Saturday, November 3, 2018

Last night we went to bed at 11pm, I fell asleep quickly, woke up at 4:45, couldn’t get back to sleep and got up at 6am.  At least here the noise level seems to be down although we did have the bedroom window closed.

I had breakfast then waited until 8am to go next door to Exito Express where I bought a bar of bath soap for my shower.  (Heaven knows where the soap is that we brought from the old apt.)  This way I could feel good putting on clean clothes afterwards.  (I discovered that our little Exito Express is open 24 hours – yay!)

I left the apt about 9:15, walked up to Avenida Poblado and after a short wait I caught an Envigado bus to Poblado.  At Envios Market I picked up my October issue of Chess Life, my November issue of Reader’s Digest and 2 envelopes from BSI Financial that I no longer have to worry about.  I also paid 39,000 pesos for November’s mailbox rental.

My legs were feeling better so I walked up Avenida Poblado to a BBVA bank.  It looked closed so I asked the security guard if there was an ATM machine open.  He recommended I go to Oviedo or Santafe mall.

I walked across the street and up a block to a Bancolombia ATM where I withdrew 200mil.  I walked up another block and withdrew 200mil from a Davivienda ATM.  I walked up to Oviedo mall where I withdrew 200mil from a BBVA ATM.  (The purpose was to compare ATM fees on a day when the currency exchanged rate is frozen (weekends).)

The receipt from Bancolombia said the transaction cost was 13,200, from Davivienda it said it was “not available” and BBVA didn’t even give me a receipt.

I stopped at Starbucks where I bought a cold, small café mocha blanco for 9,200 pesos.  Well, it’s official, a young worker wrote “Tu eres muy guapo” on my coffee cup.

Back across the street I caught an Envigado bus back to Envigado.  (I no longer need to catch Sabaneta buses because now I have an earlier stop.)

When I returned to the apt it was so nice to walk through a cool garage and then take an elevator up to the 4^th floor.  In the other apt I would get overheated just walking up to the 3^rd floor.

I logged into my checking account and found I was charged $62.62 (Currency Exchange Rate of 3,194) for Davivienda and BBVA but $66.75 (CER of 2,996) for Bancolombia.  Wow!  Have I been using the wrong ATMs all this time?  To be continued.

About 12:30 Laura and I walked over to the mall, took the elevator up to the 3^rd floor to the food court and ordered a Big Wok from Sr. Wok for 47,500 pesos.  We carried it back to the apt.  I stopped next door at Exito and bought 2 bags of milk and a 2.5 liter bottle of Coke.

We feasted on brown rice, vegetables, beef teriyaki, egg rolls and orange chicken.

Teresa and I took a nap from 1:30 to 2:45.  When we got up it was obvious we had gotten a little rain.  Of course now Teresa doesn’t want to go to Home Center to shop for a microwave.

Wow, the temperature has dropped down into the 60s and every time I close the balcony door within a few minutes someone else has reopened it.  (I still haven’t found my warmup clothes.)

Wow, some big games tomorrow in the NFL.  The Bears play the Bills at 1pm, the unbeaten Rams are at the Saints at 4:25, and the Green Bay Packers are at the New England Patriots at 8:20.  We don’t have television but I might be able to get the afternoon and evening games on my Slingbox.

I finished reading Dale Brown’s paperback Hammerheads.

Joke of the day

Reasons for Sensitivity Training for Men:

I went to our local bar with my wife last night.  Locals started shouting "pedophile!" and other names at me, just because my wife is 24 and I'm 50.  It completely spoiled our 10th anniversary.