Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Despite getting up twice during the night I slept pretty well, waking at 6:30 and getting up at 7:15.

Today is very overcast and the high is only supposed to be 79 which will be a nice change from the usual 85ish.

I asked Teresa what she thought of the guys from Santafe.  She thought they were nice and commented that Laura likes gringos because, unlike Colombianos, they don’t grab girls butts or breasts.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show.  I walked over to the copy center where I had Teresa’s Claro bill printed (Laura emailed it to me and I copied it to my flash drive.) and then went to Claro and paid the bill.  I asked a girl working there what the number is that I dial to find out my balance and she said *103#.  I tried it and it worked!  I can see that I have a balance of about 24,000 pesos.  That should be sufficient for awhile since I seldom call anyone.

At 11:30 it started raining lightly.

I forgot to mention that a few days ago I threw away the Venezuelan bills I had purchased on the bus.  Just yesterday it occurred to me that they would have made great bookmarks.  Maybe I’ll get another chance to buy more in the future.

I got a number of emails from Laura regarding being an au pair for a family in England.  Something about putting 10 million pesos into her bank account so someone (I don’t even understand who) can look and see it’s there and then we can remove it.  She’s asking her mother to borrow the money from Bancolombia.  I’m very hesitant to get involved because something smells rotten in Denmark!

We took a nap from 2:40 to 3:50.

Again Teresa appears to have changed her mind about going to the movie today so I’ll go alone and see The Darkest Minds (5.5) playing at Oviedo at 7pm.  I told her I’m going to see Adrift tomorrow because it might leave on Thursday.  She says she’ll go with me tomorrow.  Hah, like I can depend on that!

It’s 4:15 and the noisy parrots are back on the building across the street.

Wow, the Colombian Peso broke above the 3,000 threshhold.  We’ll see how long that lasts.

Jorge, Teresa’s cousin, called and asked for 200mil towards the 600mil we owe him for painting the finca.  No problem.

At 6pm I started using the Cabify app to call for a taxi.  (Because Jose signed me up for this app we’re both supposed to get an 8mil credit for using it.)  After 3 minutes of it searching for a taxi and stating something about putting me in a queue I finally cancelled it.  I walked down the hill and right away caught a taxi.

I got off at the Carulla market behind Oviedo for 9,800 pesos.  I gave the driver 10mil and didn’t wait for change.

I was at the theater 30 minutes early.  I bought a general admission seat for 5,250 pesos.  (If I understood correctly my Cine Colombia card got me a 2,000 peso discount.)  I now have 24 total ticket purchases on my Cine Colombia card.  I sat at one of the tables and read a couple chapters in my paperback.  Ten minutes before showtime I made a trip to the restroom then bought a small popcorn and medium soda for 13,200 leaving me with a balance of about 19,450.

When I got to my seat I found a man sitting in my spot.  I told him that was my seat and he asked me for the seat number and I said 18, he checked the number on the seat and then moved over.  He left his cellphone on during the movie and I guess he got called (vibrated) a couple times because he got up and left the theater for awhile.  I was glad I had my jacket with me because the theater was very cool.

There were about 30 people in the theater and the movie The Darkest Minds (5.5) was only so-so.  I think the target audience was probably more like the teenage demographic.  I think there will be a sequel but I think (I hope) I’ll skip it.

After the movie I quickly caught a Sabaneta bus.  It was standing room only but I didn’t mind because even with my jacket on it was a cool enough evening that it didn’t bother me.

When I returned to the apartment Teresa informed me that her cousin Jorge took 300 mil so I only owe him 300 more next month.

I understand Brock, the gringo, is still a little under the weather so Laura is going to stay with him tonight.  Btw, his flight leaves at 2pm tomorrow.

Today’s Step Count was 6,081.

Joke of the day

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

Future

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

Monday, August 13, 2018

Well, I think I got up once during the night, finally waking at 6:30 and getting up at 7:15.

I understand Laura took the young man to the hospital last night.  She even sent us a 2 second video of him leaning over a toilet.

