Tuesday, April 21 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 2:15, fell back asleep quickly, got up again at 5:45, went back to bed until my alarm went off at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,425 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 19 minutes.

I left the apt just after 8:15 and arrived at Unicentro mall 20 minutes before 9 for 16,400 pesos. I bought a banana for 1,000 pesos and walked twice around the outside of the mall.

I met Jose in Parmessano where we had our usual breakfast. My French toast with a side of scrambled eggs, a latte and a bottle of water to go comes to 55,000 pesos.

We moved to the food court where I had the Black pieces in the first game. I got a strong attack against him but again ended with a draw. (The computer had me winning and showed me the one move I made a little too quickly that threw away my win.)

We were just starting the second game when I got a cramp in my left thigh. Jose suggested I see a doctor about that because it was when he got a calf cramp that a blood clot went to his lungs leading to his heart attack. ☹ Yikes!

For the second game it was close until the middle game where he found a way to break through and I lost.

It was about 2pm we finished and I ordered a Didi to take me to Viva Envigado for 22,000 pesos For the first time in a long time the driver took the back streets (accident on the expressway?) and it took about 45 minutes.

I had the chicken teriyaki with a Pepsi in Sarku’s.

Today for some reason the salad didn’t taste the same so I didn’t finish it.

I went down to Urbania and had a latte for about an hour. Teresa called and asked me to pick up Fab in Ara. I left at 4pm

And withdrew 2,000,000 pesos (all 50s) from the ATM outside Exito. Finally today asked for help from an Exito employee to find the Mexican salsa for my fajitas. Even they couldn’t find it or the store was out of stock. I bought a few imported oranges, a large pack of toilet paper and a 9-volt battery and had to wait in a long slow line to pay. I returned to the apt by taxi.

I dropped everything off then went to Eduardo Madrid where I picked up my order of 16 bagels, stopped in Ara where I bought green apples for Teresa, a package of Fab laundry detergent and a bag of milk.

In the porteria, Julio handed me my package which contained my new Fitbit strap, a Kindle cover and my “missing” scissors.

Teresa wants us to go to Ikea and buy the full-length mirror she saw a year ago and new place mats for the dining room table. She said that’s not because we’re going to have a visitor. (Vickey, Laura’s friend, is supposed to stay with us a couple nights early next month.) Yeah, right! She also mentioned getting rid of one of our three beds. If we did, that would probably give her space where she could work on her craft projects.

About 7:15 a downpour started and we soon had lightning and I had to unplug everything.

I had the computer do a tactical analysis on each of today’s games and I’ll print and review them tomorrow.

I watched some news, then started reading my next John Grisham novel.

 

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Monday, April 20, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 3:30, fell back asleep quickly, awakened at 4:15 by a small cramp in my right calf, got back to sleep quickly, woke up at 5:30 and got up at 6:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 1,261 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 58 minutes.

I left the apt at 8:30 and found Smartfit not very busy today. Since I didn’t get to the gym last week, I reduced my weights by 10# and just did my 21 minutes on the treadmill at 5 ½ kph. Today the Abdominal Crunch machine was working so it was nice to be able to add that back in my routine.

I had a latte in Ganso y Castor for about 90 minutes. I observed 2-3 people carrying large, but not heavy, Fokuss (the lighting store) boxes down the hill of the park. I’m guessing a local delivery of lamps.

I stopped in Eduardo Madrid and ordered 16 English muffins for pickup tomorrow afternoon.

I stopped in Ara and bought a package of lettuce for our lunch but had to wait in a slow line.

At 3:30 Teresa and I took a Didi to a parking garage across from the Dollar City on Calle 37 sur where she picked up an old purse left from her friend Ana. Across the street she checked out Dollar City “because they are all different’ (to me they are all the same) but didn’t find anything. Outside we quickly caught a taxi that we planned to take to Gardenia for coffee but because there were a few raindrops we just returned to the apt.

I finished season 2 of The End of Us but now I have to wait until 2027 for season 3. ☹

I watched some news, including the first half of The Rachel Maddow Show then finished reading John Grisham’s The Brethren

 

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Sunday, April 19, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, took a while to fall asleep,

Was rudely awakened at 2:20am by a cramp in my left calf. After I worked that out and made a trip to the restroom, I wasn’t able to get back to sleep. I got up at 3:30 and watched some TV. I returned to bed at 5am and finally fell asleep, waking at 7am.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 7,196 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 53 minutes.

We decided to have breakfast at home and later we’ll go to El Tesoro mall.

About 12:30 Teresa came up with another plan. We left the apt at 1:15 and took a Didi to El Correo for 12,100 pesos. Teresa had the chicken breast while I had the ribs. We were in no hurry but the sky got darker and it got windy so I paid the check of 203,900 pesos and we returned to the apt by Didi for 13,000 pesos. There were a few raindrops as we returned but they didn’t turn into anything more.

Annie James with daddy Jacob:

I watched a couple more episodes of The Last of Us on Stremio.

I beat Chesswiz98 and drew Troyclough, increasing my rating to 1521.

I watched 60 Minutes, some news and then it was time to start my pre-sleep routine.

 

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Saturday, April 18, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 10pm fell asleep quickly, got up once at 1am, fell back asleep quickly, woke up but didn’t get up at 4am, fell back asleep quickly, finally waking at 6am and got up with Teresa at 6:30.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,182 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 4 hours and 11 minutes.

I left the apt at 8:45 and walked to the mall. I recycled a pill bottle then went up to the banking area and withdrew 2,000,000 pesos, all 100s. ☹

I went down to Urbania and had a latte while going over my endgame book. I read an article about Chicago’s O’Hare airport being more congested this summer. ☹

I left at 11am and checked the tienda naturista upstairs for my preferred brand of Omega-3 capsules

but they didn’t have it.

I stopped in Auros and printed Dane Brugler’s (The Athletic) NFL Draft Guide Top 100. This is so I can “keep score” of the NFL Draft next Thursday and Friday nights.

I stopped in Exito and bought a large carton of eggs before returning to the apt by taxi.

After dropping off the groceries I went next door to Ara and bought dishwashing paste and a few bananas.

I left the apt at 2:30 and had a latte in a pretty busy Gardenia. About 4pm my table was hit by the sun and I eventually was able to take a table more inside.

Teresa texted and asked me to pick up coconut Gelato. I left at 5:15 and got in line at a busy Antonio’s Gelato. It was only 30,000 pesos for a half liter of coconut gelato. Somebody may have messed up because I thought it used to be closer to 50,000 pesos.

I returned to the apt and we each had a small bowl of coconut gelato.

I finished season 1 of The End of Us on Stremio then started my pre-sleep routine.

The plan for tomorrow is for us to have breakfast somewhere in the Manila neighborhood of Poblado.

 

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Friday, April 17, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9:45, fell asleep quickly, got up once at 2am, fell asleep quickly, finally waking at 6am and got up with Teresa at 7:15.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5,479 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 6 hours and 55 minutes. Very good!

Breakfast at the hotel. Today I tried the waffles con chocolo with scrambled eggs and bacon. Not too bad.

I found another article from Bob Burford about Gracie Slick and posted it.

Teresa surprised me by asking if I wanted to check out today and return to Medellin. I told her, “No”, I’ve already paid for another night.

I see the same 3 guys still here so they must have stayed overnight. Also, there is a couple with 2 young girls having breakfast.

Per Amazon, Teresa’s purse handles are scheduled to arrive next Saturday, April 25^th.

About 10:15 we showered and dressed and followed Clare, the owner, to her other location 2 ½ blocks away called Casa Al Alma. The space is large, perfect for a large family.

We returned to our room.

I was sitting on the bed when Teresa called out “scorpion” and pointed to something next to my gym shoes. All I could see was a dark blob and it wasn’t moving so I took my cellphone and turned on my magnifying glass app which included a flashlight and this is what I saw:

Of course, these photos were taken after I had smashed it 3 times with one of my flip flops. With that, I changed my mind and we decided to return to Medellin today, one day early.

I paid the bill for our meals other than breakfast of 839,868 pesos ($233) including 10% for tips, we packed and walked ½ block to a different Jumaye where we had lunch, salmon for Teresa and chicken breast for me, plus two Cokes came to 110,550 pesos, including tip. A children’s religious procession came by in the street.

We left at 4:30 and walked down the hill and caught a bus just about to leave for Medellin for 20,000 per person.

We arrived at Terminal Norte just before 6pm. Teresa asked someone about catching a Tratam bus to Envigado but they only leave from Terminal Sur. We walked to the metro and only had a 5-minute wait for a train. In Ayura station there was a short line for a taxi but I ordered a Didi to take us back to our complex.

We unpacked, I watched a little news on Medellin TV then started my pre-sleep routine.

 

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BOB BURFORD

 Grace Slick -- It was the mid-1970s, I had moved back to the Bay Area from Reno and was living in San Jose. A friend of mine lived in the Sunset District of The City. I had planned to meet him at his house at noon. I got there an hour early because I hadn’t factored into my schedule that it was a Sunday. There’s no traffic on Sunday, so I made it there in record time. 

I parked in front of a tropical fish and aquarium store a couple of blocks away and got settled in for an hour’s wait. The fish store was open but nary a single customer entered. After getting thoroughly bored, I decided to go into the fish store just to look around. There weren’t very many stores along that stretch of the street; maybe three or four buildings in that block with vacant lots in between. It is primarily a residential neighborhood.

A twenty-something young man offered to help me but I told him I was just killing time. Apparently he had nothing better to do because he began telling me about his fish in detail. Beautifully colored salt-water fish, some eight or ten inches long. Uncommonly brilliant colors. As we were touring the store, a very attractive, gregarious, well-put-together young lady walked in and joined our tour. Introducing ourselves, she said she was Grace Slick. I recognized the name, but only vaguely. If she had been a jazz vocalist I certainly would have known her. But Jefferson Airplane? Not so much. The likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Nancy Wilson, Carmen McRae, Anita O’Day, etc. do it for me.

Grace was actually interested in the fish and asked some very interesting questions that never would have occurred to me to ask. The guy showing us around the store offered to come down to San Jose and set up a salt-water aquarium for me. I was intrigued. If you know what you’re doing, after about nine months you’ll have a colorful array of fish that doesn’t require feeding; they survive on their own in the mini oceanic ecosystem they’ve created.

 

Time had evaporated and the clock was showing twelve noon. I asked the store clerk if there were any restaurants in the neighborhood. That’s when Grace asked me if I’d be interested in crossing The (Golden Gate) Bridge and having lunch at a “hip little restaurant” with a great Sunday buffet. It sounded like a great idea to me so we hopped in my car and headed for Sausalito. I really can’t remember if the restaurant was in Sausalito, Mill Valley, Tiburon … some­where thereabouts. But she was absolutely correct, I think. The buffet was scrumptious. But that could have been my lady companion, too. Her obvious intellect and very cool personality could make peanut butter and crackers a memorable gourmet event. It was obvious she was definitely a lady of substance.

Anyway, it occurred to me that she obviously had a car left parked on the street near the fish store so I assumed I would be taking her back into the city for her car. “No, I’ll have someone pick it up.” And that was the beginning and end of that issue. Instead, she gave me directions to her house where I dropped her off. We said our goodbyes and that was that. After that, I listened to Grace Slick every chance I got. It was a veritable awakening.

 

Given the quality and nature of her voice, I can’t not help but wonder what she would do with some traditional jazz standards such as “Midnight Sun,” “Something Cool,” “Georgia,” “Darn that Dream,” etc. I’m thinking of Rod Stewart doing a full-blown big band album of jazz standards. It was the first of a few he did and it won for him his only Grammy, very well deserved. Barry Manilow was afraid to ask traditional jazz players to play on a jazz album he wanted to make. At his manager’s suggestion, they made a call to a jazz legend who was eager to do the project. The album went gold. Several artists of that era dove into the big band jazz thing and never looked back. I’m of the opinion such an album by Grace Slick would be something to behold; y’know, powerful voice done gently. [Excerpt from my "Anecdotes" book available on amazon.com]

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Last night I went to bed at 9:45, took a while to fall asleep, got up once at 2:45, took a while to fall back asleep, finally waking at 5:45 and got up at 7:30 with Teresa.

According to my Fitbit, I got in 5.290 steps yesterday and last night I slept for 5 hours and 27 minutes. Pretty good!

Today Annie James is 7 months old.

For breakfast I tried the pancakes and they came with honey not maple syrup – no surprise there.

After breakfast I walked down to the Bancolombia office we saw last night. I asked a policeman standing at the corner and he pointed me to the same location. Inside I gave the woman 107,000 pesos and my Innovation Corp information and she quickly made the deposit and gave me a receipt which I photocopied and sent to IC in Bogota.

So, this week Teresa is spending more time working on her next purse than sunbathing so I guess she just wanted some calm place where she could relax and work.

Well, I took a dip in the pool and found another ripe mango on the stairs leading out of the pool. Teresa gave it to the muchacho and he cut it up into slices and it was delicious.

Teresa wanted some new purse handles so we found a few inexpensive ones on Amazon that we could have delivered directly to Envigado.

For lunch Teresa ordered the posta (flank steak). I asked if she would finish it or wanted to share it with me. I ordered something simple (a granola bowl) so I could share her steak but they didn’t have granola. Instead, I ordered a ham & cheese sandwich which was so delicious I wasn’t interested in helping her with her steak.

I balanced my USAA checking account. Reviewing my transactions it appears they don’t charge 1% for ATM withdrawals and they refund Davivienda’s ATM fees so I might be better off paying for most (at least inexpensive) things here in cash.

After lunch Teresa returned to our room for a nap.

My feet still feel a little swollen. Every hour or so I get up and walk around a bit so blood doesn’t pool in them. I think it might have something to do with the stiff straight chair I’m sitting in.

I got tired of searching for my cursor so I went to Settings and changed it to purple.

Three guys came in and had lunch then hung around by the pool drinking wine (2 bottles).

We left the hotel about 6pm and checked out some restaurants downtown. We found Santorini and maybe we’ll have supper there tomorrow night. Teresa took me to a pizza place – really – where we got half margarita and whatever she wanted for the other half. 

We each had a Coke and the check came to about 90mil.

Teresa stopped in a couple shops and talked to the saleslady about her purses. In one she bought a purse for 110,000 pesos that I understand she’s going to decorate.

 

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