Thursday, April 26, 2018 – 2 of 2

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show, dressed in jeans and a dark t-shirt, and took the metro to Monterrey mall.  I found a store called Quantica on the 2^nd level where I bought a set of Gamenote HV-H2237U headphones for 135,200 pesos ($50.46).  I had some fun kidding around with the young man and young lady (from Venezuela, naturally) that worked there.  I understand the headphones come with a 3-month warranty.

I went by metro back to the Rosales station where I checked out a bike but soon realized I was overdressed.  I took the metro back to the apt and 30 minutes later I left to meet Chuck at the park at 12:30.

We were soon joined by the 33-year old black lady that Chuck tried to fix up with Ron.  We all had lunch together at Bartolos.  I downloaded Duolingo for her on her cellphone so she could learn English.  From there Chuck and I took a walk through the park where there were some strange goings on.  They handed out flyers announcing something else going on tomorrow from 10am to 4pm in the park.  We met a family from South Carolina and chatted with them for awhile.  We walked over to the bakery where I bought a tiramisu and a café con leche.  I had a few bites of it but took most of the rest of it home for the ladies.  Mickey, the gringo from Texas, soon joined us.  He mentioned that there was an earthquake last Monday morning.  I checked my Quakewatch app and it was a 5.2 at 10:42am.  We all left about 4pm.

According to Chuck, who has experienced a similar situation, for a spouse to receive SS benefits from her deceased husband, she must be a US resident and continue residing in the US at least 6 months each year.  So that leaves Teresa out of any possibility of receiving SS benefits.

At 5:30 I heard some thunder but it was still clear enough that I could see the moon to the east north east.  At 6pm it started raining and continued most of the night.

Teresa came back at 6:50pm with delicious turkey sandwiches from Exito.

The Cleveland Browns, with the #1 pick in the draft, selected quarterback Baker Mayfield.  For you Dawg Pound fans, just remember you could have had Sam Darnold.  And with the 4^th pick the Browns took Denzel Ward over Bradley Chubb.  Wow!  The Browns never change!

With the #8 pick in the draft the Chicago Bears selected linebacker Roquan Smith from Georgia.

I finally had to give up at 10pm to get ready (melatonin and no screen watching) for bed.

T-shirt of the day: Beat OSU.  Crack them nuts.

Thursday, April 26, 2018 – 1 of 2

0…Tonight is the first round of the NFL draft.

The Chicago Bears have the #8 pick.  My best guess: they would of course select defensive end Bradley Chubb but I’m sure he will already be gone.  Last year the Bears gave up their 3^rd round pick for this year to get Mitch Trubisky so they don’t have sufficient capital to trade up.  They could take guard Quenton Nelson but he might be gone also.  So, that leaves 2 choices, take a linebacker like Tremaine Edmunds or trade down for more picks.  I think most likely it would be the later.  Trade down a few picks and pick up another player in one of the late rounds.

I’ll post more later.  To be continued…

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

1…more…day!  I’m getting excited!

I only got up once during the night, about 4am, finally waking/getting up at 7:15.

At the gym I added 15# to 3 exercises, 5# to 1 exercise, and 2 ½ to another.  I’m happy to say that I’m not experiencing any problem with my leg curl exercise.  I completed all but 1 exercise in an hour and 45 minutes.

I noticed my audio is going to my laptop speakers again instead of my headphones.  Sigh!

I left the apt at 3:30 and quickly caught a taxi to El Tesoro mall.  I was early so I stopped in Carulla with my shopping list to check where things were.  While there I ran into Dr. Rendon’s wife and kids.  I was in his office 20 minutes early and he told me the patient before me was late.  We talked a bit about the skiing vacation they went on last December to North Carolina.  They all had a great time and want to return soon.  He told me that his kids (maybe just Manuel?) are going to summer camp in Orlando next June.  His patient showed up and she didn’t take long as he only needed to check something.  After my 160mil cleaning (about $55) I stopped in Carulla and picked up a few things.  I had about a 20 minute wait for a taxi back to Envigado.

We got some rain in the evening and during the night.  It’s been awhile since we last had rain and we soon should be entering the first rainy season of the year.

I had a chat with Rosetta Stone.  I wanted to know what make and model of headphones they recommend for version 5.  I guy named Thomas told me that any would work.  I guess it was just my old version 4 that they had specific requirements for.

I finished reading Along Came a Spider: Alex Cross #1 by James Patterson.

T-shirt of the day: Join your own flock.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

2 days …

Last night I woke up at 1am, 3am, and 6am, finally getting up at 7am.  Still I feel pretty good.

Laura left at 8:30.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show and left the apt at 9:30.  I took a bus to Envios Market where I picked up a package and paid 52,800 pesos shipping and taxes.  I gave the man 54mil and he gave me 400 pesos back.  I wrote on the receipt 54,000 -  52,200 = 1,800.  He asked me if I had 200 pesos and I said no and he gave me a 2mil bill.  (I had 200 pesos but I was keeping it for bus fare which is now 2,100 pesos per ride.) 

I took a bus to Starbucks where I bought a small white mocca latte.  I met a man named Andrew with a Cleveland Browns man bag.  He said he’s been in Medellin for 24 years so he was here for the bad times.  He said he personally saw 3 people get shot.  Yikes!

I walked across the street and up a block to Oviedo mall.  I stopped in Carulla and bought 3 bars of Dove body soap for about 10,000 pesos.  Here there was no line and I figured that wouldn’t be the case in the Envigado Exito.

I took a Sabaneta bus to Envigado and stopped at the copy center where I printed a couple pages from one of my Chess Life magazines.

I was back at the apt by 11:45.

Teresa and I left the apt at 2:30 and arrived at the clinic (Calle 4Sur #43AA-30 in Poblado) by 2:45 and I paid my 3mil copay.  We only had to wait about 20 minutes to get in to see the doctor.  He didn’t speak English but he was very patient.  He measured my height, weight and waist.

What I understood and remember: I should stop eating prepackaged hamburgers so Teresa is going to make them from fresh meat.  Instead of  the 3,000 pesos I usually spend on bread I should buy a better quality for about 25,000 pesos.  I should use regular butter instead of margarine.  I should drink 8oz of water 30 minutes before and after every meal.  (I got an exclusion for after dinner because of my enlarged prostate.)  I should eat a special type of yogurt called Benecol.  I should drink skim milk.

He also laid out the order in which I should eat my meals, for example, 1^st salad or fresh fruit, 2^nd white meat, 3^rd soup, 4^th seco which is Spanish for dry (not exactly sure what that entails).

We should make another appointment with Nueva eps in 4 months.

When we left Teresa told me she wanted to go to Zara.  She stopped a taxi and I told her we could walk to there from here.  After the taxi left I understood she wasn’t interested in Oviedo (no Zara) or Santafe (Zara is closed) but El Tesoro.  I told her why not go with me tomorrow for my dentist appointment.  She agreed and we took a taxi back to the apt.

On the way we stopped at a health food store where I bought a loaf of bread.

I had a “prepackaged” hamburger for dinner but I won’t be buying more after these are gone.

T-shirt of the day: If you can’t be happy, be drunk.

Monday, April 23, 2018

3 days and counting…

I slept pretty well last night except Teresa was snoring so loudly at 2am I had to wake her.

I have no signs of a cold today.

I guess we forgot to buy milk Saturday so I had to make a quick run to the corner store.

Laura left about 8:30 in the morning.  I understand she’s working this week at the same store she was at last December.

I just remembered that I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow with a nutritionist, of all things, so I won’t be able to play chess with Jose tomorrow.

At the gym I completed all but one exercise in an hour and 50 minutes.

Teresa informed me she has to go to the finca today to water the plants.  Then she said she can’t because it’s a “day without cars”.  I told her I saw lots of cars on the street today.  She said but no taxis.  I looked out the window and down the street and I could see taxis go by.  For some reason, unknown to me, she ended up not going.

