Monday, June 7, 2021

Today is a holiday, Corpus Christi.

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up once around 2am, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

Chess.com matched me up with a new player, from Poland – new in that I’ve never played them before and new because they have the default starter rating of 400. I’ve not been having success with the Sicilian Defense so I’ve decided to switch to the Caro-Kann. This will be my first attempt at this new opening so we’ll see what happens.

Troyclough resigned our game increasing my rating to 1527. What’s amazing is he played the same opening as last time I had White and this time he was resigned on the 14^th move. As usual he opened with White with 1.e4 and we’re now playing the Caro-Kann Exchange variation.

I left the apt at 9:30 and walked to the mall. Ciclovia was going on again – 2 of the southbound lanes are closed off. I printed some chess notes at Auros then had coffee in Todo Fresa. I picked up some things in Exito and returned to the apt by taxi. It was bumper to bumper because there was only one lane open for cars so it cost me 6,000 instead of the usual minimum of 5,600 pesos. (Full disclosure: I usually give the taxi driver 6mil anyway and tell them to keep the change.)

Jose and I made plans to meet for chess tomorrow.

At 2pm a downpour started and it lasted about 35 minutes. A Colombian’s definition of winter…it’s raining. A Colombian’s definition of summer…it’s not raining.

Teresa beat me in parcheesi today 3 games to 1. (I was not happy.)

I watched Cast Away for the umpteenth time and started watching Boyhood.

I forgot to mention last week I bought 3 surgery-type facemasks for 1mil each at the kiosk outside Viva Envigado. When I told Teresa she said I should buy a box next time as it would be less expensive. On my ciclovia walk yesterday I bought a box of 50 facemasks for only 6mil.

A downpour started at 7pm but only lasted 5 minutes. Of course it soon started pouring again. It was still raining when I went to bed, with a blanket, at 10:30.

ICU beds in Bogota are 98.2% occupied. Scientists are asking the government not to reopen the economy. In Antioquia they are 96.7% occupied.

 

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 14,123 ð 13,927 ð 15,091 new cases and 418 ð 436 ð 459 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday Colombia has a total of 3,547,017 ð 3,571,067 ð 3,593,016 cases with 91,422 ð 91,961 ð 92,496 deaths.  Medellin has 311,904 ð 313,193 ð 314,256 cases, an increase of 1,063 from June 6^th to 7^th. Envigado has a total of 25,031 cases, an increase of 43 from June 6^th to 7^th.

 

Joke of the day

After I retired, my wife insisted that I accompany her on her trips to Target. Unfortunately, like most men, I found shopping boring and preferred to get in and get out. Equally unfortunate, my wife is like most women - she loves to browse.

Yesterday my dear wife received the following letter from the local Target:

"Dear Mrs. Harris,

Over the past six months, your husband has caused quite a commotion in our store. We cannot tolerate this behavior and have been forced to ban both of you from the store. Our complaints against your husband, Mr. Harris, are listed below and are documented by our video surveillance cameras:

June 15: He took 24 boxes of condoms and randomly put them in other people’s carts when they weren’t looking.

July 2: Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.

July 7: He made a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the women’s restroom.

July 19: Walked up to an employee and told her in an official voice, ‘Code 3 in Housewares. Get on it right away’. This caused the employee to leave her assigned station and receive a reprimand from her supervisor that in turn resulted with a union grievance, causing management to lose time and costing the company money.

August 4: Went to the Service Desk and tried to put a bag of M&Ms on layaway.

August 14: Moved a ‘CAUTION - WET FLOOR’ sign to a carpeted area.

August 15: Set up a tent in the camping department and told the children shoppers he would invite them in if they would bring pillows and blankets from the bedding department to which twenty children obliged.

August 23: When a clerk asked if he could help him he began crying and screamed, ‘Why can’t you people just leave me alone?’ EMTs were called.

September 4: Looked right into the security camera and used it as a mirror while he picked his nose.

September 10: While handling guns in the hunting department, he asked the clerk where the antidepressants were.

October 3: Darted around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the ‘Mission Impossible’ theme.

October 6: In the auto department, he practiced his ‘Madonna look’ by using different sizes of funnels.

October 18: Hid in a clothing rack and when people browsed through, yelled ‘PICK ME! PICK ME!’

October 21: When an announcement came over the loudspeaker, he assumed a fetal position and screamed ‘OH NO! IT’S THOSE VOICES AGAIN!’

And last, but not least:

October 23: Went into a fitting room, shut the door, waited awhile, then yelled very loudly, ‘Hey! There’s no toilet paper in here.’ At this - one of the clerks passed out!