Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Monday, January 30, 2017

While I went to the gym Teresa went to her mother’s house where she spent more than an hour calling Nueva eps but always was on hold.  She told me she’ll go early tomorrow to Nueva eps to see what they say is the problem but she’ll probably want me to pay for the medicine instead of getting it for free.

I asked her what was the problem with her mother not answering the phone yesterday and she said that she just didn’t hear it.  (She does have hearing aids in both ears and sometimes she forgets to put them in.)  She was very sad when Teresa told her we wanted to invite her to join us for lunch at Mercado del Rio.

At the gym I was able to complete all my activities in just under an hour.  For some reason it wasn’t at all crowded today.  Btw, I weighed in at 79 ¾ kilos.  I saw Sondra there and she asked me “what is the best way to learn English”?  Smart ass that I am I told her to be born in the US.  She refined her question “what’s the best way for a 43 year old to learn English”?  (She’s an attractive 43-year old woman.)  I told her about Duolingo but her English is so good I think I should tell her she needs to have conversations with someone from the US.

Late in the afternoon I guess Teresa wanted to appease her sweet tooth and she sent me to the other side of the street to buy a small cheesecake.  I also picked up a couple bags of milk.


T-shirt of the day: We’re all made here.

Monday, January 30, 2017

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Last night I took my 2mg sleeping pill and went to bed at 11pm.  Still awake at 12:30 I got up and read my Nook until 1am.  Back in bed I quickly fell asleep.  I got up several times during the night but still felt pretty good when I got up at 9am.

I left the apt at 10:30 to rent a bicycle in the park.  When I got there I found the tent with the bicycles closed.  (Isn’t this exactly the day when they should be open?)  I walked a block away and just east of Exito found the street (Carrera 43?) closed to auto traffic; lots of people were out walking, jogging, skating, and biking.  I’m going to have to check on how much it would cost to buy a bicycle, helmet and lock.  I think I could store it in the garage.

I stopped at a drug store where I added 20mil to our cell phone.

Laura got up about 11:15 and I told her not to eat too much for breakfast because we’re going to Mercado del Rio.  She got real excited; I understand it’s a place she’s wanted to try.
Teresa asked me if it would be okay to invite her mother along.  I said fine but then she never answered any of Teresa’s calls.

We left the apt at 1:15 and at a busier road we quickly caught a taxi to Mercado del Rio.  It was pretty busy inside but not outrageously so.  I had told Teresa that the last time we were here I had arguably the best ribs in Medellin.  (Mu is pretty good too but of a different style.)  I thought we would be splitting up in order to get whatever we wanted but Teresa had me take her to the rib place – Piara.
We each ordered pretty much the same thing - a plate comes with 5 ribs, cole slaw, and rustic fries.  They didn’t have Pepsi so I had a Colombiana, Laura the same, and Teresa had a beer.  The total came to 88,500 (about $31).  The ribs were very meaty in a nice sauce and they seemed like they were hickory smoked.  Their coleslaw is good but too wet.  The fries were very tasty.

After we all finished stuffing ourselves we took a look around the food market.  I told Teresa that I thought there were more restaurants upstairs so we headed up.  Upstairs they have a Parmessano, an El Rancherito and one named Sinko.  What looked like the next restaurant was actually a bar named “5”.  That’s when I figured out that Sinko was a play on words as “cinco” is “5” in Spanish.  There was an area about 15’ x 100’ that had a lot of bean bag chairs so we claimed a spot.

I went downstairs and bought an almond crescent to go at Al Alma Café for 6,200 pesos.

We rested in the bean bag chairs for almost 2 hours.  At one point I said it was too warm (heat rises) so Teresa sent me down for ice cream.  I couldn’t find any ice cream but I did find yogurt.  Teresa specifically asked for vanilla lite so it just got her a small yogurt with nothing on it.  For myself I got a medium with chopped peanuts and strawberries.  The total came to 10,600 (about $3.50).
Just before 5pm we took a taxi back to the apt.

I watched some of the Pro Bowl on my Slingbox.


T-shirt of the day: Hold fast the last of the true.

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Saturday, January 28, 2017

I asked Teresa when I could see the apartment she saw yesterday and she told me she didn’t actually see it she just heard about it from the doorman.

About 9:15 I left with Laura for the metro – she was going to work and I was going to wait in line for my Civica card.

