Wednesday, May 31, 2017

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

So far this morning the sky is mostly overcast.

The large tree outside our apartment building has large yellow flowers covering about half the tree.

I did my 18 exercises in 2 hours 10 minutes.  The gym seems to be getting more and more crowded – maybe it’s time to stop taking memberships.  I also did 10 sit-ups on the special benches they have for that purpose.

At 12:30 I did a speed test from the computer room and got 4.45Mbps download and 2.16Mbps upload.

I received an email from Paypal that my $5 payment to Colombia Reports has been cancelled – both of them.  I checked my checking account online and the payments are still there.  Maybe tomorrow.

The purchase receipts using my debit card now show the charge in dollars as well as pesos so I don’t have to check my checking account online.  It’s strange but the currency exchange rate that Paparazzi and the Parmessano restaurant used yesterday was 2800 but Studio F used 2912 which sounds closer to actual to me.  That’s about a $4 difference.  I looked at my receipts and in fine print at the bottom (translated into English) it says: I understand that I have been offered a selection of coins for payment including the local currency of the merchant and I have agreed to pay in USD.  I understand that my currency selection is final. The exchange rate is based on Visa Published Rate, plus an international conversion rate of 3.5%. This service is provided by Credibanco in association with Fintrax Group.  An extra 3.5% is pretty steep.  Maybe it’s time to start paying in cash.

Teresa just informed me that Laura will start college in July.

Teresa, MT and I left the apt at 2:45 and we quickly caught a taxi to Stella Duran where Teresa signed up for a series of special messages for 550,000 pesos or $275.

I left there at 3:35 for my 4:10 movie.  I guess, being Wednesday, they changed the showtimes because now it’s only playing at the El Tesoro theater.  I got out of the taxi right at 4:10 but still had to make a trip to the ATM, stop at the restroom, buy my ticket, buy popcorn and get to my seat.  When I was younger I recall my dad often taking my brother and I to the movies and we would often come in near the middle, watch the last half and then stick around to watch the first half.  Not sure if it was that difficult to know movie start times or we were working with limited time there.  Anyway, I don’t like doing that.  I knew I could count on at least 15 minutes of trailers and advertising before the show anyway.  When I entered the theater it looked like a trailer for some Tom Cruise movie.  (Later I checked imdb.com and it looks like it will be The Mummy opening June 9^th.)  I left my snacks at my seat and made a quick trip to the restroom.  When I returned I only had to wait a minute for the movie to start.  I enjoyed it immensely partially because I once had an apt 2 blocks from the location of the 1^st McDonald’s in Des Plaines, Illinois.

After the movie I quickly caught a taxi back to Envigado.

T-shirt of the day: A scientific study shows that if you are reading this…you are not blind.