Friday, October 30th, 2015

I fell asleep quickly and didn’t wake up until 5:30.  I got up with the 7am alarm.  After shower, shave and breakfast, I got dressed and we were out the door by 8:10am.

The two killer dogs, minus the puppy, met us on the side road but they weren’t as aggressive as usual.  I knelt down and held a dog biscuit out for the rottweiler and he cautiously approached and took it and ate it right there.  I held out a dog biscuit for the other dog, who seeing the rottweiler get lucky, approached and snatched it out of my hand and ran off with it.  I gave the rottweiler a second biscuit and after he finished it he followed us up the hill hoping for more.  I think it’s just a matter of time before they stop harrassing us but I will probably have to pay a dog biscuit toll each time we want to pass.  It’ll be worth it.

We met Walter coming up in his taxi while we were walking down the sideroad.  Traffic got so heavy on the highway on the outskirts of Medellin that he left the highway and started taking the local roads of Itagui.  Teresa told him we had a 9:20 appointment but I showed her the letter that said we should be there 15 minutes earlier.

We came out on Avenida 80 but we had gone too far.  I told them we need to go in the other direction on the other side of the road but they didn’t listen to me right away.  Finally they got on the other side going in the right direction and I told them where to turn and one block later we arrived at the clinic at 9:30.  I understand it’s in the Guayabal section of Itagui.

We went in one entrance and they sent us to another.  We knocked on the door of a few consultation rooms and then Teresa talked to a man in a hallway (who I later found out was a doctor).  We were sent back to the first entrance where we paid 2,500 pesos.  Teresa told me she was hungry so we stopped in the cafeteria where I chose a pastry with some kind of berry inside and Coke and she chose 2 packages of what I will call onion rings and a Coke Zero.  We took them into the waiting room and ate them there.  About 15 minutes later we were called into one of the consultation rooms.  A young man wearing a white lab coat asked me a few questions like what medication I’m taking and whether I have pain or blood when I urinate.  The man we saw earlier in the hallway came in and a few minutes later they gave Teresa a couple pieces of paper.  I understand I need more tests.

We took a taxi to the nueva eps office in Envigado.  Inside we quickly found out we need to return on Tuesday.  I think Teresa was telling me that I need more tests and she’s afraid it will take too much time to get to see a doctor through my health insurance.  (Her 2^nd husband had prostate cancer and by the time he addressed it it was too late.)  If I need to have my prostate removed she doesn’t want to delay it.  (I’m going to call my brother tomorrow so I’ll understand more of the details.)  While we were there I showed the doctor the GNC Prostate vitamins I take and he seemed to approve.

We walked through the park and I took a moment to measure the width of the chess boards that are built into the planters and found the space should be a perfect size for my rollup plastic chess board.

We stopped in Exito where Teresa picked up some ribs, powdered milk and arepas while I made a trip to the restroom.  I paid my 600 pesos but when I entered I found there was no seat on the toilet.  So I waited a minute until the urge was very strong and then squatted over the toilet and did my business.  I understand scientifically this is the best position, meaning squatting, but it isn’t easy on my legs or knees.  

Teresa was hungry so we shared two pieces of pork in pineapple sauce, rice with raisins, some potato salad and a cup of Pepsi.  I recycled 3 old AAA batteries in their information booth.

We took a taxi to the highway and soon were on a bus back to the finca.  We got past the killer dogs undetected and arrived at the finca at 1:15.

At 2:55 it started raining with lightning so we unplugged everything.

We all watched A Lonely Place to Die (6.3) on the big screen.

Among US new movie releases, and locally, there isn’t anything I want to see.

The weekly close was 2,890 pesos to the dollar.  (It was over 2900 for most of the week.)

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed at 11:20.

T-shirt of the day: Form follows function.

Joke

I didn't make it to the gym today.  That makes five years in a row.

Thursday, October 29th, 2015

I fell asleep quickly, got up once at 3:50am and then had great difficulty falling asleep again.  I finally woke/got up at 9:30.

At 11:30 a young man arrived on a motorcycle.  The terriers gave him a hard time but stopped just short of biting him.  Teresa talked to him for a minute while we tried to quiet the dogs.  He took off up the trail with the terriers following closely beside.  I think he missed a turn and was headed down the hill.

Teresa helped me get the stepladder out of the shed and I exchanged the lightbulb in the kitchen for the large one I bought at Home Center.

We had a storm come through from 4:10 to 5pm.

Giraldo called and I understand we’re going to meet him tomorrow and he’s going to show us some inexpensive stoves.

Teresa called Walter and he’s going to pick us up tomorrow at 8:30am at the top of the hill to take us to the clinic in Itagui.

Now that it’s dark outside, the larger lightbulb in the kitchen makes a big difference.

In Chess Magnet School I was promoted to Commodore with a rating of 1478.  Only 4 more levels to go.  The puzzles of course are getting progressively harder; some seem impossible until they show you the answer.

More thunder and lightning came through at 7pm.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed at 11:30.

T-shirt of the day: Babies are such a nice way to start a person.

Wednesday, October 28th, 2015

I got up once at 1:30, finally waking/getting up at 8am and no, it didn’t rain overnight.

The same kitchen cabinet guys showed up at 9am, had a talk with Teresa and left 35 minutes later.  I understand they don’t have anyone to finish the chairs so I had them call my guy – Alvaro Alvarez.  I don’t know if he’s busy or what’s going on.

I spent an hour and 10 minutes talking to a Barnes & Noble rep about my Nook problem.  We did an “erase and de-register” to the device but after that I was sure I had a hardware not a software problem.  When I mentioned I live in South America she said something about a Nook not being able to work outside of the US so I asked to speak to a supervisor.

I talked to a supervisor for another 20 minutes and was told that yes it would work outside the US but of course I need to pay using a US credit/debit card.  I already knew that.  Of course, my device is long out of warranty and I don’t have a local store I can take it to as credit towards a new device.  I had them deactivate it and I ordered a Nook Glowlight Plus with a case for $165.79.  It apparently ships UPS but the order form didn’t allow me to enter a 2^nd line address to direct it to Colombia so I hope someone at MBE in Miami will lookup my name and redirect it properly.

My medical insurance payment is due on the 1^st of the month which is Monday but that’s a holiday here, Sunday the banks are closed and Saturday they close early.  Teresa called Natalia and found out it would be best if we took care of that payment on Friday.  That’s the day we’re going to Itagui to get my prostate biopsy results interpreted.

At 2:15 it started raining lightly but it only lasted a couple minutes.

I made waffles for Teresa and I for dinner.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: Make it good and make it easy.

Tuesday, October 27th, 2015

I got up once at 3:50am and had difficulty getting to sleep after returning to bed.  The alarm went off at 7am but Teresa didn’t get up right away.  I finally woke/got up at 8:30am.

At 9am I checked the thermometer outside and it said 62 degrees and quite humid.

I heard a pig (maybe one at a time) squealing several times down in the valley as if a farmer might be slaughtering them.

We left the finca at 12:30.  For some reason Teresa dressed up a little more than usual and insisted I wear my nicest shoes that I haven’t worn in week.  I also had my jacket with me since the weather was so cool.  Teresa couldn’t remember where she had left the cell phone so we left without it.  

We got past the killer dogs undetected and and were on a bus after only a 5 minute wait.  (Going up the hill my shoes were digging into my heel.)  It started raining by the time the bus got to the Caldas turnoff.  Everyone put up their windows and luckily the driver put on the A/C so it didn’t get stuffy.  It did get a little cold so I put on my jacket for what would be the only time that day.

The rain stopped by the time we got off the bus in El Poblado.  We arrive at El Tesoro 10 minutes before our appointment.  I went with Teresa up to the 12^th floor and left her in the doctor’s reception area.

I took out a little cash at a Bancolombia ATM in El Tesoro and then went into a book store next door.  They had some interesting special editions of National Geographic that were selling for about $25.  I picked up the regular November issue about climate change for about $7.25.  Of course those were all English editions.

Back upstairs I read some of my NG until Teresa had finished and left another 200mil towards our bill.

We had lunch for the first time in an Italian restaurant named Archie’s.  I remember there was one on Avenida Nutibara in Laureles but I never ate there.

Of course they had pizza but I ordered a Minestrone soup for the two of us and the Fettucine Alfredo with bacon (actually thought I was ordering something else) for me.  Teresa didn’t care for the soup and I thought it was too peppery and had too many beans.  Teresa ordered the salmon which came with a side of spaghetti and a salad.  She liked the salmon but didn’t care for the spaghetti or the salad, neither was anything special.

Did I mention that some of the nicer restaurants ask if you want to leave a tip.  I almost always say yes.  The total came to 76,500 (about $26).  Teresa thought that was expensive but once again I told her we don’t splurge like that every day.

Teresa returned a blouse to Zara and looked for something else while I read my NG in the hallway.  A couple kids came by with a 2 month old Shetland collie and I gave it a dog biscuit.  The girl broke it in half because it was a little too big for its mouth.  The mother coaxed them to ask where I am from.  When they did I told them Chicago, USA and they got excited.  They said they knew Chicago but then they left right away.

Teresa exchanged the 99,900 blouse for a 129,900 blouse.

We stopped in Fedco where she bought some face cream for 49,900.

We stopped at O-Cake where we shared a piece of banana cake with nuts on top and we each had a cup of coffee for a total of 12,700 (about $4).  They put one of those sleeves on each cup so you can handle it but there wasn’t anything hot about it.

After a short wait we were on a taxi to El Poblado station.  Teresa had a few minutes discussion with the driver, apparently about where the highway to the south is by the station.  After a short wait we were on a Tratam bus back to the finca.

I saw an unusual car on the highway, its wheels were illuminated but on the inside (under the frame) not on the outside.

Luckily a full moon was just coming over the trees as we were going up the hill because I didn’t have my cell phone flashlight.

We got past the killer dogs undetected and were back at the finca by 7:30.

About 8pm a man called to tell us he would be at the finca at 9am tomorrow to finish my chairs.  (I was just going to tell her to tell them that I’m not putting any money down on kitchen cabinets until they finish my chairs.)

I received an email from Barnes & Noble.  They recommend I call them for assistance with my Nook problem.

At 10pm I checked outside and the temperature was 58 degrees with the barometer at the maximum humidity level so we’ll probably have rain tonight.

It was so cool tonight that I wore socks to bed, something I rarely do.

T-shirt of the day: Are you in a film or in reality?

Joke

I don't like making plans for the day because then the word "premeditated" get's thrown around in the courtroom.

Monday, October 26th, 2015

I got up once during the night finally waking/getting up at 8:30.

Another cool October day – it was 66 degrees when I checked the thermometer at 10:30.  It started raining just before 11am and exactly at 11am the power went out.  It came back on 3 minutes later while we were in the process of lighting candles.

After recharging my Nook overnight it still doesn’t work correctly.  I emailed BarnesAndNoble with my Nook problem and they assigned me an Incident Number - #151026-002334.

According to my Altimeter iPad app the finca is at 5,098 feet and we are just slightly more than 6 degrees north (of the equator) and 75 degrees west (of Greenwich England).  In comparison, the city of Denver ranges from 5,130 to 5,690 feet and a mile is 5,280 feet.

In Rosetta Stone I finally passed the Writing lesson on the 6^th try with a score of 78%.

Laura came home with the Epm electric bill for November.  The rain stopped briefly at noon but then continued lightly most of the afternoon finally ending about 6pm.

In Chess Magnet School I was promoted to Captain; only 5 more levels to the top.

I finished watching Woody Allen’s Alice (6.6) – pretty boring.

I watched All the President’s Men (8.0).

Teresa got all excited because a show she likes to watch every night - Quién tiene la razon? – was broadcast tonight from Chicago.

I set the alarm on my cell phone for 7am for Teresa and 8am for me.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Sunday, October 25th, 2015

I got up at 1am, 3am, and 5:30, finally waking/getting up at 9am.

Today is election day in Colombia but I’m not sure at what level, certainly not for president.

I finished Gillian Flynn’s 494 page Gone Girl and downloaded Lawrence Wright’s 529 page Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.  The book I just finished had some interesting plot twists so I would like to see the movie version starring Ben Affleck.

At 11:30 a young man with a lady (girlfriend/wife?) stopped by with my chess chairs.  They look nice and very sturdy except they don’t have the cane seats installed yet. 

We thanked them and gave them the remainder of the payment – 150mil.  Normally we wouldn’t give them all the money until the work is completed but they know we will be giving them more projects.

This is the Chicago Bears bye week so there isn’t any game today.

We left the finca at 1:45.  Teresa was so certain it would rain that we took both umbrellas.  The killer dogs met us on the trail – aggressive as usual.  The puppy came out and I petted it while giving it 3 dog biscuits.  The rottweiler stood not 6 feet away observing, without being aggressive in the slightest.  I offered him one but he still was too skittish to approach.  We walked away with him just standing there looking at us.

We heard some lightning in the distance during our 10 minute wait for a bus.  The northbound lanes of the new road appear to be finished – although I guess they could still install lights or guardrails or something.  It looks like they still have to build the southbound lanes up about 3 feet if they are going to match the height of the northbound lanes.  I timed the trip from the sideroad to the old highway and it was only 5 minutes.  Teresa told me she thought the new highway would cut the trip to Medellin from 40 minutes to 20 minutes.  If a new straight highway section could cut the time from the sideroad to the old highway to even one minute that only reduces the trip to Medellin from 40 minutes to 36 minutes.  We were dropped off at Home Center where I picked up packages of AA & AAA batteries and another large 45 watt fluorescent lightbulb.  Teresa picked out a garden rake, multipurpose gloves and what looked like artificial plant mulch.

We went into Exito to have lunch but the place was packed, all tables were taken and there was a long line for Frisby – our usual lunch place.  We ordered at a place called Santa Parrilla Express – ribs and pepsi for me and chicken breast and a Colombiana for Teresa.  Luckily we got a table just as someone was leaving.  Laura met us just as our food arrived and she ordered the ribs also.

In Exito we picked up eggs, bread, and milk.

We took a taxi to the metro station where we were soon on a bus back to the finca.  Just as we passed Caldas it started raining lightly.  Luckily, the three of us each had our own umbrella and it stopped raining as we walked up the hill.

I turned on my Nook and a small portion (about on sixth) of the cover screen still appears on the pages inside the book.  I tried some things like turning it on and off but so far nothing cleared it.  The battery is almost dead so I hope recharging it will fix the problem.

I started watching Woody Allen’s Alice (6.6).

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Joke

You know that tingly little feeling you get when you really like someone?  That's common sense leaving your body.

Saturday, October 24th, 2015

I got up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 9am.

I spent most of the day studying my chess opening.  I also signed up for a chess database service called 365Chess.com.  The basics are free but I made a voluntary contribution of $10 to get their advanced services.

I called Oscar at the chess league office in Medellin to inquire about upcoming chess tournaments.  I left a message with his voice mail but by the end of the day had yet to hear from him.

Teresa spent most of the day reorganizing pictures and things in the finca.

I didn’t turn on my computer until early in the evening when Teresa asked to watch a movie.  We started several movies: Livid, Starry Eyes and The Dead Girl but Teresa at one point or another gave up on them.  We started watching Up in the Air and stopped because it was time to go to bed.

It was a very cool day and we had a little rain.

We never heard from the carpenter about delivering my chess chairs, perhaps because the weather was so threatening.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Joke

Gone are the days when girls used to cook like their mothers.  Now they drink like their fathers.

Friday, October 23rd, 2015

I got up once at 4:15, heard Laura leave at 5:30 and was still awake at 6am when the canine crooning started.  Finally fell asleep again and woke/got up at 8:30.

Among this week’s new US movie releases there isn’t anything I want to see.

Locally, I would like to see Bridge of Spies playing at 2:05pm in El Tesoro and The Martian playing at 3pm in El Tesoro.

Heard thunder intermitantly from 1 to 1:30 so I brought in the dogs’ blankets and my towel from the clothesline while Teresa brought in the clothes from the line.  Five minutes later it started raining pretty hard.  It stopped about 30 minutes later.

Teresa spent most of the day playing interior decorator by moving things around.

She wanted me to help her drill some holes to put up a shelf.  I brought a set of sturdy drill bits back from the States but Teresa didn’t have the key to her drill.  She went through one of Laura’s drawers and finally found it.   Unfortunately, she hadn’t opened the drill in some time and it appears to be rusted.  I sprayed some CRC on it but so far haven’t gotten it to budge.

The close for the week was 2,917 pesos to the dollar.  I'm glad it's finally gotten back over 2900.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Joke

You can tell a lot about a woman's mood just by her hands.  If they are holding a gun, she's probably angry.

Thursday, October 22nd, 2015

I got up twice during the night, finally getting up at 8:45.

I had some discomfort behind my eyes so I took an Excedrin followed by a nap from about 11 to 12:30.  I believe I slept for about an hour of that time.

Teresa got a call from the carpenter.  They should deliver my chess chairs on Friday or Saturday.

Teresa’s friend Anna called and asked to borrow 1,200,000 pesos.  She needs the money for her hat business and she would repay me 1,500,000 pesos on December 6^th.  I told Teresa now isn’t a good time with our still needing things for the kitchen and her upcoming dental expenses.  She agreed with me and confided she’s afraid to loan her the money because if she doesn’t repay it she will be out the money and her friendship.  I agreed completely as I had the same concerns.

I watched the last movie from the Alfred Hitchcock Collection, 1976’s Family Plot (6.8).  It was his 53^rd and final film.  He was in poor health and died 4 years later.

Laura left at 5:15 for some free dancing lessons in Caldas.

In Chess Magnet School I was promoted to Commander, the 15^th level of 21 levels.

We watched Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me about his final tour after being diagnosed with alzheimers.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Wednesday, October 21st, 2015

I got up 2 or 3 times during the night finally waking/getting up at 8:30.

We left the finca at 12:10 and as we got past the killer dogs undetected I had the thought that maybe they aren’t here this week.  Near the top of the hill I turned around, whistled and yelled “where are you” and they came out looking for me.  So much for that thought.

We had to wait 15 minutes for a bus.  On the bus I heard some chirping (cheeping?) and I saw a man holding a box with lots of holes in it.  I’m pretty sure it contained baby chickens.  We got off at El Poblado and took a taxi to El Tesoro.  We arrived 15 minutes early so we shared a grape juice at O-Cake.

I left Teresa with the dentist and went downstairs to Carulla.  I found a copy center where I had some documents scanned to my flash drive and I added 50mil to my cell phone.  I walked around looking for things I might want to buy today or in the future.  I found jars of El Preferida salsa and relish for my hot dogs.  I also saw dog chews like I brought from the States – 5 for $3.  I tried to withdraw some cash from their ATM but the machine wouldn’t recognize my card.  I went upstairs to the mall and had the same experience on the first ATM I tried but the 2^nd one worked for me.

Back upstairs in the dentist’s office I learned this was just a consult that cost me 80mil.  I left a deposit of 200mil as we have another appointment for next Tuesday because she needs some work on her front tooth.

We had lunch at Crepes & Waffles in the mall’s food court.  I had a Mexican crepe with chicken that I enjoyed and Teresa had a Thai salad that she couldn’t finish because she said it had too much lettuce.  I had a mango juice and she had two strawberry juices.  The total came to 54,900 including tip.

Teresa went into Zara browsing for clothes while I sat out in the hall reading my Nook.  She found a pair of leather looking pants for 129mil she asked if I would buy for her.  I asked her if she had tried them on.  She replied no.  I told her to try them on first and when she did she told me she didn’t like them.  I may not be getting smarter but I am getting more experienced.  At least this is one thing she won’t be buying and returning.  She tried on another pair of pants that I thought looked good on her so we bought them for 99mil.

In Carulla she picked up some ground beef, ham, cheese, pasta and a loaf of bread and I picked up a new jar of relish for my hot dogs and I finally found a box of waxed paper.  Eventually we’re going to need the waxed paper when we try to make taffy apples.

We waited about 15 minutes for our turn for a taxi to El Poblado.  Right away we caught a bus back to the finca.  When we got off the bus it was obvious the area had had some rain.  There was a little more than a full moon without the clouds blocking it so we were able to walk down the path and still see our way.  The killer dogs heard us and came out to hassle us.  We got back to the finca just after 7pm.

Teresa tried on the new pants again and didn’t like them so we still have to make a return to Zara.  Sigh.

The Mets Cubs game was on Direct TV again and I only missed one batter in the 1^st inning.  After 2 innings the Mets had a 6-0 lead.  The final was Mets 8 Cubs 3.

The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908.  Two weeks ago I was beginning to think there might be a 70 year limit on goat curses.  Let me explain:

The Chicago Cubs have not appeared in a World Series since 1945, when, legend has it, tavern owner Billy Sianis placed a curse on the team in retaliation for refusing stadium entry to his goat.
Going into Wednesday night's potentially decisive Game 4 of the National League Championship Series trailing the New York Mets 3-0, it seems the Cubs' "curse" is as strong as ever.
According to the Billy Goat Tavern's website, which is now owned by Sianis' nephew Sam, the tale goes as follows:
"The Cubs entered Game 4 of the World Series leading the Detroit Tigers 2 games to 1, and needing to win only two of the next four games played at Wrigley Field. A local Greek, William 'Billy Goat' Sianis, owner of the Billy Goat Tavern and a Cubs fan, bought two tickets to Game 4. Hoping to bring his team good luck he took his pet goat, Murphy, with him to the game. At the entrance to the park, the Andy Fran (sic) ushers stopped Billy Goat from entering saying that no animals are allowed in the park. Billy Goat, frustrated, appealed to the owner of the Cubs, P.K. Wrigley. Wrigley replied, 'Let Billy in, but not the goat.' Billy Goat asked, 'Why not the goat?' Wrigley answered, 'Because the goat stinks.'
"According to legend, the goat and Billy were upset, so then Billy threw up his arms and exclaimed, 'The Cubs ain't gonna win no more. The Cubs will never win a World Series so long as the goat is not allowed in Wrigley Field.' The Cubs were officially cursed. Subsequently, the Cubs lost game four, and the remaining series[,] getting swept at home and from the World Series. Billy Goat promptly sent a telegram to P.K. Wrigley, stating, 'Who stinks now?' "
Seventy years later, the Cubs have yet to make it back to the World Series, and their fans have adopted the unofficial slogan, "Wait 'til next year."

Btw, the date the goat was refused entrance was October 6, 1945, the day I was born, but I’m a Chicago White Sox fan not a Chicago Cubs fan.  Btw, the name of the goat that has cursed the Cubs all these years?  Murphy.  The name of this year’s NLCS MVP?  Daniel Murphy.

At 10:20 it started raining.  I went out and checked my thermometer and it was 60 degrees and the barometer showed 100% humidity.  The rain stopped 7 minutes later.

I took my sleeping pills at 10:45pm and went to bed.

Tuesday, October 20th, 2015

It seemed like it took 30-60 minutes or so to fall asleep last night.  I got up once at 4:15.  Laura was taking a shower so I had to use the guest bathroom in the back.

Giraldo arrived at 7:15, Teresa got up right away, I got up at 7:45.

While I was feeding the dogs I noticed Luna favoring her right hind leg.  Somehow she seems to have hurt it.  I wonder if she got bit by another dog.

Here are the final pictures (Day #15) of the kitchen after Giraldo’s portion of the work was completed:

We paid Giraldo his final payment of 130mil plus another 84mil towards the last of the materials.

We all, Giraldo included, left the finca at 2pm.  We got past the killer dogs undetected, only had to wait 5 minutes for a bus, and were at Carbón de Leña at 3pm.  I called Alan and he arrived a few minutes later just before our food arrived.  He indicated he had already eaten because we were meeting so late.