We stopped at the foot of the metro stairs where Laura bought a small orange juice from a vendor for 1,200 pesos.  The vendor asked, in very good English, if I’m from the US.  I said, yes, Chicago.  He told me he used to live and work in New York.
At the metro station I understood Laura wanted a Civica card also and since there was only one person ahead of us she was next.  We both signed 2 different documents with our names and Cedula numbers and presented our Cedula.  They had a computer where they either looked up something and/or added our information.  A man spoke to the half dozen or so of us now in line for 2-3 minutes and of course I didn’t understand a word.  We soon had our cards and we went to the ticket booth where Laura added 5,000 pesos to hers and I added 50,000 pesos to mine.

Back at the foot of the stairs I stopped for a medium orange juice (fresh and cold) for 2,000 pesos and talked to the vendor (Herman) a little.  I learned that because I’m over 65 I get a 100 peso discount on my fares and each time the card is used it can’t be used again for 20 minutes to keep from scanning in another person.

I stopped in Exito and checked out the foreign items but just picked up a box of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese and a bottle of Crisco non-stick spray.

At 11am I emailed Chuck that Teresa was going to the gym and I was bored and does he want to meet for a drink?  He agreed but only from 12:30 to 1pm in the park.  I told Teresa, as she was leaving for the gym, that I would be back by 1:30 for lunch.

Chuck finally arrived at 12:40 just as I was about to give up.  I had a Colombiana and he had his usual double Tinto.  A friend of his, Humbierto, came by and shared with us his problems receiving his Social Security payments.

The Colombian Peso closed at 2,939 to the US Dollar.

Yesterday I traded a few emails with Shedrain.  They said my umbrella was held up because of a mixup with my shipping address, they forgot to include the code that identifies my MBE account but it did go out.  I told them I’ll check online to see when it gets to Miami and if I have a problem.

Well, I didn’t plan that very well.  I took a nap from 2:30 to 3:30, got up to watch the Senior Bowl on NFL Network and found it was at the 2 minute warning in the 2nd quarter.  The Chicago Bears coaches are coaching the North squad of the Senior Bowl.  The South squad won 16-15.

We realized we had already seen The Sentinel so I switched to The Client.


T-shirt of the day: Sunny Hill Modeling.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Friday, January 27, 2017

Last night at 10:30 Teresa told me she was tired and wanted to go to bed so I took my 2mg sleeping pill and waited my usual 10 additional minutes before going to bed but by then she was involved in some TV show with Laura.

I don’t like going to bed before her because if I’m fortunate enough to actually fall asleep quickly I’m afraid she’ll wake me and I’ll have to fall asleep again.  I think she came to bed a few minutes later – about 11pm.  I was asleep maybe 30 minutes later.

I woke up just before 5am and made a trip to the bathroom.  I realized I wasn’t tired anymore but I tried to fall back asleep anyway.  I finally got up at 6:30 and wrote some in this blog.  Now I’m just waiting for her to get up so we can go to Nueva eps.  I had told her we can stop at Carbon de Leña for breakfast afterwards.
I forgot to mention something that happened yesterday.  When we arrived at the apt from the stadium the fare was something like 16,000 pesos.  I gave the driver a 20mil bill but he wouldn’t accept it because a corner was cut off.  I gave him another bill and it too had a torn corner.  I tried a 10 and 5 and had the same problem.  Finally, I just handed over all my small cash to Teresa for her to solve.  I must have gotten the “bad” bills either from El Viejo y El Pancake or the store in El Diamonte.  Lesson to be learned – inspect all the bills you receive (other than from the ATM) for faults because taxi drivers, and probably others, may not accept them.

Among new US movie releases there isn’t anything I want to see.  Locally, there isn’t anything I want to see.

We left the apt at 8am and Teresa talked to someone in Nueva eps.  We were sent across and down the street to another location where we got our paperwork stamped.  On the way back to the clinic I saw the new SmartFit health club.  It’s on the same side of the street as Nueva eps and almost next door.  Back inside Nueva eps I understand we were told to go to the Nueva eps clinic in Itagui.

After we left the clinic Teresa stopped at the first pharmacy (they’re pretty near everywhere) and got a quote on my medicine for 123,000 ($42).  (Right now I’m paying 39,000 pesos ($14) a month for my Tamsulosin so that’s quite an increase.)  I see that it’s a different medication; it includes the same 0.4mg Tamsulosin but in addition there’s 0.5mg of Dutasterida (Dutasteride in English).
We had breakfast in Carbon de Leña.  I had Calentao (beans, rice, and scrambled eggs) with coffee while Teresa had hot chocolate and fish.  What, fish for breakfast?  I guess she really missed it.  The total bill came to 31,100 ($11).

Teresa says we will have to go to the Itagui clinic and then return to the Envigado Nueva eps.  And we will have to do that every month so she would rather I pay the 123mil.  I’m not so sure that they won’t give me a 6 month supply so I want to go that route first and then if I have to do that every month I’ll probably just pay the 123mil.  I stopped briefly at Todo Drogas where I got a quote for 116,500.

Back at the apt Teresa left to go somewhere with her mother and I left for the gym.  Jose told me that the new SmartFit gym is 4 times larger than the Comfama one.

Back at the apt I waited about 30 minutes for Teresa and her mother to return.  She told me she saw an apartment in a nearby gated community that she really liked.

We all had lunch in the garage restaurant.  Fridays are bandeja paisa day so we had chichirron (except me), beef (again chewy), beans, rice, avocado, plantain and unlimited salad and juice for 10,000 each.

Teresa went to her mother’s apt to make calls for an appointment for me and I headed right to the bakery where I met Chuck.  He’s going to go with me next Monday to check out a couple hotels for my brother and then we’re going to have lunch at Flip Flop Sandwich Shop.  Uh-oh, I just remembered that the FFSS is closed on Mondays.  I sent Chuck an email asking to change it to Tuesday.
We stopped at the MetroPlus tent where we learned that all the overhead wires are going to be placed under the street and the Metro should be finished by the end of the year.

We stopped across the street from the park where we each had a rum raisin ice cream cone for 1,400 pesos (about 50 cents).
Chuck then took me on a tour of City Hall.

We said goodbye and we’ll meet again on Monday.  Make that hopefully on Tuesday.

I finished watching The Thin Red Line.

Chuck confirmed that we’ll meet on Tuesday instead of Monday.


T-shirt of the day: Discondon.  Disco Miami.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Thursday, January 26, 2017

I slept well waking up at 6:30 and getting up at 7:30.  It was squealing brakes that initially woke me up.

Teresa and I left the apt at 9am and walked a block to a slightly busier street where we quickly caught a taxi.  We arrived at the Nueva eps by the stadium at 9:35 for my 10am appointment.  The waiting room was nearly full with just a few chairs remaining.  After standing in line for a couple minutes I paid my 2,900 ($1) co pay and we took a seat.  We were called to consultation room #4 at 10:20. 

The doctor, an Urologist, spoke very good English.  I gave him the results of my most recent blood test and a copy of my past Wellness and blood tests.  I questioned him about a possible lack of Vitamin B12 but he said it wasn’t a concern.  I showed him the drugs I’m currently taking.  He said another name for Tamsulosin is Flomax.  I asked him about taking Excedrin 1 or 2 times a week because it contains aspirin and he said he wasn’t concerned, as long as I’m not taking a lot of Advil because it can cause kidney problems.  He said he would give me a prescription for a better brand of Tamsulosin and I understood it would be free from Nueva eps.  It would be a 6 month supply and I should come back in a year for another blood test and consultation.  He gave me a quick rectal exam and said my prostate seems fine (although enlarged).

We left about 11am and walked over to El Viejo y El Pancake for lunch.  (They are usually closed on Wednesdays & Thursdays but they had a notice on their Facebook page that they will be closed on weekends so for the time being they will be open Monday thru Friday.)  David’s wife Alexi was there today (her first day back) and Teresa learned she’s equal parts American (father’s side) and Colombian (mother’s side) so she has dual citizenship.  As her spouse, David can stay in Colombia on a spousal visa.  Alexi soon left and came back with their 4-year old son.  He was a bit of a terror, climbing on things and repeatedly almost falling.  Alexi mentioned they don’t want to teach him to be like Colombian children – sit there and don’t make trouble.  They also want him to question things.  It was interesting to hear him seamlessly switch from Spanish to English.  Today David had hash browns so I ordered them with 2 eggs over easy and sausage.  Teresa tried their Denver omelet and liked it.  She tried my hash browns and loved them and asked for an order for herself.  Alexi cautioned that they take 25 minutes to make and we didn’t have that kind of time.
On the English side of their menu I noticed it said “how about some pancakes today?”.  I was curious what “how about?” would translate to Spanish because I often start my questions to Teresa in English with “how about”.  Like, “how about we do this?”  It turns out it translates to “que tal?”.

