Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, couldn’t fall asleep, got up at 11:30 and read some on my Nook, returned to bed at midnight, got up once about 4:45, finally waking/getting up at 6:30. Teresa was already up.

I left the apt about 10:20 and walked to the strip mall on Ave Las Vegas where I paid the usual 152,100 pesos ($39) for Direct TV. A short block further to another strip mall and I had a latte (ick, I should have ordered a café con leche) in Tostao while reviewing some chess notes.

Marcos invited us for coffee tomorrow night at 7pm at their place to discuss Madrid, Spain so after talking to Teresa I accepted for us.

I left at 10:45, bought 2 bags of milk and a package of hamburger buns in Mercado Madrid before returning to the apt.

Teresa got up shortly after I returned.

After just 2 days it’s obvious my rash and wounds are better.

I read an article that claims that as little as a tablespoon of pickle juice relieves cramps within seconds. 😊

We just came back from a trip to the new Pricesmart. On the way Teresa questioned a turn the driver made. I reminded her I wanted to try the new location. I told her its closer than the other (Poblado vs Belen) and we’ll see how it is. It’s on a one-way street so the driver had to approach it from behind 😊. They have Wi-Fi which puts them ahead of the other store. First, we stopped at their deli for lunch. Teresa was in line to order a chicken salad to share with sodas for each of us. I noticed the man at the next table eating something interesting. After his next swallow I asked if that was a calzone. He said, “yes”. I asked him if he bought it here at the deli and he said, “yes”. I said, “I think I need to change my order”. I went up to Teresa in line and told her I wanted the calzone for lunch. I pointed to it on their menu (her eyesight is supposed to be so good) and even repeated the price, 9,900 pesos ($2.50). She soon arrived with 2 soda cups and her salad. The guy asked me if I ordered a calzone and told him it’s on the way. He left. Teresa returned with a slice of pizza. I looked at the menu and it’s a pizza calzone so she got the order half right. 😊 Something to look forward to.

There were a lot of girls giving out free tastes of various products. It prompted Teresa to buy a coconut cake which surprised me. The meats and frozen products are in the back of the store where I think they should be in the last aisle like the other store. All the products now display if they are high in salt (exceso en sodio) and/or high in sugar (exceso en azucares) which I think explains the temporary supply chain problem we had as packages had to be reprinted if they want TO continue to do business in Colombia.

They had Hunt’s Original BBQ Sauce so I had to buy that.

At checkout there was no line and 2 girls were just standing there with nothing to do. I guess customers have yet to discover the new store. The total came to 1,178,881 pesos ($302).

I checkmated Mr_Blamo in 23 moves increasing my rating 1 point to 1568.

In regards to my blog, I’m really struggling with how to save photos to OneDrive and how to copy/insert/import them into my blog postings. The Outlook email interface has also changed which doesn’t help things.

Well, I figured out a way but it’s much more step driven and complicated than before. There has to be an easier way.

I was able to revert back to my previous version of Outlook but they made it clear it’s going to change in 2024.

I left the apt at 5pm and took a Didi to the mall. I bought 2 tickets to the 7:50pm showing of Sound of Freedom (7.8) for 9,000 pesos ($2.30). I’m only 7 movies short of earning my Platinum Cine Card for 2024. I then realized I had almost 3 hours to kill, not 2 as I originally planned.

I went down to Starbucks as I’ve always wanted to try their Pumpkin Spice Latte I’ve heard so much about. A medium was 16,500 pesos ($4.25), it’s been a while since I’ve bought a latte there but I remember it used to be around 10,000 pesos, that’s inflation for you. I asked the cashier/barrister if he spoke English and he got a strange look on his face. I apologized for my Spanish and ordered a Pumpkin Spice Latte, mediano. He asked what kind of milk I wanted and I said leche, normal leche entera. He asked me if I wanted it hot or cold and here is where I had a problem. I tried to ask how do people usually order it hot or cold? Qual is mas popular, caliente o fria? And here is where I lost him. He looked at the barrister next to him and I tried again. No luck. A girl came over and they pointed to her and I tried again and this time I got an answer in English, “I like it hot”, so I ordered it hot.

It was pretty good although I should have gotten a small.

I was playing an arranged game on Chess.com against an 800 rated player from Brazil. Now, that sounds like a very week chess player compared to my almost 1600 rating but it’s the rating someone starts at when they first join so you never can be sure. I played carefully and easily won, check mating him in 15 moves.

Teresa arrived at 7:15, we went up to Cine Colombia and easily found a table as the theater wasn’t very crowded. She made me a sandwich from the ham we bought at Pricesmart. Before we entered the theater she bought a soda with cheese and nachos and I a Cine Combito (smallest popcorn, small soda, and a Jet chocolate bar) for 35,100 pesos ($9). Our seats were exactly where Teresa prefers, last row center in the preferred section. The theater was almost full, only a spare seat here and there. The movie was very good, although sad as it’s about child trafficking, starring Jim Caviezel with Mira Sorvino.

We returned to the apt by taxi.

It's only been about 2 days taking my medication but my wounds and rash are much improved.

 

Hilarious Memes