Friday, September 25, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 11:15, again at 2:30, finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,534 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 7 hours and 10 minutes for a sleep score of 77.

I had a short nap after breakfast.

I left the apt just before 9am and found Smartfit busier than usual. I completed my workout by changing the order of my routine, completing 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 125bpm.

Work continues on Avenida Poblado by the gym:

and work continues inside the old Ganso y Castor location.

While having a latte outside Los Porteños I met a guy from Switzerland, who spends half his time here and half his time there, with his Colombian friend. We had a light shower but it didn’t last long.

I left at 10:45 and stopped in a busy Eduardo Madrid and ordered 16 English muffins for pickup tomorrow afternoon.

I stopped in Ara and bought carrots, tomatoes and a head of broccoli for out lunch.

Teresa reported a guy might come this afternoon to fix our hot water heater.

Did I mention the 3-week trip to Chicago cost us about $7,700?

$3300 – Airbnb

$2000 – Budget rental car

$1400 – United flights

$1000 – Food, clothing and other expenses

We’ll see if I can afford such a long trip next year. (Jeannie’s best friend Joanne told me we could borrow their 2^nd car so we’ll see.)

Since my return to Colombia, I get multiple spam calls every day (which I never answer); I had none while in Chicago.

I see this morning I received this email from USAA, “Your transaction on September 25, 2026 at ETOLLBGT U272940765 *800-4820159 IL didn’t go through because the information entered for your card …6623 didn’t match what we have on file. Check your card details before trying again.”

I logged into my USAA account and found these 2 transactions:

Sep 25, 2026September 25, 2026	ETOLLBGT U272940765 Pendinghelp text for Pending, opens popup	Category Pending	$17.70
Sep 25, 2026September 25, 2026	ETOLLBGT U272940765Declined: $17.70

It didn’t look that messy online, but that $17.70 sounds like Budget trying to pay the 2 Illinois Tolls I incurred on our vacation.

I tried calling USAA but MagicJack didn’t seem to work even though I just extended my subscription

I chatted with a USAA rep and told them that’s a valid transaction so they okayed it and unblocked my credit card.

I watched a couple more episodes and finished season 2 of La Brea on Netflix then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Thursday, September 24, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, slept through the night, finally waking/getting up at 5:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,114 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 45 minutes for a sleep score of 80.

Hmm, am I seeing a pattern here? I sleep better when I walk more the day before? I’ll have to monitor that.

I had a 47 minute nap after breakfast.

I had coffee with Marcos outside Tostao. Since I last saw him he’s now officially diabetic and taking a Metformin tablet daily and has lost 15 pounds. He complained about not being able to eat his favorite foods including pizza and ice cream and I told him he shouldn’t have been eating that so often anyway. He says he’s walking a lot but I recommended he return to the gym and start lifting some weights. I left at 10:30 and returned to the apt.

A minute of Annie James’ swim lesson yesterday:

AJ 9-23 VIDEO

I agreed to a draw with Chesswiz98, lowering my rating to 1565.

I left the apt at noon and walked to the mall. I bought a ticket for the 1:25 showing of Coyote vs ACME for 8,000 pesos. In their waiting area I solved another page of 11 puzzles getting 2 wrong. Fifteen minutes before showtime I made my last trip to the restroom then bought a Combo Pro (hotdog, small popcorn and soda) for 37,000 pesos. The condiments they offer for their hotdog are: mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, pineapple, and I forget the even weirder 5^th ingredient.

I was one of four people in the theater. I enjoyed the movie especially seeing cartoon characters I haven’t seen in years.

After the movie I bought a container of wax paper and a new wooden spatula in Dollar City for Teresa.

I walked back to the apt.

I renewed my MagicJack Home subscription for another 3 years.

I chatted with USAA and got my debit card unblocked.

My new shoes

Aren’t very comfortable. They feel like they are a size too big so tonight I replaced the old laces with 120cm laces and hopefully they will feel better.

The old shoe is on the right and the one with the full-length shoe laces is on the left.

I watched another episode of La Brea on Netflix then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 1:45, couldn’t fall back asleep, got up and started to read but after a few minutes my eyes were too tired so I returned to bed, finally waking/getting up at 6:45.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,556 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 27 minutes for a sleep score of 76.

I left the apt at 9am and found Smartfit busier than usual. I had to change the order of my routine but finished including 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 123bpm.

On Avenida Poblado they are in the process of installing curbs and I see they still have a lot of underground pipes to deal with.

I forgot to bring a peanut today to leave for the squirrels so I just had a banana and coffee outside Los Porteños.

I see some outside work is being done on the old Ganso y Castor site.

I was having my latte outside Los Porteños when a truck backed up on the street and 3 men took out what could be a large refrigerator. They wheeled it up the street and maybe its for the new tenant of the Ganso y Castor space?

But they turned left so obviously it’s for someone else.

I left at 11am and returned to the apt.

I found a room available in Casa Verano Beach Hotel in Santa Marta on Booking.com but they want $2,823 for 10 nights (free breakfast) from December 23^rd to January 2^nd and it’s non-refundable. I discussed it with Teresa and we decided that was a little too pricey, especially in these days of high inflation and low value of the US Dollar.

Teresa informed me that Alcala contacted the owner of our apt and we’re waiting on him to take action to fix our hot water heater. (I’m getting tired of taking sponge baths.)

We left the apt at 2:30 and walked to Fika café where we had drinks. I had my usual latte while Teresa had a Te Matcha but it wasn’t the same as she had in Chicago. She left at 4:30 for some class at the cultural center while I left at 5:30 and returned to the apt.

Teresa called me at 6:40 and asked me to meet her in Ara. I brought our recyclable bag and we bought 122,000 pesos of groceries.

I watched a little news then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 1:45, fell back asleep quickly, finally waking/getting up at 6:15, ahead of my 6:30 alarm.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,425 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 8 minutes for a sleep score of 74.

I took a Didi to Unicentro mall arriving 14 minutes before opening which gave me just enough time to eat a banana and walk 1 ½ times around the outside of the mall.

Jose joined me at Parmessano where we had our usual breakfast.

We moved to the food court, near side this time and I had the Black pieces in the first game. On his 49^th move he queened a pawn and on my 49^th move, I checkmated his king. 😊

I had the White pieces in the second game and on our 44^th move we agreed to a draw.

It was 2:15 when I ordered a Didi to take me to Viva Envigado. I had the chicken teriyaki with a Pepsi in Sarku’s (can’t believe the restaurant was completely empty when I arrived)

I bought 2 bags of garbage bags in Dollar City then went down to Urbania where I had a latte while solving 12 puzzles, getting 6 wrong. ☹ I played a 15’10” game on Chess.com, winning on time in 44 moves.

Teresa left me a voice mail message to pick up some green apples for her. I stopped in Exito and bought 4 apples for her and a small bag of prunes for me.

I returned to the apt by taxi. I watched some news then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Monday, September 21, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 2:45, took a little while to fall back asleep, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,614 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 58 minutes for a sleep score of 80.

Teresa got up at 7:15, made my breakfast and returned to bed. (She said she woke up at 4am and couldn’t fall back asleep.)

Troyclough resigned our game increasing my rating to 1568.

I left the apt at 9am and found Smartfit as busy as usual. I completed my workout lowering the weight by 10# on half of the machines. I’ll keep them that way for the next 2 weeks then increase them by 5#. I completed 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 125bpm.

I see the roadwork has really progressed in the 3 weeks I’ve been gone.

Outside the old Ganso y Castor I saw this inside work going on.

I was having a latte outside Los Porteños when Brit came out. He informed me he heard the new establishment will be a hotdog or hamburger place. ☹ Hmm, maybe I’ll be able to get my coffee to go from Los Portenos then drink it outside the new restaurant if they put chairs out early enough.