I paid 20,000 pesos for our lunch and we walked over to the chess league office by the stadium.  I saw that they started an under 1900 tournament last night.  I guess I’ll be waiting for the next one.
We walked over to El Diamante CC (mall).  I dropped off my chess clock at Techno Watch (local 1434) for a cleaning.  He said it would take about an hour and the charge would be 30,000 pesos (about $10.50).  Teresa stopped at a small store while I made a trip to the restroom.  Skip the rest of this paragraph if you don’t want TMI about toilet behavior. Wouldn’t you know it my stall didn’t have toilet paper or a toilet seat.  (But it did have a hook that I used for my tech bag and my fanny pack.)  Luckily I was able to quickly do my thing and I had some TP with me.  After using what I had, I felt I still needed more.  I pulled my pants up and took a quick look outside where I saw a TP dispenser.  I grabbed a yard or so of it and quickly hustled back into the stall. 

Soon I was back with Teresa.  She found some skin cream she wanted for 22mil.  I gave the woman a 50mil bill and she gave me my change. 

We sat around for a little while and then headed back to the clock repair store.  We waited about 15 more minutes for him to finish.  I checked that both sides worked and that the flag would fall on both sides.

We walked outside and at the main road quickly caught a taxi back to the apt.

I walked to Exito where I picked up 2 bags of milk, 3 tomatoes, a package of hamburgers and a package of buns and a package of microwave popcorn.  Walking past the cashiers I saw the same sign that said “we’re sorry but their aren’t any bags today”.  I observed the couple of customers ahead of me and sure enough they didn’t bag their groceries.  Since I couldn’t carry everything loose I just purchased the hamburgers, buns and tomatoes.  I questioned the cashier about this and she said it’s every Thursday.  I’ll have to remember that.

Back at the apt I dropped off my few things and then made a quick trip to the corner store for 2 bags of milk.

I decided to put my blood test results in my storage box.  I was surprised to see there was a hanging folder missing exactly where a file marked MEDICAL would go.  I asked Teresa about that and she said she didn’t have it.  She went in the back bedroom and came back with a couple plastic bags and proceeded to go through them and show me that they were all hers.  I took out a couple hard plastic storage envelopes I had and showed her a colored folder with a label that said DENTAL and another that said MISCELLANEOUS and asked here if she knew where the other one is labeled MEDICAL.  She went in the back again and this time came out with a plastic envelope that contained all my medical records including the missing blue MEDICAL folder.  I went through everything quickly throwing away things that I knew I wouldn’t need.  A few minutes later she started to go through my garbage pile and ask me about things.  I told her I already went through everything once and I wasn’t going to do it again so just throw it away.  Another day I’ll go through them again more slowly and put them in chronological order and throw out the medical orders probably keeping just the results.

We finished watching Copycat (6.6) on Netflix and then at 6pm MT came over.  I understand she gets bored alone in her apartment.
I started watching The Thin Red Line (7.6) until Teresa wanted to watch another movie so I switched to The Sentinel (6.1).  MT left at 8pm.  We stopped when Laura came home at 9:30 so Teresa could make her something to eat and I continued with my movie.

Tomorrow we leave early (supposedly) for Nueva eps to drop off my prescription and perhaps pick up my medicine.


T-shirt of the day: Best place in the world.

How Trump can end illegal immigration right now - without a border wall - CNBC.com

Op-Ed: How Trump can end illegal immigration right now—without a border wall

Steven Kopits 20 hours ago 

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Estratos in Colombia - The Basics - www.MichaelAndGraciela.com

Stratums or Estratos in Colombia – The Basics


April 2015
Michael: To understand Colombia and its people you need to understand the government stratum system. In speaking people use the word estrato as in “He lives in estrato 4.” To my knowledge Colombia is the only country to have it as law. In the opinion of many the scheme has evolved to deciding how a person is viewed and what opportunities are available to them as well as giving the wealthy an upper-hand.
Graciela: The plan started in the late 1980’s for Bogotá. In 1994 a law specifically noted how Stratum photoareas or neighborhoods throughout the country should be classified in the stratum.
The stratums run from 1 to 6.
Stratum 1: Lowest class
Stratum 2: Low-middle class
Stratum 3: Middle class
Stratum 4: Upper middle class
Stratum 5: Upper class
Stratum 6: Wealthy
The idea is those in the higher stratum help pay for the services (water, electricity, gas) of those in the lower stratums.
An example would be that an estrato 6 home may pay $175 USD on their water bill while estrato 3, using the same amount of water, will have a bill for $100. Those in 1 and 2 will pay even less.
For me this is a good thing. People can save money by choosing not to live in a fancy neighborhood. There are many people I know who say they will never live in estrato 6. But I also know those who insist in living in estrato 6 even though they probably shouldn’t. They do it they say because it gives them better image for business and such.
Michael: One must remember that Colombia has one of the most unequal distributions of wealth in the world. Thirty-four percent of the people live below the poverty level. It is not unusual then that almost 90% of the population lives in estratos 1,2 and 3. In the book “Colombia a Country Study,” the author writes “In other words only about 10% of the population lives in dwellings that are well built and located in well-developed neighborhoods with access to good utility services.”
As a visitor you might first encounter the system in conversations. Someone might say, “He thinks he’s estrato 10,” which means he is acting like someone superior to everyone else. “She dresses like an estrato 2 hooker,” is usually meaning she is scantily clad in cheap clothes. But you will also hear it when people tell you where they live such as, “Our apartment is estrato 5.”
If you are planning on becoming an expat, then you may wish to know the estrato of the area you are thinking of moving into. estrato 1 and 2 may put you in a less than desirable neighborhood. estrato 6 may push your budget for utilities.
If you are planning on purchasing an apartment in an incomplete building beware. Often times the contractor will advertise that it is estrato 3 or 4. However the government does not make the classification until the building is complete. You could easily end up paying the highest price for utilities.
In the rural area things may be a little different. The larger cities have the full range of Stratums. Many small towns only have Stratum 1 through 3.
Do not expect the estrato you start with to continue. However, I have never heard of an estrato decreasing, only increasing. Our friends built a home in an estrato 2 area. However, others built nice homes around them and now they get hit for estrato 6 services. My wife and I moved into a estrato 3 house. Million dollar homes began building around us. We did not receive any more money. Our utilities did not change. In fact things got worse and we had more water outages than before. But all of a sudden our water bill went up three notches as they moved us from middle class to wealthy.
Then sometimes it seems that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing. While our water was re-evaluated to be a 6 our electricity stayed at 3. Another expat wrote that in his building the opposite happened. His electrical jumped up to 5 but the water remained at 2.
The stratum scheme sounds good. Those who have help out the have-nots. But many have found the division creates other problems. One major complaint is it helps the wealthy maintain their status. The United Nations group UN-habitat states that over time the system has grown into a mechanism for segregation.
An article by the International Federation of Housing and Planning (IFHP) quotes a project director of the urban consultancy firm Geografía Urbana that the system prevents physical and social mobility. For balance, the same article also quotes a former mayor of Bogotá who defends the system.
Blogger, Jeremy, on his blogsite The World or Bust, http://www.theworldorbust.com, wrote about what he calls the caste system in Colombia. In his writing he says that a seemingly bit twisted segregation and social order has been created.
Even within the strata the idea of helping is changing and more it seems to the advantage of the elite or wealthiest Colombians. In the book “Restoring Justice in Colombia: Conciliation In Equity” the authors states, “The burden of subsidies may have rested more heavily on stratum three because of the inequality in the economy of Colombia.” The above mentioned book of “Colombia: A Country Study,” states “The generous Subsidies that the state once granted to stratum three have been gradually dismantled, as a result millions of Colombians have had to live in hardship from day to day, forced to take out loans to make ends meet.”
Steven Bunce addressed the Colombian social strata when writing his doctoral thesis. In an article titled “Commonsense practice or state-sponsored caste system? Social stratification in Bogotá, Colombia,” he covers the stigma, the difficulty in moving up the social ladder and the effect on the elite’s perception of public interest.
Government stratums – good for the people or a tool, disguised as help, for the elite to maintain their position? The answer is in who’s eyes you look at it from. Either way it is a key component to understanding Colombia and its people.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Despite it taking about an hour to fall asleep last night I felt like I got a good night’s sleep.

At 10:30 I went to the gym alone.  (Teresa was going somewhere with her mother.)  I talked to Jose and learned that the gym is closing (permanently) on March 31st.  He said they are merging with SmartFit and will be in a location by Parque Envigado.  The gym was pretty busy and I couldn’t get to a couple minor exercise machines so I left at 11:30.

I stopped and bought an avocado for 5mil as Teresa requested.
Teresa told me the metro bus doesn’t accept cash anymore (per Laura) so I’ll have to walk to the metro.  I left at 1:05 and at the bottom of the hill I noticed they changed the direction of the street below the library.  At the metro I stopped and talked briefly with a young man selling the Civica cards.  When I told him I wanted one he pointed to a line outside.  I didn’t see the end but didn’t need to as I didn’t have that much time anyway.

At the regular ticket booth I added 600 pesos to one of my old metro cards to get on the metro.

