Tuesday, January 20th, 2015

I fell asleep quickly, got up once at 3am, again about 6am, finally waking/getting up at 9am.

The Bears have signed a Defensive Coordinator – Vic Fangio from the SF 49ers.

I did some research online on the Slingbox.  There are several models – the high end of the line being the Slingbox 500.  As I understand how it works, I would have it sent to my son in Chicago, he would hook it up to his TV, and when he was sure it worked with their remote, he would send it to me so I could watch Chicago Bears games on my TV using the cable box connected to his TV.

At 5pm we had a thunderstorm come through with a little rain.

I downloaded Internet Speed Tracker for free and a test told me my download speed is only 2Mbps (below average).  One of the reviews complained that the Slingbox wouldn’t work with speeds as slow as 200-500 Kbps so I should be ok.

(BTW, I just learned that Mbps is megabits per second and MBps is megabytes per second.  Since there are 8 bits in a byte a speed of 2 MBps is 8 times faster than 2 Mbps.)

I’ll run the test again tomorrow when there isn’t any rain and Laura isn’t here also using the Wi-fi.

Teresa informed me the sink in the back bathroom doesn’t work so someone will be coming out Sunday to fix it.

We continued watching Hang ‘em High until 6:45 when she took a nap until 7:20.  We finished that and then we watched How Stella Got her Groove Back.

Before we went to bed, Laura asked me something about a young man wants them to take his 2 cats and would that be a good idea.

T-shirt of the day: I’m really a mermaid.

Monday, January 19th, 2015

I fell asleep within 30 minutes, woke up at 3:30, got up when I heard the shower next door (probably 4am), took another sleeping pill and fell asleep again within 15 minutes.  I got up once again about 6am, finally waking/getting up at 9:15.

I love my new moccasins.  They’re great for wearing around the finca, with or without socks.  Because they are soft soled they aren’t so great for walking around on the rocks outside.  I usually wear a size 9, but I read they run a little small so I ordered 9 ½.  If they aren’t a perfect fit, they are no more than ¼ size too large.

Laura came back from school about 1:30.

Teresa and I took a nap from 3 to 3:45.

I checked the Immigration website and I see my Cedula is ready for pickup.  I checked to see if we could possibly pick it up this Saturday but their office is only open Monday-Friday from 8am to 4pm.

I started watching Battle of Britain on Netflix but it didn’t translate the German dialogue to English or even show it as subtitles.  I tried switching my IP address to English but then Netflix told me the movie is only available on Netflix DVD.  Finally, I went back to the Spanish version and set the subtitles to Spanish so I would have some idea what the Krauts were talking about.

I’ve initiated a discussion with my brother about maybe visiting San Andrés when he comes for a visit next month.  He says maybe we can get some sort of break if we tell that the island is named after us – San Andrés-en.

Teresa and I finished Home Alone 2 and then we started watching Hang em High.

I took my sleeping pill at 10:45 and we went to bed at 11:30.

T-shirt of the day: I wanna be free.

Sunday, January 18th, 2015

Once again I had trouble falling asleep so I quickly got up and took another sleeping pill.  I got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 9am.

I gave Teresa a break from cooking and just had a bowl of cereal for breakfast.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Teresa put me on the phone with a friend named Claudia who invited me to visit her.  I asked where she lived and she said “Buenas Aires” (sp?).  I knew she meant the barrio of Medellin but I replied, “Argentina?  Do you live near the beach?”  Everyone got a good laugh over that.

Teresa watered the plants on the porch of the finca and Peter went crazy again playing in the water.

Teresa mentioned her brother’s birthday is on the 20^th so I told her I will have been here for 2 years on that date (this Tuesday).

I received the news that the Chicago Bears hired a Special Teams Coordinator – Jeff Rodgers.

I settled down with my peanuts and Pepsi to watch the Packers vs Seahawks game but was disappointed by the result – the Packers won rather easily.

Laura came back at 5:30.

Oops. I reported that final about 5 minutes too early.  I thought it was going to be a 19-7 win for the Packers but the Seahawks scored a touchdown, recovered an onside kick, scored another touchdown followed by a 2-point conversion to go ahead 22-19.  The Packers came back with a field goal to tie it up 22-22, taking it into overtime.

In overtime, the Seahawks scored a touchdown on a long pass to win 28-22.  Yes!  Can you tell I despise the Packers?

Teresa made popcorn, we watched Crash and then started Home Alone 2.

Teresa went to bed at 10pm, I took my sleeping pill at 10:45 and went to bed at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: Football.

Saturday, January 17th, 2015

Once again I had difficulty getting to sleep.  After an hour or so I got up and took another sleeping pill and quickly fell asleep.  I got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 9am.

I quickly made waffles for everyone; doubling the recipe which made 10 sections, more than enough for everybody.  For each person, I put butter and syrup on all sections but one and put Cookies & Cream ice cream on the other section.  They both liked it with the ice cream.

Teresa wanted me to wear my new shorts and t-shirt with my sandals today.  I guess she wanted me to look like a gringo.  (Later, when I mentioned this to Jhon, he said I don’t have to wear shorts to look like a gringo.)  :)

We all left the finca at 11am.  The killer dogs came out as we passed by the neighbor’s house.  The puppy squeezed under the fence so he got to us first and I was able to give him a dog biscuit.  One of the other dogs got a little of what remained while the doberman gave us a hard time but didn’t threaten us too closely.  As we approached the top of the hill I was pleasantly surprised to see not only the puppy behind us but one of the other larger black dogs.  He was looking for a handout too and wasn’t in the least bit aggressive.  I think I can win over the other dogs with dog biscuits but I wonder if I can win over the doberman.  Time, and lots of dog biscuits, will tell.

We waited about 30 minutes before we got on an express bus.  I called Jhon and told him we would be late – probably not arriving until 12:30.  At one point on the northbound highway another road dangerously crosses it.  

Today two cars tried to occupy the same space at the same time, and even though they were mostly pulled off the road I’m sure that slowed traffic down.  

At Aguacatala we pretty quickly caught a Circular Sur 303 bus but again traffic was slow and we didn’t get to Jhon’s office until 1pm.  

Unbeknownst to me, Teresa made arrangements to return to Laura at 5pm instead of 4pm, but Teresa agreed with me that next time we need to leave earlier – like 10am.  

Since we were supposed to have lunch with her friend Ana we started walking south towards her apartment.  As we passed the corner store one of the men I recognized made a big deal out of greeting me and shaking my hand.  Afterwards, Teresa mentioned something about him being my friend and I told her “not really, he just has drunk too much beer – or Aguardiente” (sp?).  

As we walked past Panaderia Los Mejores I noticed they changed the front.  Instead of one counter for placing and receiving orders and next to it a fenced area behind which the baking is done, now they have the first area for placing orders and the second for payment and picking up your order.  That’s different.  We walked another 3 blocks to Ana’s apartment and Teresa told me she doesn’t live there anymore, she lives close by but she didn’t know exactly where.  

We kept getting the busy signal when we called her, so we sat down in the park for awhile.  Finally, we reached her and during the call all I understood was “up” so we started walking up the hill and then it started raining lightly.  When we were about 3 blocks from the park, Ana called and we turned around and headed back to the park.  We ended up exactly on the other side of the block from Los Mejores.

I met her cute 20 something daughter, Estefania, who looks just like her mother.  

Ana served us a nice lunch of frijoles, chicken, rice, with a couple slices of plantain and fried potatoes with juice.  I told Teresa I liked the frijoles especially, perhaps because they had a bit of onion in them.

After lunch they convinced me to take a little nap in her side bedroom from 2:45 to 3:30.  It rained hard for about 5 minutes during my nap and I heard a little thunder.

When I got up that’s when Teresa informed me that the lesson is until 5pm not 4pm.  That sounds like Jhon.

