Saturday, August 29, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9pm, fell asleep quickly, slept through the night, finally waking/getting up with Teresa at 6am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 9,248 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 8 hours and 31 minutes for a sleep score of 89. 😊 Wow, I think that’s a new high.

We left the Airbnb at 9am and had breakfast in the Niles Diner. Teresa and I had basically had the same food as yesterday without the avocado and the check was only about $5 cheaper. The total check came to about $33 & change and I gave the waitress $40 and told her to keep the change.

I got a little turned around (I’d forgotten the names of some of the lesser streets) but found The UPS Store a few blocks away. The teenage pimply-faced girl who assisted us spoke so softly I had to ask her to speak up. She must be new because at first she quoted a price of only $7. We sent the dress to Laura and it should arrive on September 3^rd, the day before her birthday.

I also saw a plastic letter opener I haven’t seen in a while so I had to buy that and the total came to about $22.

We drove to Walmart and bought 3 new TSA locks. One was missing from my suitcase so I assumed they opened it and didn’t reclose it correctly. I hate the 2 locks on Teresa’s suitcase; we have to hold them in a specific, difficult way, in order to have any chance of seeing the numbers. ☹ We also bought some vitamins and skin cream (like Bengay but supposedly better), for Esmeralda, One-A-Day vitamins for Teresa, Payday snack-size candy bars for the kids in our building for Halloween, Afrin, Blink eyedrops, Excedrin and Dove soap for me, and eggs, muffins, bread, coffee, and cream to make breakfast. The total came to $156.19. Teresa also looked at some sunglasses on sale for $60 but in the end decided not to buy them.

We returned to the apt by 1pm and put everything away.

I set up the TSA locks with our usual number and updated my blog notes. Teresa called her mother and they chatted for a while. (I swear they can talk all day long without pause.)

My eyes feel a lot better being outside that polluted valley of Medellin. But then maybe it’s because I slept better.

With the help of ChatGPT I downloaded Stockfish 18 to analyze my chess games.

At 5pm we met jimmy at Countryside Saloon and watched the Bears defeat the Tennessee Titans 25-14. Jimmy and I shared a medium Italian sausage pizza while Teresa had a chopped salad with salmon. We all had sodas and I paid the check of $70 (tip included). Jimmy left early in the 3^rd quarter. We will meet Sunday September 6^th for a White Sox game but he’s pretty busy before that.

Teresa and I stopped at Walmart again and bought dish soap, laundry soap and strawberry preserves (for my muffins).

Tonight I brought in my packages and while I thought I ordered 7 bottles of Calendula (Marigold Flower) apparently, I ordered 14 which will last me for the next 2 years.

Annie James with Jeannie

Expat: Luckily, the 3.6% COLA is of a much higher number than my 5% rent increase.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

JOKE OF THE DAY

 

A man has six children and is very proud of his achievement. He is so proud
of himself he starts calling his wife, "Mother of Six" in spite of her
objections.
One night they go to a party. The man decides it’s time to go home and
wants to find out if his wife is ready to leave as well.  He shouts at the
top of his voice, "Shall we go home Mother of six?"
His wife irritated by her husband's lack of discretion shouts right back,
"Anytime you're ready, Father of Four."

Friday, August 28, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 2pm, fell asleep quickly, finally waking at 6:30 and getting up with Teresa at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 8,152 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 18 minutes for a sleep score of only 61. ☹

We drove (damn, its nice to be driving again) to The Sugar Bowl in downtown Des Plaines, parked next to the building (again parking evenly between the lines is a challenge) and took a booth inside. Teresa had her eggs sunny side up with hash browns and a side order of avocado while I had my eggs over easy with hash browns and patty sausage. We both had the endless cup of coffee with cream. The shock was the final bill of $38.47 plus another $6 for a tip.

We stopped at the T-Mobile office on Golf Road in Niles, checked in and sat at a waiting table. We waited about 20 minutes to be helped but I easily signed up for an unlimited monthly coverage package for me for $62.16. Teresa decided she would be okay with coverage in the apt and in cafes/restaurants.

We drove the 30 minutes on the Edens Expressway

Which brings up the question should I sign up for the Illinois Easy Pass program so I can drive on the Toll roads or can I avoid them?

to Jeannie & Jacob’s house. They came outside and greeted us with Annie and Rebel. We went inside and I gave them their bag of coffee and Rebel loved the pull toy (and he’s still stronger than me). I was surprised at how heavy Annie James is, not fat, just solid.

Jacob had to do some yard work so we took Annie and Rebel on a leisurely walk around their park and they showed us larger houses a block away. We continued on to downtown where Jeannie introduced us to Harmony Café where we had fancy drinks for $26.23. They had the Matcha Tea and I had the Strawberry Matcha and we took seats at a table outside.

We returned to the apt and Jeannie gave me my Amazon and Swanson packages I had forwarded to their house.

I drove to Fidelity Investments, Teresa stayed in the car and I went inside. After a short wait a rep got me started setting up a Fidelity Cash Management Account. I told him I often visit my brother living in Colombia and I confirmed they don’t charge foreign transaction fees. I gave them my brother’s cellphone number but the kicker was they need to send me an SMS confirmation message and using that phone take a photo of my Illinois Drivers license and my face. Hopefully I can take care of that when I meet later with my brother. If not, oh well, that’s life.

We drove to a Ross Store for Less in Morton Grove where Teresa found a pair of shorts, 2 small containers of skin cream, a bottle of skin cleanser, and a bottle of Vaseline skin cream and I found a short sleeve shirt and 6-pak of Fruit of the Loom underwear for a total of $56.41.

I took her to Portillo’s Hotdogs where I ordered my prepared list of a breaded whitefish sandwich for her, a cheeseburger for me, onion rings, a chocolate cake shake, chopped salad, and strawberry shortcake for $46.87. She loved her sandwich and I my burger and we shared the rest but got the last two items to go.

I stopped at a Chase Bank ATM and was unsuccessful at withdrawing $600 but it allowed me to withdraw $200 for a $4 ATM fee.

We stopped in Jewel/Osco and bought a few things.

We returned to our Airbnb and got a little better organized.

We were both exhausted and went to bed at 9pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

JOKE OF THE DAY

 

A husband and wife had a bitter quarrel on the day of their 40th wedding
anniversary!
The husband yells, "When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads,
"Here Lies My Wife - Cold as Ever.'
"Yeah?" she replies. "When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads,
‘Here Lies My Husband - Stiff At Last.'"

Thursday, August 27, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, fell asleep quickly, finally waking at 4am before my 4:30 alarm.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 8,152 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 5 hours and 14 minutes for a sleep score of only 63. ☹

I had set my alarm for 4:30am but woke up at 4am when Teresa got up.

I took my shower and we finished our packing and Kelly’s son picked us up at 5:45. We arrived at the airport on schedule at 6:30.

As expected, there was a line to check our bags but it moved fairly quickly. We took stools at a counter for Pergamino and ate the chicken sandwiches Teresa made with a thermos of coffee.

We went through the TSA checkpoint and that is where I discovered how impractical my belt is. It’s one of those webbed belts but where the web meets the leather tip catches on my narrow belt loops.

We had well over an hour at the gate for our flight to leave.

On the flight they offered us chicken, meat or vegetable options and silly me I chose the beef. It was very difficult to manage on such a small table and one taste of the beef convinced me not to eat more.

We arrived on time in Houston and there was a blocks long walk to a very long Immigration line but it moved fairly quickly. In the future I might consider my brother’s favorite COPA.

We picked up our bags at Baggage claim and took them through customs then to their Baggage dropoff.

We took their train from Terminal E to Terminal C.

We easily found our gate and across the aisle was a taquiera named Agave. I ordered chicken burritos for both of us and we shared a bottle of water for $61+15% tip. ☹ I messed up the touch screen order pad but they deleted my duplicate order.

Back across the aisle I found a charging station for my cellphone while I updated my blog notes. I received an email from United that our gate had changed. It was only one number but we had to walk aways and around a corner to the new gate. We just got settled there when they changed it again, this time to the gate across the aisle. They soon announced an hour delay so they could fix the fridge for the food or something. Our original 6:30 flight turned into a 7:40 departure.

We had eaten only half our burritos and we finished the remainder with the Cokes they gave us.

We landed just before 11am and went down to Baggage Claim #21 as they had told us. After seeing lots of bags going around but not ours, I talked to a rep there and she told me that our bags are at carousel 5 which is in the next building. We exited that building and it was a short walk to the next where we quickly found our bags.

We took the train to the Intermodal Facility to Budget and there was only one guy ahead of us.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

JOKE OF THE DAY

 

A typical macho man marries a typical good-looking lady and after the wedding, he laid down the following rules:
"I'll be home if I want, when I want and at what time I want - and I don't expect any hassle from you. I expect a great dinner to be on the table unless I tell you I won't be home for dinner. I'll go hunting, fishing, boozing and card-playing when I want with my buddies and don't you give me a hard time about it. Those are my rules. Do you have any comments?"
His new bride said, "No, that's fine with me. Just understand that there
will be sex here at seven o'clock every night... whether you're here or not."

 

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9pm, took at least an hour to fall asleep, got up at 3:30 to pee, couldn’t fall back asleep, got up at 4:30 and read until 5:30, returned to bed, fell asleep quickly, finally waking/getting up at 7:30. 😊

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,487 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 36 minutes for a sleep score of only 75. ☹ Well, I hope that makes it easier to get to sleep tonight.

The street is a little wet so we must have had a shower overnight but I didn’t hear anything.

Annie James

AJ 8-25

I left the apt just before 9am for Smartfit. I completed my usual workout including 10 minutes on the treadmill with a final heartrate of 120bpm. I did have some discomfort in my right knee.

A little work was going on outside Ganso y Castor, but nothing extensive.

I had a latte for about 45 minutes outside Los Porteños before returning to the apt.

I put on my sandals and left the apt at 2pm and stopped at the Bancolombia kiosk where I printed our Budget car confirmation.

I stopped at the Gana store to pay the Movistar (Wi-Fi) bill but the lady said I couldn’t and something about “10 days”. She recommended I return to the Bancolombia kiosk but there they wanted to send me back to Gana. I asked where else I could pay and was told, “$efecty”.

I stopped in Eduardo Madrid and purchased 2 kaiser rolls for Teresa to make sandwiches for the airport tomorrow.

I stopped in the Pasteur pharmacy to buy Hidroxicina Chlorhidrato for colds but was told, “agotado’.

I stopped at another pharmacy, Cruz Verde, but they didn’t have them either. I continued on to Gardenia where I had a cold latte and a glass of ice water. I completed another page of puzzles, getting 3 wrong. I played an online game and won that.

I left at 4:15 and walked down the hill to Centro Commercial Las Vegas where I asked at the Servientrega store but they don’t take Movistar payments either. The guy could only recommend Parque Envigado so I guess it will have to wait until we return from Chicago because I didn’t feel like running around any longer.

I stopped at 2 nearby pharmacies and finally found the cold medicine. 😊

I returned to the apt.

Today was another hot day around 88 degrees.

I watched another episode of La Brea on Netflix and went to bed at 9:30.

pre-sleep routine at 7:30 and went to bed at 9pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

JOKE OF THE DAY

 

A man is on his Harley riding along a California beach when suddenly the clouds cleared above his head and, in a booming voice, God said, 'because you have been faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.'
The biker pulled over and said, 'I would like you to build a bridge to Colombia so I can ride over and visit my girlfriend anytime I want.' 
God replied, 'Your request is very materialistic; think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking; the supports require reaching the bottom of the Pacific and the concrete and steel it would take!  I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for such a worldly thing.   Take a little more time and think of something that could possibly be of some help to mankind.'

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally, he said, ‘God, I wish that I, and all men, could understand women.  I want to know what she’s thinking when she won’t talk to me, why she cries for no reason, what she means when she says nothing’s wrong, why she gets mad at me and complains when I try to help, and how I can make a woman truly happy.’

God replied: 'You want two lanes for that bridge or four?" 

Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, fell asleep quickly, finally waking/getting up at 6am. 😊

According to my Fitbit, I got in 6,529 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 7 hours and 31 minutes for a sleep score of only 84. A new high! 😊 But ChatGPT then reminded me I once had a high of 86.

Pigeons came by crying for food and I fed them sesame seeds from my hand. The points of their claws are pretty sharp.

I got my usual haircut from Daniel and took a Didi to Viva Envigado.

I quickly paid for the apt (no line) and other payments at the ATM (no line). I stopped in Jagi and picked up my hat that says, ANNIE JAMES’ GRANDPA.

 I bought a pull toy for Rebel in a pet store.

By then it was 10am and H&M had just opened. I found 3 different colors of the regular fit jeans but they didn’t have my 36/32 size in black. I bought another pair of blue and a gray pair for 300,100 pesos ($98.50).

Downstairs I had a latte in Urbania for about an hour. I stopped in Exito and bought pads, milk, hamburger buns before returning to the apt by taxi.

I exchanged a few things and quickly ordered another Didi to take me to Santafe mall.

We had a nice lunch in Crepes & Waffles for 74,200 pesos ($26).

Teresa bought a birthday dress for Laura for 359,900 pesos ($118) which we plan on mailing to her from Chicago.

We went down to Valentina’s and had coffee and shared a slice of cheesecake. We left about 5pm and returned in heavy traffic to Envigado.

This is a bird nest with young birds not yet able to fly. You can see it by looking out and down from the kitchen window.

I fed the same 2 pigeons some sesame seeds & a dry cookie that Teresa crumbled up in my hand. I noticed 2 small doves nearby observing the process.

I started my pre-sleep routine at 7:30 and went to bed at 9pm.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

JOKE OF THE DAY

 

A man walks into a drug store with his 8-year-old son.  They happen to walk by the condom display, and the boy asks, "What are those, Dad?"
To which the father matter-of-factly replies, "Those are called condoms, son. Men use them to have safe sex."
"Oh I see," replied the boy pensively.  "Yes, I heard about that in health class at school."  He looks over the display and picks up a package of 3 and asks, "Why are there 3 in this package?"
The dad replies, "Those are for high school boys; one for Friday, one for Saturday and one for Sunday."
"Cool" says the boy. He notices a 6-pack and asks, "Then who are these for?"
"Those are for college men," the dad answers, TWO for Friday, TWO for Saturday and TWO for Sunday."
"WOW!" exclaimed the boy, "then who uses THESE?" he asks, picking up a 12-pack.
With a sigh and a tear in his eye, the dad replied, "Those are for married men.  One for January, one for February, one for March......."

Monday, August 24, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, was still awake at midnight so I got up and read until 1am, fell asleep, finally waking/getting up at 6am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 8,378 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 35 minutes for a sleep score of only 60.

I had a 41-minute nap after breakfast.

I opened the sliding balcony door and soon the 2 pigeons were entering and begging for food.

I left the apt at 9am and completed my workout in Smartfit.

Here you can see the preformed curbs they put in the street; now I can see they do put rebar in the holes to connect them.

I had a latte in Los Porteños for about 45 minutes – until my table got too warm.

I stopped in Ara and bought salt and tomatoes.

I had a 16-minute nap after lunch.

We left the apt at 2:30 and took a Didi to El Tesoro mall. I found a pair of jeans for 149,900 pesos ($49). Other styles they had were either baggy or had buttons on the crotch. (Is that still what they use in the US navy?)

We had frozen yogurt with blueberries and crushed peanuts in Percimon.

We went down to the 2^nd basement level (S2) to Dollar City where we bought a box of freezer bags. (We need them to carry the bags of coffee cleanly and freshly.)

When we came out Teresa noticed we were around the corner from the entrance to Torre Medica and the second spot to catch a taxi. We soon were in one and returned to Envigado for 23,500 pesos.

I watched another episode of La Brea. I finished reading James Patterson’s I, Alex Cross on my Kindle. (My 5^th book this month.)  I decided to reread Why we Sleep to find out more about REM, Deep Sleep and Light Sleep and read the first chapter.

I went to bed at 9:30.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

JOKE OF THE DAY

 

Remember Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes?

 

1. Andy Rooney on answering machines.
Did you ever hear one of these corny positive messages on someone's answering machine? “Hi, it's a great day and I'm out enjoying it right now. I hope you are too. The thought for the day is: "Share the love." BEEP”
"Uh, yeah...this is the VD clinic calling....Speaking of being positive, your test results are back. Stop sharing the love."

2. Andy Rooney on Vegetarians.
Vegetarian - that's an old Indian word meaning "lousy hunter".

3. Andy Rooney on Prisoners.
Did you know that it costs forty thousand dollars a year to house each prisoner?  For forty thousand bucks a piece I'll take a few prisoners into my house. I live in Los Angeles. I already have bars on the windows. I don't think we should give free room and board to criminals. I think they should have to run twelve hours a day on a treadmill and generate electricity. And, if they don't want to run, they can rest in the chair that's hooked up to the generator.

4. Andy Rooney on Fabric Softeners.
My wife uses fabric softener. I never knew what that stuff was for. Then I noticed women coming up to me, sniffing, then saying under their breath, "Married!" and walking away. Fabric softeners are how our wives mark their territory. We can take off the ring but it's hard to get that April Fresh scent out of your clothes.

5. Andy Rooney on morning differences.
Men and women are different in the morning. We men wake up aroused in the morning. We can't help it. We just wake up and we want you. And the women are thinking, "How can he want me the way I look in the morning?" It's because we can't see you. We have no blood anywhere near our optic nerve.

6. Andy Rooney on Grandma.
My grandmother has a bumper sticker on her car that says, 'Sexy Senior Citizen.' You don't want to think of your grandmother that way, do you? Out entering wet shawl contests. Makes you wonder where she got that dollar she gave you for your birthday.

Sunday, August 23, 2026

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

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,644 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 32 minutes for a sleep score of 79.

I was finishing breakfast when these 2 pigeons came sauntering into our apt

After breakfast I returned to bed and slept for 48 minutes.

I got one of the pigeons to eat sesame seeds out of my hand while he was on the balcony wall. Hopefully in the future I’ll get video of that.

We left the apt at 11am and took a Didi to Estacion Exposiciones.  At the last turn Teresa tried to give directions to our driver as I don’t think she knew where she was. Then when we exited the taxi she didn’t remember the other side was closed off by drywall so we had to walk in the street. She walked right past an El Retiro bus and talked to someone who pointed back at our bus. What’s going on with her?

We took a bus to El Retiro and arrived in record time – about an hour. We walked up to Lomo Fino arriving just before 1pm and had our choice of tables. Teresa ordered the trout that she said was delicious and I ordered my usual solomito which as usual came bloody. I sent it back and it came back well done. ☹ Still very tasty and the check came to 149,000 pesos.

After stopping at a few stores on the way for Teresa to check out we had our choice of tables in Café El Retiro. I selected 3 bags of coffee but they were beans instead of grounds so I didn’t buy them. We left at 3:30 and down the hill found a store that sold inexpensive children’s clothing. We bought 2 dresses for Annie and 2 for Joann’s (Jeannie’s best friend) daughter Lucy. Cash only, they didn’t take credit cards.

We stopped in the same store as 2 years ago and bought 3 bags of coffee that the lady ground in a few minutes while we were there.

We continued on to the bus station and soon were on a bus back to Medellin.

We easily caught a taxi back to Envigado. After a couple miles I noticed the driver forgot to reset the meter (which read 43,000 pesos). He reset it and had words with Teresa about the charge to Envigado. Neither of us liked his driving, occasionally riding the bumper of the car in front of us, and kind of slamming on the brakes at each light. I gave him 22,000 pesos which I thought was more than fair.

I watched another couple episodes of La Brea before starting my pre-sleep routine at 8:30.

 

RELEASE ALL THE EPSTEIN FILES NOW!

 

JOKE OF THE DAY

 

Two guys, one old, one young, are pushing their carts around Wal-Mart when they collide. The old guy says to the young guy, "Sorry about that. I'm looking for my wife, and I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

The young guy says, "That's OK, it's quite a coincidence, but I'm looking for my wife, too.... I can't find her and I'm getting a little desperate."

The old guy says, "Well, maybe I can help you find her....what does she look like?"

The young guy says, "Well, she is 27 years old, tall, blonde, blue eyes, is buxom...wearing no bra, long legs, and is wearing short shorts. What does your wife look like?”

To which the old guy replies, "Doesn't matter….Let's look for yours!”