Wednesday, February 6, 2019

Last night I slept well, getting up once during the night finally waking/getting up at 6:45.

My brother and I had a 15mil breakfast at the Up restaurant in the Epic hotel in Poblado.  The food was okay but the view was incredible.

We took a taxi to Mall Laureles where we had coffee at Le Biscuit. We saw Lucas working there.  I went downstairs to the men's room where I bought 3 packages of travel toilet paper.

We took a Circular Sur 302 bus to Aguacatala station.  We stopped at Herman’s orange juice stand but he wasn’t there.

We had lunch at La Bahia for 12mil each.

We went across the street to the mall where I bought 2 pillows and a pair of “chip clips” in Home Center.

We went upstairs to Sinko Bar where Jim had a couple glasses of wine and I had a cold mandarine juice.

In the evening we walked up to Otra Parte where we had a delicious dinner outside.

Joke of the day

Mick, from Dublin, appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and towards the end of the program, he had already won 500,000 Euros.

"You've done very well so far," said Chris Tarrant, the show's presenter, "but for a million Euros you've only got one life-line left, phone a friend. Everything is riding on this question. Will you go for it?"

"Sure," said Mick. "I'll have a go!"

"Which of the following birds does NOT build its own nest?

a) Sparrow

b) Thrush,

c) Magpie,

d) Cuckoo?"

"I haven't got a clue." said Mick, ''So I'll use my last lifeline and phone my friend Paddy back home in Dublin .."

Mick called up his mate, and told him the circumstances and repeated the question to him.

"Fookin hell, Mick!" cried Paddy. "Dat's simple it's a cuckoo."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fookin sure."

Mick hung up the phone and told Chris, "I'll go with cuckoo as my answer."

"Is that your final answer?" asked Chris.

"Dat it is."

There was a long, long pause and then the presenter screamed, "Cuckoo is the correct answer! Mick, you've won 1 million Euros!"

The next night, Mick went round to Paddy's to buy him a drink.

"Tell me, Paddy? How in Heaven's name did you know it was da Cuckoo that doesn't build its own nest?"

"Because he lives in a Fookin clock!"

Tuesday, February 5, 2019

I got up once at 3:30, quickly fell back asleep and woke/got up at 7am.

Jim had already left the apt – probably about 6am.

Teresa and I left the apt at 8am and arrived at El Tesoro by 8:30.  I had a café con leche at OCake while we waited for 9am.  We updated Teresa’s contact information with the receptionist then she went in to see the female gynecologist.  She came out a few minutes later and informed me that everything is okay and where it should be – lol. 

We went down to the mall but it was only 9:30 and obviously most of the stores don’t open ‘til 10.  We stopped in a small café where we shared a croissant with our coffees.

At 10:15 Teresa went into Zara to check out the sales while I waited outside in a comfortable easy chair and read my Nook book.  I observed a body guard riding a fancy G4S segway.  Teresa found 3 dresses that only cost me 109,700 pesos ($37) then we went to Crepes & Waffles but we arrived at 11:30 and we had to wait until noon for them to open.  I made a quick look at the mall’s Dunkin Donuts and they also had the apple fritters for 3,300 pesos but they call them manzana canela.  I had a good turkey pita sandwich and iced tea and Teresa had her usual surf & turf and juice for $19.

We went back to Zara but Teresa didn’t find anything else that she liked.  We stopped in Steve Madden, a shoe store that also sells backpacks.  What?  She bought a beautiful pair of high heels that I understood were 279,300 pesos with a 30% discount.  When I was paying I found out that that amount was AFTER the discount so they cost me $90.

There was a short line for a taxi back to the apt.  On the way we saw an old pickup truck on an incline slide slowly through a stop sign into a Metro bus.

I found an email from Medellin Guru with a review of El Barco the restaurant we were at yesterday so that was Jeff I briefly saw.

I decided to make more oatmeal cookies this afternoon with Teresa’s help.  This time I added 1 more egg and used larger walnut pieces.

The first batch I forgot to use Pam to oil the baking sheet and they stuck and we had to pry them off but they still tasted better than previously.  The second batch I made smaller and they also stuck a bit.  With Jim’ recommendation I made the third batch on aluminum foil but I made them too large and they ran together and we had to break them apart after they cooled.  Most of them still taste good though.

Jim came returned about 6:45 and explained that with cooking you can play around with recipes but with baking you need to follow the directions precisely.

Alex tried calling me but I or he had some problem.  Later I found I had some problems making calls and I finally found one problem was that I had wi-fi turned off on my cellphone.

In the evening I watched some of the State of the Union followed by some of the rebuttal then went to bed.

Per The New York Times “…the investigations surrounding Mr. Trump…have spread far beyond the special counsel’s office to include virtually all aspects of his adult life: his business, his campaign, his inauguration and his presidency.”

It’s just a matter of time!

Joke of the day

An engineer, a priest, and a doctor are trying to enjoying a round of golf. Ahead of them is a group playing so slowly and inexpertly that in frustration the three ask the greens keeper for an explanation.

"That's a group of blind firefighters," they are told. "They lost their sight saving our clubhouse last year, so we let them play for free."

The priest says, "I will say a prayer for them tonight."

The doctor says, "Let me ask my ophthalmologist colleagues if anything can be done for them."

And the engineer says, "Why can't they play at night?"

Monday, February 4, 2019

I got up once during the night, again about 6am, finally waking/getting up about 7am.

We were out of eggs so I made a quick trip next door to Exito for a dozen eggs.

When Jim got up he wanted to try the bakery so we left the apt about 8:15.  We soon found Eduardo Madrid Panaderia at Calle 31 only 2 blocks from our apt.  It is a large bakery with lots of pies, cakes, breads, for sale. 

I had a fresh bagel with butter and blackberry preserves and a capuccino.

We were back at the apt by 9:30.

I watched the first 90 minutes of the Today show.

Teresa left at noon for her 1pm doctor’s appointment.

Jim and I left about 1pm and we walked to the mall.  We walked outside and took the pedestrian overpass to Herman’s orange juice stand.  He wasn’t there and his niece informed us that he wouldn’t be back until 3:30.  We took the metro to Ayura station and walked to the Mayorista entrance then across the street and 2 blocks down we arrived at the seafood restaurant El Barco.  I thought I saw Jeff, the founder of Medellin Guru, come down the stairs with a camera and leave.  We were the only ones there.  The owner greeted us in English and he said he would have one of his waitresses order a menu of the day for me from one of the nearby restaurants.  Soon a gringo showed up alone and took a table next to us.  I was wearing my Chicago White Sox t-shirt and he asked me if I was a White Sox fan.  I said I was more of a Chicago Bears fan.  His name was Phil and he’s from St. Charles, Illinois which is not far from where we were both born.  I couldn’t hear him very well but apparently Jim enjoyed comparing notes with him.  Unfortunately for him he returns to the States tomorrow.  When my lunch arrived it consisted of a minature salad, French fries and beef (which, as usual, was too tough to chew).

We took a taxi to Olaya Herrera airport where Jim switched his flight time from returning on Wednesday to returning tomorrow afternoon.  He’s going on a tour of a cheese farm and factory in Monteria in about 95 degree heat.  At a Dunkin Donuts stand I got excited because they had apple fritters.  I hadn’t had one in 6 years so I bought one.  The girl said it’s a new item.

We walked a block away to Terminal Sur where Jim wanted to sit in a bar where we could watch airplanes take off and land.  I stopped at another DD stand but they didn’t have apple fritters; in fact they didn’t have much of anything.  We went upstairs to Almagrata Bar where we found it is closed Mondays.  I bought a small coffee and ate my fritter while we watched planes and helicopters come and go.

We took a taxi to the mall where I made an ATM withdrawal then we had a drink at Sinko Bar in front of the windows.  On this side of the highway some grading is being done and I saw a few trees balled and ready to be moved.

We paid the bill and took a taxi back to the apt.  (Remember my brother is still recuperating from knee surgery.)

Instead of going out tonight we ordered chicken wings from Go Wings.  The total came to 63,900 pesos and I gave the delivery guy 70mil and told him to keep the change.  Unknown to me instead of the wings being bathed in sauce Teresa ordered them with sauce on the side.  I like them better the other way.

I checked the location of GO Wings and it’s about 3 blocks east of MerkePaisa so they’re pretty close.

Joke of the day

A Policeman was quizzing 3 blondes, who were training to become detectives. To test their skills in recognizing a suspect, he shows the 1st blonde a picture for 5 seconds and then hides it. "This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?"

The first blonde answers "That's easy, we'll catch him fast because he only has one eye".

The policeman says "Well...Uh.. that's because the picture shows his profile".

Slightly flustered by this ridiculous response, he flashes the picture for 5 seconds at the second blonde and asked her "This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?"

The second blonde giggles, flips her hair and says "Ha! He'd be easy to catch because he only has one ear!"

The policeman angrily responds, "What's the matter with you two? Of course only one eye and ear are showing because it's a picture of his profile! Is that the best answer you can come up with?"

Extremely frustrated at this point, he shows the picture to the third blonde and in a very testy voice asks "This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?" He adds quickly "....think hard before giving a stupid answer".

The Blonde looks at the picture intently for a moment and says "HMMMM... the suspect is wearing contact lenses."

The policeman is surprised and speechless, because he really doesn't know himself if the suspect wears contacts or not. "Well, that is a good answer.. wait here for a few minutes while I check his file, and I'll get back to you on that".

He leaves the room and goes to his office, checks the suspect's file in his computer and comes back with a beaming smile on his face.

"WoW! I can't believe it...it's TRUE! The suspect does in fact wear contacts lenses. Good work! How were you able to make such an astute observation?"

"That's easy" the blonde replied. "He can't wear glasses because he only has one eye and one ear!"

Sunday, February 3, 2019

Last night I went to bed at 11pm and didn’t wake up until 6:45 – almost 8 hours sleep.  Yay!

Jim went down to the exercise room to workout his knee a little.

I brought out the box of Bisquick and helped Teresa gather together the ingredients to make blueberry pancakes.  We halved the recipe to make 5 pancakes and I thought they were much better than the Aunt Jemima mix.

Jim and I left the apt at 10am and we first stopped at the guard shack where we gave Reynaldo 4 oatmeal cookies.  We then took a taxi to Panaderia Baul (Cr 45 #72S-160) in Sabaneta.  We arrived at 10:20 and Erwin was already there with a friend named Randy.  I gave Erwin a bag of 4 oatmeal cookies and he gave one to Randy and is taking the rest back to share with his wife Dora.  We had coffee and talked for awhile then moved to an outside bar on the outskirts of Parque Sabaneta.  Erwin then led us past Pizza en Leña to a bus stop and we were soon on a bus back to Envigado.

After lunch Teresa went to visit with a friend and Jim went to take a nap.

Jim and I left the apt at 5pm and took a taxi for minimum fare (5,500 pesos) to the Ayura metro station.  After a 2 minute wait we were on a crowded metro car.  Of course we didn’t get a seat but we managed to stay near the exit door.  We got out at Parque Berrio and walking across Botero Plaza we stopped beside 2 policemen to read a sign.  We struck up a conversation with a policeman, in English, who gave us some history about buildings in the area.  Nice guy!

We walked across the street to Hotel Nutibara and asked at the front desk about where the football game is for the gringos.  He didn’t seem to know but after discussing a few possibilities he finally decided that it must be the bar in the basement called The Tunnel.  It wasn’t a direct route by any means but we found it.

We were greeted by Conrad Anthony who I guess is the owner.  We took stools near the bar where we had a good view of a large projector screen.

We soon met Jerry who is originally from Denver, Colorado and now lives with his Colombian girlfriend.  They live in an apartment on the street that Teresa loves that’s near the little church by Deli Hoy.  In sharing experiences he recommended a bakery called Eduardo Madrid in La Buena Mesa and Mercado del Tranvia by the older Bancolombia in Envigado.

Charles Turner arrived a little late and the four of us sat together at the bar counter and chatted.

The game was pretty boring as it was 3-3 at the end of the 3^rd quarter.  More interesting about 9:30 3 working ladies arrived and sat down in front of one of the other smaller TVs.

For dinner I had the pulled pork taco plate and a couple Cokes followed by a slice of apple pie.  Jim had the chicken plate, a couple beers and red cake with ice cream for dessert.  The total came to 83mil ($24).

About 10pm the game ended and the 4 of us crammed into a taxi for the ride back to Envigado.

Joke of the day

An office manager had money problems and had to fire an employee, either Jack or Jill...

He thought he'd fire the employee who came late to work. The next morning, both employees came to work very early.

So the manager thought he would fire the first one who took a coffee break. Unfortunately, neither employee took a coffee break.

Then the manager decided to see who took the longest lunch break - strangely, neither Jack nor Jill took a lunch break that day, they both ate at their desk.

Then the manager thought he'd wait to see who would leave work the earliest, but both employees stayed after closing.

Jill finally went to the coat rack and the manager went up to her and said, "Jill, I have a terrible problem. I don't know whether to lay you or Jack off."

Jill said, "Well, you'd better jack off, because I'm late for my bus."

Saturday, February 2, 2019

Happy Groundhog Day!  I understand he didn’t see his shadow so there should be an early spring.  Good luck with that!

Last night I fell asleep quickly, woke up at 5:30, took quite a while to fall back asleep, finally woke/got up at 8am.  (The 8am “call to prayer” woke me up.)  Lol.  Actually it was someone driving down the street saying something through a loud speaker.  Well, that’s Colombia for you.

Jim and I left the apt at 9:15 and took a taxi to Envios Market.  When we entered, the lobby was all torn up with boxes all over as if they are in the middle of remodeling.  There was a woman ahead of me and when it was my turn I paid 168,500 pesos to DHL the package to Laura.  I forgot to ask when it will be delivered but I think it will be there by next weekend.  Nobraskja soon arrived and she helped with my shipment.  We took a Sabaneta bus back to Envigado.

Jim and I left the apt at noon and took a bus to Bartolos where we had coffee and waited for a chivas bus to take us to the Buho beer festival.  At 12:45 we gave up and took a taxi high up in the mountains for 12mil.

The area was a relatively flat picnic ground area surrounded by pine trees.  In one spot there was a beautiful view of Envigado, especially later when some of the fog lifted.  At one point Jim spotted the Ferris wheel in Viva Envigado and with his guidance I finally spotted it also.

We walked around and checked out all the booths selling beer and food.  At one station there were 3 whole pigs “skewered” and sitting in front of a fire roasting.  After Jim conversed with some of the owners and tried a couple beers we finally agreed to share an order of ribs, with cole slaw and mashed potatoes from The Smokin Pit.  We finally left about 3pm and had the taxi drop us off at the park.  We went to the corner bakery where we had coffee.

We were back at the apt by 4:30.

We all left the apt about 6:30 and arrived at La Bodequita, the Cuban restaurant, in time for our 7pm reservation.  We first visited this restaurant when it had just opened.  They had live music with our dinner.  We left about 8:45 and our taxi driver was a young man.  At one point he showed us a photo of his girlfriend then asked us why she might want him to change his profile photo.  We looked closer and in the background were a couple of dildos.  Lol.  We were back at the apt by 9:15.

Joke of the day

The new employee stood before the paper shredder looking confused.
"Need some help?" a secretary asked.
"Yes," he replied. "How does this thing work?"
"Simple," she said, taking the fat report from his hand and feeding it into the shredder.
"Thanks, but where do the copies come out?"

Friday, February 1, 2019

I woke up once during the night, finally waking/getting up at 7am.

It’s a new month, time to pay the bills.

Jim and I left the apt at 8:30 and took a bus to the park.  I picked up a free Adn newspaper outside Exito.  We stepped in Bancolombia where we picked up my turn number.  We were only about 20 turns shy and the lobby wasn’t crowded so this would probably go faster than usual.  Anyway, we went to Carbon de Leña where we had calentado for breakfast.  I bought a Q’Hubo newspaper with the Condorito comic inside for Chuck.  We walked back to Bancolombia and they were already 20 numbers past our turn.  I took a new number and it was our turn after about a 15 minute wait.  I got my World Remit cash and the cashier deposited the required amounts to the accounts for my apt, my health insurance and the gym.

Crossing a street we ran into Charles Turner and he told us about a Superbowl party at Hotel Nutibarra.  Jim and I may go there Sunday instead of Patricks to try to avoid the crowds.

We walked to nueve eps to pick up Teresa’s blood test results.  A lady sent me to the front of the building where I picked up a receipt for an appointment for Teresa.  We walked to Todo Drogas where I picked up my medicine for the month, we stopped at $efecty where I paid the Direct TV bill then we took a taxi back to the apt.  I picked up a free Gente newspaper outside the guard shack.

Back at the apt Teresa was not happy that I wasn’t able to pick up her blood test results.  She called Esmeralda and I understand she will bring them over later.  Teresa needs them for her doctor’s appointment on Monday.

Among new US movie releases I would like to see Arctic (7.3).

Locally, I would like to see Escape Room (6.4) and Teresa wants to see A Dog’s Way Home (6.4).

We left the apt at 1:15 and took a taxi to Mayorista where Jim was looking for a seafood restaurant called El Barco.  The driver drove us around and we finally got out at Amazonas Pescados & Amariscos.  Teresa ordered fish and I basically ordered the same Peruvian dish as last night.  Unexpectedly, Jim had a beer then got up and went looking for El Barco.  We agreed to meet at the traffic circle at 3pm.

Teresa and I enjoyed our food and we were finished just in time to meet Jim at the traffic circle.  We got there at 3pm and he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.  Teresa talked to someone and we learned that there was a food court up on the 3^rd floor.  We still didn’t see Jim.  What did people do in the days before cellphones?  (They got lost a lot!?)  We went back downstairs and we saw him on the other side of the street.  We quickly caught a taxi and on the way to Viva Envigado Jim talked to him in English.  He graduated from the University of Massachusetts.

We walked around Viva Envigado and at one point I stopped at Cine Colombia to get my Platinum card.  The cashier went to get the manager and another cashier stopped by (I think to learn the procedure) but after checking for a minute she proclaimed that the system wasn’t working and I should come back tomorrow.

We stopped in Home Center where we bought 2 plastic anti-slip shower mats.

According to the Adn newspaper the unemployment rate here has increased to 9.7%.  Another article had a photo of people walking on the Michigan Avenue bridge over the frozen Chicago river. 

Esmeralda visited for awhile and I gave her 3 oatmeal cookies to take to Alejandro.  Esmeralda has Fibromyalgia and I understand that is why I had Jim bring her the Acetominophen.

We left the apt about 7:45 and took a taxi to Antica Pizza.  As usual it was busy and we had to wait outside for awhile but eventually we got seats inside.

We were back at the apt by 9:30.

  

Joke of the day

An Irishman named Murphy went to his doctor after a long illness.

The doctor, after a lengthy examination, sighed and looked Murphy in the eye and said, "I've some bad news for you... you have cancer and it can't be cured. I'd give you two weeks to a month."

Murphy, shocked and saddened by the news, but of solid character, managed to compose himself and walk from the doctor's office to the waiting room. There he saw his son who had been waiting.

Murphy said, "Son, we Irish celebrate when things are good and celebrate when things don't go so well. In this case, things aren't so well. I have cancer and I've been given a short time to live. Let's head for the pub and have a few pints."

After three or four pints the two were feeling a little less somber. There were some laughs and more beers. They were eventually approached by some of Murphy's old friends who asked what the two were celebrating.

Murphy told them that the Irish celebrate the good and the bad... he went on to tell them that they were drinking to his impending end. He told his friends, "I've only got a few weeks to live as I have been diagnosed with AIDS." The friends gave Murphy their condolences and they had a couple more beers.

After his friends left, Murphy's son leaned over and whispered, "Dad, I thought you said that you were dying from cancer. You just told your friends that you were dying from AIDS!"

Murphy said, "I am dying from cancer, son, I just don't want any of them sleeping with your mother after I'm gone."

Thursday, January 31, 2019

I got up once during the night, woke up at 7:30 and got up at 8am.

I got a message from Bryan, Jim’s private driver.  He said “good morning sr terry, his brother if he comes on the road today true”.  I assume he is wanting to know if Jim made his flight.  I texted him that I had chatted with my brother at 8pm last night on his way to the airport.

I checked his flight online and he’s on time.  I communicated that to Bryan and asked him to text me when they are leaving the airport and I would then wait for them outside my building.

I traded texts with Bryan and Jim.  I understood all his words but not the meaning of “you tell me to wait outside the door for one who has already passed in the car to pick it up”.  Bryan then texted me that he got stopped by the police and they are checking his papers.  I finally gave Jim Bryan’s phone number so hopefully he can contact him directly.  After that I didn’t hear back from either of them so I assume they connected and he’s on his way.

I went outside the guard shack where I sat on a bench.  They arrived about 15 minutes later and I guided them into the garage to our elevator.  We dropped off his bags in his room and he gave me my gifts (some requested, some not): 6 bags of salted-in-the-shell peanuts, 3 bottles of root beer, 2 packages of small tubes of super glue, a bottle of Excedrin Migraine, a package of chocolate chip cookie mix, a package of 6 Sensodyne toothbrushes, and a bottle of Acetaminophen for Esmeralda.

We walked up to Avenida Poblado where we took a bus to a block from Parque Envigado.  We had a nice lunch at Bartolos then went to the bookstore where I exchanged my paperback for another.  We walked to Pagos Internacionales where Jim picked up some cash he had sent himself via World Remit.  We went to La Casita Parilla where he was reunited with Diego, Mateo, and Christian.  We had drinks and then took a taxi back to the apt.

Teresa, having just returned from getting a doctor’s appointment at Nueva eps, met us at the guard house.  We walked over to the pool and Jim got to see the gym with the exercise cycles.

About 7pm we walked up to Chiclayo in Buena Mesa for dinner.  

We all enjoyed our dinners for 122,870 including tax, tip and Jim’s 2 beers.

We were back at the apt by 9pm.

Joke of the day

John and David were both patients in a Mental Hospital. One day, while they were walking, they passed the hospital swimming pool and John suddenly dove into the deep end. He sank to the bottom and stayed there.

David promptly jumped in and saved him, swimming to the bottom of the pool and pulling John out.

The medical director came to know of David's heroic act. He immediately ordered that David be discharged from the hospital as he now considered him to be OK.

The doctor said, "David, we have good news and bad news for you! The good news is that we are going to discharge you because you have regained your sanity. Since you were able to jump in and save another patient, you must be mentally stable. The bad news is that the patient that you saved hung himself in the bathroom and died after all."

David replied, "Doctor, John didn't hang himself. I hung him there to dry."