Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 4:15, took a while to fall back asleep, finally waking/getting up at 6:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,899 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours, 30 minutes. I don’t know how I could have possibly walked that many steps yesterday.

After breakfast I returned to bed and slept for a few minutes. I left the apt at 8:45 and found Smartfit not very busy. I think 9am is the golden hour for me. I completed my workout including 18 minutes on the treadmill at 5 ½ kph.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor and at the next table were 3 missionaries – lots of God this and God that.

I left at 10:45 and returned to the apt where I dropped off my gym stuff and took a grocery bag with some cash. I went next door to Ara and bought lettuce, broccoli, pasta, and a fresh baguette. (The later was only 2,500 pesos, about 66 cents.)

I tried the garlic butter spray on a couple slice of bread and Teresa put it in the oven but I don’t know if she had it on the broiler seating.

I finished season 2 of The Man in the High Castle and at 8pm started my pre-sleep reading.

Teresa left at 2pm for her crafts class maybe followed by a rumba gym class.

I left at 3pm and stopped at the Bancolombia kiosk and had my games with Jose printed.  I passed the Toro statue and took these photos

then stopped at Los Porteños and had my usual latte with a glass of water. I went over my chess games and started looking at rental car companies at Chicago’s O’Hare airport. I received a text from Innovation Corp that my package now in Bogota will cost $35.25 or 153,600 pesos.

I left at 5:30 and went to Eduardo Madrid to wait for Teresa but there weren’t any tables available. I leaned against the railing just outside their door to wait. Someone finally left and I took a seat at an interior table. Teresa arrived at 6:30 and we shared a chicken pastry.

We stopped at Tienda D1 so she could buy something then we returned to the apt.

I watched The Chris Hayes show then started my pre-sleep reading routine.

At one point there was a knock on the door. I let Teresa answer it because if it isn’t a portero with an epm bill then Teresa can carry on the conversation with whomever. It was a portero with the epm bill. Our conversation continued like this:

Teresa: Why is the bill so high? (It was 748,620 pesos.)

Me: I have no idea.

T: Did you pay the bill last month?

M: If I got a bill, I paid it. (I checked my files and didn’t find a bill for April. (I also checked this month’s “Lectura anterior” charge and it didn’t match the bill I paid in March which means I never got a bill for April which means I didn’t pay it so that’s why it’s so high this month.)

M: No, I didn’t pay the bill last month because I never received one.

T: If you don’t receive a bill, you need to ask the portero for it.

M: Sigh! (What, they’re hiding them from us? I’m guessing either epm didn’t print it last month or they didn’t get delivered. Which explains why the bill sometimes is much higher than other months. Typical Colombian efficiency.)

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 2:15, finally waking/getting up at 6:20, 10 minutes before my 6:30 alarm. 😊

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,332 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours, 49 minutes. I discussed this with ChatGPT and I should be reducing my Zopiclona from ¾ to ½ a tablet in the next few days.

At 7:15 I ordered a Didi but by the time I arrived at the porteria the driver had cancelled. After the search for another it was a 5-minute wait for it to arrive. I texted Jose I would be late and meet him at the restaurant table. My driver did a good job of being aggressive and taking frontage roads and I arrived at the mall 5 minutes before opening for 20,200 pesos.

I bought my usual banana and a woman came up to me and asked me something in Spanish. I asked her to say it again and I understood she wanted to know the name of the mall. I told her and she said something about she’s sorry but she doesn’t speak English but she has a son living in Florida.

I went up to the restaurant and took our usual table. Jose arrived a few minutes later. Today I had the scrambled egg casserole with Italian sausage and a latte but skipped the extra two eggs.

We adjourned to the food court and played two 2-hour games, drawing the first and I lost the second. It was only 1pm when we finished and I ordered a Didi to take me to Viva Envigado. Traffic was horrible, we had a few raindrops and it was a 40-minute trip for 23,300 pesos.

I had teriyaki chicken for lunch in Sarku’s again. I went down to the banking area and made a 2 million pesos withdrawal (all 100s). I waited in line to pay my Claro bill then went down to Urbania where I had a latte.

I noticed a Burmese Mountain Dog, those are BIG dogs when they are full grown.

I left at 4:30 and walking through Exito noticed these boxes of World Cup cards for sale:

The boxes themselves were empty so I guess for security purposes you pay for it and then they give you a full one. I found Azteca suave Mexican salsa so I bought one along with  a large carton of eggs and returned to the apt by taxi.

I dropped off some things then went to Eduardo Madrid and paid for the 16 English muffins I had ordered. I was asked not to return the plastic containers any longer, something about contamination.

I watched another episode of The Man in the High Castle and at 8pm started my pre-sleep reading.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Monday, May 11, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, finally waking/getting up at 5am. 😊

According to my Fitbit, I got in 861 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours, 17 minutes.

I had a short nap after breakfast and left the apt at 8:30. I found a pretty busy Smartfit until it cleared out as usual around 9am. I added 5# to the Abdominal Crunch, completed 18 minutes on the treadmill at 5 ½ kmh finishing with a heartrate of 121 bpm.

