Saturday, November 6, 2021

Recovery Day #134!

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 7am, did my Kegel exercises and got up at 7:30.

Teresa left at 7:30 to go to eps to ask them a question. She returned at 8:30 and made me breakfast. We had a nap then left the apt at 10:15 and walked down to Mercado Madrid. As usual I got a number of plastic bags for vegetables and opened them for her. I was heading toward the back of the store when a chica (young girl) holding a tray of yogurts started her spiel. I understood the gist of it but I told her I don’t understand much Spanish. She switched to English and told me that the yogurt cups are free, IF you buy any package of that brand from the cooler behind her. Teresa then called me to get her more bags.

I paid with my debit card and a man pushed the cart up to our apt. complex. I was surprised and happy to see he was allowed to push it inside the porteria and even more when he went with us up the elevator and handed us things over the threshold of the door.

I’ve been trying to get Teresa to go out to a nice restaurant for weeks or months. (I did get her to Tagliata about a month ago.) I suggested it again a few days ago. I thought it would be another night in watching TV. At 4:30 she informed me she want to go to the nearby Outlet store and check out their jeans then we will go out for a nice dinner. We left at 4:45 and walked the two blocks to the store. She tried on a couple jeans but said they don’t fit. We were back at the apt by 5:30. She asked me what time I wanted to leave for the restaurant. I told her as soon as she’s ready, I don’t want to wait until 8pm to go out.

The “something” she exchanged for in El Tesoro this week doesn’t fit so I’m going to meet her there tomorrow after breakfast and she’s going to exchange it again.

At 6:45 when Teresa was almost ready to leave I called for a Didi card that was supposedly 4 minutes away. When the car was 2 minutes away we went down to the porteria. She sat down and I stepped outside because the app showed the car coming down our street. I motioned for Teresa to come out as the car was arriving. The driver dropped us off at the Provenza location of El Correo at Carrera 33 #7-89. The restaurant was attractive and only 5 of about 25 tables were occupied. We got a table on an upraised platform in back. Teresa ordered a sangria and I a lemonado de coco. She loved her drink. She ordered salmon and I ordered their pepper steak. She loved her salmon and my steak was appropriately spicy but portions were a little chewy. For dessert Teresa ordered a slice of carrot cake to share and I ordered a café con leche, hoping it wouldn’t cause me any sleep problems.

I forgot to take a photo of the restaurant and our meals (still not used to take photos) but I did take one of our shared dessert.

 

The total check, with tip, came to 179,300 pesos ($48) which I put on my debit card. I think I got her to promise to try a new nice restaurant every month.

We quickly caught a Didi car back to the apt. On the way Teresa talked to Esmeralda who recommended a Netflix movie called Mamá. I found it and we started watching it while I did my TENS exercise. I then read a little in my Nook before going to bed at 10:30.

 

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 71,180 ð 71,617 ð 71,428 new cases and 1,164 ð 1,206 ð 1,215 new deaths.

·        The confirmed worldwide death toll from the virus passed five million, nearly equivalent to the population of Melbourne, Australia, or of the nation of Singapore. Yet the sobering figure is almost certainly an undercount, as many countries remain unable to accurately record the number of Covid-19 deaths.

·        Cases are rising again in Europe, where pandemic restrictions have been relaxed and temperatures have dropped. Vaccination rates in the eastern part of the continent remain low. In the last two weeks of October, more than half the world’s new confirmed cases were reported in Europe, the W.H.O. said.

·        The official daily death toll from the virus in Russia reached a record of nearly 1,200, as a vicious fourth wave raced through a population that is largely unvaccinated and distrustful of government interventions to slow the spread.

·        As India reported its lowest case numbers since February, hundreds of thousands of people traveled across the country to celebrate the annual Diwali festival. India has administered more than a billion doses of coronavirus vaccines, with 54 percent of the population having received at least one shot and 25 percent fully inoculated.

·        More than half the world’s population has received at least one vaccine dose, although the global figure masks vast disparities in vaccine access between wealthy and poor nations. More than 7.1 billion doses have been administered worldwide. 