I arrived at Dario’s auto parts store at 1:55.  We played two games and I won both.  For next week he invited me to his building for a tournament starting at 4pm.  He drew a map for me showing that I can take the metro to the Industriales Station and then a MetroPlus (elongated bus) to Los Molinos.  From there he says it’s just a 5 block walk down Carrera 84 to his building.  I’ll probably give that a try once for the experience but I think taking the metro to Aguacatala Station and then a Circular Sur bus might be just as easy.

I made a trip to the restroom in the Aventura mall and then went upstairs and checked out the cell phones for sale in AlKomprar (sp?) but they didn’t have any Apple phones that I could see.

Back at the Envigado station I noticed there was still a line for the Civica cards.  Outside I asked a man if the bus driver took cash and he said yes.  I gave the driver 2mil, he gave me 100 pesos change and then swiped a Civica card he had against the machine.  Well, I guess you can pay cash one way at least.

I got off at the park and stopped at the bakery and bought a churro for 1,400 pesos to treat myself for the 2 wins.  A pretty young woman working there asked me how to say 1,400 in English.  I was so surprised by the question I had to ask her to repeat it twice so I understood exactly what she was asking.

Back at the apt I Googled SmartFit and found an Envigado location at Carrera 41 #38Sur-56.  It looks like its right across the street from Nueva eps.

The epm bill arrived; the gas bill is down from 8,000 pesos last month to 3,000 this month.  The electricity portion is up 2,000 pesos.

We started watching Copycat (6.6) on Netflix.


T-shirt of the day: I’m in it for the long run.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

I slept well last night getting up at 8:30.

We left the apt at 1:20 for Teresa’s 2:30 vein appointment with Dr. Hiller in Torre Intermedica.  We got there at 1:40 so we went next door and I had a coffee and Teresa had a juice. 

Back in the doctor’s waiting room we were finally called in at 2:40.  While there I asked him for the name and number of a general practitioner.  He gave me the name Luis Alfonso Medina in Clinica Campestre and phone numbers 313 7630 and 448 1060.  (Back at the apt I saw that Clinica Campestre appears to be on Avenida Poblado between Medellin and Envigado.)  He informed me that a GP here is called an internist which is what Clara was.
Back in Envigado I stopped at the internet café where I had 2 copies made of my Wellness Statistics.  This contains my blood results like psa, LDL, etc. for the past 10 years that I plan to share with the Urologist on Thursday.

I bought a churro for myself for a snack.  I cut through the park where I noted about 5 chess games in progress.

I stopped at Exito and picked up eggs, lettuce, milk and bread.
Back at the apt I finished Chapter 9 The Pawn Chain which completed Part I The Elements of My System.

We watched The Vanishing (6.3) on Netflix.  I finally found a movie that Teresa really liked.


T-shirt of the day: “Trust me, you can dance.”  Vodka.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Monday, January 23, 2017

I took a 2mg sleeping pill and was soon asleep.  Not sure if I got up once or twice during the night but I felt refreshed when I woke/got up at 8:30.

I watched the Today show and then we left the apt just before noon.  First we walked to a neighborhood apartment complex where Teresa asked the porter about their health club.  I’m sure she learned it’s for the exclusive use of the renters.  We stopped at the office in Comfama and paid for another month (just Teresa and I as Laura is working).  The price was still the same – 42,100 per person (about $15).  (They wrote “before March 31, 2017 on the receipt so maybe the price will go up after that.)

In the gym they had moved some things around.  I’m sure Teresa was disappointed to learn they only have one exercise class that she’s interested in and it starts at 8am on Thursdays. According to my record book it was exactly 5 weeks ago when we were here last.  The first machine I tried was the Butterfly (chest exerciser) and the last time here I was pressing 51#.  Today I couldn’t even move it at that weight.  I went down 10# on this and all the other machines until I can get myself back in the same shape as before.

Back at the apt, after lunch, Teresa and I were both exhausted so we took a 45 minute nap.

I had Teresa call Dario and we will continue our weekly chess matches this Wednesday at 2pm.

I finished Michael Connelly’s The Black Ice (#2 in the Harry Bosch series) and then downloaded his The Last Coyote (#4 in the Harry Bosch series).

MT came over about 6pm and the ladies went to the park for something.  When they came back about 7:30 they brought me a slice of carrot cake.

MT left at 9pm and then we watched The Do-Over (5.8) on Netflix.


T-shirt of the day: Let’s run away together.

