Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014



Last night I was at Dario’s tournament on time.  Monday night he had pointed out a man who he said was very strong, in fact he was last year’s champion.  I thought I might be playing him near the end of the tournament but I had to play him tonight.  To make things worse I had the black pieces so I was already at a slight disadvantage.  Unlike most players I don’t know a lot of chess openings.  I do have one opening I try to play with white and sometimes, like tonight, I can play a similar opening with the black pieces.
As we entered the middle of the game he almost trapped my queen but I gave up a pawn and he was surprised I was able to save her.  So now he’s ahead a pawn.  He had castled but he had advanced his pawns in front of his king and I tried to take advantage of his weakened position.  Unfortunately, I hadn’t castled and my king was a little exposed.  But I had a knight posted solidly in the middle of the board and if he wasn’t careful I had all sorts of forking and mating opportunities.  As we traded pieces I got in a position where I could get his queen but it would cost me a rook and knight and a bad position so I didn’t try that.  But I was able to check his king repeatedly and we ended up agreeing to a draw.   Whew!

When I got back to the apartment I checked the refrigerator and I now have ice!  For me, that’s exciting!  It’s only been one year without a refrigerator.

I got a reply about my problem with Simple Flash Cards.  It started:
Sorry to hear you are having trouble with the transfer. We agree it is very confusing. It was designed by Apple, not by us, so we’re stuck with it too.  :(  But, we apologise if our instructions didn’t help.
His instructions still didn’t work, and I didn’t see the “image” he said he sent me.

I went to bed at 10pm, woke up at 12:30 and again at 2:30 and after that I had difficulty getting back to sleep.  I finally got up at 6:10am.

I had my usual breakfast at El Comedor de Chava, bought a water pitcher for 10,300 at Exito and had an orange juice at Redd’s.

For my Spanish lesson we sat at the corner store and practiced making telephone calls between me and Teresa.  I think he teaches Spanish but includes dating techniques on the side.  Lol.

For lunch I had the chicken teriyaki at Sarku’s.   At 1:30 I got on a Circular 302 bus but soon realized I forgot to get cash at Viva CC so I got off at Los Molinos and got it there.  I only lost about 10 minutes towards my 3pm appointment with the Urologist.

I got back on a Circular 302 bus but had to get off early at Monterrey because I had to pee so badly.  (I shouldn’t have had that large bottle of water at the corner store and then left the vacinity of many toilets.)  I took a taxi from there and was at the doctor’s office 20 minutes early.  In the future all I have to do is take a Circular 302 bus and get off across the street from the yellow “Hangeres” building (that’s what it’s called).

He saw me within 10 minutes and his English was pretty good.  I’d say he’s about 50 years old.  He took my medical history, reviewed my medical records, we talked about what medication I’m taking and he gave me a quick physical.  Among the things I learned is: my blood pressure is good (130), my heart is good, my prostate is only enlarged to stage 1 of 4 (which is good), I have an umbilical hernia (who knew?), and he recommends I get a blood test and ultrasound.  He gave me the name of a clinic he recommends (might be across the street from my eye doctor’s building) and told me to bring him the results and there will be no additional charge.  He said I am very healthy for a man of my age.  Don’t you love it when they say that?  He also told me my Saludcoop insurance isn’t very good but it covers emergencies like heart attacks, cancer, etc.  I paid 160mil cash and the receiptionist made an appointment for me for next Tuesday at 10am but I doubt I can have my tests and get my results back in time for that.

I caught a Circular 302 bus right outside the building and I got off outside Home Center.  I went into Jumbo and bought 2 large ice cube trays for 8,990 and a large tray to keep ice cubes in for 7,400.  I caught my 4th Circular 302 bus of the afternoon and was back at the apartment before 5pm.

It’s time to go to dinner and then the chess tournament at Dario’s.

I sent a quick email to Teresa asking if she wanted to get together on Saturday.

T-shirt of the day: No more maybes (on a very pretty chick).

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