Thursday, September 29th, 2016

We left the apt about 10am and quickly caught a taxi for 8mil to the Euro grocery store in Mayorista where we bought 436,141 (about $150) worth of groceries.  While Teresa picked up the last few items including the meat I sat down in their deli and had a café con leche.  (I noticed they have omelettes.)  A man put everything in the back of his van and the trip back cost 10mil.  (I bought a single roll of Scott toilet paper.  We’ll see how it stands up against the Suave Gold we usually buy.)

After lunch I reviewed the ballot mailing instructions and found some inconsistencies.  The most serious one was the printed instructions ask to mail it back in an envelope no wider than 6 1/8” when my paper is the standard 8 ½” wide.  I finally saw in the email that it accepts an envelope up to 9” wide.

I got everything ready, took a bus and got off at Office Depot where I bought the only envelope they sold – a very flimsy one for 250 pesos.  I caught another bus to MBE where I sent it off to the US for 25,000 pesos.  I gave the lady my last 50mil so I had 25mil in change.  I took a bus back to Starbucks for 2mil.  I put 2mil aside for my final bus ride then ordered 2 slices of carrot cake and a large vanilla latte.  The total came to 23,100 and I was embarrassed to find I only had 21mil and change.  The manager said not to worry and he gave me my order.  (If I was quicker thinking on my feet – which I’m not – I could have paid for my Starbucks order with my debit card.)  I asked a lady next to me where I could find the nearest ATM and she said to take the escalator upstairs.  I did and found a Bancolombia ATM.  I tried to withdraw 800,000 pesos and was declined.  I went back downstairs and ate one of the slices of carrot cake with my vanilla latte while reading my Nook.

I soon caught a bus back at 4:30 right in the worst of rush hour – which means forget about rushing.  Back in Envigado at 5pm I stopped in Bancolombia and tried to withdraw 600mil and again was declined.  I was getting worried that maybe my new debit card with the chip doesn’t work in Bancolombia ATMs.

Back at the apt I checked online and saw I only had about $200 left in my account – equivalent to about 435,000 pesos – which is why I was declined both of those times.  I should have a partial infusion of cash tomorrow and everything will be right with the world again.

I finished Bill O’Reilly’s Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan and downloaded Richard Shirreff’s War with Russia.

I’ve been exchanging emails with my Philippino friend in Hawaii who offered to send me a chess book and chess software.

T-shirt of the day: Wanted for being awesome.

Wednesday, September 28th, 2016

Today is my brother’s 64^th birthday.  Happy birthday Jim!

Teresa and Laura left for the gym just before 10am and I just a few minutes after.  I did my 18 minutes on the treadmill and most of the weight machines on my list.  I left at 11:30 so as to have enough time for shower, cool down, and lunch.

I think Teresa forgot about my meeting Dario today but she returned at 12:30 – still in time for lunch.

Today I paid for the integrado fee so I received a cardboard ticket for the metro.  I figured I saved something like 1,500 pesos (50 cents).  Maybe that’s why so many people wait in line at the ticket booth – to buy an integrado ticket.

At Dario’s store I asked him how old he is now and he said 79.  I hope I look that good at his age.  He informed me he was going to win 2 games today and I just said “good luck”.

I had the black pieces first and I soon had a good attack against his uncastled king and he resigned.  The second game was much closer and I was ahead in material in the endgame but he lost on time.  Better luck next week.

Surprise, surprise!  I got an email from my old Filipino chess playing friend from when I worked at Sears years ago – Ruben Reyes.  He’s living in Hawaii.

Teresa said she saw Martha who returned 150mil of the 300mil she owes me.  She said something about her brother died and she would have the rest for me in a couple more weeks.

T-shirt of the day: Your pretty face is going to hell.

Tuesday, September 27th, 2016

Just before lunch Mother Teresa arrived with Wilson who looked at a number of his mother’s documents.  They all asked me about a national id card for the US but I had to explain that we don’t have one.  Instead each person has a SS card, a state driver’s license if they drive and a passport if they want to travel abroad – but each of those 3 numbers are different.

Teresa took her mother to the doctor’s office for a 2:30 appointment.  Teresa believes her mother is in the early stages of alzheimer’s but she wasn’t able to see a doctor today because there were so many people waiting to have their blood pressure checked. 

I logged into the Cook County Elections website and read their directions.  Then, just for practice, I filled out the voting form.  I walked over to the internet café and the owner assigned me to a computer.  I completed the voting form but it wouldn’t print.  She moved me to a different computer and I filled it out for a 3^rd time and this time it printed – 13 pages – besides the ballot there’s a Mail Voter Certificate, a Standard Oath and a mailing label.  Now I just have to mail it back to Chicago so it arrives before the end of November.

I paid 6,000 pesos and then walked over to the park.  After walking around looking at each of the games a man invited me to play.  He’s a strong player but I pretty easily won 2 games – 1 with black and 1 with white.  My lessons and practice on chess.com are paying off.  (I’ll know better after my games with Dario tomorrow.)  Walking down the closed off street across from the park I saw a woman making cotton candy from one of those machines; first time I’ve seen that here.  To celebrate my victories I stopped at the bakery and bought 2 churros – sugar donuts with arequipe inside.

