Thursday, October 4, 2018

Last night I slept well despite getting up twice during the night and being awakened by a car horn at 6am.  I finally gave up getting back to sleep and got up at 6:20.

I spent most of the day trying to solve the 222 basic tactical chess puzzles.  I came up short but I did solve 150 with a success rate of 99%.

Laura read that the new mall has 226 stores including a Papa John’s.

At 4:30 I heard some thunder.

I left the apt at 5:30 for my 6:30 chess match knowing that it probably wouldn’t start until 7pm.

I walked to the metro and as I approached the station steps it started raining lightly.  By the time I reached the station itself it ws raining hard.  There was a long line for tickets and the whole lobby was packed with people with no apparent movement.  At that moment I decided to take a taxi.  I went back down the stairs and got in a short line.  When I was 2^nd in line the woman in front of me was wearing a long cotton woven dress.  A taxi pulled up but apparently the occupants didn’t want to get out in the rain and have to jump over what was now a curb filled with water.  It went past our line and stopped under the bridge and the occupants got out.  The woman went under the bridge and caught the taxi.  The same thing happened with the next taxi.  I went to catch it but when the occupants got out the driver just wagged his finger at me.

I went back to the head of the line as the next taxi arrived and the couple behind me started giving me a hard time.  I told them I had been waiting for 10 minutes (I guess they didn’t recognize me or more likely my umbrella) and I ignored them as I got in the taxi.  I wonder what kind of swear words they might have directed at me.

As we pulled away from the curb I told the driver I wanted to go to the University of Medellin.  He said he didn’t know where that was because he was a new driver so he dropped me off at the corner of the small mall where Wilson’s bar is.  So I was back where I was about 20 minutes previous.

I quickly caught another taxi and we were on our way on the highway.  Traffic was heavy until we passed a fender bender and then it was clear sailing.  We arrived at the university at 7:15 and I paid the driver 21,000 pesos.  I quickly found Jose and then they posted the first round pairings.

I had White on Board 52 against some kid named Juan Sebastian Molina Ballesteros (why do they have to have such complicated names) who I found out later only had a rating of 1375.  I thought I had a nice attack in progress until I blundered and he forked my queen and rook with his knight and I resigned on the 55^th move.

Jose was locked in a game that looked like it would end up a draw.

I took a taxi back to the apt for 17,000 pesos.  I just relaxed for the remainder of the evening.  I did watch a little of Thursday night football; boring.

Joke of the day

I recently picked a new primary care doctor. After two visits and exhaustive lab tests, he said I was doing "fairly well" for my age. I had just turned fifty five.  A little concerned about that comment, I couldn't resist asking him, "Do you think I'll live to be 80?"

He asked, "Do you smoke tobacco, or drink beer, wine, or hard liquor?"
"Oh no," I replied. "I don’t do drugs, either!"
Then he asked, "Do you eat steak and barbecued ribs?"
I said, "Not much. My former doctor said that all that red meat is very
unhealthy!"
"Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, boating, sailing, hiking, or bicycling?"
"No, I don't," I said.
He asked, "Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex?"
"No," I said.
He looked at me and said, "Then, why do you even care?"