I had a latte outside Ganso y Castor for about 90 minutes before returning to the apt.

I dropped off some things then went next door to Ara and purchased a few groceries.

I left the apt at 2pm and had a latte in Gardenia while going through my notes of my games with Black against Jose. It started getting cooler like it was going to rain and at 4:30 I texted Teresa that I was cold and returning to the apt. I paid the bill, made a trip to the restroom and was heading out the door when I ran into Teresa coming in. She said she was hungry so we went back in and she chose a side table that was more exposed to the wind. She ordered a fruit cup with ice cream and as usual had a few bites and I was expected to finish it. I did and we returned to the apt.

I read on Facebook that Mama Panda has closed. The owner spent a lot of money fixing up the place for such a cheap, limited audience.

I watched another episode of The Man in the High Castle and at 8pm started my pre-sleep reading.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Sunday, May 10, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 3:45, fell back asleep quickly, and woke up at 6:30 and got up at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,086 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours, 57 minutes.

Happy Mother’s Day to all my readers that qualify.

Yesterday, Teresa suggested we take her mother to Parque Arvi and have lunch in Hotel Piedra Blanca. Great idea, because we know restaurants here will be packed and it’s so far away it’s not likely we will have to wait in line.

Teresa talked to MT but she didn’t want to go – something about a crowded metro.

After breakfast I set an alarm for 45 minutes and went back to bed, didn’t fall asleep until I turned off the alarm then woke up 35 minutes later.

About 10am Teresa said there’s no hurry getting to Parque Arvi. I’m thinking it will probably take us 2 hours to get there and we don’t want to be having lunch early, like noon.

Teresa made broccoli cheddar soup for lunch and I figured we wouldn’t be going out today. She suggested we go for coffee later in Gardenia.

I figure it’s her day if this is what she wants to do then fine.

In the end she mainly sat at the dining room table and made more bracelets. We did talk a little about our return trip to Chicago and what she was looking forward to experiencing again.

I lost a game to Chesswiz98 lowering my rating to 1516.

I watched more episodes of The Man in the High Castle and at 8pm started my pre-sleep reading.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Saturday, May 9, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at midnight, again at 3:45, had great difficulty falling back asleep, got up at 5:30. I moved to the recliner and finally fell asleep until Teresa woke me up at 7:20.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,809 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 5 hours, 45 minutes. Go Figure!

We had breakfast in Eduardo Madrid but all they had in the egg department were poached eggs so we each had a chicken pastry and latte and shared an almond croissant. I ordered 16 English muffins for pickup Tuesday afternoon.

We took a Didi to El Tesoro mall where Teresa found a pair of sandals in H&M she plans on decorating.

I noticed card trading in various areas of the mall.

They must have released the cards for the World Cup players.

She checked out Zara but of course everything was ugly.

We had coffee in Valentina’s. Teresa ordered a chicken Cesar salad and complained there was too much lettuce. She hates lettuce in her salad while I love lettuce. She ate all the chicken and I finished the rest.

When we left, Teresa stopped in a small store next door and bought a loaf of (healthy) bread. At checkout I asked if they had mantequilla de ajo (garlic butter) and I ended up also buying this for 29,900 pesos

Now maybe I can make myself some garlic bread.

Downstairs we got in a short line for a taxi to return us to our apt.

One of my reader’s reported Costco has a pizza slice & soda combo for $2.50 - that beats the 16,800 pesos it costs here.

I bought a $500 gift certificate for my daughter for Serene head & Wellness Spa in Highland Park. She deserves something special for her first Mother’s Day.

I watched another episode of The Man in the High Castle and at 8pm started my pre-sleep reading.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

BOB BURFORD

 Terry Andresen If you don't mind, this is an anecdote from my "Anecdotes" BOOK FOUR you might find interesting.

Barrett Deems

This would have been circa 1978 in a jazz club on the near south side of Chicago. Ed’s? Ted’s? I can’t remember. We had a one-night engagement at the club so I recruited the best musicians I could find for the money. In that group were an upright bassist and a vibes player I had used a few times before for country club / yacht club / wedding reception dates in Michigan.

I hired a drummer from South Bend. That would be an easy drive – a straight shot west – and about one hour driving time. He arrived at the venue with time to spare and began setting up. My gear was already set up and I was sitting at the bar with my back to the bandstand. 

Barrett Deems, an absolute jazz legend, a well-known fixture in Chicago, and author of much of the history of jazz in America, came walking into the club, walked straight over to us and had a seat at the bar beside me. Barrett had played with all of the jazz legends and was drummer for Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong for years. It was said about him that metronome manufacturers used him to check the accuracy of their products. He was a human metro­nome. If the tune starts at 120 bpm, it ends at 120. Not 119. Not 121. But 120.

He would take a sip of his drink – milk! He was drinking milk! – and then sit up a little taller and stretch his neck to see over my shoulder. I didn’t think anything of it at first. But after he did that three or four times, I was about to ask him what he was looking at, but he beat me to the punch. “What the hell is he doing?” he asked.

“What?” I asked as I turned around to take a look-see. Oh holy bejeezus! It was the drummer. He was trying to tie one of his hi-hat cymbals to his foot. I excused myself to see what the hell was going on. I’d never seen anything quite like it. 

Some drummers don’t bother to use cases. That’s usually because they endorse manufacturers of their instrument and can have new products just for the asking. But this drummer was one of the breed who used cases. One of the cases is called a trap case. It holds all of the hardware the drummer needs to set up all of his gear. And, apparently, he had left his trap case sitting on his driveway in South Bend.

I sat down with Barrett again and explained what was happening. To which he responded, “Betcha didn’t know this gig was going to be an adventure!” 

Well, nope. And I really was not in the mood for such an adventure.

So Barrett asked me what I was going to do. Of course, playing such a gig without a drummer was not all that rare, so I could have simply sent the guy back home to South Bend and worked the gig without him. I really didn’t want to do that, though. The music genre was swing. But there was no way in hell I was going to have a dude on the set with me with cymbals tied to his feet!

The vibes player and the upright bassist were both seniors in the jazz program at De Paul University. Surely they would know a drummer they could call. I mean, what college student couldn’t use a few extra bucks? I was talking to myself about the very few options I had and was not prepared for what happened next. 

Barrett says, just as casual as you please, “I have an idea. How about I play the gig? We won’t even talk about the bread (money). I’m here. Drums are in the car. Ain’t got nothin’ better to do.”

Barrett Deems would … and could … make “Amazing Grace” swing. And for that you needed a drummer who could swing. That would be Barrett Deems.

Well, that was settled. So we got up from the bar to go haul his drums in. We were joined by a couple of guys who had joined our conversation. The four of us carried all of Barrett’s drum set into the club making one trip of it.

Almost immediately after we had played the last note, Barrett raced out of the club, leaving the rest of us to wonder what was going on. About two minutes later we found out. Barrett came walking back into the club with box – obviously heavy – set it on the bandstand and opened it up. Albums! Vinyl albums!

He got everyone’s attention – of course, that  talent is what makes a drummer a drummer – and proceeded to sell every album in the box. I’m not real clear about this, but I think it was an album of some major importance to the jazz world that he had recently recorded. 

The job paid an even $1000 -- $200 per man. So I paid off all of the guys and decided to take a hit and give my share to Barrett. When I handed him $400, he counted it. “I saw you pay the other guys,” he said, handing $200 back to me. “I take no more than them.”

[I could have written this using the jazz musicians’ hipster language but decided against it. Barrett Deems was totally fluent in the hipster language. For the uninitiated, it might just as well be written in Greek. Jazz fans (hipsters) had a unique slang (jive) using terms like “cat” (musician), “dig” (under­stand), “cool” (approval), “groove” (rhythm), “chops” (technique), “bread” (money / pay) and “hip” (in the know). And that’s just skimming the surface, using the most common terms.]

Friday, May 8, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9:45pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at midnight, again at 4am, finally waking at 5:30 and getting up at 6:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,691 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 3 hours, 21 minutes.

After breakfast I set an alarm for 45 minutes but probably only slept for 5-10 minutes.

This sign has been in the elevator this week but Teresa didn’t notice it. ☹

I turned off the ice maker on the fridge so we don’t make “dirty” ice.

I packed my gym bag and left the apt at 8:45. I found Smartfit a little less busy than usual. I went up to the 3^rd floor and put my bag in a locker and put on the padlock. Back downstairs I completed my workout including 18 minutes on the treadmill at 5 ½ kph with a final heartrate of 117bpm. Back upstairs I took my shower and of course forgot a few things: hairbrush and deodorant – nothing important.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for about 90 minutes before returning to the apt. I felt a few raindrops the last few yards.

Teresa informed me we still have running water but I told her it probably won’t be clean – okay for toilets but not for drinking or cooking.

Interesting that my United Airlines purchase still hasn’t appeared on my credit card.

My Airbnb host sent me the actual address of the building, 633 Quincy Bridge Ln, Glenview, IL, and it’s in a nicer area than I previously thought.

We left the apt at 12:30 and took a Didi to Santafe mall for 12,500 pesos.

We had lunch in Olivia’s for 154,711 pesos ($42).

I went down to Valentina’s while Teresa checked out Zara. She joined me half an hour later and informed me that all the clothes were ugly.

I won a game in 12 moves against Troyclough, increasing my rating to 1525.

AJ with private security:

I had a latte and she had one of her cold coffees with ice cream and the total check with tip came to 45,000 pesos.

We left at 4;30 and returned to the apt by taxi for 16,800 pesos.

We picked up our package from the portero – bracelet clasps for Teresa and Blink eyedrops for me. These we were able to be delivered directly to Envigado.

I finished season 1 of The Man in the High Castle.

I watched The Chris Hayes Show then started my pre-sleep reading.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY