Friday, July 7, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 9:30, got up once at 2:45 (it had stopped raining), finally waking/getting up at 6:30.

Teresa notified me that after her gym workout Daniela is taking her to El Hueco where she’s going to buy more decorating supplies so I’ll be on my own for lunch.

I was concerned because I could only see one of my bookings on my Booking.com cellphone app while I can see all of them on my laptop. Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time trying to contact a customer support human being in Booking.com with no luck. I finally sent a message to one of my bookings, A Painter’s House in Plaka, and he gave me his Whatsapp number. I’ll feel better if I can do that for all my bookings.

I sent a message to the owner of Relaxing Beautiful Holiday Home and he answered although his English wasn’t very good.

I understand when I do a transfer from USAA to my Capital One account the cash moves from “current balance” to “available balance” in dibs and drabs over several days.

I left the apt at 8:30 and walked to the mall. While waiting in Auros for a map of Madrid to be printed in color I noticed a young lady come in with a box and put something on the counter at the Exito service desk. I figured it was the Gente newspapers. She then passed me and turned at the Bancolombia ATM station which surprised me. After I got my map printed, I stopped at Bancolombia where I found what she put there were Real Estate magazines. As I was leaving Exito I ran into the girl bringing in the Gente newspapers and took one.

In Smartfit I completed my workout and on my way to the showers I thought I heard a tall black guy speaking English. He was gone by the time I finished my shower.

I stopped in Dollar City to pick up some cotton balls for Teresa. I asked the security guard where is the algodón but she didn’t understand my pronunciation. Anyway, I saw cotton pads but not balls.

Downstairs in Urbania I had a latte with a glass of water while going through the Gente newspaper then my Chess Life magazines. There was some type of business meeting going on next to me that was being filmed.

I texted Teresa about their not being any cotton balls and she said she wanted some other type of cotton.

There was a lot of activity on the Chess Medellin group on Whatsapp. There is going to be a chess tournament at Sara Rincon this Sunday with 7mil registration starting at 2pm. I googled it and it’s the Mexican restaurant next to Smartfit on Ave Poblado. I can make that. Others were asking where they can buy chess sets and I gave a few alternatives.

At 11:40 Paola from Movistar texted me she needs me to sign a few papers. I told her I was in Viva Envigado but I would return in a few minutes.

I paid my bill and went upstairs for the cotton pads and waited in a long line to pay for them. I returned to the apt by taxi.

Paola was busy with a couple so I dropped off my stuff, made a trip to the bathroom and returned downstairs. The couple soon left but it started drizzling so we moved into the porteria. I signed a couple of large 2-sided pages and added my fingerprint but none of the blanks were filled in. ☹ Anyway, I think I’m signed up for fiber optic high-speed internet.

The rain had pretty much stopped so I had a burger with fries (I brought my own packets of ketchup) in Querida Tierra. 

The I had a latte at Los Porteños for a couple hours with some intermittent rain.

I just realized the chess tournament is going to be Sunday, July 30^th.

We had more rain at 4:30.

About 5pm the portero called and said Paola wants to see me again. I told Teresa and I got the usual song and dance about being careful, how do I know she works for Movistar, this could be a scam. Jeez! I put my foot down and told her this is going to happen. I changed clothes and Teresa went with me to the porteria where she met and talked to Paola. A minute later Teresa surprised me by inviting her up to our apt. It took about 45 minutes but we’re scheduled to get 350Mbps fiber optic internet for 65,192 pesos ($16) a month to be installed Monday afternoon. Paola left.

I asked Teresa if she wanted to go for pizza but she preferred to have it delivered. When it arrived, the guy didn’t charge us for it; maybe because Teresa decorated a jacket or the hat for Gloria?

I texted Laura and USAA made the small deposits July 5^th so I called USAA and they finished the connection then I made a transfer of $3137 to her account.

Teresa told me there’s some expo at Plaza Mayor tomorrow so I guess we’re going there after breakfast.

Some dog in the neighborhood started barking at 8:30 and didn’t stop until about 10pm. ☹

 

America’s Decline into Idiocy