Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Last night I took 2 sleeping pills and went to bed at 10pm.  I got up 2-3 times during the night but always quickly fell back asleep.  I finally woke up at 6am and got up at 6:45 feeling refreshed.

Laura left for school at 7:10 and I left the apt at 7:15.  I first stopped and checked Bancolombia’s opening hours – 8am – and $efecty’s – 7:30 – and continued on to Carbon de Leña.  I started with a café con leche and then ordered their calentado – this time without tomatoes and onions.  I took my time, finally finishing just after 8am.

At Bancolombia I got in a short line at the “reservation” machine and an employee watched over me to make sure I made the correct choices to see a cashier to pay the Caldas tax bill.  It was only a 5 minute wait and, besides the bill and cash, I only needed to give the cashier my Cedula number.  Out in the lobby I quickly added another 50mil to Laura’s account to pay for her gym membership.  In the future I guess I’ll just put 200,000 pesos in Laura’s account each month until I'm told to stop.

I was back at the apt by 8:30.

At 9am I watched Trump’s address to the United Nations followed by 30 minutes of the Today show.  His speech was pretty well written and well read.  (There’s nothing like saying you might need to “totally destroy” another country.)  He does need to learn to pause a little before starting a new topic.  And those hands, what can we do about those hands?

I called the Washington Post and cancelled my digital subscription.  They asked me why I wanted to cancel and I told them I thought it was too expensive.  $9.99/month x 12 months is almost $120 a year.  I understand I should receive a credit refund of $7.51 within a few days.

I called MetLife regarding the address for my Sears Pension and found they have the correct zip code on file.  Apparently, back on August 22^nd I gave them the wrong zip code of 33337 and they did a USPS lookup and changed it to the right one of 33327-2343.

I called Citibank and they also have the correct 9-digit zip code on file.

I printed out some information regarding the Equifax data breach and hope to print it out soon.  Then I intend to call each of the 3 credit reporting companies and freeze my credit.

About an hour later I received an email from the Washington Post offering me a digital subscription at a 40% discount - $59.  Now, that’s more like it.  The only thing is they want it all upfront and I’m a little strapped for cash so I’m going to wait until my next influx of cash to take advantage of their offer.

I met Chuck outside at 12:30 and we walked down to Deli Hoy where we had a nice buffet lunch.  Chuck told me he saw John, the Englishman, a couple days ago and gave him my business card but he hasn’t called me as yet.  I got a text from Laura that I need to add more minutes to Teresa’s cellphone so we stopped at a Gana store where I added 40mil.  We walked up the hill to Bartolos Bar in the park where he had his usual tinto and I had my usual café con leche.  I made a quick stop at the internet café where I printed the Equifax breech information.  Back at the bar I checked my phone and found I had messages and calls from Laura I had missed.  (I discovered I had the ringer turned down so I didn’t hear her calls.  I’m still figuring this thing out.)  I turned the volume up and replied to her “I’m hungry” text.  (Yesterday I asked her if she’s going to meet me for lunch and she said “I don’t know” so I didn’t worry about her.)  I told her to meet me in the bar at the park.  When she arrived I gave her some money and she bought a Frischuleta at Frisby and brought it back to our table.  By then Chuck was on his second tinto and I was nursing a limonada de coco.  Laura got a call from Teresa asking for us to buy a Frischuleta for her for whenever she gets back so I gave Laura another 20mil and she left to buy one for her mother.  I soon said goodbye to Chuck and headed back to the apt.

I called Equifax on the number I was given and it mainly seemed to be about unfreezing your credit – the opposite of what I wanted.  I called Experian and they mentioned Equifax’s security breach and gave me a different Equifax number.  I called that number and they referred to “the incident” and asked me to go to www.EquifaxSecurity2017.com to fill out some form.

At 3:30 it started raining with lightning so we unplugged the router.  Thirty minutes later it was all over.

Teresa came back at 4:30 with a bad cold she said she got sleeping on the cold floor at the hospital with the air conditioner blowing on her.  (Now I have to be very careful that I don’t get it.)   She believes her mother will be discharged from the hospital tomorrow but she’s going to have to wait until her cold is over to bring MT to our apartment.  She reported the finca roof is finished but we’re going to wait until summer is over (whenever that is) to start painting the finca. 

I went to www.EquifaxSecurity2017.com and read their explanation of “the incident”.  I understand I already have their Call Center number of (866) 447-7559 but I have no interest in signing up for TrustedIDPremier, I just want to freeze my credit.

I’ll probably try again tomorrow afternoon.

I took my 2 sleeping pills at 10pm and we went to bed.

T-shirt of the day: I’m busy.  You’re annoying.  Have a nice day.