Thursday, March 12, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up twice during the night, woke up at 5:30 and got up at 6:30.

After breakfast I had a 30-minute nap then walked to Viva Envigado. I had a latte in Urbania for a couple hours while studying my endgame book.

Luckily, Laura’s family hadn’t yet rented a car for me. This graph shows the recent change in oil prices:

I left at 11:15 and bought some produce in Exito’s before returning to the apt by taxi.

Teresa’s latest purse that she made:

After lunch Teresa informed me that she was going to meet her friend (Nardelly?) in Viva Envigado and she’ll call me and we’ll meet in Crepes & Waffles for ice cream.

I left the apt at 2pm and walked to Gardenia Café where I had a latte while continuing my endgame studies. Teresa called at 2:30 with a change in plans. They are going to meet me here at Gardenia because it will be more conducive to carrying on a conversation. They arrived about 3:30 and Teresa showed her all her bracelets and a few purses. Nardelly ended up buy 8 wide bracelets, 1 narrow bracelet and 2 purses for 850,000 pesos ($230) for US Christmas presents and a nice sale for Teresa.

About 5pm we walked down the block and across the street to Picositas where we had an empanada and coffee (limonada de coco for me). They chatted some more and we left about 6pm and returned to our apt. They then left to stop at Bancolombia kiosk before heading on to see Wilson.

I watched the news, The Chris Hayes Show, then read some before going to bed at 10pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Wednesday, March 11, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up at 12:30, woke up at 5:15 and got up at 5:45am.

The street is wet so we must have had more rain overnight.

Teresa didn’t make it to her early morning gym class, finally getting up at 6:30.

I tried taking a nap after breakfast but gave up after about 45 minutes.

The plan today is to meet at Olivia’s in Mayorca for lunch.

I left the apt at 8:30 and this is the condition of the back sidewalk:

I found Smartfit not so busy this morning. I completed my routine including 20 minutes on the treadmill.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for a little over an hour.

I wanted to print something at the Bancolombia kiosk but was surprised it wasn’t open. Maybe the worker was just taking a potty break.

I left the apt at noon and took an Uber to Mayorca mall. Today I took Uber because I wanted to make sure my app works as I might need it while in the US in May. It’s been a while since I used it so they gave me a nice discount and my trip only cost 2,686 pesos.

I went down a level to the parking garage and printed the computer analysis of my games vs Jose.

I met Teresa up on the 4^th floor and we took a table in Olivia. She ordered a special called Milanesa Clasica with a mixed juice and I ordered the ground beef lasagna and a mango juice. The total check, with tip, came to 123,026 pesos ($33).

Teresa informed me MT’s hearing aids have arrived and we have an appointment for Friday at 11am. I told her that I think our Christmas presents have arrived in Florida.

We took a taxi back to Envigado for 18,000 pesos and Teresa got out just down the hill from the culture center and I continued up to Calle 30A. from there it was just a block to Los Porteños where I had a latte for a couple hours while going through our games. We played pretty evenly but as usual we both missed a couple good moves.

I won a game vs Troyclough, increasing my rating to 1509.

I left at 5pm and took a table inside Eduardo Madrid bakery. Teresa arrived at 5:40 and we decided not to eat or drink anything there. We stopped in Tienda D1 on the way back to the apt where she bought cotton cleanser pads and I bought 3 soon to be ripe bananas.

I checked the Boston to/from Chicago flights that I’ve already purchased for $335.01 and now its $765 and that is yet to include some extra charges so I’ll be waiting a bit to order our flights to Boston.

The wound on my right shin has completely healed and I seem to be over the skin condition that’s plagued me for the past few years.

I watched The Chris Hayes Show then read a bit before going to bed at 10pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, don’t recall making a trip to the bathroom, waking/getting up at 5:45am.

Teresa had already left for her gym class.

I ate my last ripe banana.

I checked the FL warehouse and saw that a package arrived with tracking number 9505517071166057111046. (Later Jose confirmed that was his book with a debit card inside.) I sent a text message asking to release everything in my locker.

At 7:15 I started ordering a Didi and traffic was good and I arrived at Unicentro mall almost 20 minutes early for 18,700 pesos. The fruit stand was there and I purchased another ripe banana for 1,000 pesos. I quickly ate it then walked twice around the mall and still had a five-minute wait for the 8am opening. I went up to Shake and Shack and it’s a gym café with lots of things to eat/drink before/after your workout. (A Smartfit is right across the hall. They have waffles!)

