Friday, April 26th, 2013

Today the NFL Draft continues!  Last night the Chicago Bears selected 6’6” 313 pound offensive guard Kyle Long from Oregon.  Round 2 begins at 5:30 (Chicago and Medellin time) pm.

I’ve had some trouble sleeping the last few nights.  My enlarged prostate causes me to get up during the night to go to the bathroom, sometimes as often as every 2 hours.  That makes it very difficult to get that needed REM sleep that is so important to one’s wellbeing.  I’m supposed to take my medicine every night 30 minutes after dinner, but sometimes I forget.  The last few nights (having taken my medicine) I’ve gone to bed at 10pm and after getting up at 2am to go to the bathroom I am unable to get back to sleep.  My mind seems to be busy thinking of things I have to remember to do.  But last night I forgot to take my medicine, went to bed at 10pm and slept until 6:30 this morning without having to get up during the night to use the bathroom.  Go figure!

From 6:30 when I got up until after the garbage truck comes by the recycling guy is busy collecting things on the street and then breaking down the boxes and repacking things.  Today one of the workers from our building gave him a large barrel.  I was wondering how he was going to carry that away and was surprised he didn’t put anything in it before he loaded it on his cart.

Can you see the attractive seniorita across the street walking her dog?

7am the pretty lady is sweeping the leaves by the side of the street but today she isn’t wearing a hat.  She is attractive.  She appears to be taller than most Colombian women.

8:15 the garbage truck came through.

8:45 I see a man across the street leaving what looks like that Gente newspaper at the house across the street.

9:15 Reina left for her babysitting job.  She took the last of my bills – I believe it was 7mil - to buy frijoles (beans) later.  I literally have only 50 pesos left (about 3 cents).

Angel seems to be happy keeping himself busy: playing with his toys and exploring the apartment.

9:35 I left to take Angel to the vet.  Since it was still early and cloudy I wore jeans and my gym shoes.  As I exited the building I noticed a number of those Gente newspapers had been pushed under the front door.  Maybe I don’t have to remember to pick them up at Laureles Mall after all.  On the way I was stopped by a couple of old ladies who oohed and aahed over Angel.  The mother spoke a little English and mentioned she has visited North Carolina and the grandmother lives in Boca Raton (sp?) Florida.  I told her I once had a week-long training session at the SAS Institute in Cary, North Carolina and the campus was gorgeous.  (Why does Angel only find the youngest and the oldest ladies?  I guess his tastes will get more refined as he gets older.  Lol)  

When we got to the pet store we had to wait about 10 minutes for it to open.  The Vet was available shortly thereafter.  While I held Angel (who complained bitterly) she removed the s*#t that was stuck to his behind and then cut away some of the hair surrounding the area so he won’t have the same problem anytime soon.  She was real nice but we both were frustrated trying to understand each other.  (She is an attractive young lady of about 30 years old.)  I did understand the need to clean his butt every day.  (Now I understand those wipes Reina bought weren’t to fix his current problem but to prevent it from happening again in the future.)  The vet was real nice and didn’t charge me anything (which is good because I don’t have any money; I would have had to promise to pay her next week).  On the way back another old lady stopped us and asked about Angel.  All I understood was she wanted to know how big he was going to get.  I told her not very big.  By the time I got back to the apartment my underarms were wet – brought on mainly from the 10 minutes or so in the Vet’s stuffy upstairs office.

3:30 a small thunderstorm is coming through.  It’s interesting I’ve never seen the clouds move through quickly.  You can barely see them moving.  And I hear the thunder but I don’t see any lightning.   

4:15 now it’s turning noticeably cooler even though there has been very little rain.

6:30pm The Chicago Bears selected Jonathan Bostic a 6’1” 245# linebacker from Florida.  For the Bears the draft is over until tomorrow.

Thursday, April 25th, 2013

Today is NFL Draft Day!  The first round begins at 7pm (Central) tonight.  I know I’m excited to see who my team – the Chicago Bears – drafts.

I checked my shorts and they look good and are nearly dry; probably because the material is so light.  I think I can wear them this afternoon without any problem.

