Thursday, July 23, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, was awakened by an explosion at 1:15 which turned out to be lightning (and it was raining), made a trip to the bathroom at 4:45 and got up with Teresa at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,732 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 19 minutes for a sleep score of 73.

It’s a cooler than usual day, very overcast with a few sprinkles.

I left the apt at 8:45 and walked to the mall. I bought a large carton of eggs and took them to a table in Urbania. (In Exito I saw the new type of oranges are Naranja Tangelo.)

I had a latte while completing another page in my Step 3 puzzle book, getting 4 out of 11 wrong. ☹  I played a speed chess game on Chess.com losing in 99 moves. ☹ No, that’s not a typo.

I left at 11:15 and upstairs in Cine Colombia purchased an IMAX ticket for The Odyssey for next Thursday afternoon at 2:30 for 8,000 pesos (less than $3).

I returned to the apt by taxi.

I received a message that my MagicJack account will be expiring on August 7^th. I went to renew it but my account contains an old debit card and I didn’t see any way to change it.

AJ with her brother, Rebel.

About 2:30 I was ready to go to Gardenia for coffee when a downpour started. Instead, I took a nap but didn’t sleep much.

I see my favorite cartoon when I was a kid will soon be a full length feature film.

I didn’t hear anything but it looks like there was some type of motorcycle accident below us in the street.

I finished watching the series His & Hers (surprise ending) then the news and reading before bed.

More rain in the evening and still dripping when I went to bed at 10pm.

 

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FUNNY

Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 2:15, finally waking at 5:15 and getting up at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,732 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 21 minutes for a sleep score of 78.

I had a 45-minute nap after breakfast.

I left for Smartfit just before 9am. Today I confirmed the new building next to the gym is an Ara. At least they have some of their own parking but I’ll bet customers will occasionally use the parking on the other side of Smartfit. I completed my workout including 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 125bpm although I did have some discomfort in my right hip area for the last 5 minutes.

I had a latte (and a banana) outside Ganso y Castor for an hour before returning to the apt. I noticed a small group of about 6 men all dressed in black with the same logo on their shirts and carrying drums, a saxophone and trumpet standing nearby.

Just before 10am another ten or so, including two women showed up and they all moved south towards Parva.

The Steps Method, info@chess-steps.com, finally got back to me with the answer key for the chess puzzles. It turns out I have a Mix book on the Basic book so I asked them what the difference is.

I left at 11am and returned to the apt, buying 5 apples in Ara on the way back.

I left the apt just after noon and took a Didi to Mayorca. Construction was better today but it’s becoming clearer that they are building a bridge over the existing traffic circle. (That bridge is going to have to clear the two pedestrian walkways that exist between the old part and new part of the mall.)

I printed yesterday’s chess games plus the answer key to all the Step 3 problems.

Teresa soon joined me in Il Forno. She had her usual salmon with some green juice and I had the lasagna with a mango juice. The total check came to 130,893 pesos ($44). The cashier had already entered it in dollars instead of pesos which I calculate cost me about $3.50.

We stopped in Dollar City so Teresa could buy a snack (cookies) for her friends at the cultural center.

We took a taxi which dropped her off down the hill from the center then dropped me off down the block from La Buena Mesa. I had a latte outside Los Porteños while checking my chess puzzle answers and, yes, I got a few wrong.

I observed the same group in black that I saw this morning getting into a nearby van.

I left at 4:30 and returned to the apt.

I checked Cine Colombia and The Odyssey is playing in Viva Envigado’s IMAX tomorrow at 11am, 2:30, and 6pm.

I started watching the limited series His & Hers (7.1) on Netflix.

My eyes felt great today. Was it because I had a nap after breakfast or more likely because the rain cleaned the pollution out of the air?

 

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                                             FUNNY 

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm (still drizzling lightly), fell asleep quickly, got up once at 1:45 (no longer raining), finally waking/getting up by alarm at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,452 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 7 hours and 32 minutes for a sleep score of 80.

