I've also managed to sort out the mire of registration and insurance requirements needed for me to get an in-transit registration, and drive to LA, legally and comprehensively insured.

My other new 'toy' arrived this morning - the one I just blew $4.5k on. It's a portable oxygen concentrator. Say what???????

The majority of you know I've been battling Alpha-1 Anti-trypsin deficiency (a.k.a. Genetic Emphysema) for the last few years, and slowly losing. The timing of this trip has been interesting to say the least, as I've been right on the cusp of needing supplementary oxygen on a day to day basis for a while now.

I headed off from NZ knowing full well that things could turn pear shaped, but also with the attitude that life is for living, and I'm damned if I'm going to let a minor problem like not being able to breathe stop me from enjoying life to the full, and in particular, living this dream.

Well, as you may have picked up from an earlier post, I picked up a nasty chest infection on the plane on the way out, and it really laid me on my ass for a bit - right in the middle of the convention too. This prompted me to look into these devices in more detail (drawing on information from my wonderful support group on the ANZ Alpha-1 Yahoo email list), and with the support of Sheryl, my extraordinary GP, I elected to purchase an Inogen-1 concentrator, which should help enhance my quality of life quite significantly over the next few years.

I don't really want to say too much more on this subject - it is not what this blog is all about, but sometimes real life gets in the way. Suffice to say, challenges aside, I'm enjoying life immensely right now, and nose hose aside, I don't see myself as a victim here, and if any of you lot try to say different, well, just you watch out, OK? Nuff said!

Right, now give a few minutes to edit my post with the trial map, then scroll back down a coupla days, and I'll tell you what I got up to last Saturday.