Friday, February 21, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 1am, waking up at 6am and getting up at 6:45.

I did my usual Google Flight search to Chicago and the price has finally come down to a much more reasonable $1294 roundtrip for two (minus taxes, baggage and select seating fees). I texted Marcos and he recommended I buy while the price is low. I’m busy now so we’ll see where it is tomorrow and/or Sunday.

I see Conclave (7.4) is now playing in English in Viva Envigado at 3:40pm. I’ll try to see it tomorrow afternoon.

Teresa’s plan for today is to leave the apt at 12:30 pick up MT and go to Santafe mall for lunch in Crepes & Waffles.

I left the apt at 8:30 and when I arrived in Smartfit I found Michael at my first machine, the Butterfly. He told me he’s very happy because his 3 new debit cards arrived in Florida and he has all their contact information and he thanked me for my advice. We shared the Butterfly until it was time for me to move on. Today I felt a few tweaks on the Back Extension so I’m going to move the weight down from 80# to 70# for a while, but I’m on track to raise the weight on a few other machines come Monday.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for an hour before returning to the apt.

Interesting that ONEIPAMETATO1453 hasn’t challenged me to another game.

Laura called and she’s late with something (doctor’s appointment?) so we’re going to meet at 1pm instead of 12:30.

Teresa just notified me Esmeralda’s mother passed away today so Teresa wants me to accompany her today or tomorrow to a special mass.

I overheard Teresa talking to someone but the only word I understood was “cremation”. She then called Alejandro and I heard, “no hay una misa?” Then the conversation continued for quite a while longer. It appears we will be going to something later.

We left at 12:45, picked up MT at her apt and continued on to Santafe mall. My driver spoke English so I told him a few jokes in English plus the only one I know in Spanish.

We quickly got a table in Crepes & Waffles but had to wait 20 minutes for Laura to arrive from wherever she was. I had the same bread bowl I had in Arkadia and Teresa and I shared a bottle of water. Laura picked up the check which was nice of her.

They went shopping while I went down to Valentina’s for a latte. There were 3 empty tables for 2 so I took the middle one figuring when the ladies arrive, we could put two tables together. In the meantime, 5 black gringos came in and split themselves between two tables. When I caught their attention, I motioned I could move over and they could take the other two tables. The guy who saw me agreed but as he got up two Colombian men came in and took one of the empty tables.

The ladies returned by 4pm but they didn’t want to stay so we quickly caught a taxi outside to return us to Envigado.

I went next door to Ara and bought 2 bags of milk.

I checked Google Flights and our flight is now $1466. Now I’m wondering if I misread it before, next time it’s so low I’ll take a screenprint.

I just found I still have my jokes files, they didn’t get deleted like I thought.

Teresa and Laura both got massages from Kelly.

At 7:30 we had a shower but it only lasted 15 minutes.

Teresa gave me the name, Parroquia Cristo Rey, and address, Carrera 53 #1 sur-11, of the church where mass will be tomorrow for Esmeralda’s mother. Alejandro will let us know tomorrow what time it will be.

I had oatmeal for supper then at 8:40pm Laura states that she wants to go out for chicken wings. I told Teresa I’m full and not interested in going out again. They left at 9pm just as it started raining so I made sure they had the large umbrella. I went to bed at 10pm and I heard them return before I fell asleep.

 

EL ARROYO

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, waking/getting up at 6am and it’s raining. Did I sleep through the night? I don’t remember getting up.

The rain stopped by 7am so we’ll see if the skies clear or not.

The skies were pretty clear when I left the apt at 9am. I met Marcos at Tostao where we had small café con leches. Marcos is 73 years old and he complained about the dog he’s sharing with his kids who live in Sabaneta. He said he has to walk it 5-6 times a day so it can pee and poop, also it pulls him when they are walking. I told him about how dogs pee a little to mark their territory so maybe it doesn’t have to be walked so often. I suggested he hire a dog walker – he said they only cost something like 50mil a month. I also suggested he check the internet and see if an 18-month-old dog can still be trained to heel then he could pay someone to train it. He'll be taking the dog to the groomer soon so he’ll ask them for references.

He left at 10am and I moved to Peccato where I had a latte for 8mil while working on a couple chess puzzles.

I’m hooked on Jimmy Buffett’s song Margaritaville, playing it all the time on my iPod and trying to memorize the words.

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=8ec015bcac4117e4510e39f872f1a93657a3559ae5d768657af73e412647790cJmltdHM9MTc0MDAwOTYwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=10418f54-95d6-6388-05cf-9ad2947962f1&u=a1L3ZpZGVvcy9yaXZlcnZpZXcvcmVsYXRlZHZpZGVvP3E9amltbXkrYnVmZmV0dCttYXJnYXJpdGF2aWxsZSZtaWQ9MDA1NjAxNDRBQTkwODc4MUQ1NkEwMDU2MDE0NEFBOTA4NzgxRDU2QSZGT1JNPVZJUkU&ntb=1

I’ve recorded the specifications for my 5-year-old notebook computer as I’m looking for a laptop already installed with Windows 11. I don’t like my notebook keyboard as it’s mushy for typing. I’m also going to need 1 terabyte of SSD storage as my two current internal drives are about 80% full at 600GB.  I’ll then gift this notebook to Alejandro. If I find one online I can send it to my brother to pick up later or maybe I’ll just stop in Best Buy when I’m in Chicago.

At noon I had a Didi take me to the clinic Medical on Calle 7 where I found Teresa waiting for me. We had a nice lunch in Boulevard café for 29,000 pesos each ($7). Teresa went into the doctor’s office while I remained in the café. She returned about an hour later and reported all is well but she should change her implants by the end of this year.

We returned to the apt by taxi.

Laura texted Teresa that she missed her flight in Bogota and the next one is at 5pm.

Teresa made lasagna for tonight when Laura arrives.

Teresa asked me to buy a loaf of pan de maiz (corn bread) in Eduardo Madrid or Parva. Eduardo Madrid didn’t have it and neither did Parva so Teresa switched to Pan Aliñado which I later translated to seasoned bread.

I hadn’t been in the area in a while and I now see Na Pizza has changed their name to NY Pizza.

Back at the apt I took out the garlic spread but Teresa decided it’s to old to continue using. We bought it years ago in Pricesmart and would have used it up by now if Teresa would let me know ahead of time when she making pasta plus I could find the pan de maiz she always insisted we use for garlic bread. Now I know we have another bread we can use.

We were wondering when Laura would arrive and finally decided we’d wait until 8pm and if she wasn’t here by then we would start eating without her. I had just dug into my lasagna when Teresa reported she was downstairs.

I went down and she said it was 170mil which I gave to Manuel. I asked Laura why so expensive and she said it was 150mil and she tipped him 20mil – yeah, with my money.

We finally sat down and had lasagna with bread.

Laura gifted me two t-shirts, one with COLUMBIA on the back. Teresa wanted to pronounce it COL OO MBIA with a Spanish produced ‘u”. 😊

 

EL ARROYO

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at midnight, again at 5;30, finally waking/getting up at 6am.

The street is a little wet so we must have gotten a little rain overnight.

I left the apt at 8am and completed my workout in Smartfit. I forgot to mention last Monday I increased the weights on the Back Extension machine to 80# which I repeated today.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for an hour but when I left at 10am it was in a light drizzle. (I should have left 5 minutes earlier.) Of course, when I returned to the apt I took a shower right away.

I just learned that Laura is coming in tomorrow but Vicky isn’t coming in until Sunday. (I warned Laura because Vicky is a foreigner it might take her 2-3 hours to clear Immigration.)

Teresa returned at 12:15 and we took a Didi to Arkadia mall. We had lunch in Crepes & Waffles, Mexican chicken for her and chicken & broccoli bread bowl for me. We also shared a bottle of water for a total of 74,050 pesos ($18) including tip.

I lost another game to ONEIPAMETATO1453 lowering my rating to 1556.

We went up to Auna clinic where Teresa got a doctor’s appointment for tomorrow at noon in Clinica Medellin.

(At one point we’re standing in front of the elevator on the 4^th floor when a down elevator arrives and Teresa starts to get on when we need to go to the 5^th floor. That almost turned into an international incident about who was right.)

We went down to the 3^rd floor where she killed 30 minutes in Falabella searching, unsuccessfully, for inexpensive gym t-shirts.

We went into Decathlon where I (finally) found the Quechua Modular Hiking Pants in my size.  A little expensive at 295mil ($72) but it’s worth it to have a backup pair. (The original pair I bought were only 115,000 pesos.)

We went across the street to Pricesmart and as soon as we stepped inside Teresa spotted this Kitchen Aid Full-Size Dish Drying Rack for 239,900 pesos ($58.50) that she had to have.

We also picked up 3 frozen turkey breasts and a pack of blueberries and who was in front of us in line but Ramon, Gloria’s husband and owner of Antica Pizza. His cart was loaded, including 6 large cans of Hunt’s Tomato Paste, 3 packages of cranberries, pepperoni, and lots of other stuff. He said he does this twice a week. Our bill came to 447,000 pesos ($109).

Downstairs getting in our taxi we saw Ramon packing everything on his motorcycle.

We returned to the apt by taxi for 17,300 pesos.

I watched To Catch a Killer (6.6) on Netflix. I think I saw it in the movie theater some years ago.

I started reading my new Kindle book Nothing to Lose (Jack Reacher #12) by Lee Child.

 

EL ARROYO

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 4am, finally waking/getting up by alarm at 6:30am.

Wow, finally a day that isn’t overcast.

At 7:25 I started the process of ordering a Didi. My car arrived 8 minutes later and I arrived at Unicentro mall just a minute before they opened at 8am.

For a change today, in Parmessano I ordered ala carte scrambled eggs with Italian sausage but those sausages turned out to be pretty small. I showed Jose an evaluation discrepancy in a Chess.com game analysis and he was just as surprised as I was.

I had the Black pieces in the first game and Jose blundered a Bishop on the 32^nd move and immediately resigned. That’s good because it isn’t quite 11am yet.

In the second game I blundered a piece early but held on until the 42^nd move before resigning.

It was only 1:30 when I took a Didi to Viva Envigado. I had the granola with yogurt in Pergamino then went downstairs and had a latte in Urbania.

I withdrew 2,000,000 pesos from a Davivienda ATM hoping for small bills but they were all 100s. ☹

I left at 3:30 and returned to the apt by taxi.

About 4pm Teresa got a call from her mother who wanted to get out of the apt but I had already changed into my “home clothes” and didn’t feel like going out again.

I watched Trial by Fire (7.1) on Netflix.

I was recharging my phone when Teresa called me several times but I couldn’t answer. At 8pm when I realized what had happened, I called her and she was still with her mother in IKEA. She offered to bring me some food but I declined as I had already had an apple with peanut butter.

Teresa returned at 9pm. Tomorrow she wants to go to the Auna clinic in Arkadia mall to make a doctor’s appointment (hard to get them on the phone). I told her I want to look for another pair of my Quechua Modular Hiking Pants in Decathlon (online they are out of stock in my size). I also checked Pricesmart and it appears they have our Butterball chicken breast so we’ll probably cross the street and buy a few. And we should buy more eggs because with Laura and Vicky arriving tomorrow, I’m sure we’ll be eating more of them.

I finished reading Lee Child’s Bad Luck and Trouble (Jack Reacher #11) on my Kindle.

 

EL ARROYO

FUNNY STORY

The Helsinki-Toronto flight carried 400 passengers but only had 200 meals onboard due to an airline error, leaving the crew in a tricky situation. Fortunately, a clever flight attendant devised a brilliant plan.

About 30 minutes after takeoff, she made an announcement:

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m not sure how this happened, but we have 400 passengers and only 200 lunches. If anyone is willing to forgo their meal for another passenger, they will receive unlimited complimentary wine for the duration of the flight!”

Six hours later, she made another announcement:

“Ladies and gentlemen, if anyone has changed their mind, we still have 200 meals available!”

Moral of the story: Wine lovers have truly generous and kind hearts! 😊

Monday, February 17, 2025

Last night I went to bed at 10pm (raining), got up once at midnight, again at 2am (more rain), and 5am, finally waking/getting up with Teresa at 7am (more rain).

I left the apt at 9am and completed my workout in Smartfit. A couple of machines were busy and I had to wait my turn for them.

After, I had a latte in Ganso y Castor leaving at11am and returning to the apt. Now it’s mostly sunny, hard to believe it rained on and off all night.

For some reason I couldn’t send the Pergamino video to my Hotmail email account earlier but I just sent it to my yahoo email account and now it’s posted to my blog. So, the eight of you who have already read it can go back if you want to see the short video.

To celebrate their 7^th anniversary, ChessMood’s courses are free this week. I set up an account and watched one of Neil Studer’s narrated games.

Teresa returned at 12:30 from getting her nail repaired and a stop in Ara.

I left the apt in a few raindrops at 2:45 and walked to Eduardo Madrid bakery. I had a latte and at 5pm I paid 46,200 pesos ($11) for my latte, 10 English muffins and a slice of carrot cake to go. The muffins were in a large box with 9 in the first layer and one in the 2^nd layer. Maybe in the future I should order 18 to fill the box, or at least the 2^nd layer.

Laura texted me this place where she wants us to have dinner 8pm Sunday night.

I don’t know why she always picks the most expensive places and so late.

I finished season 2 of The Night Agent on Netflix.

 

EL ARROYO

VALUE STORY

A father said to his son, "You graduated with honors. Here is a Volkswagen beetle that i bought many years ago ... It is over 50years old, but before I give it to you, take it to a dealership downtown and ask how much there are offering you."

The son went to the dealership, came back to his father and said, "They offered me $10,000 because it looks very used." The father said, "Take it to a pawn shop."

The son went to the pawn shop, came back and said, "They only offered me $1,000 because they say it is too old."

Finally, the father asked his son to take the car to a classic car club and show it there. The son took the car to the club, came back and said, "Some people at the club offered me $100,000! because it is a very rare car and sought after among the members."

The father said to his son, "I wanted you to understand that the right place appreciates you in the right way. If they don't value you, don't be angry, it just means you're in the wrong place. Those who know your value are the ones who truly appreciate you. Never stay in a place where they don't recognize your value!"