 

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 1,908 ð 1,978 ð 1,999 new cases with 37 ð 39 ð 32 new deaths. Medellin has 249 ð 212 ð 242 new cases from November 5^th to 6^th. Envigado has 10 ð 13 ð 14 new cases from November 5^th to 6^th.

 

Classic Art Memes

Friday, November 5, 2021

Recovery Day #133!

Last night I put on my first less absorbent AD, went to bed at 10pm, got up twice during the night, woke up at 7:15, did my Kegel exercises and got up at 7:30.

Well, my AD didn’t cause me any problem last night even though it was of the moderate absorption type instead of heavy absorption. Hopefully, soon I can start using them during the day.

Teresa left at 8am for an eps appointment in Parque Envigado.

She returned by 9am and made me breakfast.

Before I left, I looked to see if there were any Didi cars in the area. I got a message that I’ve been charged 2,500 pesos because I cancelled a request a couple days ago. I messaged them asking how long someone is supposed to wait and I received this response (after I translated from Spanish to English), “I eliminated this charge that was generated from the experience center and it will no longer appear in the application. Terry, for me it is important to improve your experience with us and I want to share important information so that you keep it in mind, the cancellation time of the requests is within the first 8 minutes that your request was accepted by one of our partners and after 20 minutes of waiting, so you can avoid this situation being present on your next trips.” So if I followed this advice, the other day when I ordered a car from El Tesoro and he was coming from Mayorca, he would have been halfway to us when I cancelled. I’ll just be more careful to make sure there is at least a car in the area before I request one.

I left at 10am and took a Didi car to Inter-Col. The driver spoke some English and I learned there were 20 robbers yesterday and they were after gold bullion but left with nothing. Ten of them have already been captured ten.

I gave Daniela my passport and she made a copy of my latest entry stamp – September 2015. I reminded her that my visa and cedula expire in two weeks. Even though I started the process ASAP she said we could always apply for a salvoconducto – official permission to delay getting a visa.

I walked to Uncentro mall where I reclaimed my USB drive at Auros and also printed some test results for Teresa.

I had a café con leche in Todo Fresa but today was more crowded and it was difficult to hear the music. I did catch “The Lady is a Tramp” and “Dancing cheek to cheek”. I started the process of requesting a Didi car and it asked me to wait for pickup at Conquistadores – Oma. I had no idea where that was. As I left the café I remembered Oma was a café. I went downstairs and the first entrance/exit I saw was Conquistadores and there was an Oma café just inside the entrance. It was a 5-10 minute wait for the Didi car but he had GPS and Waze and I was back at the apt by 12:15.

Teresa reported all the robbers have been captured. This is the link that someone shared of the event on Expat Exchange https://youtu.be/cpprxDf9xJk

Angry_horse blundered in our game, I was going to get his Queen for a Bishop and he resigned increasing my rating to 1544.

Saturday night (most of) the US turns their clocks back an hour so the usual Sunday noon NFL starts will now be at 1pm. Colombia doesn’t change so in effect we will be moving from Chicago time to New York time. The Bears play next on Monday Night Football vs the Steelers so I hope they don’t embarrass themselves.

Teresa says Laura offered to put up our Christmas decorations when she arrives December 1^st then Teresa can return them to storage after she leaves. What Laura doesn’t know is that the storage area is nearly full and the last thing I put in there were the two large boxes that the refrigerator came in. Each of them must be about 8’ long. I can barely get the door open.

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 71,619 ð 71,180 ð 71,617 new cases and 1,257 ð 1,164 ð 1,206 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 1,697 ð 1,908 ð 1,978 new cases with 32 ð 37 ð 39 new deaths. Medellin has 239 ð 249 ð 212 new cases from November 4^th to 5^th. Envigado has 13 ð 10 ð 13 new cases from November 4^th to 5^th.

 

Classic Art Memes

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Recovery Day #132!

