Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Happy Pi Day!  3.14, get it?  It’s a math joke!

I watched a little of the Today show and I left with the ladies just before 10am.  Walking through the park I saw 2 men just setting up a chess board to get ready to play.  I recognized one of them and he invited me to play in a tournament this Sunday morning starting around 9 or 10am.  I agreed and they wrote my name and cell phone number on a list on a clipboard.  I wonder if this is another simultaneous.

In the gym I did 20 minutes on the treadmill at speed 5.

Passing through the park again I didn’t see anyone playing chess.  I guess they finished their game in just 30 minutes.

Back at the apt, I showered, changed into clean clothes and left for Exito to buy a few things.  I tried to find Immodium but they didn’t even have it in the pharmacy section.  I also looked for Tums but didn’t find that either.  I’ll try again later in a larger pharmacy.

Teresa made me chicken fajitas for lunch.  Yummy!

I received an email from MBE.  It looks like a bill of 43,444.05 for my monthly rental.  I just don’t know what month it is for, March or April.  I guess April because I already paid for March.  It also shows my Plan Type is e-box 1, my “cupo” (quota) is 1,000 Grs (which is 1 Kilo), it looks like I’ve used 450 Grs thus far and my “tarifa excedente” (monthly fee?) is US $14.  It still has my old address in Laureles so maybe I should change that.

I left the apt at 4:30 and waited at the corner for a bus.  I saw one coming but it turned down a side street before getting to me.  What?  I walked down to Herman’s OJ stand and congratulated him on his photo and article in last Friday’s Gente newspaper.  When I got off the metro at Estacion Estadio it was raining.  Luckily I had my small umbrella with me.  I got to the Liga de Ajedrez and struggled a little with the language barrier but managed to get registered for the tournament. 

While waiting for things to start I sat down at one of the tables and went through some games in my Chess Life.  A guy asked for permission to sit and watch.  After going through a game I set up a position that my friend Ruben had sent me and he tried to queen one of 3 pawns.  At one point he did get some past me until I learned the trick.  I thought he said his name was Ericson until he wrote it down and I learned its Edilson.  He lives in Envigado.  (He ended up getting a draw in his game.)

We started pretty much on time.  The pairings sheet didn’t have ratings listed so I still don’t know what mine is.  There were about 50 players and I played on table #10.  I had White and my opponent’s name was Rios Mateo Moreno.  I played the English opening but after trading some center pawns he had the opportunity to pin my queen against my king and I lost time moving both of them out of the way.  I resigned on the 33^rd move.

When I got up and started walking my calves were a little stiff and sore (treadmill?) at first but they soon loosened up.

I walked back to the metro and when I got off at the Envigado station it was raining.

I was back at the apt just before 10pm.

T-shirt of the day: Yes, I do have a beautiful daughter.  I also have a gun, a shovel and an alibi.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Another overcast day.

I watched the Today show for half an hour and at 9:30 I was ready to leave for the gym.  But we waited another hour for MT to arrive and Laura to get ready.  I wore my sunglasses but brought my small umbrella.  At the gym Laura signed a form and answered some questions and we were finally admitted at 11:05.

At one point I saw a young man for the first time who had muscles on top of muscles.  Jason (actually spelled Jeison) told me he’s a body building athlete.  Later I explained to Jason that the Spanish word “entre” is differentiated into two different words in English “between” and “among”.  At one point Jose showed me how I was doing the calf press exercise incorrectly.  He also told me that I don’t need to do the prone leg curl because the other machine I used did the same thing.  He introduced me to the hip flexor machine and I added it to my list.  I saw Sondra there for the first time.  She asked me how long we’ve been coming here and I said about 2 weeks.  I had noticed that some of the machines had something like 15 pounds difference from one weight to the next.  I thought that was a little extreme but today for the first time I noticed many of them have 2 5-pound weights that you can slide on or off the machine.  Now I’m not sure if the weights I have been recording are correct.  They could have been as much as 10 pounds heavier.

I left 2 hours later.  There were a few drops of rain walking back to the apt but nothing significant.

I received an email from MBE that I have a package waiting for pickup.

Laura left about 2pm.  Teresa informed me she doesn’t like her old job anymore so now she’s working at Mercado del Rio.

After lunch Teresa and I took a nap from 3-4 pm.  I woke up feeling very refreshed so I told Teresa I was going to MBE to pick up my package.

I left the apt at 4:30.  I hit the buzzer on the bus when we were stopped in traffic across the street from MBE.  Luckily I looked to my right before stepping out or I might have gotten hit by a motorcycle.

In MBE I was immediately greeted by a Scottish terrier who jumped on me and I scratched its ears.  A few seconds later it leaves and comes back and starts barking at me.  What?  It then approached and jumped up and I scratched it again.  The young lady working there gave me a medium sized box.  I broke it open and my webbed Fossil belt was inside.  Seems to me it could have been shipped in a smaller box.  I paid an additional 18,000 pesos for it.

I took a bus in heavy traffic up to Starbucks where I ordered a medium vanilla latte and an apple spice muffin to go.  She held up a cup which sure looked like a large to me.  I questioned her if this is a medium and she said yes.  The cup size was 400ml so I’m not sure.  Is this another example of Starbucks’ bait & switch that I heard they had a problem with back in the US years ago.  As usual the girl asked for my name and when I said Terry she wrote down Teare.  I laughed and another worker there helped her correct it.  The “medium” latte was 8,400 pesos and the apple muffin another 6,300.

While waiting for my latte someone called my name and handed me my muffin already in a bag that was closed with tape.  Soon my drink was ready and for the first time I sat inside at a counter against the windows.  (Usually this space is too hot from the midday sun.) 

While sitting there drinking my coffee and reading my Nook a girl came over and asked my name and tried to hand me another bag that supposedly contained my muffin.  I looked closer at my bag and told her that I think I already have it.  A young lady sitting next to me talked on her phone and it sounded a lot like German.  A large moth about the size of my opened hand that looked similar to a Cecropia was beating its wings against the inside of the window.  I grabbed it and walked to the doorway and sent it on its way.  I think it will be happier outside than inside.

I left about 6pm and outside I noticed that Hard Rock Café had opened up nearby Starbucks.  So they moved from one end of the block to the other.  It appears to be a smaller space but it seems to me to be in a better location.  I walked across the street and up to Oviedo where I caught a Sabaneta bus after a 5 minute wait.  The bus was packed but I got the next to last standing spot.  The bus went about a block and the woman sitting right in front of me got off and I got her seat.  Yay!

I was back at the apt by 6:30 just as it was getting dark.  I picked up our latest Une bill from inside the door.

Later I had my apple spice muffin with a cup of coffee.  I gave Teresa a taste and she loved it.  I told her it’s probably so good because it contains a lot of butter.  I think I also tasted some walnuts.  She said she’ll make them in her mother’s oven and sell them in Bocados Bar.  Or she’ll walk through the park calling out “muffins for sale”.  Lol.

When Laura came back I learned that today she was just applying for a job at Mercado del Rio.

T-shirt of the day: Remember when I asked for your opinion?  Yeah … me neither.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Yay, the US is back on Daylight Savings Time.

It’s a very overcast day and pretty cool so I soon changed from my shorts and t-shirt into my light warm-up suit.

Friday I talked to Teresa about going to see Kong on Sunday (today).  Now she tells me she wants to see it during the week.  In the past when I’ve wanted to see movies during the week she’s told me she wants to see them on the weekend.  Now that it’s the weekend she tells me she wants to see it during the week.  Sigh!

I left the apt at 4pm – alone.  I walked downtown and quickly caught a bus.  I got off at the Santafe mall, crossed the street and walked down to Oviedo.  Just outside the mall I saw 2 young ladies with makeshift sandwich board signs.  A man was signing one of them and when I approached I saw the other one said in Spanish “free hugs”.  But just then she turned her back to me and had a fit of coughing so I just kept on going.  I was at the theater 30 minutes before the scheduled start time for Kong.

At first on their rolling marque I only saw a 5:30 start time and it was dubbed in Spanish.  Then I saw that they had another starting at 4:50 in English with Spanish subtitles.  I waited in line for 10-15 minutes to buy my ticket.  It cost 19,000 pesos (about $7) including 2,800 for 3D glasses.  (I forgot to bring the pair I have at home so now I’ll have 2 pairs.)

I waited in line another 15-20 minutes to order a medium popcorn and large soda for 17,000.  I waited another couple minutes to actually receive my order.  I filled my cup with Pepsi and headed upstairs.

They were in the middle of a short I’ve seen before about the 90^th anniversary of Cine Colombia and how they show makeshift movies in the small towns of Colombia.  The theater was freezing but I gutted it out for the 2 hour movie.

I had checked Runpee app on my iPad while still in the apt so I took advantage of that to make restroom runs at the 41 minute and the 1 hour 23 minute marks.  After the movie I stayed and after everyone had left and workers were cleaning up all around me I waited at least 5 minutes more for the credits to end.  Then I saw the trailer sequel to Kong where it is mentioned “there is more than one king (meaning Kong)”.

The last time I was in Oviedo I stopped in American Bagels and was surprised to see that about 1 square foot of their retail space actually contained packages (4) of bagels.  Today I noticed they have changed the name of the store to “cava de quesos – Premium Deli” or “cheese cellar".  I stopped in and they had plain, sesame, French toast and I bought a bag of their 4^th type - Cinnamon Raisin bagels for 7,900 (about $2.50).

I waited 5 minutes or so for a bus back to the apt where I had Teresa toast one of the bagels and I ate it with butter and strawberry preserves.  It’s been more than 4 years since I’ve had a bagel.  It was very tasty.

I spend most of the evening going thru my Chess Life magazine.

T-shirt of the day: Sometimes I pretend to be normal.  But it gets boring.  So I go back to being me.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

I woke up at 4:20am and didn’t get back to sleep until after 5:40am.  I woke/got up at 8:45.

I left the apt at 9:30 and took a bus to MBE where I picked up a Chess Life magazine but they couldn’t find my package.  While waiting, a gringo came in with his Colombiana and I asked where he was from.  He said originally Minneapolis and more recently 6 years in Panama.  The office employee checked and I was told my package will arrive on Tuesday.

I took the bus up to Citibank where I withdrew some cash.  I walked up a block to Starbucks where I ordered a vanilla latte at a temperature of 160 degrees.  The clerk smiled at me; I think he remembered me from last time when I asked how hot the coffee is.  In Spanish I just asked for my latte to be hotter.  I soon had my coffee (8,400 pesos or $3) and sat outside enjoying it in the fresh air while scanning my Chess Life.

I took a bus back to Envigado, walked to BanColombia where I deposited 600,000 pesos into Laura’s account using their amazing machine.  (I remember they have deposit machines in the US but I was always afraid of using them.)  I walked to Smartfit and quickly found a very sweaty Jose to help me complete the payment.  I was told that we need Laura’s signature on some form.  Details, details!  We’ll be back with her on Monday.

The Colombian Peso closed for the week at 2,981 to the US Dollar.

I told Teresa about my plan to play in a chess tournament starting next Tuesday night.

About 6:30 Daniela, Vicky’s daughter, came over.  She obviously had lost her baby weight as she was wearing a low cut black tight dress cut at mid thigh with high heels.  The ladies left to go down to Wilson’s Bar where they were going to celebrate Vicky’s birthday.  They invited me to join them and I said yes, I would meet them there as soon as I logged out of my computer, put some things away and changed clothes.

MT was already there with some young guy named Mateo who spoke good English.  Vicky was there with the baby who is now about 1 year old.

It soon started drizzling and the temperature started dropping.

The ladies had several rum and waters, I had a rum and Coke, and Daniela had already finished some food.  We left about 11:30 and I paid the bar bill of 89,000 pesos.  I had brought my large umbrella and we used it to shuttle people to Daniela’s car.  She gave us a ride back to our apt.

T-shirt of the day: My people skills are just fine.  It’s my tolerance for idiots that needs work.

Friday, March 10, 2017

I slept pretty well waking/getting up at 8:15.

I went to the corner store (tienda) for milk.  While waiting, I saw a stack of Gente newspapers sitting on the table so I took one.  

(Reminder: Gente is a free Medellin newspaper that comes out every Friday and those delivered to Envigado have some local news.  I often have trouble finding one; or remembering to look for one.)

When I got back to the apt, over a pancake breakfast, I skimmed through it.  I recognized a photo of Herman as he was in an article about food availability near the metro.

I told Teresa about my plan to use MT’s Bancolombia account to pay SmartFit and she informed me that Laura has an account there and she gave me her account number.

We all (except Laura who is still convalescing) left the apt at 10:45.  At the gym I asked Jose for help with talking to the woman at the front desk.  I learned that the amount for the first month for the 3 of us will be 49,000 +30,000 + 89,000 or 168,000 x 3 = 504,000.  For MT it will be 49,000 + 30,000 = 79,000.  All together it will be 583,000.  That’s the amount I need to put into Laura’s account to cover the first month.

For the following months the cost will 199,600 for the 4 of us.

I did all 20 exercises that I had written down in my book, over the next hour and 50 minutes.  I’ll post the names of the machines soon as a separate list for those who would rather ignore it.

When we left it was raining so Teresa decided we would stop for lunch at Frisby.  Teresa paid for it and I had chicken/carrot/ vegetable soup, a Friburrito with ranch sauce and a fresh mango juice.

Back at the apt we soon collapsed and took a nap for an hour.

Among new US movie releases I might like to see My Scientology Movie (6.7) and maybe Kong: Skull Island (7.2).  Locally, Kong is playing throughout the day at Oviedo and Santafe.  Oviedo at 1:55pm, 4:50pm, and 7:45pm; Santafe at 2:40pm, 5:40pm and 8:30pm (they even have one starting at 11:20pm).  We might go see it on Sunday.

I received an email from MBE that I have a document waiting for pickup.

Tonight I finished the last of my peanuts.  So I’ve gone through 2 bags of Fritos, 4 bags of salted-in-the shell peanuts and a box of English toffee since February 19^th.  Now it’s time to start getting into shape.

T-shirt of the day: “That’s too much bacon,” said no one ever.

My exercise routine (thus far) at SmartFit

Seated row

Leg extension

Biceps curl

Leg curl

Triceps press

Lat pulldown

Abdomen & Lumbar

Shoulder press

Leg press

Chest press

Rowing “machine”

Hip abductor/adductor

High pulley back

Calf press

Triceps extension

Prone leg curl

Glute

Lateral raise

“Butterfly”

High pulley triceps

Thursday, March 9, 2017

I woke up at 7am and got up at 8am feeling pretty refreshed so I guess I must have slept well last night.

It’s a mostly overcast morning.  It will be interesting to see if it clears up or stays overcast or starts raining.

I emailed Eddie asking if he wanted to meet me for lunch today.  

He called me (Eddie 311 308 xxxx) and we made arrangements to meet at Aguacatala station at 11pm and then he’s going with me to EnCiclo and then El Viejo y El Pancake.

I left the apt at 10:30, walked down to Herman’s juice stand where I had a glass of orange juice for 2,000 pesos, and took the metro to Aguacatala station.  As soon as I got off I saw Eddie and we both jumped onto the same car but through different doors. 

We got off at Estacion Alpujarra, walked a block south and 2 blocks west to Area Metropolitana del Valle de Aburra where, after a 5 minute wait, I got my Civica card updated for EnCicla.  Eddie helped me with some questions I had and I learned: I can check out a bicycle for a maximum of 1 hour, I can return it to any station, and their hours are M-F 5:30am-9pm and Sat 6:30am-3pm.

We walked back to the metro where we took it to the San Antonio station, transferred to the west line and got off at Estacion Estadio.  We walked a block south to the new El Viejo y El Pancake location.  It looks like the indoor area takes up approximately the space of a garage and the outdoor has enough room for 4 tables.  All tables were taken so we took seats at the counter inside.

They have a small chalkboard with their specials of the day.  Eddie ordered a small bowl of vegetable soup and their ham sandwich.  I ordered a small bowl of vegetable soup, their cole slaw, and their BLT.

While waiting for our food we learned: they are open Wednesday-Sunday from 8am-2pm.  They switch over from breakfast to lunch at 11:30.  In our conversation with David & Lexxi it was mentioned that sometimes Exito sells a bottle of limonada de coco that’s delicious.  I’ll have to look for that.  David talked about their difficulties getting product they need for their restaurant.  He mentioned they went to a bakery with specific requirements for how their bread is made and cut.  For example, I understand the bakery bakes bread using sugar and David wanted them to use salt.  The baker said “why would you want to use salt?  We always use sugar.”  David replied that that’s what they need and if they couldn’t make it they would take their business elsewhere.  The baker replied, “that’s okay, then I have less work to do”.   That’s the Colombian mentality you have to deal with here.  (They work to live they don’t live to work.)  David said he finally found a “foundation” in Bello that is teaching women how to bake bread and they will be his supplier.

Lunch was very good especially the home made vegetable soup.  I paid 20,000 pesos for my meal including a glass of lemonade.

We walked over to the chess league office where I saw they have an upcoming tournament.  Seven rounds at night starting at 6:30pm on March 14, 16, 17, 21, 22, 27, and 29^th.  The fee is 25mil, the time limit is 60 minutes plus 30 seconds per move and it’s only for ELO ratings 1601-1800.  My strength should fall in that range but I don’t know what my current rating is; it might fall short of that.  (Back at the apt I sent an email to Jaime Colorado asking if he could tell me how to find out what it is.) 

Eddie wanted to walk some more so we walked back to the station and from there to Viva Laureles where he had 3 Colombia Negras (local beer) and I had a Te Hatsu (yellow bottle).

We walked across the street where we caught a Circular Sur 302 bus.  (There was a little rain as we passed through the Belen neighborhood.)  Eddie got off at the La Moto mall and I continued on to Aguacatala station.  I took the metro to Envigado and a bus to Parque Envigado.  Today I saw 6 different chess games in progress but most weren’t using the built in concrete chess boards.

Tonight Teresa was again asking me questions about Chicago.  Like, is Lake Michigan as large as Medellin?  I told her it’s probably closer to the size of Antioquia (their state).  She can’t seem to imagine it.

About 7:30 it started raining.  It stopped about 90 minutes later.

I’m not sure what’s going to happen at the gym tomorrow as I’m afraid our payment didn’t work.  If they won’t take cash, and they won’t take my US debit cards, then maybe I can put cash into MT’s BanColombia account and Smartfit can withdraw it from there.

T-shirt of the day: I’m only responsible for what I say.  Not for what you understand.