Friday, October 6, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, got up twice during the night, woke up at 6:30, did my Kegel exercises, and got up at 6:45.

Today is MY birthday.

I had a text message from Marcos to call me as he has an emergency. He’s been transferring cash from his US bank to his Bancolombia account to have pesos to buy the new apt. But yesterday he got locked out of his US bank and is short 18,000,000 pesos. I told him I would try to withdraw that much over the next few days and he can pay me back when he gets his account problem fixed.

Teresa is supposed to be going to the gym and then downtown Medellin to pick up her other monthly medication so I might be on my own for lunch.

I completed my workout in Smartfit with just one problem. My first rep on the seated leg curl and I felt pain on my knee. I rested a few seconds, massaged it, and continued more slowly and there was no more pain.

I left about 9:30 and in Eduardo Madrid found a sleeve of 5 sesame seed bagels. I grabbed those and was having a latte when Teresa texted me she was hungy and wanted to meet at Parva. I told her where I was and she joined me about 10 minutes later. We both had lattes and shared a chicken pastry. She wants to visit her mother so she’ll contact me after 1pm and we’ll meet at La Bahia for lunch.

I checkmated Troyclough in 58 moves increasing my rating to 1553.

I’ve gone through the first 2 parts of my new endgame book.

Teresa texted me and I left the apt at 1pm and walked to La Bahia in my shorts and sleeveless t-shirt. The restaurant was full but by the time Teresa and MT arrived we got the only table next to a wall by the kitchen entrance. We all had their menu of the day with juice for a total of 48mil pesos ($11). We all went across the street to Viva Envigado where the ladies talked to someone about something in Medipiel. They then went shopping while I went to Urbania and had my usual latte while continuing my book.

My new 530-page chess book is titled Silman’s Complete Endgame Course from Beginner to Master. Chess players, at least those that play in tournaments, are numerically rated, by strength, through wins, losses, and draws which are further grouped into classes as Beginners (Unrated -999), Class E (1000-1199, Class D (1200-1399), Class C (1400-1599), Class B (1600-1799), Class A (1800-1999), Expert (2000-2199), Master (2200-2399), and then Grandmaster.

The book organizes the endgames a player should know by rating class, from Beginner to Master, ergo the title. The pages for Expert and Master are probably over my head and they comprise the last half of the book, specifically pages 271-523, but I still have to carry those pages around with me in this massive book. I’m guessing I’m a Class B player but I’m still reviewing the earlier Class lessons and picking up a couple things I should have already learned.

I left about 4:30 and found the ladies sitting with Nydia in Percimon. I offered to buy them ice cream but they had just finished coffee. I stopped in Exito, bought a 6-pack of Coke and a 9V battery and returned to the apt by taxi.

I finished watching the TV series The White House Plumbers on MTV. Nothing special.

Marcos notified me that Johanna’s brother is helping him with his cash flow problem so he only needs 3,500,0000 pesos.

 

Meanwhile in Canada