Friday, January 5, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 11am, again at 6am, finally waking/getting up at 7:30am.

I completed my workout in Smartfit between 8am and 9am.

When I arrived at Los Porteños I had text messages from Marcos, Laura, my brother and Innovation Corp.

Marcos called and texted me at 9:15 from Parva. I texted him back that we were to meet at Los Porteños at 10:30. He called and reported that he was now in Viva Envigado with Johanna and that he would leave my book at my porteria tomorrow.

Innovation Corp reported they have a package for me but I have to pay $18 first. I told them I would pay them via Paypal in about 2 hours.

I talked to my brother and we discussed details of his visit in February.

I blundered against Troyclough and immediately resigned dropping my rating 10 points to 1580. ☹

After lunch I walked to Otra Parte (their patio is still closed) where I had a latte in their café. Teresa called and requested I buy a small cake at Pepo’s O’Cake and a small container of pistachio gelato at Antonio’s Gelato. (I guess today she has a sweet tooth.)

I left about 4:15 and walked the 4 blocks to Pepo’s but it was closed. In Antonio’s I bought a half liter of pistachio gelato for 26mil and returned to the apt.

Rob helped me update my version of IPTV.

Teresa and I watched a couple more episodes of Pablo Escobar.

 

CRAZY SIGNS

Thursday, January 4, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up 3 times during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:20am.

Marcos texted me he’s not feeling well so we’ll try to meet tomorrow.

I left the apt at 9:15 and had a café con leche with pastel de queso in Parva while reviewing my endgame book for a couple hours.

I left at 11:30 and bought an onion in Ara on the way back to the apt.

Cine Colombia doesn’t have anything interesting this week.

I’m waiting on Laura to purchase their airline tickets to Cartagena before buying ours.

We watched a few more episodes of Pablo Escobar.

Laura texted me that the airline won’t accept her payment. I asked her if she could chat, call, or email the airline.

 

JOKES, EXPLAINED, UNNECESSARILY

Wednesday, January 3, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:10am.

I waited until 8am for Teresa to get up, gave up and was having a bowl of cereal when she got up a few minutes later. She said something about not getting to sleep until 3am and then went back to bed.

I completed my workout in Smartfit from 9am to 10am. I had a latte in Los Porteños where I met Max, a Palestinian from Knoxville, Tennessee.

I left about noon, stopped in Ara to buy a few things, and returned to the apt.

I left again at 2:30 and took a Didi to the mall. I recycled a couple items, paid the apt rental, and paid my health insurance.

I made an ATM withdrawal and Glenn predicted the exact amount of my corresponding bank charge which confirms his theory that Davivienda has been adding a 15,000 ATM fee to each withdrawal since approximately last December 1^st without disclosing it.

I had a latte in Urbania for a couple hours and it was quite busy by the time I left.

I stopped in Exito and bought a few things then got in a long line (only 2 cashiers working) to pay for everything, returning to the apt by taxi.

Teresa had me make a trip next door for Ariel laundry powder.

We watched a few more episodes of Pablo Escobar.

 

JOKES, EXPLAINED, UNNECESSARILY

 

Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 9pm, got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 6:10.

I took another cold shower. Brrr!

At 7:30 I started the Didi ordering process and once again I arrived at Unicentro mall 10 minutes before opening. Jose joined me just before the doors opened. Upstairs we took our usual seat in Parmessano. I ordered French toast, a couple scrambled eggs, a bottle of water and a latte. The waiter said the coffee machine wasn’t working so scratch the coffee. ☹ Jose had an egg casserole and a hot chocolate. The waiter informed him they didn’t have any avocado but they sent someone out to the street to buy one. 😊

We had a difference of opinion as to where or not Davivienda informed you of an ATM fee. So, after breakfast we stopped at one of their ATMs and I made a withdrawal. No, there was no mention of an ATM fee.

We continued on to the food court. For a while I was a little cool (strong breeze) in my shorts and sleeveless t-shirt.

I had the Black pieces in the first game and I misplayed my 9^th move and my 19^th move and I resigned on my 24^th move.

Jose’s wife Maria stopped by so I had an opportunity to see her after many years.

I had the White pieces in the second game and I missed a good move on my 9^th move and I missed the right move to win on my 17^th move and I resigned on my 37^th move.

I reminded Jose that I won’t be able to meet next Tuesday due to a doctor’s appointment.

It was only 1:30 so I had a Cesar salad with chicken and a mango juice in J&C delicious. I called for a Didi from the San Joaquin entrance to pick me up and he arrived 10 minutes later. I was back at the apt by 3pm.

I started my search for flights to Cartagena for February 22^nd to the 27^th. Laura recommended LATAM, www.LATAMAirlines.com, where I found a 9am flight and a 5pm flight to Cartagena. I chose the latter with a 1pm return flight. I went through the booking process including choosing seats and the final payment step it said it was sending a SMS code for my Capital One account to a phone number ending in 5770. It took me a while to remember that I gave the bank my brother’s cellphone number when I was setting up the account. In the meantime, Laura reminded me we probably don’t need to pay for 2 suitcases so I’m going to go through the process again tomorrow night.

Teresa and I watched another episode of Pablo Escobar then she watched another while I started my pre sleep process by reading my Kindle book.

 

JOKES, EXPLAINED, UNNECESSARILY

Monday, January 1, 2024

Last night I went to bed at 2pm, lots of firecrackers going off, couldn’t fall asleep, got up at 2:30 and took an allergy pill and a Zopiclona and read my Kindle book. Went back to bed at 3am and quickly fell asleep. I woke/got up at 9:30.

This morning, for the first time, I took a cold shower. ☹ Memorable but not enjoyable.

I see my SS payment in my checking account. 😊 Uncle Sam gave me a nice raise this year, I think it was 3.2%.

My external hard drive [E:] has 740GB of free space. The photos in my camera roll take up 26.4GB, yet when I try to copy them to my E: drive I receive the message, “There is not enough space on Windows. You need an additional 21.1GB to copy these files.” ☹

I think it’s probably because I have a copy of Windows [C:] on my [E:] drive. I deleted the C:Windows backup on m E: drive but I still get the same error message when I try to copy the photos.

I fell asleep (don’t know how long) while doing my TENS exercise so at least I got some extra rest.

Troyclough resigned our current game on the 26^th move increasing my rating 7 points to 1590.

Teresa and I just lounged about the apt all day, but we did watch a couple more episodes of Pablo Escobar.

I started me pre sleep routine an hour earlier then usual, finally going to bed at 9pm.

 

JOKES, EXPLAINED, UNNECESSARILY

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up three times during the night, finally waking/getting up at 7:30.

I left the apt at 8:30, stopped at the ATM in La Frontera and made a withdrawal. Across the street I found Glenn with Bianca waiting for me. The biggest news is Glenn believes that Davivienda is now charging a 15,000 pesos ATM withdrawal fee that they are not disclosing on their withdrawal screen. We will be exploring that further.

I left at 11am and returned to the apt. According to my step counter, Sao Paolo and back is about 3,500 steps.

Teresa was just leaving to get her hair done; she has a noon appointment. She’ll let me know by 1:30 if she’s going to be back in time for lunch.

I keep getting file errors when trying to save this file. I finally figured out my D: drive is full. (I think it’s because I’m backing up my cellphone photos and video to my computer D: drive. ☹)  I managed to free enough space to save this file.

I think I’m going to buy a new computer and have my brother bring it when he arrives on the 9^th. It will have all the bells and whistles I need: Windows 11, laptop instead of notebook, tactile keyboard, and lots of hard drive space. And I won’t save my photos to my laptop, I’ll back them up to my external drive.

Teresa returned at 1:30 and told me she would have to wait until 4pm, too late, to get her hair done.

I started watching the Chicago Bears game. At the end of the 1^st quarter I ordered a personal pizza from Papa Johns but it didn’t arrive until the end of halftime.

I watched the Bears defeat the Falcons 37-17. 😊 Next up, the Packers. That will go a long way to deciding if 2023 was a real season of improvement.

Teresa’s black pants outfit translated to English as a “onesie”. 😊 I wore basically the same clothes I wore to my daughter’s wedding back in September, minus the jacket.

We left the apt at 7:30 and took a Didi to Hotel Dann Carlton. We took the elevator up to the 18^th floor where they checked our registration, gave us hats, necklaces and noise makers and led us to our table. We shared a 4-top with a young American Jay Strong and his Colombian girlfriend Lila. He’s been living in the hotel the past two years but will soon be moving into a house he bought near SantaFe mall.

We got in a short line for the buffet but food was cold and not very tasty for either of us. The music was loud, thank goodness our table wasn’t near the speakers. The music was nonstop, even when the band took a break they put on loud Colombian music.

I briefly met a man about my age from England with a Colombian wife but due to the loudness of the music it was impossible to talk.

Jan and his gf split about 15 minutes before midnight. They did the traditional countdown then there were lots of congratulation, hugs, and kisses.

At 1am I sent “Happy New Year” messages to my son, daughter, brother, and his gf Juanita.

We left at 1:30 and downstairs we were 2^nd in line for a taxi. I checked Didi and they wanted 24,900 pesos for a ride. After about a 15-minute wait, we were in a taxi that cost us 50mil to return to our apt.

I went to bed right away at 2am, nonstop firecrackers going on outside, some sounding like they were on our street.

 

JOKES, EXPLAINED, UNNECESSARILY

Saturday, December 30, 2023

Last night I went to bed at 10pm, got up once at 4am, finally waking/getting up at 6:15.

I left the apt at 9:30 and walked to the mall. I was surprised that my bank, Av Villas, was closed. I guess the agency will have to wait until Wednesday for their rental payment.

I went downstairs and had a latte in Urbania. Teresa called me at 12:50 and asked me to meet her for lunch at La Bahia. I quickly paid for my latte, cut through the parking lot and Exito and across the street where I found Teresa waiting for me at a back table. It’s the same table we first met at nearly 10 years ago where we were trapped for hours from a downpour. 😊

We each had the menu of the day and Teresa had chicharron (Colombia’s version of bacon) for a total of 42mil. From there we moved to Wilson’s Bar where we had coffee. Teresa was afraid of rain so she cancelled going to get her hair done and we returned to the apt by Didi.

We watched more episodes of Pablo Escobar.

Today I got in 3,200 steps.

I finished reading Why We Sleep by Michael Walker, PhD. I recommend this book for everyone.

 

JOKES, EXPLAINED, UNNECESSARILY