Asteroid - www.earthsky.org

An asteroid designated 2017 BX – found just days ago, on January 20 – will pass between the Earth and moon on late Tuesday night according to clocks in the Americas. Closest approach is 11:45 ET. It’ll come within 0.68 lunar distances, or about 162,252 miles. This is the second time in just three weeks that a small asteroid will pass between our Earth and moon.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Last night I rather quickly fell asleep and when I woke up I had the impression it was morning.  I looked at my watch and it was only 3am.  I had been awakened by someone talking loudly outside our building.  After a quick trip to the bathroom I was back in bed and soon asleep.  I woke up again at 7:45 and I told Teresa it’s almost 8am and it’s sunny outside.  I don’t think she even looked up when she said we’ll go to Santafe another day.  I finally got up at 9am.

My brother booked 3 nights at the Hotel Dann Carlton for only $210.  It was a special from COPA airlines.  But when we saw the booking confirmation it was for the Hotel Dann Carlton Belfort which, while in El Poblado, is 2 kilometers from the Hotel Dann Carlton.  At least he has quite a bit of time remaining to cancel it.  I’m going to check it out and say if it’s a place worth staying in.  Location, location, location!

We left at 11:40 for mass.  For the first time we went to the big church in Parque Envigado.  We got there about 2 minutes before the service started and it was packed - all seats were taken and the aisles were nearly full.

The service ended at 12:45 and we met Chuck and his wife Darnell outside.  They took us to a bakery they frequent where we had coffee.  I had to buy because of my mistake yesterday in not inviting Teresa to join us.  At least it only cost me 7,900 pesos (including a couple pastries).

I finished Chapter 8 The Discovered Check in My System.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Packers get demolished by the Falcons 44 – 21.

Teresa wanted to go to Santafe de Antioquia tomorrow and somewhere else next weekend but I told her we should save a little money this month to use next month when my brother comes for a visit.  She agreed!

I watched the New England Patriots defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers 36-17.

Teresa wanted to finish some movie in Spanish so we didn’t get to bed until midnight.


T-shirt of the day: See you soon.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Finally I got a good night’s sleep or as well as you can with getting up 3 times during the night.

Teresa told me we’re not going to Vicky’s until 5-6pm tonight so I told her I’m having lunch with a couple gringos near Parque Envigado.

Just before 10am she left to have her nails done and I headed to the “lower, larger” Exito to see if I could find some relish.  I stopped by Bocados Bar for a second and said “hi” to Martha and MT.

In Exito I found a 12oz jar of Smuckers Strawberry Preserves.  In the past I’ve only seen the smaller jars (8oz?) and didn’t think it was worth it.  I’ve also seen other 12oz jars of Smuckers but they were of the sugar free variety.

I finally found a 12 oz plastic container of Heinz Sweet Relish.  (Last time the relish I found was in a glass container and it was a different brand like Safeway.)

So I purchased those two items and was back in the apt about 30 minutes after I left.

Teresa left and came back at 11:30 with MT.

I left the apt at 12:40 and soon after I arrived at Exito Chuck called my name.  He was there with his wife and I met David and his Colombian wife Beatriz.  Chuck asked me why I didn’t bring Teresa and I told him he didn’t say anything about bringing their wives.  He disagreed about that.

We went a block away to a Chinese restaurant.  We ordered medium portions of chop suey, vegetable fried rice and chicken with broccoli to share.  There was enough food for everyone.  
David is from Portland, Oregon and is visiting with his wife’s family here in Envigado.  They return to the US in a few days but he hopes to retire here in a few years.  Some of us had sodas and others ordered bottles of water.   The restaurant didn’t have tea or juice.  The total bill for 5 people came to 72,000 pesos or about $25 (about $5 per person).

We talked for quite a while and then David and Beatriz left and Chuck and I went for coffee at Bartollo’s next to the park.  Chuck had a portion of cheesecake and I had a tiramisu.  He had never heard of tiramisu – oh, what a sheltered life he’s led in New Orleans.  Lol.

He then took me about 5 blocks away to a children’s park he’s mentioned before.  It had a lot of rides that are common among children’s parks.  It also had a swimming pool and what looked like a small driver’s test course - for tricycles?

We said goodbye and he headed home and I went back to the apt.
MT was still there and Teresa told me we’re not going to Vicky’s today but if the weather is nice tomorrow she, MT and Laura are going to Santafe de Antioquia while I’m watching my football games.

Trip Advisor published my restaurant review of Barbacoa.

The Colombian Peso closed at 2,920 to the US Dollar.

Now I’d like to direct your attention to Track Trump, a website that promises to track whether Trump fulfills his stated goals for his first 100 days in office.  https://trumptracker.github.io/

I took a 2mg sleeping pill and went to bed at 10:45.


T-shirt of the day: Gold’s Gym.

