Friday, April 24th, 2015

I fell asleep quickly and didn’t awaken until the alarm went off at 7:30.  

Teresa asked for a few more minutes of sleep.  She finally got up after she heard my cell phone receive a text message at 8:11.  I finally woke/got up at 9am and turned on the Today show.

Why did I sleep through the night last night and not other nights?  What was different?  I took my prostate medicine with cereal at 9pm, later than usual.  Could that have been the reason?  Maybe because we walked more than usual yesterday and I was tired?

From the US movie releases I would like to see The Age of Adaline (7.5), Ex Machina (8.0), and The Water Diviner (7.4).

Locally, I would like to see The Cobbler (5.8), Run All Night (7.0), and The Longest Ride (7.2).

I finished putting together the tabs (Direct TV, Une, etc.) for my file box.  Tomorrow when Teresa has more time she’ll give me her receipts.

I gave Laura 70mil for her English lesson tomorrow (60mil for Jhon and 10mil for buses).

We left the finca at 1:50 and got past the killer dogs undetected.  We immediately found a bus to El Poblado where we took a taxi to El Tesoro.  Btw, the bridge span has now reached one of the sides.  I imagine now they will work on the other span on the other side.

In Torre Medica I finally figured out how the elevators work.  In the lobby you press buttons for the floor you want and then an intelligent elevator is sent to the lobby for you.  I saw an old couple (he was on oxygen) get in without pressing the buttons in the lobby and the elevator wouldn’t stop at their floor.

We arrived at the 19^th floor office at 3pm for her 3:30 appointment.  While she was waiting I went to El Tesoro and took out a little cash from one of their ATMs.

At 3:55 she finally was called in to see the doctor.  I went downstairs and across the street to O-Cake and had a Coke for 3,056 while waiting for her.   She came down at 4:15 and told me everything is good.  We walked into El Tesoro where she spent about an hour looking at clothes in Zara.  I understood she exchanged her blouse for another one and a pair of jeans.  (Later she told me she had to add another 70mil or so.)

We took a taxi direct to Exito Envigado.  I noticed the driver avoided all the main roads and took the side streets.  I thought it was just to keep moving but he did mention “pico y placa” so maybe with his license plate he wasn’t allowed on the main roads.

Teresa said she was hungry so she had a couple pieces of broasted chicken and I had a slice of Hawaiian pizza (with sodas) for 16,400.  Afterwards we bought a loaf of bread for 4,900 and 2 dozen eggs, arepas, ham slices, jar of coffee, and 2 brownies for Laura for 38,700.  Teresa used her last 20mil and 700 pesos and I kicked in the other 18mil.

We took a taxi to the expressway and after a 15 minute wait we were on a Fredonia bus.  I thought it was a direct bus but it made a 10-minute stop in Caldas.  At the side road to the finca I told Teresa to tell the bus driver to stop but by the time she did we were a block or so down the highway.  We were quite a ways past the neighbor’s house before the killer dogs detected us and they were looking in the wrong direction anyway.

We got back to the finca at 8:20.  She understands we are out of cash for this month and also that we didn’t save anything this month.

I took my sleeping pills at 11pm and went to bed at 11:15.

T-shirt of the day: Imitations and fakes are forbidden.  100% authentic.  100% myself.

Thursday, April 23rd, 2015

I got up 3 times during the night, sleeping pretty well otherwise, finally getting up at 8:30am.

We left the finca at 10:35 and got past the killer dogs undetected.  At the top of the hill while Teresa talked to Don Carlos working further down the hill his dog came up, crawled under the barbwire fence and I gave him a small dog biscuit.

At the highway we had to wait 25 minutes for a bus to Envigado.  We had a taxi drop us off ½ a block from BanColombia by Exito.  Teresa got in line to pick up Laura’s money that her grandmother sent her and in the meantime I made a withdrawal from the ATM, added 50mil to my cell phone, and picked up my medicine from Droqueria Todo Drogas (Calle 37 Sur #39-66).  

We stopped at Nohelia where Teresa got her hair trimmed and blow dried for 25mil.  In the meantime I called Alan but he was stuck at his house waiting for a repairman to show up.

We had lunch at Carbón de Leña for 24,500; chicken breast for me and fish for Teresa.

We took a bus to Santafe where Teresa looked at clothes in a few stores finally returning to Zara where she wanted to exchange the blouse she bought last week.  She picked up two other blouses but I didn’t understand why I had to pay so much extra so I’ll have to question her about that.

On the way back to Envigado we stopped at Office Depot in Sao Paulo Plaza where I finally found a box for 16,800 to store legal sized hanging file folders.  I also bought two 5-packs of hanging files for a total of 13,800.  I sure hope they work as I need someplace to store all my receipts.   (Now I don’t have to ask my son to go to Highland Park to pick one up for me where I found a guy selling them on Craigslist.)

We stopped in a nearby store where Teresa bought an electric hair iron for 137,500 (with a 2 year warranty), a bottle of nail polish for 4,575 and some cotton pads for 5mil.

We took a bus back to Envigado and walked down to La Abuela Isabel (Grandmother Isabel) where we each had a brownie with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream for 7,800 total.

We walked to the highway where after only a 5 minute wait we caught a Tratam direct bus back to the finca.  Just as we passed the neighbor’s house the killer dogs came out after us in the dark.  I shined my cell phone light in their eyes and was ready with my pepper spray.

We got back at 7:30.

Tonight my White Sox were playing Kansas City on BeisHD (1682) and I was able to change the broadcast to English.  I’m guessing the station is named béisbol (Spanish for baseball) in HD.  There was a different baseball game on the channel I watched last night.

I compared the prices I paid at Droqueria Todo Drogas to what I paid previously at other pharmacies and found everything was less expensive in Envigado.  The biggest difference was my Tamsulosin which was almost 50% less than I usually pay.  From now on I’m buying all my medications there.

Teresa tried on her blouses and found one of them is XS so she wants to exchange it – maybe for a pair of pants.  Sigh!

Teresa wants to get up early tomorrow to start making lunch so I set the alarm for 7:30am.

I took my sleeping pills at 10:55pm and we went to bed at 11.

T-shirt of the day: Blah, blah, blah.

Joke

Bob, a 70-year-old extremely wealthy widower, shows up at the Country Club with a breathtakingly beautiful and very sexy 25-year-old blonde-haired woman who knocks everyone's socks off (impresses everyone) with her youthful sex appeal and charm and who hangs on Bob's arm and listens intently to his every word. His buddies at the club are all in shock.

At the first opportunity, they corner him and ask, 'Bob, how'd you get the
trophy girlfriend?' 

Bob replies, 'Girlfriend? She's my wife!' 

They can’t believe it, but continue to ask. 'So, how'd you convince her to marry you?' 

'I lied about my age', Bob replies. 

'What, did you tell her you were only 50?' 

Bob smiles and says, 'No, I told her I was 90.'

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015

Happy Earth Day!

I slept well, getting up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 9:15.

Laura doesn’t have school today.  I guess because the teachers can’t get to their classes because of Earth Day.

Teresa called Nueva eps again but they still don’t have my Cedula active in their system.

Teresa took me on a tour of the flowers outside the finca.  The one I brought from my apartment that I call a Hawaiian plant (Anthurium andraeanum) has very large beautiful flowers now.

I was scanning the Direct TV channels and I found the Cleveland Indians vs Chicago White Sox game on WINHD (1633).  My Sox ended up winning 6-0 but they are only 6-8, still struggling to return to .500.

It started raining a little at 2:30.

We first started watching Rounders (7.4) but Teresa thought it was slow so we switched to Come out and Play (4.7).

With our last egg I made waffles (2 pieces each) for Teresa and I.

No more Master Chef.

From 8-9pm tonight, I watched PBS showing NOVA: Hubble Space Telescope Discoveries over the past 25 years.

I took my sleeping pills at 10:45pm and went to bed at 11pm.

T-shirt of the day: Me?  Sarcastic?  Never.

Joke

A fifteen year old Amish boy and his father were on their first visit to a shopping mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again.

The boy asked, 'What is that Father?'  The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, 'Son, I have never seen anything like this in my life.  I don't know what it is.'

While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a fat old lady in a wheel chair moved up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened, and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small numbers above the walls light up sequentially.

They continued to watch until it reached the last number… and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order.  Finally the walls opened up again and a gorgeous 24-year-old blond stepped out.

The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman, said quietly to his son.....  'Go get your Mother'.

Tuesday, April 21st, 2015

I had great difficulty getting to sleep, even after getting up at 1am to take a 3^rd sleeping pill.  It was raining lightly all the time I was awake.

I woke/got up at 8:40am – early enough to take a shower before watching Today.

Teresa told me we aren’t going to Envigado today, we’re going tomorrow.  No idea why she changed her mind.

We hung the wall hanging at the foot of the stairs.  Teresa has a drill but only one bit (small) because she doesn’t have the key to change it.

Teresa listened to something on the radio and then told me that tomorrow is a day without cars.  Interesting, but not sure if that applies to taxis.  Later I saw on my iPad calendar that tomorrow is Earth Day.  

Laura came back at 12:30.

Teresa told me the only cars allowed on the streets tomorrow are police cars, fire trucks, ambulances, etc. so I guess we’re not going to Envigado until Thursday.

We finished watching Sinister and then started watching Rolling Thunder (7.1).

Teresa told me that tonight is the final episode of Master Chef.  Frederico ended up winning the title in this final episode.

We finished watching Rolling Thunder.

After watching an episode of Criminal Minds I looked at some online photos and I’ve decided the “killer dog” I’ve been describing as a doberman is probably instead a small rottweiler.  This breed of dog has often been used as a police dog or guard dog so maybe he’s overprotective of his property.

I took my sleeping pills at 12:10 and we went to bed at 12:30.

T-shirt of the day: Air Jordan has landed.

Joke

A college teacher reminds her class of the next day's final exam. 'Now class, I won't tolerate any excuses for you not being here tomorrow. I might consider a nuclear attack or a serious personal injury, illness, or a death in your immediate family, but that's it, no other excuses whatsoever!'

A smart-ass student in the back of the room raised his hand and asked, 'What would you say if tomorrow I said I was suffering from complete and utter sexual exhaustion?'

The entire class was reduced to laughter and snickering. When silence was restored, the teacher smiled knowingly at the student, shook her head and sweetly said, 'Well, I guess you'd just have to write the exam with your other hand.'