Friday, March 13, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30 and slept through the night until being awakened at 6am by that little barking dog.  I closed the windows and turned on the fan but couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up at 7am.


Teresa had a 7:30am doctor’s appointment but I understand she will be cancelling it.


Among today’s US movie releases I would like to see The Hunt (6.1).  Locally, there isn’t anything I want to see.


On the news today they had a chart on the myths and realities of Covid-19.


I received an email from Smartfit that I hadn’t paid the monthly fee.  (I know I did.)


Teresa told me the last 2 doctor’s appointments she took MT to she forgot to bring her medical records.


Teresa informed me that it might be best if we skipped gym for today.


I understand Laura lost her childcare job for the next 3 months.  I’m not sure what she’s going to do next, especially since she has another cold.  I suggested she check Craigslist.com.


I watched the first hour of the Today show then left the apt for the gym.  I talked to Andres, the manager, about the email.  I showed him the receipt for my bank deposit and suggested that I hadn’t paid the 89mil annual maintenance fee.  He agreed so the problem was misstated in the email.  I told Andres that I would deposit 178mil into my account shortly.  (Btw, there didn’t appear to be as many people in the gym as usual.)


I walked to the copy center next to Aymara where I printed some information for my doctor’s appointment.


At Parva I solved a few chess puzzles while having a café con leche.  In the hour or so I was there only one other person came in.  Not so good for business.


At 11:30 I returned to the apt.


Btw, the last few days I have noticed a few people walking by wearing masks.


I read that there are currently 13 cases of the virus in Colombia: 5 in Bogota, 4 in Medellin, 2 in Neiva, 1 in Cartagena, and 1 in Buga.  In Neiva its 64-year-old and 74-year-old sisters.  No deaths as yet.


Italy has postponed their bicycle race – “tour de Italia”?


Teresa heard the avocado guy’s call from the street so she called the portero and had the guy bring a ripe avocado to our door for 4 mil.

"The grim reality is that, for the elderly, Covid-19 is almost a perfect killing machine," American Health Care Association President Mark Parkinson told CNN this week.


I packed up the laptop and mouse into its case but the fan and headphones wouldn’t fit inside.  I moved my notebook computer to the desk and Teresa was very happy.  The new spot is still warm but at least my notebook doesn’t send out the heat that my laptop did.


Teresa and I rested from 2:30 to 3:30.


I left the apt at 3:30 and there was a 15-minute wait for a taxi at the guardhouse.  While waiting I saw Juan Castro walk by and we waver to each other.  I arrived at El Tesoro by 4pm.  The smallest bills I had with me were 12mil (plus a little change) but the taxi fare was almost 13mil.  The driver said he would go for change but he returned about 5 minutes later without any.  He accepted the 12,600 pesos I had with me.  I wanted to make copies of a couple of my medicl records but I figured I might have trouble getting change for a 10 so first I went to O’Cake where I had a café con leche for 4,900 pesos.  At 4:30 I went into the copy center and made my copies for 600 pesos.  


I went up to Juan Carlos Castaño’s office in Torre Medica (consultorio 1338) arriving at the requested 4:40.  I thought I would have paper work to fill out but the receptionist merely asked me for my basic personal information.


At 5:15 I went into the doctor’s office.


He gave me something like an ultrasound and among other things I learned: my kidneys are free of tumors and lesions; my prostate is only slightly enlarged at 20.7cc when a normal prostate is 20cc or smaller; I should stop taking the Dutasteride and go back to simply Tamsulosin; and I should keep taking my GNC supplements.  I should return in 6 months after another PSA reading and he wrote an order for the blood test.


I left about 30 minutes later.


At the taxi stand I took number 45 and they were on number 12.  I called Teresa and explained I was out but there would be a delay in returning to the apt.  Not to mention it was also raining.


I returned to the apt by 6:45.


6,531 steps today.


Joke of the day

Two bees ran into each other.

The first bee asked the other how things were going.

"Really bad," said the second bee.

"The weather has been really wet and damp and there aren't any flowers or pollen, so I can't make any honey."

