Monday, March 3rd, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 6am and got up at 7am.  I skipped one of my morning exercises because I feared it would put too much strain on my still sore right wrist.

I had coffee and a croissant at Los Mejores and was at the Tinto store by 8am.  The lady I wanted to talk to walked by at 8:15 but she was on her cell phone and I didn’t want to disturb her.  I’m sure I’ll catch her sometime soon.

I took my iPad to LM hoping to read my emails but I wasn’t able to get a good connection.  Same thing at Viva Mall; maybe it was too early?

By the time I gave up it was almost 9:30.  I walked back to the apartment, dropped off my iPad and caught a Circular 302 bus to see the 10:35 showing of Nebraska at Viscaya CC.  My bus must have been ahead of schedule because at different points the driver stopped or drove very slowly.  I bought a small package of chocolates for 1mil from a vendor on the bus because I didn’t know if I would have time to buy popcorn and soda at the theater.  I was at Monterrey CC by 10:20 and I knew the only way I was going to get there on time was to take a bus.  I walked across the street and down a block to where the buses are outside the Poblado metro station.  A bus was just pulling away but I couldn’t get on until I checked the sign in the window showing the stops.  I got on a Poblado 134i bus and it sat there for about 15-20 minutes until it was nearly full.  I saw its first stop was closer to where I got off the Circular 302 bus so in the future I’ll be able to save a little time.  I got off a block down from Viscaya and was at the theater by 10:50 and it was closed.  (Maybe they meant to post the showtime as 10:35PM!)  Never again am I going to trust showtimes before noon.

It was almost 11am so I walked down to FFSS and had a burger and Coke.  I caught a Circular 303 bus back to Viva CC and found Jhon in his office.  We went to the Une office in Exito and he helped me sign up for Wi-Fi.  We had a drink at the coffee store and then went back to his office for my first Spanish lesson.  We worked on the Spanish alphabet and some pronounciation.

I had a Hamburger Rodeo with a small order of fries and a medium Pepsi at BK for 10,400 (with coupon).  I saw that really cute young lady working in the back but she’s probably only about 4’6”.  I hadn’t seen her in quite some time.

I left at 5:30, walked over to Calle 35 and after a 15 minute wait I caught a Laureles 191 bus to the stadium.  I got there at 6:15 and said hello to Brenda.  I snuck this picture of her but I couldn't get her to pose for a better one.

I saw Juan and I had him call the man who makes chess tables and after he hung up he informed me that he lives too far away – in Aranjuez.  I told him my ex girlfriend lives in Aranjuez so that shouldn’t be a problem for me.

My game was against a young man with a rating almost identical to mine – 1695.  He got the advantage in the opening but I held on and things evened out.  In the middle game I made a move to sacrifice a bishop but if he took it he would lose his queen.  I gained a pawn out of that and an attack against his king but I couldn’t capitalize on it and eventually I offered him a draw which he accepted.

It was 9pm and I caught a taxi back to the apartment for 6mil.