A man delivered our new telephone book today.  It included yellow pages and even a few pages of coupons in the middle.

We took a nap from 1:30 to 2:30 for me and 3:30 for Teresa.

Teresa called Dr. Rendon and got me a dentist appointment for 4:30 on Wednesday.  We’ve decided to split up our dental cleaning appointments over this and the next 2 months.

Regarding the area under construction behind the library:  The back ¼ acre had all the grass removed, they dug a trench in the rear portion of that and inserted and buried a long large-diameter pipe.

I solved more puzzles on Chess Magnet School.

I just read in the news that early this morning there was a rock/mudslide southwest of Medellin.  No lives were lost but the town of Betulia, population 50,000, is isolated until it is cleared – probably by tomorrow morning.

T-shirt of the day: Call back.

Sunday, April 22, 2018

4 more days!

I woke up several times during the night.  I also woke up once about 6:30 by some man yelling in the street as to what he was selling.  I finally woke/got up at 8:45.

I had to blow my nose several time to clear it and I told Teresa that I might have a cold – what they call “gripa”.

I left the apt at 10:30 and walked down the hill to the “lower” Exito that happens to have a larger selection than the “upper” Exito that is closer to our apt.  First I stopped at Juan Valdez and had a café con leche while reading some of my Chess Life magazine.  Then I picked up a package of prepackaged, presliced cheddar cheese, a box of Cheerios, a loaf of bread, a small bunch of bananas and a bag of lemons.  I arrived back at the apt at noon.

Teresa made me hot lemonade with some of the lemons I just bought.

Again my headphones aren’t working – in either USB port.  I wiggled the cord in the port and then it started working; like the male end is loose.  Maybe I do need a new set of headphones.

About 7pm Teresa told me she wants to go for pizza.  I told her there’s a program – Westworld - I want to watch at 8pm.  

She left with Laura at 7:30 and came back at 8:45 with a slice of pizza and a coke for me.  Unfortunately, I had my TV headphones on and didn’t hear that it was raining so my gym shoes that were airing out in the window got a little wet.  Also, Westworld didn’t end until 9:15 and Teresa wanted to watch her Septima Dia at 9pm so I switched channels.  I thought I could finish my program on my slingbox but I found that my son doesn’t have HBO.  I was also surprised that Westworld didn’t have subtitles in Spanish.

I solved a few more puzzles on Chess Magnet School.

T-shirt of the day: Welcome to earth.

Saturday, April 21, 2018

5 more days!

Last night I woke up at 12:30 with minor heartburn.  I took a couple Tums and was soon back asleep.  For some reason I woke up at 4am but again was quickly back asleep, finally waking at 6:30 and getting up 7:30.

I received an email from Envios Market that I have a package awaiting pickup.

I played around with my headphones and I finally got them to work.  Not sure what I did.  Among other things I plugged them into a different USB slot and pressed the mute button on the headphones.  Btw, now they work in the original USB slot and the mute button is supposed to be only for the microphone.

About 1:30 Andres showed up with his sister and his backpacks.

The Colombian Peso closed at 2,758 to the US Dollar.

At 2:15 I left the apt and walked over to the bookstore where I exchanged my paperback plus 2,000 pesos for another.  I made a withdrawal from the ATM and then deposited 50,000 pesos into Laura’s account for the gym.  Hopefully that’s the last deposit I’ll have to make for Smartfit this month.

I spent about 2 hours chatting with a tech rep from Rosetta Stone.  He reloaded 3 of my language levels and sent me an email to reload the last 2.

About 5pm I gave Teresa 50mil and Andres and his sister soon left.  I think that’s the last we’ll be seeing of them.

Laura left about 6pm to meet with friends.

I downloaded and reloaded the last 2 levels and actually finished a Rosetta Stone lesson for the first time since July of last year.

I solved more puzzles on Chess Magnet School and was promoted to the title of Protector.

T-shirt of the day: Sex sells.