Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Today is another Colombian holiday – Labor Day aka May Day aka International Workers’ Day – one of 18 that Colombia has each year – second highest number of holidays in the world.

I did not sleep well last night, in fact I might not have slept at all.

I cancelled my chess meeting with Jose because not only am I tired but I’ll probably crash later.

I tried to take a nap after watching some of the Today show.

Chuck emailed me his form and I downloaded it to my flash drive only I’m sure all the internet cafes will be closed today for the holiday.

12:30 and it started raining hard.  An hour later it lessened some but still continued.  I’m supposed to meet Chuck in the park for coffee around 2:30 or 3pm.

The rain stopped completely and I managed to meet Chuck in the park a few minutes after 2:30.  He was with Willie and a young Colombian named Alejandro.  After a little bit Alejandro left and then Willie.  Chuck and I walked over to the bakery for coffee and, for me, a churro. 

We met a couple from Ohio named Shelly (Shirley that’s right; sorry, inside joke) and Chet.  She’s an endodontist and he’s an eye specialist.  They are staying near the Vizcaya mall in El Poblado but are looking seriously at getting an apartment next year in Envigado.  I mentioned my tired eyes that only produce 20% of the necessary tears and Chet told me about a simple procedure called Punctal Plugs.  Per the internet Punctal plugs are tiny, biocompatible devices that can be inserted into tear ducts to block drainage. This increases the eye's tear film and surface moisture to help relieve certain forms of dry eye. Also known as punctum plugs, lacrimal plugs or occluders, these devices often are no larger than a grain of rice.

Chet said this is a simple procedure that can be done in the office.  I’m going to have to talk to my ophthamologist about this procedure.  My next visit should be in a couple months.

I made plans to meet Chuck at the copy center tomorrow after my gym workout.  I’ll use my memory drive for him to print his form.  Then Darnely can sign it and they can fax it to their lawyer.

An acquintance of mine, Gregg Opelka, had another article printed in the Wall Street Journal called Of Dogs and Men.  He sent it to me as a pdf file but I have no idea how I could include it in my blog.

Using World Remit I sent myself $630 (+$1.99 charge) to pay for the apartment and my health insurance.  First time I’m trying such a large amount.  Before I was sending a small amount - $100 – just to make sure I had the procedure down.  The advantage is that it only costs me $1.99 while using the ATM I would have to pay 12,600COPx3 plus another 1% for my bank.  That should save me approximately $18 every month.  The disadvantage is waiting in line for 30 minutes or so for my turn to see a cashier at the bank.

Upon further review I was thinking that maybe I don’t need to buy a new battery for my laptop since I never use it without the power cord anyway.  I wonder what will happen when I disconnect it and move it from the computer room to the dining room table.  Will it do an automatic reboot?

T-shirt of the day: Smiling is the best exercise.