T-shirt of the day: Follow your soul.

Monday, September 26th, 2016

I did 18 minutes at speed 6 on the treadmill today and was at the gym for at least 1 hour and 45 minutes.  I saw 2 new young attractive ladies working out today and another one crossing the street as I left the gym.

Mother Teresa brought over the information for a new Bancolombia savings account that she just set up.

I called SS and after 60 minutes I talked to a woman who said we should be able to take care of everything with a phone call from MT.  Yay, we won’t have to go to Bogota!  I called back but after a 45 minute wait the rep answered in English.  She switched me to the Spanish line and I reached someone after only a 10 minute wait.  I explained everything but the rep said we will have to go to Bogota to request to have her SS deposited into her bank account.  Boo!

We went to MT’s apt for a couple hours where Teresa helped her bake a cake.  The closest to a cake it tasted like to me was a potato pancake.

I watched the first presidential debate on my slingbox.  Trump was strong at the beginning but the rest of the debate was Clinton’s.

T-shirt of the day: Amazing things will happen.

Sunday, September 25th, 2016

Mother Teresa came over and gave me a plastic folder with some more of her documents.  I went through it and confirmed what her SS number is but still didn’t find her card.  She says it’s coming in a package mañana – yeah, right.  Laura used Whatsapp (sp?) on her cell phone so she could talk to Maria’s mother.

Teresa walked her mother back to her apt and then the 3 of us went to Carbón de Leña for lunch.  I had their ribs but I should give up on them because they are so chewy.

We stopped at Exito and Laura asked for the keys because she was going back to the apt.  I accused her of not wanting to help us carry groceries but she said all her mother is picking up is chicken.  We ended up with 5 bags of groceries.

I watched most of the NFL games today on something called NFL Game Day Live which switched back and forth among the games, most importantly it was in English.

The ladies left at 6:45 to pick up abuela (Spanish for grandmother) and go to mass.  I was excused because my Bears game starts at 7:30.

I ate some more peanuts, drank some more Coke and watched my Bears succumb to the Dallas Cowyboys 31-17.

T-shirt of the day: Be my next mistake.

Saturday, September 24th, 2016

I slept in until about 9am.

The Colombian Peso closed at 2,919 to the Dollar.

I went through MT’s documents and found 2 with her name on it from the IRS but they had different SS numbers.  Huh?  I also found a short letter from a Maria Teresa McCaffrey stating that MT lived in her house and was welcome there for as long as she wanted.  Laura found her phone number so I called her using my magicJack.  I learned that MT had both an old SS number and a new SS number so I guess I can tell which is which based on the dates on the IRS documents.  Maria said that MT would go to the SS office and take care of all the government requirements herself including her citizenship and that all she is aware of that she needs from SS is she has to cancel her Medicare which will save her something like $100 a month.  I mentioned she also needs to change her address from NJ to Envigado, Colombia.  (I’m hoping we can take care of most of that with a call to SS in the US.)  Maria’s mother wants to talk to MT so we’ll probably call back tomorrow.  She also needs a local bank account to have her SS payments sent to.

I received an email from International Living (the magazine) inviting me to join their tour to explore Colombia.  Lol.

The ladies left about 3:15 and I took a 45 minute nap.

T-shirt of the day: Black Sabbath.

Friday, September 23rd, 2016

Among this week’s new movie releases I would like to see The Magnificent Seven (7.2), Queen of Katwe (6.7) and, I’m a little late choosing this one, Southside With You (6.7).  Locally, The Magnificent Seven (7.2) is playing at Oviedo (2pm) and Santafe (5:10pm).

At the health club I figured out it’s to my advantage to work on the weight machines while most of the ladies are in the noon exercise class and then 5 minutes before they finish switch to my favorite treadmill.  I was still there for more than 90 minutes today.

After lunch I took a 90 minute nap; I was exhausted.

I found the website for the Federal Benefits Unit of the US Embassy in Bogota, Colombia.  https://bogota.usembassy.gov/service/federal-benefits.html  I asked Teresa if her mother already has a SS card.  She called her and she came over.  I understand she has a card but doesn’t have her number memorized so she’ll have to look through some papers for it.  To be continued!

I received an email from Cook County Elections informing me how to vote in the General Election.  I have to mail my vote back postmarked by November 8^th and it must be received by November 22^nd.  I’d better get started on that!

The ladies accompanied mother Teresa back to her apartment and came back with 4 bags of clothes.  Most still had the price tags on them.  Teresa asked me why they were so inexpensive – like $10.  I told her that’s because no one else wanted to buy them so they lowered the price until they sold it.

They gave me an envelope with MT’s (mother Teresa) papers; hopefully I can find some SS information in there but I’m going to wait until tomorrow to go through it.

I finished Ken Follett’s Night over Water and downloaded Bill O’Reilly’s Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan.

T-shirt of the day: The endless summer.

Thursday, September 22nd, 2016

After breakfast Teresa and I made a trip to Exito.  After we had picked up everything and put it in our cart she asked if I was hungry.  I said yes so we stopped at their cafeteria where I had salad, white rice, and ribs with an iced tea.  The salad would have been better with some dressing but everything else was very tasty.  Teresa didn’t have anything so I guess she wasn’t hungry.

Back at the apt I told her I was going to go to MBE in Medellin to pick up my documents while she made lunch for her and Laura. 

At MBE they had both my new debit card with a chip and my September issue of Chess Life magazine.                                                                                                                  

I caught the Sabaneta bus but got off across the street from Krispy Kreme and decided to take a look at the new Starbucks Coffee store.  It looked the same as I recall in the US – people working on their laptops at tables using wifi, people sitting in comfortable easy chairs, and others standing in line to order coffee.  I saw a display case with pastries and was excited to see carrot cake with what may be cream cheese frosting; I’ll be coming back to try that.  In Krispy Kreme I ordered a Boston cream and a café con leche.  The worker asked me if I’m from the US.  I said yes and she asked me if I would rather have more coffee than cream and I said yes.  I caught another Sabaneta bus and was back at the apt before 2:30.

Teresa had made chicken vegetable soup for her mother and we carried a large pot down to her apt.  I saw about 8 large boxes in the living room that I was told arrived from her mother a couple months ago; it turned out she didn’t travel with 3 or 4 suitcases after all.  She arrived a few minutes later; a petite woman of about 80 that looks younger and has a lot of energy.

She gave Laura a Samsung tablet as a gift and was she happy.  She gave Teresa a purse and a variety of costume jewelry rings, earrings and bracelets.  At one point she showed me her hearing aids that she uses.

Teresa’s mom, hereafter known as mother Teresa, because they have the same name and, well, you know, wants me to help her get an appointment for the US Embassy in Bogota.  It appears she has to go there in order to get her SS transferred to a bank in Colombia.

When we left I guess Teresa didn’t want to make dinner so we walked to Waffelera where we all had Belgium waffles – with strawberries, bananas, maple syrup and vanilla ice cream for me; and with chicken and cheese for the ladies.  They each ordered a juice and I ordered a café con leche and asked if possible could I have more coffee than cream.  She actually went across the street where picked up coffee for me.

While there we received a call from Wilson.  He was locked out of the apartment because his mother set the thumb screw lock and went to bed without her hearing aids.  Teresa told me she specifically asked her mother not to do that.  Lol.

Everything was very tasty and the entire bill came to 39,300 (about $14) and I told the waitress she could keep the change.  Teresa suggested I get a Belgium waffle maker but then what do I do with my old one?

I watched some of the Patriots vs Texans football game on my Slingbox but had to disconnect and reconnect several times.

T-shirt of the day: Salt, lime and tequila.

Wednesday, September 21st, 2016

I left the apt just before 10am in order to have time for my workout, lunch, and to be at Dario’s store by 2pm.

I got my usual treadmill and did my 17 minutes at speed 6.  It looked like a couple young ladies were checking out the health club so maybe there will be some new blood soon.  All told it took me an hour and 40 minutes for everything.

I left the health club at 11:40, took my shower, had lunch and left the apt at 1:15.  When I got on the bus I gave the driver 5mil and he asked me if I wanted an “integrado” as he held up one of the cardboard tickets they use on the metro.  I said “no” but I soon figured out I can save a few pesos if I buy an integrado bus ticket for 2,500 instead of paying 1,800 for the bus and another 2,250 or so for the metro.  At least it should work one way.

I arrived at Dario’s store a couple minutes before 2pm.  The first game I had the black pieces and he tried his usual pawn storm without castling but I stopped him in his tracks and at one point made a pawn move that had multiple threats behind it and I soon won.  Today was his birthday – 80 something? – and they had a little cake that he shared with me and the employees.  The 2^nd game he quickly deviated from his previous opening moves but I prevented him from castling, blocked his bishop with his pawns, posted a knight in the center of the board with multiple threats and he soon resigned.  I think maybe my studies are paying off.

When I left the store it was raining.  I stopped at the mall to use the restroom.  As I walked from the urinal to the sink one of those security truck (I forget the exact term in English) guards came in carrying his shotgun with a bandolier of shotgun shells.  I purposely walked past the Davivienda bank where I saw his partner standing with his revolver at his side waiting for him.  They had locked the bank in the meantime.

I was back at the apt by 4:45.

Teresa’s mother returns from NJ tomorrow afternoon.  I understand Wilson is going to meet her at the airport and we discussed joining them but she is supposed to have 3-4 suitcases and I’m sure there wouldn’t be room for all of us in the taxi.

We watched Hot Girls Wanted (6.2) on Netflix.

T-shirt of the day: Vinyl rules.

Joke

A teacher was helping her third-grade students with a math problem.  After choosing a student in particular, she recited the following story:

“Billy, there are three birds sitting on a telephone wire.  A man with a gun shoots one of the birds.  How many birds are left on the wire?”

The boy pauses. “None” he replied thoughtfully.

“No, no, no.  Let’s try again, maybe you didn’t hear me correctly,” the teacher says patiently.  She holds up three fingers.  “There are three birds sitting on a wire.  A man with a gun shoots one,”  She puts down one finger,  “How many birds are left on the wire?”

“None,” the boy says with authority.

The teacher sighs.  “Tell me how you came up with that.”

“It’s simple,” says the boy, “after the shot one bird, the noise from the gun scared the other two away.”

“Well,” she says, “that’s not technically correct, but I like the way you think.”

“Thanks,” chimes the boy, “now let me ask you a question.”

“Okay,” she said guardedly.

“There are three women sitting on a bench eating popsicles.  One woman is licking the popsicle, one woman is biting the popsicle, and one is sucking the popsicle.  Which one is married?” he asked innocently.

The teacher looked at the boy’s angelic face and writhed in agony, turning three shades of red.

“C’mon,” the boy said impatiently, “which one is it, the one licking the popsicle, the one biting it, or the one sucking it?  Which one is married?

“Well, uh,” she gulped and in a barely audible whisper replied, “the one who’s sucking?”

“Naw,” he says with surprise, “the one with the wedding ring.  But I like the way you think.”

Tuesday, September 20th, 2016

I received an email from MBE that I have a document waiting for pickup.

The past few weeks I’ve noticed my left eye isn’t seeing as clearly as my right so I’ll probably need the same laser procedure I had last year on my right eye.  I had Teresa call my opthamologist and now I have an appointment for November 1^st at 4pm in El Poblado.

I stayed up until midnight to watch a new (for me) episode of El Socio (The Partner).

T-shirt of the day: You have a golden heart.

Joke

A lady gets on a public bus.  Without saying a word, she gestures to the bus driver by sticking her thumb up her nose and waving her fingers at the driver. 

The driver acknowledges the lady, turns to her and uses both hands in the same type of gesture and waves all his fingers at her. 

The woman holds her right arm out at the driver and chops at it a few times with her left hand.

Then the driver puts his left hand on his right bicep and jerks his right arm up in a fist at her.

The woman then cups both of her hands under her breasts and lifts gently.

The driver places both of his hands at his crotch and gently lifts up.

Then the woman frowns, runs a finger up between her derriere, and gets off the bus.

There is another woman sitting in the front row of the bus who witnessed the whole exchange.  She speaks up, “That was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen on a public bus!  What the hell were you doing?”

“Listen lady”, states the gruff bus driver, “the lady that got on the bus before was a deaf-mute.  She asked me if the bus went to 5^th street.  I told her no, we go to 10^th street.  She asked if we make many stops.  I told her that his was the express.  She asked if we go by the dairy, and I told her we go by the ballpark.  She said, “Shit, I’m on the wrong bus!” and got off.

Monday, September 19th, 2016

I slept pretty well despite getting up twice during the night.

The ladies left the apt just after 10 and I left just before 10:30.  I did my 3 reps on each machine (on my list) and 17 minutes on my favorite (usual) treadmill.  This working out stuff is hard work!  Exercise should be a 4-letter word. Lol.

I took an hour nap after lunch.

I had Teresa call Dario and confirm our next match for Wednesday afternoon at 2pm.

I set up my laptop to watch the Monday night game on television.  My Bears lost to the Eagles 29-14 and suffered a lot of injuries.  My screen froze a couple times and I had to disconnect and reconnect but I didn’t miss much.

I had a problem getting the television switched back to Direct TV until I figured out that when the repairman was here he switched their transmission to HDMI so now I’m using the same TV port for both Direct TV and my laptop – I just have to switch cables.

T-shirt of the day: Can’t touch this.

Joke

One Saturday, a duck hunter was on his way home from a long day of hunting. He'd just crossed over the Carlton Bridge when he was pulled over by a Game Warden. The Warden walks up to his car to find the hunter's window rolled down.

"Can I help ya Warden?" He says.

"Well yes you can." The Warden says. "I noticed when I passed you that you were wearin' huntin' attire, and it's my job to inspect any game that you might have. Have you been huntin' today? If you bagged anything, I'll need to see it."

"Well yes sir, I got three ducks today - they're in the trunk." The hunter replied.

The hunter gets out of his car and walks back to the trunk, which he gladly opens. The Game Warden sees three ducks - lined up neatly in the trunk. He picks up one of the ducks and holds it up to the light, looking it over. Then he begins sniffing the duck- like a hound on a scent. Then he takes a finger and rams it up the ducks butt- all the way to the third knuckle. He pulls his finger out and sniffs it. Then he points that finger at the hunter.

"You shot this duck in New Hampshire - I need to see a New Hampshire hunting license- right now." The Warden demanded.

The hunter, who's amazed by this Warden's keen sense of smell pulls out his wallet and fumbles through it for a moment, finally producing the license. The Game Warden looks it over for a second and hands it back to the hunter.

"How in the world did you know where I shot that duck?" The hunter asked, totally baffled by how accurate the Warden's sense of smell is.

"I've been a Game Warden for pretty nigh thirty-five years. You just get to know these things after awhile." The Warden replied.

He picked up the second duck and went through the same routine - first the sniffing - then the finger up the duck's butt. "You shot this one in Massachusetts din'cha? You sure do get around - now I need to see a Massachusetts license or you'll be in big trouble Chummy!" The Warden said, thinking he had him this time for sure.

The hunter, who by this time was totally in awe of this 'talent' that the Warden was displaying, reached for his wallet yet again - producing the requested license. "I can't believe it!" The hunter said, nearly falling on the ground in disbelief. "How did you know where I shot that duck?" "I told ya, it's many years of experience, I can tell by the smell." The Warden replied as he inspected the Massachusetts license. "So far, you're ok - but let's check out this last duck."

The Warden went through his routine yet again and put the final duck back into the trunk. At which time he turned to the hunter who was still aghast with disbelief. "All right," the Warden says, "you shot this one here in Maine, din'cha" He queried. "I'll need a Maine huntin' license right now - or you're gonna get written up." The flabbergasted hunter pulled out his wallet again, this time a little annoyed with the Warden, and produced his Maine hunting license.

The Warden looked it over carefully and handed it back to the hunter. "Well," the Warden says, "it looks as though everything's in order. You're free to go."

The Warden walks back to his truck - but just before he got in, he turns back to the hunter, who's still standing next to his car - not believing what had just happened. "Wait a minute!" The Warden hollered. "I know you've been huntin' all over New England today- but where in the hell are you from anyway?" The hunter turned around, bent over, dropped his trousers, spreading his cheeks for the Game Warden to see. "You're so friggin' smart- you tell me."

Sunday, September 18th, 2016

Slept pretty well last night only getting up once about 3am.

Well, the Jason Statham movie is playing at El Tesoro at 2:25 and Oviedo at 4:45 so we’ll most likely go to the latter because it’s closer and less expensive.

Teresa wanted to get more sun lying on the floor of the apt so we decided to go to the 7:15 showing.  I just hope it isn’t too busy at that hour.

We left the apt at 6:30, quickly caught a taxi (7mil) and were at the Oviedo box office by 7pm.  There were only 4 people ahead of us in line to buy tickets.  The good economy seats were all taken so I splurged and bought 3 preferred seats for 18,500 each (about $6.50).  There was a long line at the concession stand where Teresa ordered a hot dog, a chocolate bar and a bag of chips, Laura and I shared a large popcorn with salt and we all had medium sodas for about 42,000 pesos (about $15).

The movie was pretty good with lots of action.

Afterwards we quickly caught a taxi back to the apt for 7mil.

I decided to watch the end of the Packers vs Vikings game but I had to first download new software for my Slingbox.  I’m glad that worked or I’d be panicking about tomorrow night’s game.

T-shirt of the day: Designated drinker.

Saturday, September 17th, 2016

I slept well, not waking up until 7am, getting up at 8am.

Today is Dia de Amor y Amistad – Day of Love and Friendship – sort of their version of our Valentine’s Day.

I put my iPad and Nook in my tech bag and we left the apt at 9:05am.  We walked a block away where we quickly caught a taxi.  Driving on the highway downtown today was the first time I’ve seen signs that said “No” to the peace agreement.  We got to Laureles by 9:35, I paid the 17mil taxi fare, and checked in at the office for Dia de Sol (Day of Sun).  We wrote our names and cedula numbers in his book and paid the 120,000 pesos for the day.  We had a few minutes so we walked down to El Comedor de Chava where we said hello to Lucas.

There was only another couple in the van with us.  Both Colombian, she was in her 40s or 50s with blond hair and a pretty face and he was in his 50s or 60s.  I learned he was in a motorcycle accident and had lost his memory; he doesn’t even remember the names of his sons.  Apparently he was crossing a street and was struck by a motorcycle.

We made our usual stop at the roadside restaurant where I had calentao with coffee for breakfast.  Including Teresa’s pastry the total came to 11mil. 

Our bus was stopped once by police on the road and again by the army but the police just checked the driver’s papers and let us go on.

As usual it was a hot sunny day at the resort.  We started by one pool and Teresa said she wanted to move to the other.  I remember picking up the towel and my swim suit and carrying them to the other pool.  Teresa soaked her towels in water to put on the hot deck chairs.  She asked me where my towel was and darned if I could find it.  It just disappeared somehow.

While Teresa worked on her tan I sat in the shade and played 10 games of chess on chess.com.  I won 7 and lost 3 and one of my losses I was about to go up a queen when I lost on time.  I increased my rating to 1135.  Now I did swim in the pool a bit and spent a few minutes in the sun getting dry again but soaking in the son isn’t my thing.

Lunch was soup, salad, pork, yucca strips and juice.  The pork was a little tough so neither of us finished it.

At 3:30 dark clouds came overhead and by 4pm it started raining.  Teresa talked to the other couple while I read some of my Nook book.

We left just before 7pm, made the usual stop at the restaurant where I had an almohabana, a pan de queso (cheese bread) and coffee.  The driver dropped the other couple off a block from the Floresta metro station and we were back in Laureles mall by shortly after 9pm.

We quickly caught a taxi back to Envigado.  On the way, on Calle 33, we were stopped at a red light and I saw a woman walking in our direction on the sidewalk.  She was very slim, in high heels, shorts and a top that exposed a slim midriff.  I nudged Teresa, indicated her direction, and was about to ask her if she was a prostitute when I saw her face and I asked Teresa if that was a man.  She asked our drive and he turned to look.  In the meantime another taxi pulled up blocking our view of her/him.  The other driver obviously saw her and turned and looked at me.  I put up my hand and dangled a finger down and we all laughed, including the other driver.  Yep, obviously a transsexual.

We were back at the apt before 10pm.

The peso closed for the week at 2,947 to the dollar.

Apple has announced the release of the new iPhone 7 but the iPhone SE still lists at $399 in the States.

T-shirt of the day: I am strong because I know my weaknesses.

Friday, September 16th, 2016

Last night I took my sleeping pills at 10:40 expecting to go to bed 20 minutes later but we got involved in watching a new show – Planet’s Got Talent – and we didn’t get to bed until about 11:30.  For the first time in quite a while I slept through the night, waking up at 6am, getting up at 8:15.  My eyes feel so much better when I sleep through the night.

Among this week’s new movie releases I would like to see Silicon Cowboys (5.2), The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years (8.2) and The Good Neighbor (6.6).

Locally, Mechanic: Resurrection (5.9) starring Jason Statham is playing at Oviedo and El Tesoro.  Maybe we’ll go see it on Sunday.

On the Today show they reported that people can get access to your computer and then watch you using your video cam.  They recommended putting a piece of tape over it which I did and Laura did also.

On the way to the health club I thought I passed a gringa – probably should have said “hello” but I didn’t.  I arrived at 11am and didn’t leave until just before 12:30.  My usual treadmill was busy so I used the one that I found to be “broken” last week.  Right away it ran me up to an incline of 7.4; apparently it wasn’t recording my heart rate correctly and I only lasted 8 minutes on it.

When we left, Teresa was very hungry so she and Laura went on to Carbón de Leña while I went back to the apt for a shower.  By the time I arrived 30 minutes later they had finished eating.  Teresa left to get her nails done, I had a Caesar salad with chicken, and Laura had a small cup of tiramisu.  Laura left and I headed across the street and played 3 games of chess against pretty strong competition.  I won 1 and lost 2 returning to the apt just before 6pm.

T-shirt of the day: Worth a fortune.

Thursday, September 15th, 2016

I left the apt after lunch and stopped in BanColombia to withdraw some cash.  After selecting a few options the machine displayed something like “Attention – Contact your bank for more details”.  I went to Citibank and had no trouble withdrawing some cash.  I went back to BanColombia where I waited 30 minutes in line (2 women at the cashier took 20 minutes to finish their business) to pay the quarterly tax bill on the finca.  I went in to Exito and picked up some things and waited another 10 minutes in line.

Back at the apt a guy from Direct TV was fixing our TV problem.  I was told that the extra HDMI ports in back don’t work and that I should disconnect the HDMI port I do use when there are storms.

I looked out the bedroom window and saw a kite high in the air.  It’s unbelievable how high they fly some kites here.

Laura’s acquaintance, Cesar Verez from EAFIT, stopped by about 6:30 to fix my computer.  He spoke very good but not perfect English.  He removed CC Cleaner and told me to use ADW Cleaner instead.  He removed my virus protection software and told me to use Avira instead.  I understand both of those are free software.  He ran Avira and it found 50 viruses which he removed.  He also did something to speed up my processing speed.  He told me he established a remote communication link with my computer so I guess if I have problems in the future he can fix it without stopping by.  (I’m not sure if that means he can access any of my information.)  He left a little over an hour later and charged me 50,000 pesos.  Tonight I was able to backup my files to my external hard drive for the first time in months.

T-shirt of the day: I’m home, take me drunk.

Wednesday, September 14th, 2016

I got to the health club about 10:30 and didn’t leave until after noon.  I’m going to have to leave earlier if I want a chance to still have time for lunch and meet Dario at 2pm to play chess.  (Yesterday we tried calling Mr. Dario to play chess today but he never answered.)  My usual treadmill was being used so I tried the one next to it for the first time.  It right away took me up an incline of 3.6 and then a minute later took me up to 6.5.  I guess after I went over my target heart rate of 120 (to 130) it finally came back down to 0.0.  Maybe the incline isn’t working on my usual machine.

My earthquake app showed 5 more tremors occurred this morning that I never felt.

About 6pm a thunderstorm came through and Teresa disconnected the power cord which cut off the wifi right when I was in the middle of a game (I think I was winning).

When we turned the TV back on it we couldn’t get a signal so Laura called Direct TV.

In Chess Magnet School I was promoted to Yeoman.

T-shirt of the day: Dumbass.  (It’s hard to believe someone would advertise themselves like that.)

Tuesday, September 13th, 2016

Teresa wanted to go to Mayorista de Medellin again to buy fruits and vegetables.  I had set the alarm for 7am and of course as soon as it went off she begged to sleep some more.  I couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up at 7:30 and Teresa followed soon after.  We left the apt about 8:30.  I remembered how inexpensive it was last time so I didn’t bring my debit card and I didn’t bring any large bills.  As soon as we got there, instead of checking in with the individual vendors like last time, Teresa heads into a Euro grocery store.  Uh-oh!  I informed her I only had 160,000 pesos with me in small bills.  We got most of the things she wanted, however.  It cost 7,000 pesos to get there by taxi and 8,000 to return.  Compare that to if we shopped at Exito we would have taken a taxi back for 5,000 pesos so we have to consider we spent an extra 10,000 pesos just for transportation.  It was probably still worth it.

Teresa left the apt with Laura about 2pm to go to El Poblado to show a woman how to make meat rolls.

I studied more chess tactics and played more 10 minutes games getting my rating over 1100.

Teresa finally came back at 8:15.

That was interesting.  It was about 9pm and I was lying on the couch when I felt someone shake it.  I looked to the right and saw Teresa sitting in the rocking chair.  I called out “Laura” thinking she was behind me but she came out of her bedroom and said she felt it also.  (Come to think of it, it’s a big couch made of hard wood that I know I couldn’t shake.)  I checked my Earthquake app but it didn’t show anything that occurred locally.  I checked again just before I went to bed (about 10:30) and it showed that at 8:58pm, 91 miles NW of us a 6.0 tremor occurred 11 miles deep inside the earth.  

T-shirt of the day: Mutt strut.

Joke

A Jewish woman says to her mother, 'I'm divorcing Sheldon!  All he wants is anal sex and my asshole is now the size of a 50 cent piece when it used to be the size of a 5 cent piece.'

Mother says 'You're married to a  multi-millionaire, you live in an 8 bedroom mansion,  you drive a Ferrari, you get $1000 a week allowance, you take 6 vacations a year - and you want to throw all that away for 45 cents?’

Monday, September 12th, 2016

At the health club I was working on the weight machines and keeping an idea on a woman using my (usual) treadmill.  When I saw her walking slowly I figured she was in the cool down period so I stood near the machine and got on a minute later.  I did 16 minutes at speed 6, which I think I’ll repeat for the remainder of the week.  I weighed in at 77.5 kilos.

I spend a good part of the day, studying chess on Chess.com and playing some 10 minute games to test my opening theory.  I won more games than I lost and got my rating over 1000.

T-shirt of the day: Buy now, pay later.

Sunday, September 11th, 2016

Well, it’s finally here.  

First, today is the 15^th anniversary of 9/11.  I remember sitting in my cubicle in Schaumburg, IL and hearing reports of a small plane crashing into one of the World Trade Center towers.  We knew for sure something was up when a 2^nd plane crashed into it.  I recall seeing from our office windows a military fighter jet guiding a commercial flight into O’Hare airport.  We were let go early and we all watched the remainder of the day’s sad activities from our homes.

Well, today is my Chicago Bears 1^st game of the new NFL season, at the Houston Texans.  The team has undergone a lot of changes and a few new pieces haven’t had much time to practice together.  I think we should be a better team this year although it might take a few games to get coordinated and by then there could be some serious injuries.

In the 2^nd half I started munching on the bag of salted-in-the-shell peanuts my son brought me from the States.  The Bears lost to the Texans 23-14.

I think I mentioned I subscribed to Chess.com’s Gold plan for $5 a month; it allows me to practice 25 tactics and take 5 lessons each day.

Teresa and I started watching Kill Bill Vol. 1 (8.1) on Netflix.

I received an email from my son that he had arrived safely in Fort Lauderdale.

T-shirt of the day: Smoke weed.

Saturday, September 10th, 2016

The Colombian Peso closed at 2,919 to the Dollar.

I walked a few blocks to $efecty where I paid this month’s Une bill.

I left the apt at 12:15 to meet my son for lunch at Parque Envigado.  He arrived right at 12:30 and since he’s eaten at Carbón de Leña before we walked a block further to Morisko’s.  I had a bowl of cream of onion soup, a hamburger and strawberry juice and he had a pizza and 2 pineapple juices.  The total bill came to 56,800 including tip.  After I made a trip to the restroom he made his trip.  While he was gone a young waitress stopped at our table to clean up.  I tried talking to her in my broken English and she learned that I live in Envigado but my son is just visiting.  She said he’s handsome and asked if he’s married.  I said “no” just as he returned to the table.

Jim had to print out his boarding pass but he couldn’t do it before 2:15 – 24 hours before his flight.  We walked a couple blocks away to La Vaquita where I picked up some eggs, sugar, cooking oil, mustard and sandwich ham.  We were still a little early but I took him to 4 different places where I thought he might be able to log on to the internet and print his pass but they were all closed.  

Back at the apt we all had something to drink and then took a nap.  We then walked down to Exito but weren’t able to print his pass in the copy center.  Laura finally suggested we go to her school where we were lucky to find Marco and he helped Jim to print out the pass.  Back at the apt we watched The Big Short (7.8) on Netflix.

Then we had to say goodbye to Jim and he caught a taxi back to the hostel.  Tomorrow he’ll leave about 10:30 or 11am for the airport and a Spirit flight to Fort Lauderdale and then Chicago.  Hopefully I’ll see him again next year for his annual vacation.

T-shirt of the day: I am not a unicorn.

Friday, September 9th, 2016

As we were walking to the health club I saw dark clouds approaching from the east.  I just wanted to get to the gym before the rain I don’t care so much about after as the first thing I’ll probably do is take a shower so I’ll be getting wet anyway.  About 5 minutes after we arrived it poured so hard it was actually noisy.  Today I did 15 minutes at speed 6 on the treadmill in addition to going thru all the other weight machines.  The rain stopped about 30 minutes after it started.  Walking out of the building Teresa said something about a gringo we just passed.  I turned around and it was Alan – the gringo I hadn’t seen since last December or so.  He said soon he has to go back to the US again and I told him to let me know when he returns.

Among this week’s new US movie releases I would like to see Sully (8.0) and The Disappointments Room (7.2).  Locally, there isn’t anything I want to see.

I loaned 300,000 pesos to Teresa’s friend Martha who should be returning it on Monday or Tuesday.

We left the apt at 7pm and as we were walking down the stairs Teresa and Laura were having a discussion.  When we got out to the street and I was looking for a taxi Laura showed me her cell phone.  She had called an Uber car and it showed it would arrive in 5 minutes.  It showed the name of the driver and the license number of the car.  Five minutes later he still hadn’t arrived and Laura said he’s lost so I started looking for taxis again.  Laura showed me the Uber app again and I understood another car was on the way.  It arrived in 10 minutes.  It was a newer clean car and he took us to Contenedores Food Place.  I asked Laura how much it costs since it had no meter and how do I pay?  Do you have an account that it’s charged to?  Do I pay the driver with a debit card?  With cash?  She didn’t know.  Great!  It cost 9,200 pesos and I gave the driver 10,000 because I didn’t have any change and he didn’t offer me any in return.

We met Jim, Jeff, and Sean there and went to the Italian restaurant named Tano Argento.  There was no one at that restaurant so we easily got a table that seats 6.  The chairs were metal folding chairs so that’s going to cost them a point in my review.  There was a duo playing blues music so that was nice. 

For the table, Jim ordered 2 bottles of red wine – La Consulta Tinto BT – for 86,000 pesos and an order of mozzarella sticks.  I had a bowl of minestrone soup and lasagna bolognesa, Teresa had the fish of the day, Laura had something called Magherita, Jim had spaghetti, Jeff had fettuccine, and Sean had chicken lasagna.  Everyone liked there food although Jim said that the pasta was overcooked.  We ordered 3 different desserts that we shared and 4 of us had café con leches.

The total bill with tip came to 324,196 (about $112) and Jeff and Sean picked up the check.

We said our goodbyes to Jeff and Sean who have to catch an early flight back to Chicago tomorrow morning.  They said they thoroughly enjoyed their time in Medellin and want to come back.  I’ll be meeting Jim tomorrow after he switches from a room for 3 to a room for 1.

We quickly caught a taxi back to the apt and it cost less than 6,000 pesos.

T-shirt of the day: It’s not easy being so smart.

Thursday, September 8th, 2016

I left the apt about 12:25, took a bus to Parque Poblado, stopped at MBE and picked up a FedEx express envelope and walked up the hill to Hotel Charlee.  The guys moved into this hotel, situated on the edge of Parque Lleras, last night.

I left my envelope in my son’s apartment and we walked down Calle 10 to the metro.   We took the metro to Acevedo station where we transferred to the metro cable.  At Santa Domingo we bought another ticket for 4,850 pesos which took us to the Parque Arvi entrance.  There we bought cups of berries, cups of juice and bottles of water.

A few minutes later Jim shared with us his interesting experience in the toilet trying to get the toilet paper dispenser to work.  Lol.

I stopped at the information booth and asked what else there is to do here beyond the ecological park.  She gave me a small map and told me about Comfama which must be where the obstacle course(s) is/are.  I fed a couple dogs the last of my dog biscuits.  

We took the metro cable back down to the Acevedo station where we took a taxi back to Parque Lleras for 18mil.  On the way back I showed them where the new river park is going to be.

I said goodbye, will meet with Jim again on Saturday and walked down the street to Parque Poblado.  I caught a Sabaneta bus back to the apt.

I watched the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers in a nailbiter 21-20 using my Slingbox.  I did experience a few buffering problems in the 2^nd half.

T-shirt of the day: Stay focused.