Sunday, June 23rd, 2013

Wow, what a night!  The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Boston Bruins 3-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the Stanley Cup series.  The game was actually closer than it sounds because the Blackhawks scored an empty net goal in the last minute.

I read a little more of my book Micro then went to bed at 11pm.  I was awakened at 2:15am by the sound of Latin music on a radio, a woman’s laughter, and splashing.  And of course there was a lot of light – direct or indirect - coming from the backyard into my bedroom.  It sure sounded like a pool party.  I got up and put a chair against the window in the guest bedroom and looked out.  Sure enough Lionel and some woman – blond with a nice figure – were enjoying themselves in his little pool.  Not sure how private this could be when it’s surrounded by taller buildings and they have windows too.  (I know you’re wondering, so, yes she was topless.  I couldn’t tell beyond that as they were both standing up in the water.  Really, I only took one peek and went right back to bed.)  That would never happen in the US, you know someone would have called the police.  The pool portion of the party ended about 30 minutes later when they moved inside.  It was another 90 minutes before they turned the radio way down and the voices stopped.  So now it’s about 4:15 and I must have fallen asleep somewhere in that period of time.  I was awakened again about 5am by a brief thunderstorm.  I finally woke up and got up at 7:30.

I took my shower and decided to skip my coffee at the apartment and went straight to the Golden Palermo Hotel.  On the way there I noticed something unusual in the sky.  It was a huge balloon but I couldn’t read the writing on it.

I had my coffee there at the hotel with my breakfast for 10mil ($5.56).  As I was leaving I asked about Glenn Monk and was told he had his surgery on Thursday and his wife is still staying at the hotel.

I finished my study of the Comprehensive Chess Course.  The last chapter consists of 10 separate tests of 6 problems each.  I thought I would go through the tests until I got one of them done perfectly.  On the first test I got 6 of 10 correct.  On the second test I got all 10 of 10, although one problem showed me a slightly shorter solution.

Lunch was a FriSnack at Frisby for 8900 ($4.94).  Once again I forgot to pronounce it correctly – it should sound like “free snack” – and I got the wrong thing – without any chicken.  The Frisby in Viva I don’t have this problem.  Here I guess I have to be more careful.

Here’s an example of how Colombians follow the rules.  In photo number one the sign reads, in Spanish “Pets are not allowed in the food area”.

I left Laureles Mall just after 1pm as I know it gets busy there on Sunday afternoons and I don’t want to occupy a table needlessly.

Correction: This afternoon I took a quick look behind the building and there is a very high wall – about a story and a half that surrounds the back area.  That probably means the neighbors can’t see anything – but I can!  Has he forgotten about me?  I’ll bet he didn’t tell her he has neighbors in the building.

I’m happy to report I haven’t seen any ants in quite a while.  I’m sure there’s an occasional scout ant about but since there isn’t any food around there’s no reason for them to call out the whole colony.

My iPad doesn’t seem to be working with email – I keep seeing “Cannot Get Mail. The connection to the server failed.”  I just figured it out.  I got an email from Yahoo a couple of days ago that I needed to change my password and I didn’t update it on my iPad.  Now that I’ve updated my iPad password emails are streaming in once again.

I got an answer from Rosetta Stone.  I copied their tips into a Word document so I can carefully compare – and comment on – their recommendation to what I experience.  I followed their instructions but it didn’t seem to help.  I replied with 2 attachments with copies of their instructions and my comments.  To be continued..

At 5:30 I went over to the corner snack shop to watch Atletico Nacional play against Tolima.  I got there about 8 minutes late and it was already 1-0 in favor of Tolima.  I saw Jhon William stop to buy something to make his dinner so I told him to come back afterwards and we would watch the 2^nd half together.  After the 1^st half I quickly went over to Viva and had an order of coleslaw 4,600 ($2.56) and corn on the cob for 5,600 ($3.11).  That sounds a little expensive for just side orders but it tastes like it was made in America so it’s worth it for a little taste of home.  And those are 2 things I really like.  Back at the snack shop I bought an ice cream bar for 3mil ($1.67) and watched the 2^nd half with Jhon.  At one point he told me that the man standing next to him is Olga’s husband although he didn’t use her name so as not to draw suspicion.  Olga even stopped by at the end of the game. 

I got back to the apartment about 7:15 and had a small bowl of cereal that hopefully my medicine will adhere to.

I plan to watch the new TV series called “Whodunnit?” that starts tonight at 8pm on ABC.