Friday, October 18, 2019

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up thrice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 8am.

Strangely, my right wrist is a little sore from all the writing I did yesterday.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show and left for the gym.  I soon ran into Marcos who explained he had missed a few gym days for the Jewish holidays.  I was on the leg curl machine when I was aware that I could hear English.  On the next machine were a trainer and his client.  I said to the trainer “I didn’t know you spoke English”.  His name is Andres and he informed me the manager also speaks English.  The client’s name is David from California.  I asked how long he’s been here and he said a year and a half.  I told him I’ve been here 6 ½ years, 1 ½ years in Laureles, 1 1/2 years in a finca with my gf who is now my wife, and 3 ½ years here in Envigado.  A minute later I asked him how his Spanish is and he said “so-so”.  About a 15 second pause later I thought I heard him add “I speak Spanish with my boyfriend”.  Hmmm.

Before I continue, first some background information:  About 3 years ago I played in a simultaneous chess match against International Master Juan Carlos Guerrero Sierra in Envigado.  I recently had the idea of hiring him as a chess tutor.  (I’m tired of losing to these 1100-1400 rated kids.)  The problem is I can’t find his telephone number.  No one here seems to have a telephone book anymore and I’ve checked Facebook and Google.  I did find that he is born in 1988 so he’s about 30/31 years old and that he plays occasionally on Chess.com and he has a Fide rating of 2353.

Now, back to the gym.  As I was leaving I asked Juan Carlos if he happened to know Juan Carlos Guerrero Sierra.  He entered his name into the Smartfit website and I was surprised when he showed me his photo on the screen.  I asked him which gym he goes to and he looked and said this one.  For privacy reasons he couildn’t give me any additional information but he did inform me that last time he was here was July 30^th (a Tuesday).  (He’s probably been off in some other corner of the world playing in chess tournaments.)  I asked him if he could tell me what time he was last here and he said 6.  I asked 6pm and he replied 6am.  Yikes!

On my way back to the apt I picked up a free copy of Gente newspaper at the guardhouse.  Teresa returned a few minutes later.  In the newspaper there is an article about the roadwork they are doing by Ayura station.  Something about it connecting Itagui, Envigado, and Medellin and they are now moving trees (not sure if in or out).

I searched Juan Carlos’ name on Chess.com and learned he was online 17 hours ago.  Using their website I was able to send him a message, so we’ll see.

Among new US movie releases, I would like to see Zombieland: Double Tap (7.3) and here maybe I should see Joker (8.9) since it has a high rating and is making lots of money.

I checked Chess.com and found Juan Carlos had answered my message.  He gave me his cellphone number and asked to contact him via Whatsapp.  We chatted and I learned he’s in town although he will be going to Europe in December.  He lives by Colegio Teresita which is just a block the other side of Otra Parte.  I asked if I could buy him coffee sometime and we made plans to meet tomorrow at 5pm at Otra Parte.

I invited Teresa to go for pizza and she replied she would like to go for patacon again which is on the other side of the street from Antica Pizza.  We took a taxi to Calle 37Sur where MT was waiting for us.  When we arrived Teresa sent me across the street to the pizzeria and Teresa and MT went to check out the street food.  I found 3 seats available and I saw Gloria, the owner’s wife, who hasn’t been here the last few times so I signaled the others across the street to come join me.  I had my usual vegetarian pizza but this time I added bacon.  After Teresa talked to Gloria she informed me that they are opening another pizzeria in Laureles, near Mondongos.

As we left there were a few raindrops.

Shortly after we dropped off MT and returned to the apt it started raining hard.  It stopped about the time we went to bed.

5,535 steps today.

Joke of the day

The teacher asked little Johnny, "What's two and two?". He counted 1-2-3-4 on his fingers and said, "Four?". She said, "Yes, that's right, but you counted on your fingers.

Put your hands behind your back and tell me what's three and three". He put his hands behind his back, fumbled around, and answered, "Six?". She said, "Yes, that's right, but you're still counting on your fingers.

Put your hands in your pockets and tell me what's five and five". He put his hands in his pockets, fumbled around, and replied, "Eleven?".