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Friday, January 20, 2017

Today is Inauguration Day.  It is also the 4th anniversary of my arrival in Medellin, Colombia.

Last night my stomach wasn’t feeling quite right so I decided to skip taking any sleeping pills and see if I could get to sleep on my one.  It was probably the worst night I have experienced in my life.  I don’t think I slept for more than a few minutes.  I think I know the cause and I won’t do that again. 

This morning I took an Excedrin Migraine and as usual it alleviated a lot of my tiredness and the discomfort in my eyes.

I watched the inauguration ceremonies on the Today show.  Direct TV had it scheduled from 10am to noon followed by Ellen DeGeneris at noon so I was curious if they would cut away in the middle of the ceremony.  They actually went until 12:05, cutting away early in Donald Trump’s speech.  I switched to the local news and they were covering it but of course it was in Spanish.

Among new US movie releases I would like to see Split (7.6) and The Founder (7.2).  Locally, there isn’t anything I would like to see.

Some good news, I read that Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Mexican drug lord, has been extradited and is now in New York.  I’m thinking he will have to be tried in federal court before his ass winds up in one of our federal prisons.

An email from Expat Exchange noted that Medellin Living is going to revive their monthly expat meetings.  The next will be at Bogota Beer Company next Thursday night at 7pm.  I sent an email to Chuck asking if he’d like to go.

I completed Chapter 7 – The Pinned Piece in My System.

We left the apt at 3pm for the Euro market in Mayorista.  MT joined us as she had some things she needed. 

I still couldn’t find relish for my hamburgers and hotdogs.  I’ve given up on using the sliced pickles they have here as they are too sweet.

While waiting for the ladies to finish checking our groceries I saw a girl walk by wearing what looked like mukluks.  As we left Teresa questioned why the driver was going a certain way.  It was the same exit we’ve almost always used.  I told the driver to excuse her because she has a little Alzheimer’s.

The traffic was backed up so much on the highway that the driver took us down a lot of side streets.  It’s common here, if you want to go one direction, the driver starts out in the opposite direction.  It wasn’t that bad today but after we dropped off MT we didn’t get back to the apt until 5pm when usually it takes 90 minutes.

I’m not feeling too bad considering the lack of sleep I got last night.  I wonder what time I’ll crash!

I completed 30 minutes on Chess Magnet School.

I asked Teresa what we’re doing tomorrow and she told me her sister Vicky is having eye surgery so we might go visit her.
Chuck told me he’s having lunch in Parque Envigado tomorrow with another gringo and he invited me to join them.  I told him of Teresa’s plans and that we’d have to play it by ear.

I did some Spanish to English translations of my blood test results and did some goggling on the internet.  It seems I may have a vitamin B12 (aka folic acid) deficiency and it’s possible that all the Excedrin Migraine tablets I’m taking are also showing up in my blood because of the aspirin they contain.  We’ll see what the doctor has to say about that.

We watched Secretary (7.1) on Direct TV.

I took a 2mg sleeping pill and went to bed at 11pm.


T-shirt of the day: International jetsetter.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Thursday, January 19, 2017


About 7am, while still in bed, I heard a metal urn on a corner table start rattling and I had a vague sensation of being shaken. 
According to my QuakeWatch app we had a 4.7 tremor at 7:01am 51 miles SW and at a depth of 41 miles.

I felt fairly good upon rising at 8am despite not sleeping well during the night.

Finally a day with mostly sunshine.

We left the apt at 9:45 for MT’s endoscopic appointment.  We arrived at 10:20 at the Digestive Clinic in Cedimed, 10 minutes early.  After the ladies got checked in I walked down to MBE where I picked up my Social Security 1099.  I stopped a couple shops down where I had a copy made of my blood results.  (When asked, Teresa told me that the doctor would be keeping the originals.)

Out on the corner was a man on a unicycle balancing a ball on his head and juggling 3 balls – all to collect a little change from the drivers before the light changed to green.

Back at Cedimed I had a cup of coffee in their outdoor Boulevard café and read some from my Nook.

The ladies came down at 11:45 and we all had a nice lunch of soup, coleslaw, rice, chicken or fish, potatoes and fresh juice for 48,000 pesos (about $17).

We were back at the apt just before 1pm so I was able to watch the 2nd running of the Today show.

I reviewed my blood test results and most things look pretty good to my untrained eyes.

At 5pm it started raining followed by a few strong bolts of lightning.  It finally ended by 6pm.

Teresa and I started watching Hostel but I went to bed at 11pm as I was very tired.


T-shirt of the day: Fly society.