Tuesday, October 10, 2023

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

The Packers lost last night to the Raiders and are now 2-3, only 1 game ahead of the Bears. Maybe Jordan Love isn’t so great after all.

Had my typical breakfast: decaf coffee (in the insulated mug I brought from the States), scrambled eggs (sometimes with tomato and onion, or spinach) and half a sesame seed bagel topped with Smuckers Strawberry Preserves.

Teresa has to go to eps this morning, who knows how long that will take, so I may be on my own for lunch.

I’m getting low on chamomile tea so I’ll probably be making a trip to Badia sometime next week for more.

I left the apt at 8:15, bought a container of Badia Complete Seasoning that Teresa requested along with 2 jars of Azteca Mexican salsa in Mundo Verde, bought a package of Gum flossers and a small box of Tena pads in Pasteur, and had a café con leche in Parva.

Around noon I returned to the apt and the portero flagged me down and handed me my package.

I shared the elevator on the way up with Doyle. I was wearing my Cartagena t-shirt and he asked me how I liked it. I told him it was a nice change from Medellin. He said something about going to a special restaurant in a mall and it ended up costing him 2 pairs of Nikes and “something else”. I replied, “then I guess you weren’t alone”. He chuckled and said, “that’s right”.

I dropped off my purchases and opened the box and removed the Shedrain umbrella and my July Chess Life magazine.

I walked to Clap Burger where I had their Lunch Combo #2: a cheeseburger, fries and glass of tea (guayaba or one of those other local exotic juices) for 31,576 pesos ($7.50).

It was okay, the tea a little too sweet, so next time I’ll have a Coke.

I walked across the street to Otra Parte where I had a latte while reading my Chess Life magazine. I saw that back in February there was a large team chess tournament in Schaumburg, IL, where I used to work.

Teresa called from Wilson’s restaurant and I told her I’m in Otra Parte. She assumed it was for lunch. 😊

Marcos called to inform me his cash arrived in Bancolombia. He expected the wait in the bank would be 2 hours so I told him to wait until tomorrow morning when he can be one of the first in line.

I left about 4pm and Teresa was back in the apt. She told me she has to go to eps downtown early tomorrow morning so we’ll probably have breakfast in Los Porteños before I go to the gym.

My package also included Chess Life magazines for August & September, my Illinois Driver’s License (another?), an envelope from St. Jude Hospital, a Medicare For You magazine, a Swanson vitamin sale magazine, an envelope from Charles Schwab that I have a balance of $0.14, 2 envelopes from Metropolitan Life Insurance - Annual Notices to change tax withholding, and a letter from SS notifying me I might be eligible for surviving divorced spouse benefits (?).

Per google, “A divorced spouse can receive up to 50% of an ex-spouse’s Social Security benefits if the marriage lasted at least 10 years and the divorced spouse is divorced at least two years, unmarried and at least 62¹. If you are the divorced spouse of a worker who dies, you could get benefits the same as a surviving spouse, provided that your marriage lasted 10 years or more². Divorced spouses can file for survivor benefits as early as age 60 (age 50 if they are disabled) and switch over to their own benefit as early as age 62³. Benefits paid to you as a surviving divorced spouse won't affect the benefit amount for other survivors getting benefits on the worker's record².”

In the future I should be able to head off some of these magazines and envelopes when they arrive in Florida and have them destroyed.

I finished Part 4 - Endgames for Class “C” (1400-1599) in my new chess book. Now I’ll be entering my class, Class “B”, so this should get more interesting.

Not much leaking today, we’ll see how it goes at the gym tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile in Canada