I met Jose in Parmessano and we had our usual breakfast. Today I remembered to bring maple syrup but the French toast is so thick it’s a stretch to say it’s toasted. I also had 2 scrambled eggs and a latte for 55,000 pesos.

Innovation Corp sent me a photo of the contents of my locker and we tried to decode it:

These are US government mandated letters that have to be sent by my pension companies:

This says it’s from “Tribe Lacrosse”. This happened once before, an Indian tribe sent me some small gift asking for a donation.

Jose confirmed that zip code 82823 is from his son’s town in Utah so it must be the book with his debit card inside.

This package is from zip code 60035 which I googled and is Highland Park so it must be our Christmas presents have finally arrived. (Jeannie mailed them out on December 1^st.)

We adjourned to the food court and I had the Black pieces in the first game. Even though he had the advantage most of the game I managed to hold on for a draw.

I had the White pieces in the second game and it was even until I trapped his queen for a rook on the 30^th move but he kept fighting and finally resigned on move 56.

It was now 1:30 and I said goodbye and ordered my Didi to take me to Viva Envigado for 20,700 pesos.

Sarku’s wasn’t very busy and I found a table that wasn’t directly under their ceiling fans (which dries out my eyes). I ordered their chicken teriyaki with rice and a Pepsi for 37,700 pesos.

I stopped in Claro to pay our cellphone bills and my bill was ready but Teresa’s only had 4,000 pesos on it. ☹

I stopped at an ATM and withdrew 2,000,000 pesos.

Downstairs I had a latte in Urbania. Teresa texted me several times to inform me it was raining, then it wasn’t. I stopped in Exito and picked up a few things and got in a modestly long line but there were only two cashiers.

Outside I got in line for a taxi and there were still a few raindrops.

The power went out in our apt several times over the next couple hours but only for a couple minutes.

I watched the news, The Chris Hayes Show, read a little and went to bed at my regular 10pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

Monday, March 9, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 3am, finally waking/getting up at 6:15. At least it’s not raining, in fact it’s a sunny day with a few clouds.

Teresa got up fifteen minutes later and made breakfast.

After breakfast we both returned to bed for an hour nap. It took me quite a while (30 minutes?) to fall asleep and the alarm woke us after an hour.

I dressed and left for the gym a little before 9am.

This is the condition of the sidewalk this morning

workers you can’t see are around the far corner.

Smartfit wasn’t very busy at first (9am seems to be the turnover time). I showed the girl at the front desk the photo of the creatine powder I saw advertised on their TVs.

She pointed north but I’m not exactly sure where.

I completed my workout, today adding a minute to the treadmill giving me a total of 20 minutes, the first 8 minutes at 5.5 kph and the remainder at 6kph.

After my workout, I stopped next door at the health café but the girl said they don’t have creatine powder.

I went to Ganso y Castor and had a latte for about 90 minutes. Teresa sent me a voice mail asking me to buy tomatoes for lunch.

I left just before 11am and bought a few tomatoes in Ara for 4,000 pesos before returning to the apt. (This sign in Ara reminded me that there was an election yesterday.)

I lost games to Troyclough, lowering my rating to 1516 and Saul19780, lowering my rating to 1512 and chesswiz98, lowering my rating to 1503. ☹

I found an American Airlines’ flight that leaves Boston around noon on Monday, May 17th but the final cost was $2540.26. I assume this is because of the current oil crisis. Thanks, Republican party. When I got to the “choose your seats” part it froze with the eternal buffering symbol and I ended up just closing the website.

At 3pm Teresa asked, since I’m not going out for coffee, if I’d like her to make coffee for me. Sure! She then suggested I go to Eduardo Madrid and purchase a small carrot cake for us to share. There were a few raindrops both ways but I bought one for 60,100 pesos. Soon after I returned to the apt a downpour started.

I watched another couple episodes of Persons of Interest.

I watched The Rachel Maddow Show and the beginning of The Lawrence O’Donnell Show on MS NOW then read some of my book and by the time I got settled in bed it was almost 10:30.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Sunday, March 8, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:45. It was still raining and we were in no hurry to get up.

After breakfast we returned to bed for a bit but it continued raining.

The original plan was to go to El Retiro today but it’s only 70 degrees and rainy so now I think we’ll be just having lunch in El Correo.

The weather didn’t improve so at 1:30 we walked in a few raindrops two blocks to the Argentinian steakhouse Quilombo 

where we got the first table, which was barely inside. Teresa ordered an appetizer, which was three different types of sausage that I didn’t care for. We each ordered the solomito which came with potato and a small salad. 

The steak was okay, slightly chewy, not as good as Lomo Fino in El Retiro. We shared a couple small bottles of water and the check came to 204,096 pesos. There was a short line but no rain as we left and returned to the apt.

I watched a few episodes of Persons of Interest (8.5) on Netflix.

New photo of Annie James:

I caught the end of 60 Minutes, not realizing the US turned their clocks ahead this morning.

I’m not crazy about this new Creatine powder, it doesn’t mix well with water, especially if it’s cold.

I watched some news, read from my Kindle and went to bed at 10pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Saturday, March 7, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 5:30.

I ate the last of the three bananas I bought in Exito earlier in the week. I might buy more today.

Teresa got up at 7am and made breakfast. I took a nap for an hour after and then went to Los Porteños. It was a little busy which is usual for a Saturday morning. Teresa texted and asked me to pick up a couple things from Ara. I had a latte for a couple hours, stopped in Ara, bought broccoli, milk, chicken and four bananas before returning to the apt.

Teresa informed me she needed something from Medipiel but wanted to go to a different mall so she could explore a bit. She gave me the name of one that wasn’t familiar to me so I googled it and it’s in Bello. Envigado is just south of Medellin and Bello is just north of Medellin so its on the other side of the city. Yeah, we could take the metro most of the way and take a taxi the last few kilometers but I didn’t feel like taking such a long trip today.

Teresa decided we would go to Mayorca (which has a Medipiel) after lunch.

I’m still looking at roundtrip flights between Medellin and Boston. The problem is Sunday, May 17^th, I return from Chicago at 4:45pm so the next flight I should be looking at to Medellin should be no earlier than 8pm (3 hours before for international flights). There are flights: example, Boston to Miami to Philadelphia to Medellin. ☹ I’m still searching, luckily we still have 2 months left.

While waiting for Teresa, I finished season 1 of 1923 but then was surprised Netflix didn’t have season 2 available. ☹ I watched War Machine (6.5) on Netflix.

I watched some news, read from my Kindle and went to bed at 10pm.

(Looks like no Mayorca today.)

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

FUNNY

 

Expat's response to my previous post

 Bancolombia has had in recent weeks pretty well documented issues with their systems. There have been several press articles. They are the most technically advanced bank in the country, and some of their problems aren’t of their own making - for example they use Amazon Cloud extensively which has had it’s own problems. As for the cost of Colombian credit cards are they that expensive? A Platinum Amex card from Bancolombia, if you qualify, will cost you around $15 a month. On the other hand the ‘rewards’ structure is far poorer than in the US, but then the same US card carries a $899 annual fee. The premium Black Visa or Mastercard products from BCO are around $10 a month giving for example airport lounge access. There are many other cards with lower costs that they offer. Interest rates are high, but then the general level of interest rates in Colombia is far higher than in the US, and US credit cards when you run a balance charge high rates as well. Foreigners come to live in Colombia and often try to ‘fly under the radar’ by keeping minimal assets in the country and not reporting income for tax purposes. If they do maintain bank accounts they tend to maintain low ‘working’ balances. They usually have no real usable credit history in country, Many expats come to live in Colombia, decide it’s not for them and return to their home country leaving debts behind them. Credit card lending is unsecured and getting debts repaid in Colombia is far more difficult that the US. Getting a card from a bank that you have no prior relationship with is therefore unlikely. If nothing else they are going to want to see your tax filings.

Bancolombia is the only approved bank in country to receive US social security payments into. The process, set up by the bank with Social Security pays Pesos into your account, generally by the third of the month. No running around the city to find ATMs to take cash out of, no queuing up to make payments for rent and the like. Then you can make all your payments electronically and you’ve a documented source of income when you ask if a credit card might be available.
Actually Bancolombia might have had worse problems. That big Headquarters building in Industriales recently suffered significant flooding in the basement area following one of the recent storms that created enormous problems for them (the computers aren’t in the city) that they are still working to overcome.