Sunday, February 23, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30pm, got up about 5:15 when I heard a notification on my cell phone, quickly fell back asleep and finally woke/got up just before 7am.  I took an advil to see if that would help loosen up my back.  (I don’t think it helped.)


I understand the dining room table will be delivered today.  Strange, it being delivered on a Sunday, but what do I know?


Teresa asked me to meet her at Mayorca later as she had a blouse to exchange.  (It seems she’s always exchanging something.)


I left the apt at 8am and walked up to Avenida Poblado.  It was a 10 minute wait for a bus and because there was no traffic the driver drove like a bat out of hell.  At one point we hit a pothole or speed bump that lifted us all about 6 inches out of our seats.  That certainly didn’t feel good for my back.  (At some point as I get feebler I’m going to have to give up buses.)


I got off at Calle 7 and walked up the hill arriving at Ganso & Castor at 8:30 and Glenn and James were already there.  I ordered their granola with Greek yogurt but it came without acai berries so obviously I didn’t order it correctly.


At 10am we moved to Pergamino #1 on Carrera 37 where I had another café con leche with an almond croissant but I didn’t finish it.


I called Teresa but got her voice mail.


About 11:30 we shared a Didi car and I got off at Mayorca mall.  I walked up to the Nike store which is where I thought she would most likely be.  I called her again but got her voice mail.


I sat down outside the store and called her again 15 minutes later and she finally answered.  She said she was inside the Nike store.   (I didn’t see her the first time I looked.)


She bought a pair of leggings for the gym for 106,000 ($31).


We went up to J&C Delicias where I had a Thai salad and she had a Florentine salad.  I tried their durazno (peach) juice which was quite good.  While waiting for our food I observed a nearby couple get some type of food in a bread bowl but was told it wasn’t soup.  We got a dish of ice cream for dessert to share.  The total came to 76,500 which I paid in cash.


While I went to the restroom Teresa went to Puro Cuero.  Inside she asked me about one of the dining room tables – do I like it more than what we ordered?  What is this about?  I thought everything was settled.  As we left she said something about the sales rep said she wants 150mil more for the darker wood.  It appeared Teresa declined the offer and she said it would be delivered tomorrow.  I question – if it’s to be delivered tomorrow then its already been made, so what color is it?  After awhile I understood that the sales rep will call tomorrow for our answer.  They can deliver it now with the light wood or for 150mil they will deliver the darker wood in 8 days.  Sigh!  I told her I wanted the darker wood.  I hope that’s settled.


As we were leaving the mall I noticed the KFC restaurant also had a huge Kentucky Fried Chicken sign.  I thought they changed their name permanently to KFC?


Finally, today, my insect bites stopped itching; it only took 5 days.


For supper I had hot oatmeal with a slice of toasted bread.


5,012 steps today.


Joke of the day

Hilarious responses to public notices:

Public notice: This printer is here temporarily.

Response: In the greater scheme of things, aren’t we all?

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Today is 2/22/20 – That’s a lot of twos.


Last night I went to bed at 11pm, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, quickly fell back asleep and finally woke/got up at 8:15am.  PS. When I got up during the night I had to make 2 attempts due to my weak back.  Sigh.


It was a cool morning so I put on jeans and a t-shirt and at 9:30 walked to Avenida Poblado.  I stopped an Envigado bus as I was crossing the street.


As I got on I heard someone say “good morning” which I returned without looking.  After I paid the driver and turned around I said, “it looks like a school bus”.  Upon further reflection they were almost all Boy Scouts, all dressed up with troop penants obviously on their way to some campout or jamboree.


At Envios Market I picked up 6 documents including 3 1099s, and a Reader’s Digest, and a Chess Life magazine.  I paid Nobraskja 39 mil for my March box rental.


At Parva I went through my mail while having a large café con leche for 4,500 pesos.


I stopped next door at the copy center where I printed calendars for February thru April which I hope this can help us keep track of our appointments and other commitments.


Outside I caught a Sabaneta bus back to Envigado.  At the border of Poblado and Envigado I noticed another squirrel bridge crossing over the road.


Back at the apt I went through my mail more carefully and went through my Acer User’s Guide again.


I’m feeling more confident with my notebook and Windows 10 but I still have lots of questions for Juan.


We received a little more rain late in the afternoon.


I went through some of my new videos on The London System.


We had another brief shower in the evening.


I set an alarm for 7am on my cell phone and recharged it next to my bed.


4,854 steps today.


Joke of the day

Hilarious responses to public notices:

Public notice: Coffee maker not hot.

Response: But it has a great personality.

Friday, February 21, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, quickly fell back asleep and finally woke/got up at 7am.


There was something on TV about a controversy over Uber.

Also, 21.8% of the air contamination comes from buses.


Opening today in the US is The Call of the Wild (6.7) which we might see tomorrow.  Teresa asked if its playing later anywhere and I checked and its playing at Viva at 7:15.


A thunderstorm came through about 3pm but the rain ended completely by just after 4pm.


I’m reviewing the 485 page ChessBase manual trying to figure out how to copy the database games from my old computer using Shredder to my new notebook using ChessBase.


I reminded Teresa that we should leave by 6:30 to catch the movie on time.  She replied, “tonight?”  I said “yes, you know how difficult it is to get tickets on Saturday night”.


About 6:15 I put a bottle of root beer in my tech bag and we walked to the mall.  I exchanged my 2019 Platinum card for a 2020 version and they gifted me a notebook, a new popcorn bucket and free platinum tickets and snacks for my birthday month but they didn’t transfer 8mil that I had remaining on my old platinum card.  I bought 2 premium tickets for the 7:15 showing of The Call of the Wild (6.9) for 12,700 each.  In the Platinum room Teresa ordered chicken nuggets and a chicken sandwich to share.  We also ordered sodas and a refill of our new popcorn bucket.  The movie was like a Walt Disney production with lots of CGI.


The movie ended by 9:10 and we walked back to the apt.  We stopped in Exito on our way back and picked up 2 bags of milk and we had to wait in a long line.


At 10:30 it started raining lightly and there were still drops at 11pm when we went to bed.


7,850 steps today.


Joke of the day

Hilarious responses to public notices:

Public notice: To the individual who stole the bike previously here…if you have a shred of decency you will return it with a new lock and reevaluate your life choices.

Response: Hey bozo, it’s illegal to lock your bike to a handicap pole.  Check with the city for your bike. They probably removed it so it would not block a wheelchair accessible van.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up once during the night, quickly fell back asleep and finally woke/got up at 8am.


I left the apt at 9:25 and walked to the copy center where I printed a photo of the downloads on my notebook.

I was back by 10am so I could watch some of the Today show.

I took a nap from 12:15 to 1:30.

My notebook battery died so I had to recharge it. Still 3,011 files left to upload to OneDrive.

What, Uber is back!?  Someone reported on Facebook that it has returned to Colombia as a Car Rental company, whatever that means.


We left the apt about 3pm and walked 2 blocks to the Mercado Madrid grocery store.  Our first time there, it’s a lot smaller than our usual Euro but a lot closer.  I didn’t find our usual brand of eggs which probably means I’ll have to tote them from the mall Exito.  I also didn’t find my Hunt’s BBQ sauce but luckily I’m not quite out as yet.


At checkout they made the mistake of charging it to dollars for a total of $139.48.  They nicely and patiently backed out the charge and changed it to pesos which equated to $132.55 saving us about $7.


A young man pushed a cart filled with our groceries up the hill to our apt and I tipped him 10mil.  It started raining just as we returned to the apt, first rain in weeks, but it only lasted about 15 minutes.


With some difficulty I finally logged into Claro Video and for 9,600 pesos rented Yesterday for the next 48 hours.


5,193 steps today.


Joke of the day

A guy with a black eye boards his plane and sits down in his seat.  He notices immediately that the guy next to him has a black eye too.

He says to him, "Hey this is a coincidence, we both have black eyes. Mind if I ask how you got yours?"

The other guy says, "Well, it just happened. It was a tongue twister accident. See, I was at the ticket counter and this gorgeous blonde with the most massive breasts in the world was there. So, instead of saying, 'I'd like two tickets to Pittsburgh', I accidentally said, 'I'd like two pickets to Tittsburgh'. So she socked me a good one."

The first guy replied, "Wow! This is unbelievable. Mine was a tongue twister too. I was at the breakfast table this morning and I wanted to say to my wife, 'Please pour me a bowl of Frosties, honey.'  But I accidentally said, 'You ruined my life you fat, evil hag'."

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, woke up once with a right calf cramp, quickly fell back asleep and finally woke/got up at 7:30.


Yesterday at Santa Elena I got insect bites on my arms and legs.  I’ve been putting Caladryl on them which helps a little.


Teresa left about 9:15 for her gym class.  I stayed behind as I had some computer work to do and I wanted to watch the Today show at 10am.


I left the apt just before noon and walked up to Avenida Poblado where I caught a bus after a 10 minute wait.


The bus was slow going down the Gold Mile and I got off a block and a half too early but I was still at their hotel by 12:40.


Bryan, our private driver, arrived a couple minutes early and we left the hotal at 1pm.


He took the tunnel, which cuts the trip to/from Medellin by 20 minutes, and we were at the airport by by 1:40.  They checked their bags then we went up to Piccolo’s where Joan had a salad and Jim and I had pizza.


At 3pm I said goodbye to them for another year.

Outside I helped a young black man who had apparently just arrived.  He showed me the address he was going to and I told him to take the San Diego bus.  I told him it cost 10,500 pesos but he didn’t have any so I sent him to the 2^nd floor to the red Davavienda ATM to try first.  When I finished with him I found my bus was full and I was 2^nd in line for the next.  It was about a 10-15 minute wait for the next one and another 10-15 minutes until it pulled out.


I got off at San Diego mall, walked through the mall and across the street soon was on an Envigado bus.  I don’t think the bus got over 20mph and not just because of the heavy traffic down the Gold Mile.  I returned to the apt just before 5pm.


I took a shower and turned on my notebook and I see an icon on the bottom that says OneDrive is uploading files to the cloud – only 5,800 more to go.


Teresa called me – she’s at the mall with her mother at Crepes & Waffles.  I told her I’d be there in an hour or so.  I had 2 mini waffles with California (ice cream, strawberries, and whipped cream).


When I arrived and was looking over the menu they went downstairs for coffee leaving me with the check.  Lol.


I joined them at the ice cream Crepes & Waffles and led them to Habia Una Vez.  I ordered a café con leche and a slice of Carrot Cake.  The waitress told me it’s the last slice but I ordered it anyway.  A young lady was walking by with her pug and right next to our table it put on the brakes and sat down.  I understood she said it wanted some carrot cake.  I told the dog the last piece is mine.  The cake was a little dry but I ate most of it anyway.  In a few minutes the lady’s husband came with a takeout order and they all left.


We left about 8pm and walked back to our respective apartments.


9,897 steps today.


Joke of the day

A young banker decided to get his first tailor-made suit.

So he went to the finest tailor in town and got measured for a suit.

A week later he went in for his first fitting.

He put on the suit and he looked fabulous; he felt that in this suit he can do business.

As he was preening himself in front of the mirror, he reached down to put his hands in the pockets and to his surprise he noticed that there were no pockets.

He mentioned this to the tailor who asked him, "Didn't you tell me you were a banker?"

The young man answered, "Yes, I did."

To this, the tailor said, "Who ever heard of a banker with his hands in his own pockets?"

Tuesday, February 18, 2020

I left the apt at 8:50 and only had to wait 1 minute for a metro bus.  I was outside the Exposiciones station by 9:15.  Jim and Juanita were supposed to meet me at 9:30 but their Didi ride had trouble finding their hotel.  In the meantime I noticed lots of buses for La Ceja, El Retiro, and the airport.  They finally arrived about 9:45.

Jim talked to the dispatcher and we were told we need to go to San Diego mall to catch a bus to Santa Elena.  (Jim had previously asked a number of taxi drivers and they all said we could catch at Santa Elena bus at Exposiciones.)  It was only a 3-4 block walk with a slight sidewalk detour due to roadwork.


At SD mall we were told we have to go to Plaza de Flores to catch a bus to Santa Elena.  We took a taxi there (appr. Calle 50 and Carrera 41) in heavy traffic.  At 10:43 we paid 2,600 each for a seat on the Santa Elena bus.


It took about 20 minutes just to get out of the heavy downtown traffic, finally arriving at Santa Elena at 11:30. (At one point high in the mountains my Altimeter app reported we were at an altitude of 8,250 feet.)  It was the small area as I remembered it but almost no one was around.  We tried the main restaurant but were told they are only open on weekends and holidays.


At 12:18 we paid a private driver 25mil to take us to Hotel Piedras Blancas arriving at 12:45.


We took our time and we all enjoyed our lunch.  I had the baby beef, which I’m pretty sure was a skirt steak, and a limonada de coco for 38mil (about $12).


Back outside the guard informed us that a bus to the metro cable arrived about every 30 minutes.


We paid a private driver 15mil to take us there but he dropped us off at the bottom of the hill and it was about a 10-15 minute walk to the metro cable.


We got in a car with a couple from Los Angeles who had just arrived yesterday from Bogota.  I talked to them as far as the Poblado station then they got off.


I got off at the Envigado station and ran into Herman at his OJ stand.  In a Gana store I paid the Direct TV bill, bought milk and returned to the apt.


Teresa seemed to want to dress fancy tonight but I told her it’s not going to be that type of dinner.  I put on a nice shirt instead of a t-shirt.


We left the apt at 7pm and took a taxi to Tagliata, Carrera 43D #13-23, where we usually have our going away dinner.  I had the chicken and pasta and it was delicious as usual.  I noticed the Chiropractor’s office is no longer across the street.  He probably moved to a better location.


Juanita picked up the check for dinner and Teresa said goodbye to them until next year.  We walked down to the end of the block and after about 5 minutes they caught a taxi and a minute later our Didi ride arrived who took us back to our apt for 7mil.


8,536 steps today.


Joke of the day

Sam and Dean were the best of friends as well as two of the biggest baseball fans the world has ever seen.

All their lives, Sam and Dean would talk about baseball. They went to all the games they could get to. They even made a pact, as kids, that when one of them dies - the other will return to tell him if heaven has baseball games.

One night, after watching a Yankee victory, Sam happily dies. A few nights later, his buddy Dean wakes up to a familiar sound - it's Sam, and he's talking to him from beyond.

"Sam, is that you?" Asks Dean.

"Sure is, buddy!" replies Sam.

"Wow this is amazing!" exclaims Dean. "So, please tell me, is there baseball in heaven?"

"Well," answers Sam. "I have some good news and bad news for you. Which would you like to hear first?"

"Give me the good news first." 

"Ok, well the good news is that the answer is yes, there is baseball in heaven."

"That's incredible! So what's the bad news, then?"

"You're pitching tomorrow night."

Monday, February 17, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, fell asleep quickly, got up once about 5am, finally fell back asleep and woke/got up at 7am.


I walked to the mall and recycled a couple pill bottles and printed an information page about my new Chessbase software.


I walked to the metro and chatted briefly with Herman at his stand.  I arrived at the La Estrella station by 10:30.


Across the street I met my brother and we were soon on a Lomitas bus up into the hills of Sabaneta.  (Buses might come every 10 minutes or so.)


On our way back down we stopped at a side street and walked 10 minutes uphill to Hotel La Extramadura; my it has grown.  We stopped in one of their beautiful and impressive restaurant/banquet halls where I had a Cesar salad and a piña colada (without alcohol).  My bill came to about 35mil.


We took a bus back and we were dropped off at the Mayorca mall.

Jim returned to the hotel and I stopped in Todo Fresa in the mall where I had a strawberry slushee.


I was back at the apt by 2:30.


I cancelled my Amazon Prime free trial membership.  I had watched a few things but it seemed like their library wasn’t very large and most movies required paying an extra fee to watch it.


I took a little nap from 5pm to 6:30.


I bought a membership to MS Office 365 Personal for the extra Terabyte of OneDrive space for $6.99 a month.  Now I just have to figure out how OneDrive works.


I started going through a Youtube lesson on OneDrive and I’m starting to get a better idea of how it works but it’s still a little bit of a struggle to figure out how to get to my files.


10,800 steps today.


Joke of the day

A farmer walked into a bar and saw the local tractor salesman sitting there, head hung low, obviously upset, drowning his sorrows in his beer.

"What's up, John?" asked the farmer. "Gosh Bob, I'll tell you what ... if I don't sell a tractor soon, I'm gonna have to close my shop."

"Now John, things could be worse," said Bob.

"How do you figure?" asked John.

"Well, John - you know my 'ornery cow, Bessie? I went to milk her this morning and she just kept flicking her tail in my face.

So I grabbed a piece of rope and tied it up to the rafter.

Then, the nasty thing went and kicked the bucket away!

So I tied her leg to the wall. Then she kicked my stool right out from underneath me!

But I was out of rope. So I took my belt off and used it to tie her other leg to the other side of the stall.

Well wouldn't you just know it...my damn pants fell down."

"And John, if you can convince my wife that I was in there to MILK that cow, I'll buy a tractor from you."