Saturday, October 6, 2018

I got once during the night, woke up a couple times after that but quickly fell back asleep finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

Well, today is my birthday; I turned 73 today.  Yikes!

I had to run to the corner store for a few eggs so Teresa could make me French toast for breakfast.

I had a thread hanging out of my watch and Teresa helped me cut it off.  She asked me why I don’t have a nice watch and I replied because no one in interested in stealing my Timex.

I left the apt at 8:45 for my 10am chess tournament.  I walked down to the metro and said hello to Herman.  He said he doesn’t work tomorrow so he’s going to see the new mall.

I walked to the far end of the metro station and even though I didn’t get a seat I had no problem with crowds.  At Industriales station I caught the Metro Plus to the university and arrived at 9:40.  Jose and I met the other player from the US – Luis Mariano Romero who not only is from Miami, and not only is Cuban but actually is from the same Cuban city where Jose was born.  He’s only visiting but plans to move to Medellin with his Colombian wife after he retires in the next year or so.

I had the Black pieces in my next game against a young man named John Mario Loaiza rated 1963.  I played the Sicilian defense and I soon developed a weakness in my center but he mated me in 28 moves on the kingside.

Jose won his game also.

We walked about 6 blocks where we found a bakery where we each had the menu del dia for 7,000 pesos each; incredible and it was delicious.  Our lunches plus a tinto for Jose and a churro and café con leche for me came to a total of 20,000 pesos (about $6.75).  He bought since it was my birthday; I understand his birthday is November 25^th; we’ll see if I have an opportunity to reciprocate.

Back at the tournament site we still had to wait around for 2 hours for our next match.

My round 5 opponent was Yuber Quinchia Molares rated 1549.  He didn’t arrive on time so I started his clock.  He arrived 5 minutes late and started playing very quickly.  I was able to play the Kings Indian Attack once again.  After 15 moves he said something to me and I apologized because I don’t speak Spanish.  He resigned on the spot.  I think he probably needed to be somewhere soon.

At this point I have a total of 3 points out of 5 but Jose lost his game so I think he still has 2 points.

Jose took a taxi back to his house and I returned to Envigado wihout any Metro problems.  I arrived at the envigado station exactly at 6pm (I heard them playing the Colombian National Anthem which is always at 6pm).  I called Teresa to ask her if she wanted to go for pizza.  Before I could ask she asked me to meet her, Laura, and her mother at the new mall.  I said “sure”,   I got there first and waited for them at the Avenida Las Vegas entrance.  They arrived about 10 minutes later and the mall was just packed.  We walked around a bit and today they had the children’s park open.  It has bumper cars, one of those things that raises people up and drops them, and a Ferris wheel.  The 4^th level was open but there wasn’t much up there yet except a large sandbox for children and 3 small soccer fields.

We exited the mall and walked over to Exito for a taxi but the line was too long.  We walked out to the street and within 5 minutes caught a taxi.

We went to Antica Pizza for – you guessed it – pizza.

Tomorrow’s 6^th round starts at 8am; unbelievable!

Joke of the day

After having their 11th child, a Mississippi couple decided that was enough (they could not afford a larger doublewide trailer). So the husband went to his doctor (who also treated mules) and told him that he and his wife (who was also his cousin) didn't want to have any more children.
The doctor told him there was a procedure that could fix the problem.  The doctor instructed him to go home, get a cherry bomb (fireworks are legal in Mississippi), light it, put it in a beer can, then hold the can up to his ear and count to 10.
The Mississippian said to the doctor, "I may not be the smartest man, but I don't see how putting a cherry bomb in a beer can and holding it next to my ear is going to help me."
So, the couple drove to Alabama to get a second opinion. The Alabamian physician was just about to tell them about a procedure called a vasectomy when he noticed they were from Mississippi. The doctor instead told the man to go home and get a cherry bomb, light it, place it in a beer can, hold it to his ear and count to 10.
Figuring that both learned physicians couldn't be wrong the man went home, lit a cherry bomb and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . . . ", at which point he paused, placed the beer can between his legs and resumed counting on his other hand.