I ordered a Didi to take me to Unicentro mall for 21,600 pesos. I arrived early enough to eat a banana and walk once around the mall.

I met Jose in Parmessano where I had 2 scrambled eggs con hogao, 4 small Italian sausages, sourdough bread with marmalade and a latte for 47,000 pesos.

I had the Black pieces in the first game and got up a pawn but mismanaged the endgame and it ended as a 66-move draw.

I had the White pieces in the second game and had him tied up on the queenside and I even had a pawn one square from queening but couldn’t find a way to proceed and it ended as a 49-move draw.

It was 2:15 when I ordered a Didi to take me to Viva Envigado for 17,800 pesos. Traffic was good for a change and I arrived in only 25 minutes.

I had the teriyaki chicken in Sarku’s but by the time I finished it was too late for coffee so I walked to Eduardo Madrid and bought 5 sesame seed bagels before returning to the apt.

The guy renting our parking spot stopped by and gave me 300mil for July-September.

I’ve been taking this Joint Support supplement

for years but recently saw this article about glucosamine

I didn’t stop taking it completely but limited it to M/W/F mornings. Within a few weeks I noticed a difference: I had to prep my leg joints before standing up because they felt so stiff. I went back to taking Joint Support every morning and they feel normal again.

Teresa came to me with a note that Laura is having a scattering ceremony for Vicky’s ashes tomorrow. I asked her we’re going to go up high in the mountains to Laura’s finca, scatter some ashes then return to our apt? Will that be before or after lunch? Teresa wanted to go there by bus until she found out it was to be at 10am; now she wants to go on a different day. Not sure how that’s going to work out.

I suggested to ChatGPT that I go back to taking a full sleeping pill each night. It reminded me of my cold and other off-schedule things and suggested I stick to the half tablet regimen a while longer and see if my sleep improves.

I watched some news then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

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FUNNY

Monday, July 20, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10:15, took a while to fall asleep, got up once at 1:15 (it was raining), woke up at 6:15, couldn’t fall back asleep, finally getting up at 7:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 1,358 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 10 minutes for a sleep score of 73.

So much for not having any rain. 😊

Today is another holiday here – it’s Colombian Independence Day!

Chesswiz98 resigned our latest game on the 54^th move increasing my rating to 1519.

We left the apt at 12:30 and took a Didi to Arkadia mall. (An overhead road sign said there is a high probability for rain in the afternoon in Medellin.) After a short wait in line, we had lunch in Crepes & Waffles for 106,300 pesos ($33). Teresa checked out H&M but didn’t find anything. Outside, the street was wet so obviously there was a little rain while we were inside.

We went across the street to Pricesmart where we purchased 775,601 pesos of groceries including 144,900 pesos to renew our membership. Sadly, they didn’t have Butterball turkey breasts today.

We returned to the apt by taxi for 22,000 pesos.

I won a game vs chesswiz98 in 14 moves (I either checkmate him or he loses his queen) increasing my rating to 1526.

I tried one of the new oranges but it’s not the same, not as easy to peel and not as sweet.

I finished season 3 of Quarterback then watched 23,000 Lives both on Netflix.

We had some rain in the evening. It was still drizzling lightly when I went to bed at 10pm.

 

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FUNNY

 

Sunday, July 19, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell sleep quickly, woke up at 5:30, couldn’t fall back asleep, finally getting up at 6:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,021 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 34 minutes for a sleep score of 76.

I turned on my VPN but only was able to access my library after I changed the US default location from Miami to Chicago.

Yesterday I was calculating when to go for my next haircut and realized we leave for our trip in 40 days so I’ll be having my next couple of haircuts every 3 weeks.

After breakfast I went back to bed for almost 2 hours.

We left the apt at 12:30 and took a Didi to an almost empty El Correo in Provenza. Teresa had her usual chicken while I had their ribs. Their ribs and the sauce are pretty good but their fries are amazing. We each ate just over half our food and got the rest to go for our supper tonight. We returned to the apt by Didi arriving just in time for the “kickoff”. (Our Didi driver insisted that Spain was going to win.)

About 2:30 Teresa got a call from our portero that Marcos was in the porteria for me. I wasn’t about to leave the game and later I learned he was there with his son and twin grandchildren. He didn’t have his cellphone with him so I wasn’t able to contact him right away. I understand they leave tomorrow for Cartagena.

The championship game was pretty boring (not like yesterday’s 6-4 score) with Spain winning 1-0 on a late goal.

I watched a couple more episodes of season 3 of Quarterback on Netflix. In this latest episode, featuring Joe Flacco, Cincinnati had just scored a touchdown against the Bears with 50 seconds left. Caleb Williams got them to midfield then threw a dime to tight end Colston Loveland at the 20 and he ran it in for the Bears win. 😊 (NFL training camp starts in a couple weeks.)

It’s been a month since we’ve had any rain so I guess we are in a summer period here.

 

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FUNNY

 

Friday, July 17, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell sleep quickly, woke up once at 3:30, finally waking/getting up just before 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,433 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 7 hours and 58 minutes for a sleep score of 78.

Teresa was just leaving for the gym so I’ll have to wait until she returns for my breakfast and then I’ll head to the gym.

Strange thing. I had the TV on and I muted a program but when I returned the remote control didn’t work. I even changed the batteries and still none of the buttons worked. I re-paired it with the ONN device and all is good again.

Teresa returned at 8:15 and made breakfast.

She told me she’s going back to the Expo in Plaza Mayor with Narcelly (sp?) so I’ll be on my own for lunch today.

I left the apt at 9am and found Smartfit not so busy but still had to switch the order of a couple early machines. I completed 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 122bpm.

On my way to Ganso y Castor a bus was stalled right at the bottleneck on Ave Poblado and everyone had to divert down a side street towards our complex.

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

Teresa informed me she’s not going to Plaza Mayor after all and I took that opportunity to inform her I’m not going to El Retiro or any other place Sunday because it’s the World Cup final.

I left the apt at 2pm, reprinted my chess games from Tuesday and had a latte in Los Porteños while going through another page of puzzles. I also played another game of speed chess online at 15’+30” and won without much difficulty.

I met Teresa at the library at 4:30 and we went down and across the street to Picositas where Teresa had a seafood casserole and I had a chicken empanada and a pineapple juice. (Note to self: don’t order juices here because they aren’t fresh.)

We returned to the apt and I finished reading Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swann’s Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump.

I watched some news and went to bed at 10pm.

 

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FUNNY

 

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10:15, fell sleep quickly, woke up several times during the night but just rolled over and went back to sleep, finally waking at 6am and getting up with Teresa at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 2,477 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 40 minutes for a sleep score of 75.

Marcos texted me we won’t be meeting this morning because he fell yesterday and is still a little sore. (Sheesh, all my friends are getting old.)

Annie James is 10 months old today.

I left the apt at 8am and walked to the mall. I saw the blue eggs in Exito again and this time took this photo.

I bought a medium size package of eggs and took a seat in Urbania. For the first time, when I had to make a quick trip to the restroom, I left all my stuff at my table. It was still there when I returned. 😊 I left at 11am and returned to the apt.

After lunch I had a short nap but didn’t sleep much.

At 2pm I picked up our package which contained 4 bottles of leg tan spray for Teresa, a bottle of Blink gel drops for my eyes,  Jesus de la Villa’s 50 Mistakes You Should Know (in chess), and 3 step method books for practicing tactics.

I went to Gardenia and completed the first page of puzzles in the Step 3 workbook. Now I need to find the answers to check them.

I left at 5pm and returned to the apt.

I finished the movie, Weapons on Stremio.

I listened to the president’s address which started at 8pm. (He’s doing everything he can to stay out of jail.)

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY