Monday, April 1, 2019

Happy April Fools Day everyone!

I woke up at 4:30 and finally got up at 5am.  I washed my face, shaved and dressed and we left the apt at 10 minutes to 6.  Teresa was amazed by how slowly I was walking with my sore back but I didn’t want to take a pain pill or muscle relaxant before my blood draw.  At the end of the block we quickly caught a taxi to Nueve eps.

I only had to wait about 5 minutes before they drew a vial of blood.  It was only 6:20 so we sat in their waiting room until 7:15 when Teresa left for her gym class next door and I went to Carbon de Leña. Right away I asked for a glass of water and I took ½ an Excedrin Migraine and a muscle relaxant.  I had my usual scrambled eggs, calentao and a café con leche.  I paid 10,000 pesos and walked to the bus stop.  I took the bus to La Buena Mesa and walked back to the apt.

By the time I left for the gym, after watching the first 20 minutes of the Today show, my back felt fine.  When I entered the gym the receptionist had me use the fingerpad and hopefully in the future I’ll be able to use it without showing her my cedula.  I added 5# to 2 of my exercises and 10# to another 2 and increased my treadmill speed from 5.4 to 5.6.  I left the gym after an hour and 30 minutes.

I stopped at Mr. Kutz and asked the owner about the name of the guy who usually cuts my hair.  His name is Leo, they are open every day and he usually works from 9 to 5.

I received an email from Jose that he won’t be available for chess tomorrow because of doctor’s appointments.  Instead Teresa and I might go to Mayorista.

I left the apt at 1:30 and took the bus to downtown Envigado.  At Bancolombia I waited a little over an hour for my turn but then got my cash and deposited the bulk of it into the 3 accounts for the apt, health insurance, and gymnasium.  Yay!  First time I’ve done it alone.

I walked to Todo Drogas where I picked up my medications for the month.  I took a bus back to La Buena Mesa.

I took a 45-minute nap in the afternoon.

Teresa wanted to do something different for dinner and she suggested we go to the Peruvian restaurant in Buena Mesa but it was raining hard so we just stayed in.  I ended up having a sandwich and a glass of milk.

I’m still trying to figure out which ATMs to use in combination with World Remit to save me the most money.  This weekend, when the currency exchange rate (CER) was frozen for the week, I withdrew cash on Saturday and sent myself cash via World Remit on Sunday.

With BBVA & Davivienda I got a CER of 3159 & 3160, respectively, with no ATM fee.  With Servibanca I got a CER of only 3102 after a 14,500 ATM fee.  World Remit, after a $3.99 fee I got a CER of 3127.  So, it sounds like BBVA & Davivienda are the better deal, right?  The problem is that BBVA & Davivienda only allow something like 300mil or 400mil withdrawals and over 10 withdrawals for the month and my bank charges me $2 per withdrawal.  At this point I think I’ll continue using World Remit at the beginning of the month as it’s so convenient for paying for most of my monthly bills and I’ll use BBVA & Davavienda for maximum withdrawals so I can limit the amount for my 2^nd World Remit withdrawal.  Got that?  To be continued…

11,130 steps today.

Joke of the day

A man walks in a bar and the bartender asks, "What'll you have?"

The man answers, "A scotch on the rocks, please."

The bartender hands him the drink, and says, "That'll be five dollars."

"What are you talking about? I don't owe you anything for this," the man replies.

A lawyer, sitting nearby and overhearing the conversation, then says to the bartender, "You know, he has a point there. In the original offer, which constitutes a binding contract upon acceptance, there was no stipulation of remuneration."

The bartender, now pissed off, says to the guy, "Okay, you beat me for this one. But don't ever come back here again!"

A few days later, the same man walks into the bar.

The bartender says, "What do you think you're doing in here? I can't believe you've got the audacity to come back!"

The man says, "What are you talking about? I've never been in this place in my life!"

The bartender replies, "I'm very sorry, but this is uncanny. I feel like you were here a few days ago. You must have a double."

To which the man replies, "Thank you. Make it a scotch."