Thursday, January 7, 2021

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, took awhile to fall asleep, got up once at 2am, seemed like I catnapped for the remainder of the night, finally waking/getting up at 8am.

My German opponent resigned overnight and my rating increased 36 points to 1441. (He was in check and the only way he could prevent immediate checkmate was to give up his queen for my knight and I would checkmate on the next move.)

Using Google Translate I asked the realtor when my rent is due each month. She responded it’s due by the 30^th of each month. I responded, “So, for example, you are saying I have until January 30^th to pay January’s rent?” She answered, “in this moment you should pay for December”. I asked her if she personally processed my payments in 2020 and she responded she didn’t understand me.

I texted James and Glenn and asked them to meet me for lunch at Otra Parte.

I left the apt at 9:30 and walked to the mall. First I made sure Smartfit was open because Teresa planned to go there later with her girlfriend. I recycled a pill bottle then went down and paid the rent at Av Villas and texted a copy of the receipt to the realtor clearly stating that it was for “January 2021”.

I had coffee at Todo Fresa for about an hour.

I paid the Une bill at Baloto. It increased from 96,788 to 110,000 pesos this month probably due to my speed increase.

I tried to pay the Direct TV bill but again it was too early as the amount due was like 8mil.

I bought a few things at Exito and returned to the apt via taxi. My driver spoke perfect English. He was born in Colombia but lived in New York from the age of 10. He is now retired here because it’s so much less expensive.

I left about 30 minutes later and walked to Otra Parte. When I arrived at noon I found I had a text message where Glenn had asked if we could meet at 12:30 because he was stll at the doctor’s office. I walked up the ramps to the library to check it out. Most of the back area where Juan and I used to hold our chess lesson was now a children’s reading area. I asked a librarian for the password for the internet and she entered “Parque Otraparte” and I got a connection. I walked back downstairs and sat down at the front garden area and found I had lost internet and I couldn’t even find a network. I walked around to the back and sat down at a table and found a different network so I asked a waitress for the password.

I received a text from Juan Castro that he was having internet connection problems so we’ll try to meet tomorrow.

I received a challenge from another one of Michael’s friends named Matt Daly.

Glenn and James soon arrived. I told them about my apartment payment problem and Glenn suggested I ask for a list of my payments that they have received. Good idea! I had the chicken roll and a mango juice for 32mil. James returns to Peru next Friday morning. There will be a lockdown starting Friday through Monday so we won’t be able to meet for a final breakfast on Sunday. We’re going to try to meet on Wednesday or Thursday. Pico y cedula is also supposed to end early Tuesday morning so hopefully Jose and I will still be able to meet for chess.

I won a quick game against Matt Daly increasing my rating to 1451.

I won a quick game against Michael and increased my rating to 1456.

Uh-oh, I’m losing the 2^nd game to Matt Daly and maybe one to Howex.

Yecenia at Alcala realty sent me my payment history for 2020. Now I have to print it out and compare it to my receipts.

I just lost to Matt Daly and I lost 79 points and am down to 1377.

Teresa returned at 6:30 and reminded me that tomorrow isn’t our pico y cedula day and after that we will be under the holiday lockdown until 5am Tuesday morning. We went down to Mercado Madrid where of course there was a line and only one of us could enter. Sshe picked up lots of vegetables and a few other things, we changed places so I could charge it, and we were back at the apt by 7:45.

 

Mitch McConnell Finally Publicly Stood Up To Trump And Condemned His Coup Attempt.

 

Following yesterday’s siege on the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. by a pro-Trump mob, several of President Donald Trump’s White House staffers resigned. This list so far includes:

·        Elaine Chao, transportation secretary

·        Mick Mulvaney, special envoy to Northern Ireland

·        Matthew Pottinger, deputy national security adviser

·        Stephanie Grisham, chief of staff to the First Lady

·        Rickie Niceta, social secretary to the First Lady

·        Sarah Matthews, deputy press secretary

 

The US has 20,996,027 ð 21,224,238 ð 21,511,292 coronavirus cases with 356,000+ ð 359,600+ ð 363,100+ deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of this afternoon Colombia has a total of 1,702,966 ð 1,719,771 ð 1,737,347 cases with 44,426 ð 44,723 ð 45,067 deaths. Medellin has 153,355 ð 155,016 ð 156,413 cases, an increase of 1,397 from January to 6^th to 7^th. Envigado has a total of 14,069 cases, an increase of 204 from January 6^th to 7^th.

 

Joke of the day

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son-of-a-bitch." Jack Nicholson.