Teresa left the apt at 8:40 for the gym.  First she does a little cardio and then she has 2 classes.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show and left for the gym.  Charles came in and gave me the book I asked to borrow – 501 Spanish Verbs.  I completed all my exercises in 2 hours.

Back at the apartment Laura told us that the young man is now resting in bed.  Today is Laura’s day off so right now she’s free to take care of him.  I understand his 3 buddies return home today and his return flight is on Wednesday.  I understand Teresa and I are going to stop by after lunch and see how he’s doing.

I’ll bring my diarrhea medicine which he probably won’t need and some other tablets that I just wrote “Stomach” on.  It says it’s called Estolás and Google tells me it’s a pain reliever and relieves cramps of the stomach, intestine and bladder.  I also have the phone number of Dr. James that I met a few weeks ago if necessary.  I’ll probably get the phone number of his parents so I can call them to give them a medical update.

Laura called Teresa and I understand he is eating some fruit so I guess there is no longer a need for our housecall.

Teresa and I took a short nap after lunch.

I showed Teresa the trailer for Adrift (6.7) and she liked it!  I think we’re going to see it today in Oviedo at 6pm.

We got a Whatsapp invite from Laura to meet the gringos on their last day here – except for the one who’s sick.  We agreed to meet at Santafe mall at 6:30.  (We can see the movie tomorrow or Wednesday.)

At 5:45 I started the process for calling an Uber car.  Only after you confirm the ride does it tell you that the car is 8 minutes away and it’s “making a dropoff nearby” (or some words to that effect).  Then when you see the car get to its destination it drops off the map and you are assigned another car and it’s 5 minutes away and it also has to “make a dropoff nearby”.  After that dropoff and it assigned me a 3^rd car I finally cancelled the order, we walked outside and just down the hill we caught a taxi right away.  And it was a little less than 10mil and the Uber was going to be a little less than 13mil because it’s “peak” hours.

We arrived outside Zara in Santafe 15 minutes early.

They arrived about 10 minutes late because I think they stopped for coffee.  One guy was from San Francisco and two others were from Austin, Texas.  (Certainly there would be no discussion of politics or gun rights.  Lol.)  I talked to the guy from SF as the others spoke Spanish with Teresa.  There was also a pretty young lady who I understand is a friend of Laura’s or works with Laura.  The guy who was sick is still back at their apartment and he doesn’t leave until Wednesday.

We chatted for a few minutes (they all want to return next year) and then they had to leave to clean up, pack, and catch their red eye at 1am.  Laura and the other girl went with them.

Teresa checked out Zara and found a blouse but I understand it was too expensive.  We walked up a level and had dinner at J&C Delicias for 81,507 – surf & turf (w/ extra shrimp) and beef lasagna for me.  Of course we each had a fresh juice.

We stopped in Falabella where Teresa was looking for workout clothes but didn’t find anything but I bought a sleeveless t-shirt and Nike shoes for the gym for 300mil.

At 9pm we caught a taxi back to the apt. for 8,700 pesos.

Laura came back about 10am and we spent some time talking about the sick young man who I understand has the name of Brock.  I thought since he was eating fruit that he was much better but Laura says he still has stomach pain.

It started raining about 10:30, first time in weeks.

Today’s Step Count was 7,530.

Joke of the day

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

Arguments

A woman has the last word in any argument.

Anything a man says after that - is the beginning of a new argument.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

I got up twice during the night, finally waking/getting up at 8:15.

Today is the last day of the Flower Festival and I understand it’s the day of the Silletero (sp?) parade so we probably won’t venture very far today either.  We did watch some of it on television.  It is pretty large and involved.

I forgot to mention that Friday night when we were coming back in a taxi from Premium Plaza I saw someone assembling artificial Christmas trees in a shop window.

I left the apt and walked to Todo Drogas where I bought a few things.  I stopped at Exito on my way back and bought a few more things.

For lunch we just ordered from Frisby.

All morning and afternoon the streets and sidewalks around the apartment are nearly deserted.  I guess everyone is either at the Silletero parade or is watching it from home on TV.

We also took naps intermittently today – 2 hours extra sleep in my case.

About 5:15 we heard some loud squawking – obviously birds.  We looked out the window and saw 2 parrots sitting on top of the building across the street – hopping around and squawking.  That was kind of cool.

I started going through my new book The Woodpecker Method.  I completed 20 chess exercises in an hour and got 15 of them correct.  One of the other five had an invalid answer.  I will try to do at least an hour of puzzles each day.  There are 222 puzzles in the Easy section so I should be done in a week or two.  Then I repeat them again attempting to improve on my time.  That continues until I can go through them all in one day or have reached the 7^th iteration.  Then you just repeat them before a chess tournament.  There are also Medium and Hard sections that I might consider tackling at a later date.

Just as we were going to bed we received a text message from Laura.  She was with a young man who was very sick and she was going to take him to the hospital.

Today’s Step Count was 5,752.

Joke of the day

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

Bathrooms

A man has six items in his bathroom: toothbrush and toothpaste, shaving cream, razor, a bar of soap, and a towel.

The average number of items in the typical woman's bathroom is 337. And a man wouldn’t be able to identify more than 20 of them.

Saturday, August 11, 2018

I got up once about 2am, quickly fell back asleep, woke up at 5:30 and got up at 6:15.

I’ve got a feeling my step count isn’t going to be very high today if we go to Santafe de Antioquia.

It’s 8:20 and Teresa is all nervous because the traffic outside is really backed up.  I told her to calm down as it might clear up by the time we need to leave at 9am.

If we don’t go to Santafe de Antioquia today then I’ll go to Poblado to pick up my package and kill some time drinking coffee.

Teresa believes the traffic jam is because of the classic and antique car parade that I understand is today.  (That was confirmed later by newspapers and TV).

We decided not to go to Santafe de Antioquia today.

I left the apt about 9:45 and had to wait downtown 10-15 minutes for a bus.  Maybe there are fewer of them available today?  Traffic was pretty heavy and I got off the bus a block from Parque Poblado.

I picked up my new chess book The Woodpecker Method at Envios Market.  “The general idea of the Method is to develop intuitive/automatic pattern recognition through repetitive solving of the same (set of chess) exercises in a cyclical fashion.”

Outside I soon caught an Envigado bus and got off across from a little mall called La Strada.  (This morning I received an email from Medellin Guru reviewing a new food court called Mercado del Rio La Strada.)  Between the Burger King and Papa Johns I took an escalator up to the 2^nd and 3^rd levels where I found the “over 20 trendy restaurants and bars” that they mentioned.  It was only 10:30 so of course I didn’t see much of anything open yet.  The area did look pretty cool though.  (Later I checked online for their hours and it said 7am to 11pm.)

I walked up the road to McDonald’s where I had a Capuccino frappe for 4,800 pesos.  I sat outside, alone most of the time, and read a little from my new book.

I couldn’t get a decent wifi signal so I left about 11:45.

After waiting 10 minutes for a bus outside Oviedo, and not seeing any in sight, I grabbed the next taxi.  Traffic was horrible and even though my driver took side roads on 2 occasions it still took 35 minutes for what should be a 15 minute ride back to Envigado.

I stopped at the local copy center and had a couple things printed.

I texted John Joseph and asked when Laura gets paid and he said the 1^st and 15^th of the month.

After lunch I took a nap from 1:30 to 2:30.

The Colombian Peso closed for the week at 2,943 to the US Dollar.

We were going to go to Pricesmart for some things but luckily Teresa asked me to check the route.  According to my Waze app Avenida 80 is moving at only 27km/h which is 18miles/hour.  We decided to skip it for tonight.

About 7pm I noticed a very bright star (planet?) in the sky high overhead and a little to the south.

For dinner we ended up having food delivered from La Casita Parilla.

