Friday, January 17th, 2014

Last night I got an email from James Antle (see November 3^rd posting) who has been following my blog.  He reports he is settled in now and wants to meet Sunday at Santafe mall.  I’m meeting him at 1pm and still might have time to get to Sport Wings (or Patrick’s will be closer) to see some of the Patriots vs Broncos game.

I watched the 2009 movie Exam (6.9) on Netflix – an interesting movie; very psychological.  “The final candidates for a highly desirable corporate job are locked together in an exam room and given a test so simple and confusing that tension begins to unravel.”

I went to bed at 11:30, got up once during the night, and was awakened by Lionel’s garage door going up at 5:40.  I had a tension headache with pain behind my eyes so I put in some drops and took 2 Excedrin Migraine.  Unable to get back to sleep I finally got up at 6:30 and since I still wasn’t feeling 100% I decided to skip my morning workout.

At 8am I had coffee and croissant at Los Mejores, but no sign of Damaris.  If I’m correct she’ll be back at her 5:30-1:30 shift tomorrow.

I stopped at the apartment, picked up my laundry and headed to the Tinto store where I had a cup of coffee.  While I was waiting for Beatriz an attractive woman walked by and the men were noticeable appreciative.  I asked one man if she was married and he said he didn’t know.  I asked him how old she is and he said 42.  I just can’t tell ages anymore.  Beatriz showed up about 9am and I gave her my laundry.

I walked over to the other side of Avenida 80 and down the street past Viva CC looking for the paper store I had found earlier in the week that had what looked like pads of note paper.  I didn’t see it so my best guess is either I was on the wrong side of the street or they hadn’t opened yet.

I checked the new US movie releases and the only one I would like to see is Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (6.8).  As I understand it the movie isn’t based on any of Tom Clancy’s books but just his main character.

I checked the local movie theaters and I have a number of options:

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (7.7) is playing at Oviedo at 6pm; El Tesoro at 2:00 & 4:35; Viscaya at 3:50.

Ender’s Game (7.2) is playing at Los Molinos at 11:55 & 4pm; El Tesoro at 2:10 & 4:45pm; Unicentro at 4:20pm.

American Hustle (7.8) is playing at Oviedo at 3:20pm; El Tesoro at 6:50pm; Premium Plaza at 3:15 and 6:15; Viscaya at 3:15.

Delivery Man (6.4) is playing at El Tesoro at 2:50 & 5:35; Los Molinos at 1:50 & 4:20pm; Multicine Carrefour at 3:45pm; Santafe at 1:50 & 4:20pm.

Just in case I should have a problem of any sort, I “backed up” my cell phone by copying the names and numbers to a file on my laptop – Cell Phone Backup.

I walked up and down both sides of Avenida 80 looking for the paper store and couldn’t find it.  Sigh!

About 11am I arrived at Mall de Laureles and right away saw Augusto.  We played 4 games and I won them all.  He had me in trouble in one game but I managed to squirm out of it.

I’ve given up on Plan B – finding a chess table or chess board here; and Plan C – having a chessboard sent to my brother’s house for him to bring to me in February (probably too big for his suitcase and too awkward to insert into a table); I’m going back to Plan A – having a chess table built here with my specifications (labor is cheap and I don’t think wood is going to be very expensive either).  The biggest problem will be finding someone but I have some ideas for that.

At 6pm I stopped at the Internet café and had my chess table specifications printed out.  I’m going to make some adjustments to the measurements and then I have to convert those from inches to centimeters and/or millimeters. 

Of course, since I was so close, I stopped at Paisa Pan for a churro and cup of coffee for 1,600 pesos.  I know, I know, I probably will have trouble sleeping tonight.