I told Teresa I needed to buy some medicine at Exito so we left at 4:20.  For some reason Ana walked us to the corner, like I didn’t know where I was going.  At the Exito pharmacy I bought another month’s supply of Tamsulosin for 42,600 and then we called Laura to tell her to meet us outside the mall.

Jhon and Laura met us outside and we talked to him about joining us in the finca for a weekend.  He said he would prefer to visit the next long weekend which he said would be in February.

While Laura was having something to eat at Frisby for 18,500 I went downstairs and picked up 2 new little pocket calendars from Western Union.  According to that, the next Monday holiday is February 16^th.

While waiting for Laura to finish eating I bought a medium Pepsi from Burger King for 3,900 and a little later Teresa was surprised to find out that I could get a free refill.  I went inside Exito and found a bag of chocolate chips but it was too busy to get in line to pay for it.

Teresa wants Laura to come by herself from now on but I told her I want to come back with her next Saturday because I want us to have lunch at Pizza Americana and then buy some things in Exito.  

We took a Circular Sur bus to Aguacatala where Laura took a bus to Caldas to stay with her uncle James and Teresa and I luckily caught a direct bus back to the finca.

Walking down the hill in the dark we got past the killer dogs undetected.

We watched Taxi Driver (8.4), I took my sleeping pill at 10:40 and we went to bed at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: I call the shots.

Friday, January 16th, 2015

When I hadn’t fallen asleep by 1:30 I got up, took another sleeping pill and was asleep shortly thereafter.  I awoke briefly when Teresa got up to help Laura, finally waking/getting up at 7:15.

I checked today’s US movie releases and there isn’t anything new I want to see.  Locally, The Theory of Everything (7.8) and Boyhood (8.4) sound interesting.

We left the finca at 9am and when Teresa stopped to talk to Don Carlos’ son, who was cleaning the garden, the Terriers ran past us.  When we got to the neighbor’s house there was a battle between the Terriers and the killer dogs.  Even the puppy tried to get in on the action.  Teresa wasn’t happy when all the Terriers except Luna followed us down to the highway.  We caught a bus to Caldas after a 5 minute wait.

At Merkepaisa we bought 193,590 of fruits and vegetables along with a few other much needed items like eggs.

Walter was waiting for us with his taxi and took us to the top of the hill.  I carried the eggs and Dog Repeller in one hand with the Pepper Spray in the other.  I was amazed we all got past the killer dogs undected.  I gave Walter 20mil for the ride and his help.

Teresa took a couple glasses of juice out to the two guys working in the garden.

I checked the Immigration website and it was updated yesterday but my Cedula still isn’t on the list.

Yesterday I received an email from MBE that I have documents waiting to be picked up.  Today I received another one for additional documents.

I took a nap from 2:30 to 3:30.

Teresa didn’t want to finish Always so we started American History X.

Teresa cooked 3 ears of corn for me and I ate them for dinner with butter and salt.  Per my brother’s recommendation, Teresa put a tablespoon of sugar in the water before heating.

I finally received the news I had been waiting for.  The Chicago Bears hired John Fox as their new head coach.  Yay!

We watched Americn History X (8.6) and then Teresa watched some Colombian News.  We made popcorn and then started watching Collateral (7.6).

I finished John Grisham’s 358 page novel The Partner and downloaded his 359 page novel The Last Juror.

I took my sleeping pill at 10:25 and we went to bed at 10:45.

T-shirt of the day: Thank you for not. (sic)

Thursday, January 15th, 2015

It took me about 30 minutes to fall asleep.  I woke up briefly at 4am and 5am when Teresa got up and returned from helping Laura.  I finally woke/got up at 7:30.

I took my shower and Teresa was up when I came out of the bathroom.

It’s funny when she walks around saying “freo!” (cold!) and I reply “donde?” (where?).  

Teresa informed me that last night it was only 5 minutes before I was snoring peacefully.

After breakfast she told me she didn’t sleep well last night, not because of me, but because of the nap she took yesterday, so she went back to bed for a few minutes.

I heard her talking to someone on the phone (Vicky) and she told me something about not needing or having appointments for an Urologist in the clinic so we have to go back to the clinic in Envigado.  I understand Vicky, her sister, works in a clinic (maybe even Nueva eps) so she’s a good source of clinic information.  Teresa told me it’s difficult (paperwork?) getting an appointment with a specialist like an Urologist.

Today she wants to have another massage and we will buy fruits and vegetables in Envigado.  Things can change by the minute around here.

Fun fact: Colombia has the second most bank holidays in the world. Only Argentina has more and it's by a margin of one day. 

I called Chess Life magazine and requested not to receive any mail from them except the magazine.  I also called my old medical insurance company – Aon – and requested not to receive any mail or calls from them.

We took a nap from 11am to 12:15.

We left the finca at 1:30 and one of the killer dogs saw us just as we were approaching them.  Probably because the gate was closed it took them a minute to get around the house and to the path.  In the meantime the emaciated puppy approached us with his tail wagging and I gave him a dog biscuit.  He carried it into the bushes so I hope one of the other dogs didn’t take it away from him.  The doberman was too busy giving us a hard time on the trail at the same time.

Luckily, we caught a minibus to Envigado.  Unluckily, I had to sit in the middle of the front seat with my knees almost up to my chin.  So the guy next to me, who was probably 5’6’, got to be comfortable in the passenger seat, while I was wedged between him and the gear box.  

We took a taxi up to the Nueva eps clinic.  

We waited 35 minutes and finally they gave Teresa two more sheets of paper with another address and phone number – Carrera 25a #1a Sur 45, Torre Medica, El Tesoro CC, 448-7644.  Teresa told me the medical system here is difficult to navigate through.  (Canada anyone?)

From there it was a short wait at BanColombia where I took out just about the last of my cash for the month.  I gave Teresa the other 500mil to cover the food expenses for the rest of the month.

We stopped at the closest Gana store where I added another 20mil to my cell phone.

Teresa couldn’t remember when her massage appointment was and she had difficulty reaching the woman by phone to ask.

I told her I had to go #2 so she recommended we stop at Wilson’s bar where I used his restroom.  The only problem was that, for the 2^nd time in Colombia, there was no toilet seat.   Try doing that sometime, it isn’t easy, especially at my age; but I managed.

We walked across the street to her mother’s apartment building where Teresa got a massage from 4:30 to 5:15 for 20mil.

We stopped at a small vegetable stand where she bought a bag of vegetables for tonight and tomorrow morning.

While waiting for a bus, once again she mentioned “verano” which I only know as summer.  It seems she believes because it isn’t the rainy season here that it’s summer.  I told her December thru February is winter, not summer.

We quickly caught a direct bus to the finca and were at the bottom of the hill by 6:45.  At the top, at least it wasn’t a cloudy night so I could see a little better without my flashlight.  As we were approaching the neighbor’s house the killer dogs heard us and came close to the trail but didn’t really approach us.  By then I had my flashlight back on and I saw the puppy approaching us.  I took a second to pet him before turning around and hustling down the hill.

Back at the finca, we watched Preservation (4.8) which, it being a survivor type movie, I liked very much and so did Teresa.  After that I put on Always (6.3), which is more of a romantic movie.

I took my sleeping pill at 10pm and we went to bed at 10:45.

Wednesday, January 14th, 2015

I woke up at midnight and when I was still awake at 1am I got up, took another sleeping pill and went back to bed.   I fell asleep quickly and only made one more trip to the bathroom at 6am.  I finally woke/got up at 9am.

Because we both got up late Teresa decided we would go tomorrow to Caldas to buy vegetables. 

I took a nap from 2 to 3pm.

We finished watching The Descent although it got a little too gruesome for Teresa.

Teresa took a nap from 3:40 to 4pm.

We watched Would you Rather, Falling in Love and then House.

I took my sleeping pill at 10pm and we went to bed at 11:30.

T-shirt of the day: Maybe we should kiss a little.