I left the apt at 2:15 and walked to Gardenia where I noticed they poured a patio slab out back. I had a latte while doing another set of 12 chess puzzles, getting only 3 wrong this time. I played a 10’15” game, was way behind on time and barely won in the endgame when my opponent blundered his rook. I spent a little time going through my new chess book then left at 5:30 and returned to the apt.

I used FixIt to glue the master bedroom faucet back to the sink. Not knowing any better, I think Vicky probably loosed it when she was here for a visit. We’ll see if it holds.

I watched some news, got back to my 8pm pre-sleep reading routine and went to bed at 10pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Sunday, September 20, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, 2 ½ hours later I was still awake so I got up and read for 30 minutes, returned to bed, fell asleep quickly, finally waking/getting up at 7:15

According to my Fitbit, I got in 8,790 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 4 minutes for a sleep score of 66.

I realized this morning I forgot to take my melatonin last night; it’s difficult to get back into the old routine.

After breakfast I walked to the mall (Ciclovia was in effect so I was able to walk in the street), tried to withdraw cash at my usual ATM that gives 100s but it wasn’t working at all.

I went down to Urbania and had my usual latte with a glass of ice water. I solved another page of 12 puzzles but got 6 of them wrong. ☹

Chesswiz98 resigned our game increasing my rating to 1564.

I left just before 11am, paid for Teresa’s cellphone in Claro and bought a few things in Exito for 112,002 pesos. I gave the girl 112,000 pesos and couldn’t believe she wanted the other 2 pesos. ☹ I returned to the apt by taxi (the driver had to take back streets because Ciclovia was still in effect).

Teresa left just before game time to visit her mother.

I ate my bag of buttered popcorn with a Coke while watching my Bears lose to the Minnesota Vikings 9-3 in a downpour. Not to mention our star quarterback suffered an injury. ☹

I left at 3:30 and walked to Clap Burger where I had a cheeseburger with fries and a pistachio malteada.

I was in no hurry, finally leaving at 5:15 and returning to the apt.

Teresa returned just after 7:30.

Annie James & family heading in to Costco.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Saturday, September 19, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, an hour later I was still awake so I got up and took half a zopiclone, fell asleep quickly, slept through the night, finally waking/getting up at 7:15

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,577 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 37 minutes for a sleep score of 82.

Today is a minor holiday here, Dia de Amor y Amistad (Day of Love & Friendship) Colombian’s version of our Valentine’s Day.

After my (cold) shower I got dressed and went down to Mercado Madrid where I bought a medium carton of eggs for our breakfast.

After breakfast I stopped at the Gana booth but it wasn’t open. It was exactly 9:27 – maybe they open at 9:30 or maybe the girl will be late. I walked a block away to Eduardo Madrid where I found a sleeve of 6 poppy seed bagels. I asked the lady to set them aside and I would pick them up later. I walked to Metrosur mall where I paid the Movistar bill at their Gana booth. Across the street in Viva Envigado, I made an ATM withdrawal then paid for my cellphone bill in Claro but realized I forgot to bring Teresa’s cellphone bill. ☹

Downstairs I had a latte in Urbania for about an hour before stopping in Exito and buying vegetables for our lunch using a list Teresa gave me. I also bought 3 packages of ACT II microwave popcorn for upcoming Bears games.

I returned to the apt by taxi.

After lunch I changed into my sandals and walked to the old Ganso y Castor building which was closed but had a fresh coat of paint on the exterior. 

I went to Los Porteños where I had a latte while going through my phone. I left at 4pm and stopped in Eduardo Madrid and bought Teresa a slice of carrot cake and paid for my bagels.

Back at the apt I renewed my DAZN (NFL Game Pass) subscription for another year ($152) then watched last Sunday’s Bears game vs the Carolina Panthers.

I did a quick calculation of the cost of our 3-week trip to Chicago (airfare, Airbnb, rental car and purchases) and the total came to $7,700. ☹

I finished reading James Patterson’s Merry Christmas Alex Cross (Alex Cross #19) on my Kindle and went to bed at 10pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY