Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Happy Pi Day!  3.14, get it?  It’s a math joke!

I watched a little of the Today show and I left with the ladies just before 10am.  Walking through the park I saw 2 men just setting up a chess board to get ready to play.  I recognized one of them and he invited me to play in a tournament this Sunday morning starting around 9 or 10am.  I agreed and they wrote my name and cell phone number on a list on a clipboard.  I wonder if this is another simultaneous.

In the gym I did 20 minutes on the treadmill at speed 5.

Passing through the park again I didn’t see anyone playing chess.  I guess they finished their game in just 30 minutes.

Back at the apt, I showered, changed into clean clothes and left for Exito to buy a few things.  I tried to find Immodium but they didn’t even have it in the pharmacy section.  I also looked for Tums but didn’t find that either.  I’ll try again later in a larger pharmacy.

Teresa made me chicken fajitas for lunch.  Yummy!

I received an email from MBE.  It looks like a bill of 43,444.05 for my monthly rental.  I just don’t know what month it is for, March or April.  I guess April because I already paid for March.  It also shows my Plan Type is e-box 1, my “cupo” (quota) is 1,000 Grs (which is 1 Kilo), it looks like I’ve used 450 Grs thus far and my “tarifa excedente” (monthly fee?) is US $14.  It still has my old address in Laureles so maybe I should change that.

I left the apt at 4:30 and waited at the corner for a bus.  I saw one coming but it turned down a side street before getting to me.  What?  I walked down to Herman’s OJ stand and congratulated him on his photo and article in last Friday’s Gente newspaper.  When I got off the metro at Estacion Estadio it was raining.  Luckily I had my small umbrella with me.  I got to the Liga de Ajedrez and struggled a little with the language barrier but managed to get registered for the tournament. 

While waiting for things to start I sat down at one of the tables and went through some games in my Chess Life.  A guy asked for permission to sit and watch.  After going through a game I set up a position that my friend Ruben had sent me and he tried to queen one of 3 pawns.  At one point he did get some past me until I learned the trick.  I thought he said his name was Ericson until he wrote it down and I learned its Edilson.  He lives in Envigado.  (He ended up getting a draw in his game.)

We started pretty much on time.  The pairings sheet didn’t have ratings listed so I still don’t know what mine is.  There were about 50 players and I played on table #10.  I had White and my opponent’s name was Rios Mateo Moreno.  I played the English opening but after trading some center pawns he had the opportunity to pin my queen against my king and I lost time moving both of them out of the way.  I resigned on the 33^rd move.

When I got up and started walking my calves were a little stiff and sore (treadmill?) at first but they soon loosened up.

I walked back to the metro and when I got off at the Envigado station it was raining.

I was back at the apt just before 10pm.

T-shirt of the day: Yes, I do have a beautiful daughter.  I also have a gun, a shovel and an alibi.