What I remember about Alan: He’s 45 years old, moved to Colombia a year and a half ago from Indiana with his Colombian wife and her 8 year old son.  First they stayed in her hometown, a small Colombian town which was hot as blazes, and then moved to Envigado.  His wife teaches English at a local school and she prefers they speak English at home.  He’s leaving for a week on November 16^th for a trip back to the States to take care of some business.  I’m sure we’ll be getting together sometime in the future to play chess.

Alan also reminded me about Pricesmart, a Costco type retailer.  He said it’s in Belen at Carrera 70 & Calle Primera and he would loan us his membership card if we wanted to check it out.

After Teresa finished eating she left for Nohelia to have some work done.  Alan and I parted about 4:15.  I walked through the park and saw a couple of boards (chess) open.  At Nohelia I got a haircut for myself.  About 5pm I asked Teresa how much longer and she said 2 hours.  I left for the park and watched some chess games underway.  Finally, a young man finished a game and invited me to play.  I won both games and then another young man sat down to challenge me.  I told him beforehand that I only had time for one game.  I beat him pretty easily.

I was back at Nohelia by 6:30 and she finished at 7:30.  It only cost 70mil (about $25) for my haircut, her hair work (whatever that was) and her manicure and pedicure.

We were going to buy a few things at Exito to take back to the finca but Teresa told me we wouldn’t have enough time to catch a bus.  We took a taxi down to the highway and shortly were on a bus back to the finca.  It was a cool night, I got back to the finca without sweating and we even got past the killer dogs undetected.  Now I wonder if they are even there today.

It was just before 9pm when we got back, the NLCS games was on Direct TV (in English no less) and the Mets and Cubs were tied 2-2 in the top of the 6th.  I watched the last few innings and the Mets won 5-2.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.

Monday, October 19th, 2015

Well, that didn’t work.  It took me more than an hour to get to sleep.  I got up once at 3:30 and again at 5am.  Teresa also got up with me on my latter trip to rouse Laura for school.

The alarm on my cell phone went off at 7am awakening both of us.  I had forgotten to turn it off permanently yesterday.  Teresa brought it to me and I took care of it.  

Teresa’s cold seems to be much better today.

Giraldo arrived about 8:15.

I got up at 8:50 to watch the Today show but Teresa was watching one of her craft shows so I had to wait a little while for my turn.

The young man from the cabinet store stopped by and showed us the wood they offer for the cabinets.  It’s light, not as light as pine, which should work fine for the cabinets.  It’s probably a local wood.

Giraldo was working outside for the first 3 hours or so.  When I went out to hang up my bath towel to dry I saw him putting cement around a water outlet pipe behind the shed.

While they were both out back I got up on the wall separating the dining room from the kitchen and replaced the 26 watt fluorescent bulb with a new 45 watt which should give us a 70% increase in illumination.

Giraldo was back inside by 11:45 running a new electric line from an old outlet to create a new outlet for the refrigerator to be placed in the corner where the sink used to be.

I’ve started using Duolingo on my iPad on a daily basis to study Spanish.  That’s in addition to using Rosetta Stone.

I finally scored 75% on my Writing lesson in Rosetta Stone and it let me proceed to the next lesson.

I wasn’t sure if Giraldo was going to bother but he did bury the electric line in the wall.

I installed the thermometer/barometer to an outside support post for the finca.  I had just told Teresa the temperature and “no rain soon”.  Not 5 minutes later Teresa told me it’s raining and we went out to take the clothes off the line.  I looked up and there was a blue sky with a small cloud and only a few drops coming down that lasted maybe a minute.  I guess the barometer can’t catch everything.

The Chess Magnet School problems/puzzles are getting to be very difficult.  I could certainly use more brain cells.

Now that it’s dark outside I can see that the larger light bulb makes a big difference.  I’ll get another one for over the kitchen.

Giraldo left at 6:30.  Today, besides the outside work and the electric cord extension for a new outlet, he did some painting.  He’s supposed to come back early tomorrow to finish up a little something.

I watched the end of the first half of the Monday night football game so I could see the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer at halftime.

Teresa went to bed at 10pm.  I stayed up another hour to watch the first episode, season 2 of Fargo.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed.