Friday, May 13, 2022

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, and woke up at 6:30 got up at 7:15. The one time I got up was 5:30 in the morning when Teresa started snoring. Usually I just change my position or plump by pillow and she stops. This time I had to poke her, which she didn’t appreciate. Later, I had her clear off the guest bed so I could move there if it happens in the future so at least one of us could sleep through the night.

I can now see my purchase in my Charles Schwab account. Even though it’s late it’s nice that it shows the actual purchase date. I also see when I login to my account I can set it to go to my transaction history right away.

So, what’s next?

USAA charges a 1% foreign transaction fee for every withdrawal or purchase, Citibank charges 3% but Charles Schwab (CS) has no charge (actually there is a charge but I understand it’s reimbursed at the end of the month).

Currently, USAA serves as my checking account. I have my SS automatically deposited there and I use it for my day-to-day expenses during the month. My pensions are automatically deposited into my Citibank account and that serves as my savings account. (Unfortunately, a lot of my savings has been depleted after paying for my surgeries out-of-pocket.)

My new plan is to have CS serve as my checking account and USAA serve as my savings account and I’ll wean myself off Citibank completely. That means I’ll have to contact SS and have my deposits directed to CS and contact my pension companies and have those deposits directed to USAA. All future transactions should be with my CS debit card.

In the meantime, I’ll move my current USAA balance to CS and my Citibank balance to USAA.

 

I was never given the address to MT’s gated community so in the past whenever we’ve ordered a Didi I’ve requested to go to Metro Sur mall (where Wilson’s bar is) and we’ve just directed the driver the last block to MT’s apt. So, Wednesday when Teresa asked me to order a Didi for her the best I could do was have it pick her up at Metro Sur. She never made it there in time so Didi charged me 1,500 for failure to cancel the ride. They wanted me to add a credit card so they could withdraw the fee and blocked my use of the app until I do. (I wouldn’t mind paying the next driver the fee but I don’t want to give them my debit card information.) I chatted with a Didi rep this morning for 15 minutes in my broken Spanish and she eventually forgave my fee.

I left the apt at 9:30 and took a Didi to the mall. I picked up a Gente newspaper at Exito’s customer service desk. Baloto wasn’t open so I took the elevator up to the 2^nd floor (1^st time) where I found myself at the metro aisle halfway between Santa Leña and the metro exit. I walked to the other side of the floor where I paid the cellphone bills. Back on the other side I had coffee in Santa Leña for an hour. Back downstairs the Baloto system was still down so I just returned to the apt by taxi.

Teresa boiled water for some tea for me but then gave me the container of salt instead of sugar so we had to start over.

Teresa was invited to an event in the Cedimed store in El Tesoro tomorrow. It starts at 2pm and will last a couple hours. Add on a couple hours after that to return to the apt, just one reason I’m not going.

I started watching season 2 of the Jack Ryan series but halfway through the first episode I realized I’d already seen it.

Teresa suggested we go for pizza. Okay. Then it changed to empanadas then to patacones. I understand Esmeralda is coming to pick us up.

Esmeralda, with her mother, picked us up at 7:30 and took us to the spot across from Antica Pizza. I asked if Alejandro is studying or playing and Esmeralda said he’s working. Something about being the secretary for a professor.  Some of us had patacones with ground beef, others torta con queso, one of us both, and some had a Coke. The total came to 79mil ($20) and we were back at our apt by 9pm.

I ran out of my Joint Support tablets. I can’t believe I didn’t notice my supply was going down. Teresa told me Esmeralda has Fibromyalgia and I wonder if the Joint Support tablets would give her some relief.

 

 

Funny pix of the day