"No problem," said the first bee.

"Just fly down five blocks and turn left. Keep going until you see all the cars. There's a Bar Mitzvah going on and there are all kinds of fresh flowers and fruit."

"Thanks for the tip," said the second bee, and he flew away.

A few hours later, the two bees ran into each other again.

The first bee asked, "How'd it go?"

"Great!" said the second bee. "It was everything you said it would be."

"Uh, what's that thing on your head?" asked the first bee.

"That's my yarmulke," said the second bee.

"I didn't want them to think I was a wasp."

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, got up once during the night, finally waking at 6:15 and getting up at 6:45.


The news reported 12 cases of the Corona Virus in Itagui; that’s getting pretty close to home. The mayor of Bogota issued a yellow alert over the virus.   I read that my favorite actor, Tom Hanks, and his wife Rita Wilson have the Corona Virus.  The NBA has suspended their season.  President Duque just cancelled all events of more than 500 people.  Well, it looks like I won’t be playing in the March 20-23 chess tournament.


Usually Parva gets crowded by 4:30 in the afternoon but yesterday it was almost empty.  I wonder if that was due to fear of getting/passing on the virus.


I left the apt about 9:45 and ran into MT at the guardhouse.  After crossing Avenida Poblado I was soon on a bus.  At Envios Market I picked up 3 pieces of junk mail – 2 Capital One credit card offers and a Cory Booker campaign information postcard.  I quickly was on a Sabaneta bus and got off by the bookstore where I exchanged paperbacks for 2mil.  I walked a block east of Parque Envigado where I had a young man adjust my Timex watch.  It’s lost 2 minutes in the last few years and it also couldn’t handle leap year day.  He didn’t want to charge me but I gave him 2 mil anyway.

I caught a bus back to La Buena Mesa, bought 2 bags of milk in Exito and was back at the apt by 11:15.


I left the apt again about 12:30 and walked to the mall.  I had Sport Wings’ nachos and 2 glasses of iced tea for 32mil.  Downstairs I had a café con leche at Todo Fresa while solving a few chess  puzzles.  I left about 2:45 and returned to the apt.  I exchanged a few things then walked to the Otra Parte library.  Juan arrived 5 minutes later.  I learned that the March 20-23 chess tournament has officially been cancelled.  (Not sure if it’s due to the Corona Virus.)  We went over the games I played against Jose in my Chessbase database while I asked questions about using the software.  My new Urologist’s secretary called and Juan helped me with the call.  My appointment for Tuesday has now been changed to 5pm tomorrow.  (That leaves me available to play chess with Jose next Tuesday.)  Teresa called me and asked me to meet her at the café outside H&M after my lesson.  Something about buying a dress.


After my lesson I returned to the apt in a light rain where I dropped off some things and picked up my debit card.  Even though the temperature was down to about 76 degrees it was still very humid.  I met Teresa and MT inside the small Crepes & Waffles outside H&M.  She said she wanted to buy sandwiches but she led me to the health store where they looked at loaves of healthy bread.  
Inside Exito she finally picked up fixings for hot sandwiches.  At checkout she tried to use her Exito points to lessen the purchase price but I understood she didn’t remember her pin number so the cashier had to cancel it and scan everything again.  Then Teresa went to the customer service desk where she waited in line again but was unsuccessful in finding out what her pin number is.


MT returned to her apt and we walked back to ours experiencing only a few raindrops.


Per the news, an 85-year-old tourist in Cartagena is in serious condition but other Covid-19 patients are recuperating.


Well, our roses are almost dead.  Actually, Teresa pointed out they aren’t really roses because they have no thorns.  I’m not sure what they are then.


12,320 steps today.


Joke of the day

John and Jessica were on their way home from the bar one night when John got pulled over by the police. The officer told John that he was stopped because his taillight was burned out.

John said, "I'm very sorry officer, I didn't realize it was out, I'll get it fixed right away."

Just then Jessica said, "I knew this would happen when I told you two days ago to get that light fixed." 

So the officer asked for John's license and after looking at it said, "Sir your license has expired." 

And again John apologized and mentioned that he didn't realize that it had expired and would take care of it first thing in the morning. 

Jessica said, "I told you a week ago that the state sent you a letter telling you that your license had expired." 

Well by this time, John was a bit upset with his wife contradicting him in front of the officer, and he said in a rather loud voice, "Jessica, shut your mouth!!"

The officer then leaned over toward Jessica and asked. "Does your husband always talk to you like that?"

"Not always," answered Jessica, "only when he's drunk!"

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:30 and didn’t wake/get up until 7:30. Sweet!


Uh-oh, I forgot to recharge my cellphone last night.


I found a teasing comment on my blog from Friday “do you know the real meaning of your name”?  I replied, “nope, don’t know and don’t care”.


Teresa got a call that we didn’t pay her cell phone bill for this month.  I forgot but I’ll take care of that this afternoon.


Per the news, Colombia has 6 more cases of the Corona Virus for a total of 9.


I watched the first 35 minutes of the Today show where I learned that the state of New York has declared a state of emergency and “quarantined” the town of New Rochelle.


I understand Teresa has to take MT to doctor’s appointments today and again tomorrow.


At 9:40 I left for the gym and at the guardhouse the portero informed me I have some mail.  I said I would pick it up on the way back.  At the gym I completed all my exercises in an hour – amazing how much faster it goes without a cell phone.


Back at the guardhouse the doorman gave me our Une and epm bills.  Good, now I can pay them today along with the cell phone.


After my shower my lower back felt stiffer than usual.  I had dropped the soap and maybe when I picked it up I bent instead of stooped.  Don’t remember, anyway the pain I have location is different than usual with my osteoarthritis.  I took half an Excedrin Migraine so I hope that kicks in soon.


Just before noon a young man with a tank and sprayer arrived at my door and I understood he wanted to fumigate the apt.  I asked about the storage space in the garage as I think that might cost extra.  Anyway, he said he would come back Saturday at 10am when hopefully Teresa will be here.


I left the apt just after noon and walked to the mall where I paid the Une and epm bills in Exito.  I walked upstairs to the Claro office where I paid our cell phone bills.  I had chicken teriyaki and a limonada de coco for 25mil in Sarku.  Juan texted me that he believed he could meet me at Parva for our lesson by 2:30. I told him I should be able to make that time also.


I left the mall at 2pm and walked up to Parva arriving at 2:20.  Juan arrived 5 minutes later.  During the lesson I questioned why we have to cover formal Spanish, I would rather concentrate on informal Spanish and I’ll figure out the rest later.  I also suggested we spend more time in the future with conversations in Spanish with less emphasis on reading.  I learned a lot today about how pico y placa works here.  I undertand the month of March is the worst month here for air pollution.


When Juan left I solved a few chess puzzles before returning to the apt.


We had some showers in the evening.


I found Safe Haven, the movie, on Netflix and Teresa and I started watching it.


10,047 steps today.


Joke of the day

A newlywed farmer and his wife were visited by her mother, who immediately demanded an inspection of their home. The farmer had genuinely tried to be friendly to his new mother-in-law, hoping that it could be a friendly, non-antagonistic relationship.

To no avail, she kept nagging them at every opportunity, demanding changes, offering unwanted advice and making life unbearable for the farmer and his new bride. While they were walking through the barn, the farmer's mule suddenly reared up and kicked the mother-in-law in the head, killing her instantly.

At the funeral service a few days later, the farmer stood near the casket and greeted folks as they walked by. The pastor noticed that whenever a woman would whisper something to the farmer, he would nod his head and say something. Whenever a man walked by and whispered to the farmer, however, he would shake his head and mumble a reply.

Very curious as to this bizarre behavior, the pastor later asked the farmer what that was all about. The farmer replied, "the women would say, 'what a terrible tragedy' and I would nod my head and say, 'yes, it was.' The men would ask, 'can I borrow that mule?' and I would shake my head and say: 

'Sorry, I can't do it...It's booked up for a year...'

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:45, got up once at 4:45, couldn’t fall back asleep so I got up at 5:45.


I left the apt at 8am and took the metro bus and metro to the stadium.  Jose arrived about 5 minutes later and gifted me with a slice of carrot cake from Maria.  We checked the bulleting board but there was no posting for a March 20-23 chess tournament and Jose talked to the secretary and she didn’t know anything about it.


I had Black in the first game and he should have checkmated me but missed the correct continuation and he ended up resigning on the 47^th move.


We walked to the Obispo mall for lunch and the Tropical restaurant is now the Providencia but I got the same menu of the day for 11mil.


Back at the chess league I had the White pieces and pretty much had the advantage the entire game and he resigned on the 40^th move one move before he would have been checkmated.  (During the game I texted Alejandro and he’s interested in taking my old laptop.  Dario stopped by in the last minutes of the game but I barely had time to say hello.)


It was just after 4pm as we walked to the metro station and said goodbye.


I arrived back at the apt about 5pm.


Juan, my Spanish tutor, informed me that he will be under pico y placa tomorrow so he won’t be available until 3pm as he’ll have to take public transportation.  I told him no problem.


We had a steady rain through most of the evening.  We had chicken wings from Go Wings for dinner.


I finished reading Nicholas Sparks’ Safe Haven.  I started reading Charles McCarry’s The Better Angels but after 10 pages I just could’t get into it.


7,055 steps today.


Joke of the day

A blonde had just totaled her car in a horrific accident.

Miraculously, she managed to pry herself from the wreckage without a scratch and was applying fresh lipstick when the state trooper arrived.

“My God!” the trooper gasped. “Your car looks like an accordion that was stomped on by an elephant. Are you OK ma’am?”

“Yes, officer, I’m just fine.” the blonde chirped.

“Well, how in the world did this happen?” the officer asked as he surveyed the wrecked car.

“Officer, it was the strangest thing!” the blonde began. I was driving along this road when from out of nowhere this TREE pops up in front of me. So I swerved to the right, and there was another tree! I swerved to the left and there was ANOTHER tree! I served to the right and there was another tree! I swerved to the left and there was…”

“Uh, ma’am?”, the officer said, cutting her off. 

“There isn’t a tree on this road for 30 miles - that was your air freshener swinging back and forth.”

Monday, March 9, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 10:45, got up once during the night, was awakened at 6am by a small yapping dog so I got up and closed the window but turned on the fan, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.


I heard on the news that Colombia now has 3 cases of the Corona Virus.  This is how it starts.


I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show but afterward my back didn’t feel significantly better so I skipped gym this morning.  Teresa left for her gym class.


Teresa called me around noon and informed me she was “on hold” at the nail salon so I should have lunch by myself on the street.


I left the apt at 1pm, walked to the mall, and bought a jar of special calcium pills for Teresa at the pharmacy outside Exito.  I went up to the food court and had Frisby’s BBQ Picanugys that I usually order with Jose on Tuesdays.  I bought a couple more bottles of correction fluid for 4mil at Dollar City then went downstairs to Todo Fresa for coffee.  I worked on another set of chess puzzles for an hour then stopped at Exito on the way back to the apt for milk.


I checked Netflix to see if it carried the movie adaptation of the book I’m currently reading and they do although we’ve probably already seen it as it’s a Hallmark type movie.  I noticed Netflix was advertising The Trials of Cabriel Fernandez.


The rest of the day I spent finishing a page of chess puzzles and entering my tournament games into my Chessbase database.


Teresa showed me a plastic container of oatmeal which had lots of small ants crawling all over it.  She said she had the top on it and was surprised they still found a way in.  Well, I guess it ain’t Tupperware.  I told her to throw it away as I don’t care for that type of protein.  She poured it all onto a large plate and set it on the kitchen table and proclaimed they only like sweets so they would all be gone by morning.  Sitting next to it I killed a few of them by hand when they ventered near the edges of the plate and they were all gone in a couple hours.


Teresa talked to Laura then asked me to check for The Trials of Cabriel Fernandez on Netflix.  What a coincidence.  Teresa and I watched the first 3 of the 7 episodes of the mini-series.


Laura also texted me to see Abducted in Plain Sight but we’ll save that for another night.


5,050 steps today.


Joke of the day

Two men are trying to get in a quick eighteen holes, but there are two women golfers in front of them who are taking quite a long time to play each hole.

The first guy says, "Why don't you go over and ask if we can play through?"

The second guy gets about halfway there, turns and comes back.

The first guy says, "What's wrong?"

The second guy says, "One of them is my wife, and the other is my mistress."

The first guy says, "That could be a problem. I'll go over."

He gets about halfway there and he turns and comes back too.

The second guy says, "What's wrong?"

The first guy says, "Small world!"

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Today is International Women’s Day.

Last night I went to bed at 10:30, got up once during the night, finally waking at 6am and getting up at 6:15.


I left the apt just before 8am and caught a bus as I was crossing Avenida Poblado.  I noticed there wasn’t any Ciclovia going on today.  I got off as usual at Calle 7 and walked up the hill and noticed a large flower stand across the street from Exito.  I arrived at Ganso & Castor 5-10 minutes early taking one of the only outdoor seats at one of their rickety little picnic tables.  Glenn and James arrived 5 minutes later and we moved to an inside 4-top.


We chatted until just after 10am then moved to Pergamino Café.  
For a change I tried their smoothie of the day – strawberry, mango and banana – and it was quite good.  We left there just before noon – they caught a Didi car and I walked back to Exito to the flower stand.  At first I pointed to a large bouquet of long stem red roses but they wanted 60mil ($19) for them.  I then chose a smaller bouquet of yellow roses for 20mil but a man handed me a bouquet of shorter stem red and white roses for 30mil.  I bought it and later counted 24 roses.  I walked down Calle 7 and after a 5 minute wait I was on an Envigado bus.


I returned to the apt by 12:30 and Teresa loved the roses.  I know they won’t last long but today is a special day.


I spent most of the day reentering my tournament games and solving another set of 24 mate-in-3 chess puzzles.


At 8pm the President of Colombia addressed the nation about the Corona Virus.  Of course, the only thing I understood was a diagram about proper hand washing and not touching your face.


5,389 steps today.


Joke of the day
UNDENIABLE FACTS
Arguing over a girl’s bust size is like choosing between Molson, Heineken, Coors & Budweiser. Men may state their preferences but will grab whatever is available

Saturday, March 7, 2020

Last night I went to bed at 11pm, got up once during the night, again at 5:30, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.

Teresa decided to spend the afternoon with her girlfriend Angela.


I left the apt at noon and walked to the mall.  In Cine Colombia I bought a preferred seat to Current War for 12,700.  I killed some time reading news on my cell phone then went into the Platinum Room where I bought a turkey ham sandwich and a Coke for my lunch.  Five minutes before showtime I added ice to my cup, filled my free tub with popcorn and entered into the theater.  There were about a dozen of us there for the movie.  I poured a root beer into my cup of ice and drank it with my popcorn.  The movie was okay, nothing special.


In Exito I bought a head of lettuce, half a dozen apples, a package of toothpicks and walked back to the apt.


Teresa called me at 6:30 from Mayorca; she’s going to call me when she returns to Envigado.  She called me back at 7:30 to inform me she was on Avenida Las Vegas in a taxi and I should meet her at the guardhouse.  I quickly changed clothes and went down to the guardhouse and she arrived a couple minutes later.  We took the taxi to Antica Pizza but she considered it too busy (it is Saturday, after all) to wait so we went to the stand across the street where we each had a patacon with avocado and shredded beef.  I also had an arepa de chocolo and she had a meat pastry.  We shared a coke for a total of 34mil.


We walked down the hill to our usual spot where we quickly caught a taxi back to the apt.


Teresa informed me that Puro Cuero now wants 300mil more for the table with the wood color change we requested.  We decided we had enough of their price gouging so Teresa will request the original color.


6,839 steps today.

Joke of the day

UNDENIABLE FACTS
Breaking News: Condoms don’t guarantee safe sex anymore.

A friend of mine was wearing one when he was shot dead by the woman’s husband.