Saturday, April 12th, 2014

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up twice during the night (midnight and 2am), woke up at 5:50 and took 2 Excedrin Migraine, finally got up at 6:45.

Yesterday Jhon recommended that I (or more likely my brother and I) visit Cartagena.  I don’t have a good feeling for distances here so after a little Googling I found that Medellin to Cartagena is about the same distance as Chicago to St. Louis.  Of course the roads probably aren't as good. Lol.

From about 7:30 to 8am I had coffee and croissant at Fresco Pan.  On my way to and from the bakery I saw the same man, one I have not seen before, sitting outside my building.

I received an email that Teresa sent at 10:04pm last night.  Mainly it just confirms our lunch meeting on Wednesday.  We will meet at the Mimo’s just outside the Envigado Exito.  We will have lunch inside and then after a little conversation we will go outside for ice cream at Mimo’s.

It’s kind of an overcast day but I decided to take pictures of the apartment anyway; it might even be better than if there was a lot of sunshine.  Come on, let me take you on a tour of my apartment. 

From front door

Plant #1

Plant #2

This plant (#2) is huge.  It's kind of difficult to get a good prospective from this picture.

Kitchen area

Plant #3

 Plant #3 is interesting because it has some new leaves but a lot of old dry ones.

Plant #4

Living/Dining Room area

Computer Desk

Plant #5

 As you can see, Plant #5 has 1 beautiful red flower.

Plant #6

Plant #6 reaches to about 6 inches from the ceiling.  It's kind of nice to have almost a tree in the house.

This is a "Slotted Style Chess Demonstration Set (with carrying bag)" that I originally bought as a surprise gift for Dario.  Since his chess club seems to have waned I decided to keep it for myself as sort of a wall hanging.  It can be easily taken down and I could loan it to him later if necessary.

My new chess table.  Note the drawer on the side.  There is one each side; each large enough to hold all the pieces so it could be used to store other chess related things.

My step sister, Cyd J. Conner, is an artist.  You can check her out on Facebook.  She originally painted a lot of nature scenes that were of such high quality that they looked like photographs.  These are 2 prints of paintings that she has done.  

 Looking down the hallway; 3 different plants can be seen on the left side.

Plant #7

My bathroom.  You can see the new towel bar I had added (maybe I should have had it installed a little lower?).  The other is in the same position on the opposite wall.  I really like the convenience of the single handle faucet in the shower and the glass shelves over the bathroom sink.

Plant #8

This plant is halfway down the hall.  Someday when I get a lady in here I might get a female opinion for better plant placement.

Guest bedroom

Plant #9

Plant #9 is the one that got chewed up by some little caterpillar like creatures until I sprayed them with insect killer.  There are new leaves coming out on the ends so I think it will survive.

Plant #10

Plant #10 might be the only plant I can identify.  At least I think it's a corn plant; certainly looks like one to me.

Master bedroom

The other bedroom is actually larger but I couldn't get this larger bed around the corner so now the other, with the fancier but smaller bed, became the guest bedroom.

Plant #11

I call Plant #11 my Hawaiian plant because that is where I first remember seeing one like this.  Note the new flower opening up on the upper right hand side.

That's the end of the tour.  Hope you enjoyed it! 
 

Arley arrived at the building at 8:30am with Marta.

Today I actually saw the bills being delivered.  My utility bill was reasonable – 48,074 for water & sewer, 15,266 for water, and 3,187 for gas for a total of 66,527 pesos (about $26).  But I received 2 communications bills, both for apartment 201; the first in Dilan’s name for 84,450.32 and the 2^nd in my name for 72,964 for a total of 157,414.32.  I’m sure there are some one time turn on and turn off charges in there.

Marta told me that Exito is having a promotion now on small refrigerators.

It was getting a little late so I had my usual weekend lunch again at Pizza Americana.

Back at the apartment I had a letter from Teresa.  Because of my concern about Wi-Fi and she doesn’t know anything about that she wanted to bring her daughter with her.  I told her not to worry about the Wi-Fi but I want to meet her alone.

I also had an email from Rubi.  She knows she has to sign the IMBRA form but she’s having problems printing it.  The Medellin office already told her what to do she just needs to take care of it and in a few days she’ll write me back.

I paid my bills at Exito and then checked out the refrigerators.  They do have a lot of them on sale.  I found one that’s a Mabe brand (yes, that’s what it’s called), 235 liters, on sale for 576,900COP until April 16^th including free delivery.  I wonder if that’s something I could buy without any help.  Maybe someone there speaks English.

I also saw a 3D TV there for just over $5000.

Before I went to all the trouble of taking a shower and getting dressed to meet Harry I decided I would call him about 4:30 to make sure we are still going tonight.  At 4:20 he called me to tell me that his wife’s doctor is coming from Bogota to see her and something about a cocktail party at his house tonight at 7pm.  I suspect Mr. H is probably full of BS.

I walked down to LM and finally decided I would have their special fruit salad at the ice cream store.  I was a little surprised when the owner/manager asked my name and then introduced me to the other 2 ladies working there.  Hmmm.

While I was waiting for my order, Harry called and asked where I was.  When I told him he asked if I would still be there in 50 minutes and I said I could.  We sat together and talked until I finally left at 8pm.  He said he would give me 4 weeks to find him a woman.  I told him it’s hard for me to give him something I don’t have myself.

He agreed to help me tomorrow morning with ordering the refrigerator if I need it.

T-shirt: “Can’t stop, Don’t stop.”