Wednesday, January 1st, 2014

One of my issues of Chess Life magazine referred to a number of chess movies so last night I tried to find any or all of them on Netflix.  Netflix suggested a different movie – what turned out to be a piece of trash called Computer Chess.  I tried real hard to watch it to the end but I gave up with only 7 minutes left.  Then I watched a much better one Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine.  It’s the story of the IBM computer Deep Blue for the first time beating the best chess player in the world Gary Kasparov in 1997.  But like a lot of journalism it relied on a mystical feeling and a strong hint of cheating.  After losing the 1^st game, supposedly, when Deep Blue beat Gary in the 2^nd game it made some moves different than machines have ever done before leading him to suspect there was some type of human intervention going on.

Just before midnight there were fireworks all over the city, not to mention the music and partying going on, the dogs barking and car alarms going off.

Happy New Year!  Feliz Año Nuevo!

At midnight the next door neighbors came outside with their friends and relatives and gathered in my building’s driveway right under my balcony.  One older man made what appeared to be a long speech that everyone listened to very respectfully and at midnight they all hugged.  I think it took about 10 minutes total for each person to find each other person and give them a hug.  I shot some video of the gathering but the light wasn’t good for my iPad2 camera and it didn’t allow me to transfer the whole 15 minutes I shot, but here’s what I have:

I sent the whole video to my brother and in at least one part he said it appeared they were praying.

Another interesting thing was on several occastions people came running up the street dragging suitcases.  From my guide to Colombian customs: “Some Colombians… fill a suitcase with clothes and leave it at the front door of the house overnight, hoping for a New Year filled with travel.”

I went to bed just before 1am, with earplugs in of course.  Either the fireworks stopped about 3am or 4am or that’s just when I fell asleep.   I woke up at 5:30 to more firecrackers, got up and took 2 Excedrin Migraine, went back to bed and finally got up at 6:30am.  I’m pretty sure there’s going to be a nap in my near future.

I walked down to the corner store for milk for my cereal but it was closed.  I then walked to Panaderia Los Mejores but it was closed also.  On my way there I passed the Tinto store which was open but it looked like there were about 6 people there doing some serious drinking.  I remembered the Tinto store also sells milk so I went back and bought a bag of milk.  Gonzolo introduced me to a young man there that spoke a little English and we had quite a long conversation.  He quizzed me about where I am from, why I left the US, why did I choose to live in Medellin, etc.  Then he introduced me to another young man that had worked in England for some time and his English was even better.  Then a young woman brought me a small cup with a little Aguardiente for me.  I’m standing there almost dripping in the cool morning air.  Why, because of my little walk and it was a little stuffy inside the store?   And the young man from England is wearing a jacket.  Gonzolo mentioned his brother will be here today for a visit and Bob and Harry are supposed to be here today at 2pm.

About the broken chess piece, I’m first going to buy some more Loctite and see if that will work.  If it doesn’t, I’m going to visit the stadium chess club and see if I can find the same size pieces as replacements.  Lastly, I will order a new set from Chess Life.

I took a nap from 10:20 to 11:50 then made myself a waffle for lunch.

I checked USAA and my 3^rd little pension deposit has been made but no Social Security as yet.

I stopped at the Tinto store at 1:30 and Bob was there but not Gonzolo.  I asked Bob about the 4 areas my brother is interested in and he said that Jardin is in Colombia’s coffee region and Guatape can be an overnight trip seeing as El Penol is there and a lot of things to do by the reservior.  I told him about the Colombians with their suitcases last night and he told me as the clock strikes midnight they eat 12 grapes making a wish with each one.  And their next step has to be with their right foot so they start the New Year off “right”.  Bob mentioned that 2 of the ladies he traveled with have gone back to their respective country (Germany) or town.  Now he’s only with Patricia and Margarita.  Jhon told him he should keep Margarita around so he has someone to take care of him in case he needs help or gets old so that’s what he’s doing.  :)

When I entered Viva CC they usually have a new car in the entrance that is for sale.  Today it was covered with a tarp and the car alarm was going off.  It was still going each of the following times I entered and left Viva.  The employees right next to it at Mimo’s ice cream must have loved that!

I checked the bank upstairs in Exito and as I expected it was closed.  I stopped and bought Clorox bleach, Ekono cleaning disinfectant, liquid hand soap, Loctite glue, syrup and 2 packages of gum and took them back to my apartment.  

I was at LM by 3pm and the only restaurants open were Frisby, Ajiaco (Colombian soup), and the seafood place.  I started to read my new chess book when a man asked to play a game.  I couldn’t even begin to repeat what his name was; very foreign sounding to me.  Anyway I had white and was able to play my usual opening and put a lot of pressure on him cramping his position.  Near the end of the game James came by.  I won the game a few minutes later, he had to leave and I set up the board for the game that James and I had adjourned a month or more ago.  He had chances to easily pick up a couple more of my pawns but he just went into a perpetual check and the game was drawn.  We started a new game where I had black and again he put a lot of pressure on my king and was taking control of the center.  I fought him off and eventually was up a pawn with the better position, but I didn’t know how to take advantage of it and he had to go anyway so he resigned.  

Now it was almost 6pm and Frisby was the only place open so I ordered the Chicken Combo #2 for 17,700 ($9.32).  (I thought it used to be 17mil or 17,100 so maybe it went up in the new year.)

Back at the apartment it’s 7:55pm and intermittent fireworks have started again.

I got the following text message on my phone: “Homicidios bajaron 62% durante noche de año nuevo” which translates to “Homicides were down 62% during New Year’s Eve.”  Good to know!  Now I know why I don’t usually go out on New Year’s Eve.

I put some glue on the broken bishop and so far it appears to be holding.  (Today I used my wood pieces that I brought for the chess table I don’t have as yet.)