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 6:15, did my Kegel exercises and got up at 6:30.

I left the apt at 8:30 and walked to the mall. I recycled a few plastic bottles, recycled 2 9V batteries in Home Center, withdrew some cash from an ATM then went down to Todo Fresa arriving just as they were officially opening at 9am. Glenn arrived a few minutes later. Interestingly, we’re still discussing ATMs and currency exchange rates.

In Exito I bought a package of moderate absorption ADs to try using at night. I returned to the apt by taxi.

Teresa called me at 12:30 and I met her at Asados Rogelio where we had a nice menu of the day lunch for 19mil each.

I emailed my daughter about the misdirected chess book and asked her to send it to me if it arrives. I chatted with Barnes & Noble and they recommend I wait 10 days to see where it shows up.

I can’t find my 8GB USB memory drive; I think I left it in Auros last night. ☹ I’ll be researching that tomorrow.

I finished completing Teresa’s US travel visa application. Now I’m going to review it and making a few changes.

The big news today was the (attempted?) robbery (of gold?) from a store (billionaire?) on Ave. Las Vegas (near Monterrey mall?). A lot of it was difficult for me to understand but I saw at least a dozen men with AK47 type weapons running and being picked up on motorcycles. It appears police caught 4 or 5 of them.

 

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 73,007 ð 71,619 ð 71,180 new cases and 1,276 ð 1,257 ð 1,164 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 1,425 ð 1,697 ð 1,908 new cases with 37 ð 32 ð 37 new deaths. Medellin has 122 ð 239 ð 249 new cases from November 3^rd to 4^th. Envigado has 6 ð 13 ð 10 new cases from November 3^rd to 4^th.

 

Classic Art Memes

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Recovery Day #131!

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 6:15, did my Kegel exercises and got up at 6:30.

The GreekLad is back after his long vacation. (He used up all but about 3 weeks of his allotment.)

I left the apt at 8:15 and met Glenn with Bianca at the gas station at 8:30. We took a taxi to the Marriott Hotel in Poblado. Outside I asked a female security guard with a guard dog if we could bring a dog inside and have breakfast there. She said to ask inside. I went inside and a “manager” looking guy informed us they don’t allow dogs. No problem, on to Plan B. We walked up to the corner and crossed the street to Parmessano in La Strada mall. Glenn had their French toast and I had scrambled eggs with cheese, Italian sausage, toast and avocado. As usual the entire check came to almost 30mil each ($8).

INSERT PHOTO HERE

Yeah, I had already taken a bite of my Italian sausage before I thought to take a photo. Lol.

We left a couple hours later and took a taxi back to Envigado.

At Teresa’s request, I stopped at the corner from our complex and bought a papaya for 2mil from the street vendor.

Teresa has a 6pm appointment at the eps clinic on Calle 50 near the Stadium. Instead of going through all the rush hour traffic she had the great idea of going earlier to Unicentro mall and later we can go the last few miles to the clinic.

We left the apt about 3:30. I tried to order a Didi car but for 15 minutes it was still trying to match us with a car. We got in a taxi and the driver had the A/C turned up high; and he was wearing a sweatshirt with a hoodie. What’s wrong with this picture? We got out at Unicentro mall and Teresa did some shopping until just after 5pm. She did find a pair of golden looking flats. We each had a burrito in Frisby and shared a Coke. We left at 5:35 but traffic was heavy and we arrived at the eps clinic 5 minutes late. Teresa went in and I went across the street to a restaurant. I ordered a café con leche and a sugar donut and the waitress reminded me it’s called a churro. Teresa returned at 6:30, faster than I expected. She had a bowl of fish soup and we left just before 7pm. We quickly caught a taxi and again the driver had the A/C on. You don’t know how rare that is to have 2 consecutive taxis with the A/C on. I followed our trip using the Waze app so I could learn more about it. We went through heavy traffic and arrived back at the apt just before 8pm.

I had ordered a chess book from Barnes & Noble in the US and I mistakenly sent it to my daughter’s old address instead of to my ship forwarder in FL.

I received an email from Encicla, the bike rental program, that they have new checkout software. I haven’t rented a bike in years. I wonder if my card still works.

Today I managed to run my TENS 3000 unit at intensity 5.

 

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 74,504 ð 73,007 ð 71,619 new cases and 1,308 ð 1,276 ð 1,257 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 1,590 ð 1,425 ð 1,697 new cases with 30 ð 37 ð 32 new deaths. Medellin has No Update Available ð 122 ð 239 new cases from November 2^nd to 3^rd. Envigado has No Update Available ð 6 ð 13 new cases from November 2^nd to 3^rd.

 

Interesting Signs

Life’s a journey. Enjoy the ride.

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Recovery Day #130!

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 2:15, woke up at 6:15, did my Kegel exercises and got up at 6:30.

I’m glad to see my Social Security deposit arrived as I was beginning to have a little cash flow problem.

I left the apt at 8am and walked to Parque Envigado where I had calentado in Carbon de Leña. I bought a couple bottles of supplements in a tienda naturista and my monthly medications in Todo Drogas. (The most expensive item I buy there is the citicoline for 124,500 pesos. While I was waiting for the salesman to fill my order I noticed a woman enter with a dog. She was about 10’ from me and the dog walked laps between her and me. Not a straight line, but laps. As I was about to leave my pedestrian light just changed to red so I turned around and the dog was still doing laps. 😊) I exchanged paperbacks in the used bookstore then walked back to La Buena Mesa. I had coffee in Parva then stopped in Exito to buy a mop. They only had one handle with barcode attached and one mop head without the barcode. I screwed the handle into the mop head and took it to the cashier. He scanned the handle and it came up as 1,500 pesos (about 40 cents). He looked for barcode on the head and of course couldn’t find any. He asked me if it was together and I told him they were separate but he let me take it for 1,500 pesos. I returned to the apt by 11am.

As I walked in the door Teresa asked me, “where the lettuce?” I vaguely recall her mentioning somethinglike that. I dropped off some things and as I reached the door to leave she also asked me to pick up broccoli. While waiting for the elevator she poked her head out and asked for apples.

I walked down to Mercado Madrid where I quickly picked up the items but had to wait in a relatively long line to pay. No express lines here.

Rudarwolfs finally resigned but TroyClough and Angry_horse beat me and my new rating is 1546.

About 3pm Teresa asked me to check on movies at Oviedo because she was going to meet a friend this afternoon. Before I could even sit down to my computer a rainstorm started and she changed her mind.

I heard Laura went out to a Halloween party with a girlfriend in her simple cat makeup.

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 72,961 ð 74,504 ð 73,007 new cases and 1,346 ð 1,308 ð 1,276 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 1,710 ð 1,590 ð 1,425 new cases with 23 ð 30 ð 37 new deaths. Medellin has 253 ð No Update Available ð 122 new cases from November 1^st to 2^nd. Envigado has 3 ð No Update Available ð 6 new cases from November 1^st to 2^nd.

Interesting Signs

The best things in life can never be kept. They must be given away…A smile, a kiss, and Love.

Monday, November 1, 2021

Recovery Day #129!

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once during the night, woke up at 6:30, did my Kegel exercises and got up at 6:45.

Today is another holiday – All Saints Day.

We left the apt at 11am and took a Didi car to El Tesoro mall. Teresa exchanged her “something” for a different “model” in the same store as previously. For lunch we had the Natto Bowls again, this time I had a Thai bowl which consisted of coconut rice, curry, onion, carrot, peanuts and cilantro. It was good but comes in third as my favorites.

We found her friend Vicky with her dog Canela (brown sugar) outside Zara. After lots of shopping Teresa found a blouse and pants in Zara and a pair of white jeans in Cristina Restrepo. We had coffee and snacks in Santa Leña.

I asked the waitress if she could fill my cup any fuller with coffee:

I checked my Didi app and there were 4 cars in our vicinity.

Afternoon view of Medellin from El Tesoro mall:

Vicky led Teresa to a couple different stores where Teresa found some costume jewelry.

I thought we were finally heading out when they had to make a final check in Bon Bonite. They didn’t find anything but kept on heading down the aisle but I just sat outside until they returned.

On our way to the taxi stand I noticed a pillow like the old one I have in the Rambler mattress store but it looked closed. (It was only 7pm so the salesrep probably went to dinner.) Across the aisle was a Comodisimos mattress store where I found a similar pillow for 173mil (about $50). There was a young lady in there who spoke perfect Spanish & English. She was visiting from NY and told me that the pillow in the store across the aisle would be $200 more expensive. The bag the pillow was in appeared to show that there were 9 different types so I postponed any purchase until I can decode them.

Vicky went her way and we headed to the taxi stand as there were no longer any Didi cars in our area.

Interestingly, the two purchases I made before 4pm I got a currency exchange rate of 3766 but the two purchases I made after 6pm the rates were 3783 & 3785. I checked xe.com and today the rate significantly dropped after noon so I don’t know what happened.

For supper I heated up a couple of leftover ribs from Mu.

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 72,707 ð 72,961 ð 74,504 new cases and 1,344 ð 1,346 ð 1,308 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 1,629 ð 1,710 ð 1,590 new cases with 33 ð 23 ð 30 new deaths. Medellin has 197 ð 253 ð No Update Available new cases from October 31^st to November 1^st. Envigado has 8 ð 3 ð  No Update Available new cases from October 31^st to November 1^st.

 

Interesting Signs

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.

Sunday, October 31, 2021

Recovery Day #128!

Happy Halloween!

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 4:15, took about an hour to fall back asleep and woke up to my 7am cellphone alarm. I guess the guy yelling El Colombiano! must take Sundays off or I just didn’t hear him.

I met Glenn with Bianca at the gas station and we soon caught a taxi to Calle 11A. We walked down to Hija Mia where we got the last available large table. Here are 2 short videos I made of the restaurant from the street. It’s in the Nomada hotel.

My buttermilk pancake, besides maple syrup, came with strawberries, blueberries, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, cashews, and what I think were pumpkin seeds.

At the next table a young gringo was trying to explain American football to an equally young Colombiana. He specifically showed her the end of yesterday’s Michigan vs Michigan State game on his iPad. Good luck with that! 😊

I used Didi to order a car to take us back to Envigado. Again, the driver missed the turn onto Ave. Las Vegas but I got him to circle Monterrey mall to get back on track. They got out at Jumbo and I continued on to Viva Envigado. I bought some things Teresa requested and returned to the apt by taxi.

We had a downpour that started at 1pm then we had rain on and off all afternoon.

I watched the Chicago Bears lose to the San Francisco 49ers 33-22 to drop to a record of 3-5. My prediction of 8 wins (or fewer) for this season is looking pretty good. Maybe the defensive coaches should have concentrated on tackling instead of takeaways during practice. The main thing is we allow our new QB Justin Fields to develop. Next game is next Monday night at Pittsburgh Steelers.

About 6:45 we had a group of about a dozen kids trick or treating and I gave each of them a mini-Snickers bar. By 7:15 I was out of candy. We had so many groups of trick or treaters, next year I should buy 3 bags.

I finished reading John Jakes’ 1,174 page paperback Homeland. It was a very entertaining book that takes place at the turn of the 19^th century mainly in Chicago.

The New York Times’ 7-day average of new daily infections and deaths has the US with 72,766 ð 72,707 ð 72,961 new cases and 1,365 ð 1,344 ð 1,346 new deaths.

Per Medellin Guru, as of yesterday, Colombia has a total of 1,604 ð 1,629 ð 1,710 new cases with 30 ð 33 ð 23 new deaths. Medellin has 171 ð 197 ð 253 new cases from October 30^th to 31^st. Envigado has 7 ð 8 ð 3 new cases from October 30^th to 31^st.

T-shirt of the day

Knot today.