Thursday, May 21, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10:15, took a while to fall asleep, got up once at 3am, 40 minutes later I was still awake so I got up and read for 15 minutes, returned to bed, fell back asleep and woke up naturally at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,530 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 48 minutes. 😊

Annie James official 8-month photo, a couple days late:

Teresa returned from the gym at 8am and made my breakfast. She left at 9am for Viva Envigado to have breakfast with a girlfriend and I was just a few minutes behind her. I recycled a large pill container then went to Urbania for a latte. Do you think they could have filled this a little more?

You certainly get your money’s worth here in Colombia.

About noon Teresa texted me she’d be going to El Hueco with her girlfriend. I left and picked up oranges and eggs in Exito before returning to the apt by taxi.

I packed my laptop, left the apt at 1:45 and walked to Clap Burger where I had a burger, fries and a Coke for 45,000 pesos. (Next time I need to remember to bring my own mustard.)

I moved to Gardenia where I set up my laptop and started The Simplified Chess Improvement System, previously called Next Level Training. It took me some time to figure out which email address I registered with and had to set up a new password. Teresa joined me by 4:30; strangely, she didn’t want anything other than a glass of water. We left at 5:30 and returned to the apt.

I checkmated Troyclough in 32 moves increasing my rating to 1510.

We had some rain in the evening but it stopped just before I went to bed.

I watched another episode of The Man in the High Castle, The Chris Hayes Show then started my pre-sleep reading.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, took a while to fall asleep, got up once at 3:30, finally waking/getting up at 6am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,156 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 46 minutes. 😊

I had a 30-minute nap after breakfast.

I left the apt just before 9am and found Smartfit not very busy today. I completed my workout including 18 minutes on the treadmill.

I had a latte outside Ganso y Castor for about an hour. It was very noisy today with power washing the sidewalk (generator), tree trimming and leaf blowers. At one point I saw a small group gathered around a tree looking at something on the ground. I went over and saw this small bird that has yet to learn how to fly.

I suggest just leaving it alone; the only part of that plan I don’t like is if there’s a cat around because they are natural born bird killers. I left at 11am and returned to the apt.

At noon I took a Didi to Mayorca mall. Going over the bridge, I could see the location of the old glass factory it took years for them to tear down, remove the tanks underneath and pour the garage. Now the apartment buildings seem to be going up rather quickly. Just what we need, more people

Traffic was so bad the driver headed east, uphill from Ave Las Vegas but still dropped me off at the usual entrance.

I went up to the 4^th floor and found Teresa already seated in Parmessano. She had their salmon and I a Cesar salad and we each had a juice for a total of 107,620 pesos ($28).

Last Sunday I had told Teresa I have an appointment with my urologist Thursday but the secretary had neglected to give me an order for my PSA blood test so when she calls to remind me of my appointment, remind her that I don’t have a written order so they’ll have to cancel my appointment. The secretary called during lunch and as I listened it sounds like Teresa explained it all perfectly. Since we’ll be in El Tesoro Monday afternoon for our dental cleaning we’ll stop at the urologist’s office and pick up my PSA order.

We took a taxi back to Envigado and as usual Teresa got out down the hill from the cultural center and I continued on up to La Buena Mesa. I got in a slow line at the Bancolombia kiosk to have my chess games against Jose printed.

I continued on to Los Porteños where I had a latte outside on their patio. Jody (Joe D?) came out and introduced himself again but then had to catch an Uber.  I saw a young man putting World Cup stickers in his album and I went over and chatted with him for a while.

Today was an abnormally warm day, I’m guessing it got up to 86-88 degrees. Maybe time for me to switch from gym shoes to sandals in the afternoon.

I met Teresa in Eduardo Madrid at 5:30 and we shared a chicken pastry and we had drinks.

We stopped in Ara for a couple things on our way back to the apt.

I went to the bathroom to wash my face and the middle finger on my left hand hyperextended. ☹ I showed Teresa since I had the opportunity to show her. I forced it to close but it happened twice more. I grabbed my hand exercise ring and did a few squeezes and it seems to be back to normal again. Maybe the secret is to keep it exercised.

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

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Tuesday, May 19, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 11:30, again at 4:15, finally waking/getting up by alarm at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 4,126 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 17 minutes. ☹

At 7:15 I started ordering my Didi to take me to Unicentro mall for 22,450 pesos. Traffic was very slow until we passed a stalled truck in the left-hand lane. The fruit truck wasn’t there so no banana today. I was just early enough to walk around the outside of the mall once and then I saw the fruit truck and bought my banana. I was right behind Jose as I entered the restaurant. I had my usual 2 scrambled eggs, Italian sausages, almond croissant and latte for 47,637 pesos.

We adjourned to the food court where we played two long games. The first ended in a draw but I lost the second one.

It was 3pm when we finished and I ordered a Didi to take me to Viva Envigado for 22,400 pesos. I’ve noticed the last few rides drivers have avoided the expressway for the early part of the trip.

In Viva Envigado I had chicken teriyaki in Sarku’s. Teresa called and asked me to pick up olive oil in Ara. By the time I was finished eating it was 4pm with no time for coffee. I walked to Ara where I bought the olive oil, 4 gala apples for me and a bag of milk.

 I watched some news and another episode of The Man in the High Castle.

Teresa somehow ordered 3 boxes of zopiclone that she had delivered so now I have more time to wean myself off them completely.

I finished reading Lucy Foley’s The Guest List on my Kindle.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Monday, May 18, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 3:45, couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up at 4:30. ☹

According to my Fitbit, I got in 2,153 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 2 hours and 56 minutes. ☹

Today is another holiday, Dia de la Ascension.

I had an hour nap after breakfast and felt much better.

I left the apt at 8:45 and found Smartfit much less busy than usual. I completed my workout including 18 minutes on the treadmill.

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

After lunch I planned on going to Gardenia but I just couldn’t motivate myself to leave the apt. I’ve been feeling very lazy lately, maybe tied to my trying to wean myself off the sleeping pills and my restorative rest hasn’t been the same.

I won a game vs Troyclough increasing my rating to 1499.

I watched news of the shooting in San Diego.

I finished season 3 of The Man in the High Castle.

At 8pm I skipped The Rachel Maddow Show and started my pre-sleep routine.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 1am, fell back asleep pretty quickly, finally waking at 5am and getting up at 6am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,941 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours, 56 minutes.

The plan for today was to go to El Retiro but Teresa didn’t like that it’s overcast so we may not go. We’ll wait a little longer and see if the weather changes.

After breakfast I returned to bed and slept for about an hour.

I told Teresa about the robot dog yesterday and she told me Monica was playing with it before she met up with us.

The new plan for today is to have lunch in El Correo (sort of a belated Mother’s Day lunch) then go to El Tesoro so the ladies can check out the stores but MT wasn’t answering her phone. Last chance she finally answered, we left the apt at 1:30, picked her up by Didi and continued on to El Correo for 17,300 pesos.

The ladies shared a chicken breast plate while I had the baby beef, a baked potato and a Coke. The total check with tip was 221,796 pesos ($59).

I ordered another Didi to take us to El Tesoro for 10,100 pesos.

Teresa expected the mall to not be busy which it wasn’t until we turned the corner by H&M and encountered this World Cup card collecting & swapping event:

The ladies went in to check out H&M while I took a seat on a sofa. It looks by this photo that there is a page for each team (here South Africa) where you paste on the individual players' card.

When the ladies returned, we went up to Valentina’s where they had a slice of cheesecake and I a slice of carrot cake (mine was dry) and we all had coffees for 66,000 pesos.

Coming down the escalator the crowd for the World Cup card trading was even larger.

At the taxi stand there was no line as we returned to Envigado for 27,000 pesos.

I watched 60 Minutes then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Bob Burford - Anecdotes

 How old am I? Well, I'm old enough to remember a time that just the mere suspicion that a politician has attempted to molest a child would have been headline news and the end of the politician's career. In the cesspool that is MAGA such a thing isn't even worth a brief mention.

The Secretary of the Interior, testifying before Congress, just said that solar panels were unreliable because they stop working when the sun goes down!  Like, the ignorant fool doesn't have a clue that we can store electricity during daytime to be used at nighttime. It's called a battery!  He's the Secretary of the Interior for god's sake!!!

For 45 years of my adult life I've traveled, lived and worked all over the U.S. During those years I've worked as a telegrapher (Chicago), sales rep (Detroit), office manager (Santa Monica), counter clerk (Tucson), industrial engineer (Michigan), typographer (Michigan), metropolitan newspaper editor (Washington Post), jazz guitarist (North America), adjunct professor of jazz guitar (Michigan), magazine editor (Reno), and private investigator (Nashville). For years people have suggested that I write a book. I could come up with only one idea: that would be to write a bathroom book. So, one day with nothing better to do, I sat down and began writing a short story. Thus: a few dozen tales later: "Anecdotes".

Available on Amazon.

Saturday, May 16, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 4am, fell back asleep pretty quickly, finally waking at 6:30 and getting up at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,001 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 5 hours, 25 minutes.

Today is Annie James’ 8^th month birthday and baptism; sorry I’m going to miss it. Photos later.

I left the apt at 9am and walked to the mall. I recycled a couple plastic bottles then went up to the atrium and found it set up for some type of travel fair.

I continued on to Urbania and had a latte. I blundered against Troyclough lowering my rating to 1502. ☹ Teresa called and asked me to pick up 2 packages of kiwis in Ara on my way back to the apt. I left at 11am and stopped upstairs at Linea Estetica and asked for my skin cream

CREAM 1

They didn’t have but suggested something else

CREAM 2

Since I haven’t been able to find what I want I bought the suggested one for 83,930 pesos. I handed the girl 2 50s and she checked their authenticity with some type of fancy pen. I got a little concerned when she talked to another girl then checked it again but I wasn’t too worried because I’m 99% sure they came from an ATM. She approved the purchase and I put the cream in my tech bag.

I walked back to Ara and found the two packages of kiwis and picked up a bag of milk because I remembered Teresa was going to make cheese broccoli soup today.

Teresa wanted to meet up with a friend, Monica, so we left at 3:30 and took a Didi to Santafe mall.

We went down to Valentina’s and had drinks. Monica joined us about an hour later. My cellphone battery was down to 30% and I had forgotten to bring my portable battery. ☹

Monica said she was hungry so we went up to Crepes & Waffles where she had a regular meal and Teresa and I shared a Suprema ice cream and Monica picked up the check.

The ladies explored some of the stores while I sat outside.

At one point we passed a robot dog I’ve only seen on the internet. They missed it because they were talking and there was a crowd around it. I wish I had gotten a photo or video of it but the ladies were on the move.

Monica left and we had a short wait outside for a taxi to return us to Envigado.

Teresa proclaimed she was hungry so we went to Quilombo where we shared a solomito and a bottle of water for 82,000 pesos. It was a nice quiet night, not very busy because many are out of town for the holiday. Across the street crowds were around bar TVs

CROWD

watching Atletico Nacional play – they lost to Independiente Medellin 2-1.

As soon as we returned to the apt, 9pm, I started my pre-sleep routine.

Tonight, for the first time I took only ½ of a zopiclone tablet with my ½ Benadryl.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY