Saturday, July 6th, 2013

I went to bed at 12:30am this morning as I needed to finish my blog posting for the day.  I was a little worried that the Pepsi I had at the theatre would make it difficult for me to get to sleep but I didn’t have any problem.  I also didn’t wake up at all during the night but I did wake up and get up at 6am.  Come to think of it that’s only 5 ½ hours sleep but I feel pretty good.

Last night Beatriz invited me to join her and her daughter and her boyfriend to go to a concert tonight.  I hope this isn’t another example of paying the ignorance tax where they expect me to pay for tickets for all of them, transportation, and snacks after.  Because of my extended dental expenses I have to watch my money this month anyway so if it looks like the invitation is headed in that direction I’m going to decline the invitation.  Beatriz said she would email me with details later today.

I wonder how my friend Eddie is doing; I think it’s been 3 weeks now since I’ve talked to him.  I’ll try to remember to email him later.

I think my apartment really is cooler if I leave the windows closed – especially with the fan I have under the table where I have my laptop.

After shower and my coffee I walked over to Bunuelo Express at Laureles Mall and had their inexpensive breakfast.  Then I stuck around and went through my chess book some more.  After a while another guy John Freddy (with his friend Carlos) stopped at asked me (in English) how I can play both sides - black and white.  I explained to him I’m just learning some advanced chess techniques.  He agreed to play a game although he said he wasn’t very good – and he was right – but I gave him some tips.  He said in January he starts a new job working with computers.

For lunch I had the Hamburger Combo #2 at Gordog’s.  A little while later another guy that looked familiar but I couldn’t place him or remember his name, stopped and asked me if we could play.  I told him I was just leaving but we arranged to meet there tomorrow morning.  So after breakfast at the hotel I’ll go over to Laureles Mall and we’ll play some games.

I took a little cash out of the ATM and bought some things at Exito while it still wasn’t too busy: a set of 4 ¼ cup to 1 cup measuring cups 5,900 ($3.11), Pam cooking spray 16,350 ($8.61), a bamboo wooden spoon 2900 ($1.53) a finlandek can opener 6900 ($3.63), and 2 packages of Trident gum.  The reason you haven’t heard anything more about my magicJack is because I can’t open the clamshell container.  I’d rather not buy some tool that won’t serve any other purpose so I Googled it and one suggestion was to use a can opener on the edge like it was a metal can. 

Then I remembered I had laundry to pick up so I made a quick stop and picked up my 4 shirts that were cleaned for 6mil ($3.16).  I stopped at Jhon’s office and chatted with him for a while.  He called Beatriz and found out her mother has the flu and she has to stay home to take care of her so I guess no concert tonight.

Well, the can opener idea didn’t work – it compressed the plastic rather than cutting it.  I guess I’m going to have to go to the hardware section and see if I can find some sharp pliers like I used to have just for that purpose.  Or maybe I’ll buy some kitchen scissors/shears first and try that.

I got an answer from Eddie – he’s going to be back in Medellin on July 9^th – next Tuesday.  He’s expecting me to have a cell phone by then – I’m not sure it’s going to happen.

I went back to Jhon’s office at 5pm when he was just finishing with his last student.  We went over to the corner snack shop, hereafter to be referred to as the store, and traded jokes.  Another of my favorites:

Brenda and Steve took their six-year-old son to the doctor.

With some hesitation, they explained that although their little angel appeared to be in good health, they were concerned about his rather small penis.
After examining the child, the doctor confidently declared, 'Just feed him pancakes. That should solve the problem.'
The next morning when the boy arrived at breakfast, there was a large stack of warm pancakes in the middle of the table.
'Gee, Mom,' he exclaimed. 'Are these all for me?'
'Just take two,' Brenda replied.' The rest are for your father.

Of course we also talked a lot about women and how the Colombian culture is different from that in the USA.

I left about 7:45 and when I got home I made waffles for dinner.  They didn’t look too pretty - the bottom was a little too brown and the top not quite brown enough - but they tasted good.  After eating all 5 of the squares I decided to wash it down with a cup of milk only to find that the same milk I had used for the pancakes had gone bad.  They should be even better next time when I use fresh milk.  Lol.