10:30 Reina left with Angel, a blanket/comforter for her mother and some pots and pans.  I walked down to Viva then proceeded south on Avenida 80 all the way down to Calle 30 but didn’t see any rustic furniture store.  On the way back a man handed me a flyer for Yamaha motorcycles.  They listed 7 different models priced from 4,600,000 ($2556) to 32,990,000 ($18,328) – for you motorcycle fans.  I stopped at Laureles Mall and picked up a new copy of Gente – that free newspaper - nothing really of interest in there that I can see this week.

Today there are no ants where there used to be a continuous stream.  Remember I put a small amount of Cream of Wheat (farina) down a week ago yesterday so I guess it must have worked.  Let’s see how long they stay away.

My laptop locked up about noon today.  Hours later I was finally able to log off and log back on.  That was real scary.

Tonight I’m supposed to have a Skype session with Eddie, who, I believe, is now in Nicaragua.  We’ve traded Skype names.  He told me he bought a headset w/ microphone so we’ll see how that goes.

7:30 Eddie called and we talked via Skype for 52 minutes.  He should be in Medellin sometime after June 10^th, maybe even late June as he plans to visit the coastal towns in northern Colombia first.  I offered him a room here but he already has made arrangements to stay with friends of friends.  But we will be meeting while he is here.

Wednesday, April 24th, 2013

Using the iBooks app on my iPad I finished reading the iPad 2 Starter Guide and I also created a Table of Contents of sorts for iPad User Guide for IOS 5 so later I can more quickly locate topics of interest.  I also read 101 Best Jokes (example below) and scanned 500 Must Have Apps 2012 Edition.

12:15 I left to check out a furniture store I saw a couple of blocks away that sells what looks like simple rustic furniture and to see if I can find some index cards at Exito on the way back.

As I was taking the overpass over Avenida 80 I saw 5 policemen had one of the 3 lanes blocked off and they were randomly stopping motorcyclists and checking their papers and what they were carrying in and on their bikes.  They even stopped a woman motorcyclist and a couple of pickup trucks.  One man I saw they even casually frisked.

When I got down to where I thought the furniture store was I realized either it was closed for lunch (as many places do and don’t reopen until 2pm) or it was further than I thought.  I did notice a neighborhood restaurant advertising breakfast for 3200 pesos ($1.78) and lunch for 5mil ($2.78).  (I didn’t stop to see what you get for that price.)  I turned around and walked back to Exito but I didn’t find any index cards there.  Maybe I can find them later at the larger Carrefour which is situated about halfway to downtown.

One week from today is May 1^st; I hope some of my money will be available on that day for withdrawal.

2pm Laura came over.

Now I’m reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen on my iPad.  I read a chapter and then do a lesson in Rosetta Stone.

3:40 and a truck delivered 3 pink and purple rolls across the street.

5:30 Reina came home.

Yesterday I washed some underwear in a bucket with soap and water and it took just a little over 24 hours to dry.  Today I washed my only other pair of shorts (that I wear outside anyway) and hung them up to dry.  I’m guessing with the thicker material it will probably take all of 2 days to dry.  We’ll see how nice they look when they're dry.

JOKE

“Two Texas farmers, Jim and Bob, are sitting at the bar, drinking beer.  Jim turns to Bob and says, "You know, I'm tired of going through life without an education.  Tomorrow, I think I'll go to the community college and sign up for some classes."  The next day, Jim goes down to the college and meets the Dean of Admissions, who signs him up for the four basic classes: Math, English, History, and Logic.  "Logic?" Jim says.  "What's that?"  The dean says, "I'll give you an example. Do you own a weed eater?"  "Yeah."  "Then logically speaking, because you own a weed eater, I presume you have a yard."  "That's true, I do have a yard."  "I'm not done," the dean says.  "Because you have a yard, I think that logically speaking, you have a house."  "Yes, I do have a house."  "And because you have a house, I think that you might logically have a family."  "Yes, I have a family."  "So, because you have a family, then logically you must have a wife. And because you have a wife, then logic tells me you must be a heterosexual."  "I am a heterosexual. That's amazing!  You were able to find out all of that just because I have a weed eater." Excited to take the class, Jim shakes the dean's hand and leaves to go meet Bob at the bar.  He tells Bob about his classes, and how he is signed up for Math, English, History, and Logic.  "Logic?" Bob says, "What's that?"  "I'll give you an example," says Jim.  "Do you have a weed eater?"  "No."  "Then you're gay.”