I went to get my bath towel in order to dry my face after washing it.  Where I thought I put it after my shower this morning was an identical looking towel that had obviously just been washed.  I asked Teresa where my towel is and she told me to take a new one from the pile in the bathroom.  Obviously she had washed the towel that I had just taken freshly this morning.  I reminded her that I usually take a new towel every Saturday morning and she said she forgot.

Today’s Step Count was 7,323.

Joke of the day

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

Money

A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.

A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item she doesn't need but it's on sale.

Friday, August 10, 2018

I woke up once about 3am, quickly fell back asleep, finally woke/got up at 7:30.  Wow, I need more nights like that!

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show and left for the gym picking up Adn and Q’Hubo newspapers on the way.  I completed all my exercises in 2 hours and for the first time my hamstrings felt normal.  If that continues for another week I’ll start increasing the reps and finally the weight.  I saw Charles who told me next Monday he would bring me the book on Spanish verbs I saw in his apt.  (My idea is to put all the Spanish verbs on digital index cards and at least learn them in their basic form.)  On the way back to the apt I picked up a Gente newspaper at Comfama.

When I returned from the gym I found that the clothes drying rack in the utility room had come apart.  I got out my duct tape and fixed it up stronger than before.

Among new US movie releases I would like to see The Meg (6.5) starring Jason Statham.  Locally, I would like to see Adrift (6.7) playing at Oviedo at 6pm and The Darkest Minds (5.4) playing at Vizcaya at 6:55 and Oviedo at 7pm.

Teresa asked me how much we can afford for rent for the new apartment.  Currently we’re paying 1,600,000 so I told her 1,800,000.  She asked me if her mother could stay with us in our apt in San Joaquin for 8 days at a time.  I told her no.  Now she wants to look for an apt down the hill.  Sigh!

Somehow Teresa believes she lost 20,000 pesos she had in her purse.

Teresa wanted take her mother to Parque Botanico to see the bird and flower festival but she saw something in the newspaper and now she wants to go to Premium Plaza mall.

After lunch I took a nap from 1:30 to 2:30.

I received an email from Envios Market that I have a package waiting for pickup.  I believe it’s a chess book I ordered.  Teresa wants to spend the day tomorrow in Santafe de Antioquia.  If not, then I’ll go to Poblado and pick up my book.

I grabbed 140 or 160mil from my “safe”, we left the apt at 5:15, walked down the hill, quickly caught a taxi, and picked up MT at the next corner.

I noticed that the new Viva mall now has a large sign on the Avenida Las Vegas side.  It reminds me of the one from Laureles.  The mall should be finished sometime in the next few months.

I remember seeing workers building what looked like a sidewalk between the Las Vegas lanes in the Stella Duran area.  It’s now finished and I can see they are dedicated bicycle lanes from EAFIT to at least Mercado del Rio.

At Premium Plaza mall the ladies walked around arts & crafts booths while I stayed in the background.  Teresa found a little (another) creche that I bought for her for 30mil.  We had sandwiches and drinks at Subway for another 36mil.  MT found some earrings she wanted and she borrowed 100mil from me.  Teresa picked up a few things at the grocery store.  I explained to her that we couldn’t buy anything else because I had barely enough cash left for the taxi ride back home.

We dropped MT off at the usual corner and proceeded back to the apt.  After paying for the taxi I ended up with 4mil.

Today’s Step Count was 7,208.

Joke of the day

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

Eating Out

When the bill arrives, Mike, Dave and John will each throw in $20, even though the bill is only $32.50. None of them will have anything smaller and none will actually admit they want change back.

When the girls get their bill, out come the pocket calculators.

Thursday, August 9, 2018

Despite getting up twice during the night I slept until 6:30 and got up at 7am feeling pretty good.

Teresa left to check on the finca at 9am and I watched the first 45 minutes of the Today show.

About 10:45 I walked over to Bartolos and I sat at one of the outside tables until noon without anyone coming to ask if I wanted anything.  They put up their lunch menu about 11:45 and I finally called over a waitress and ordered their menu of the day.

TOURNAMENT STATISTICS

In the 5 games where I had the White pieces I always opened with e4 and my opponents answered with e5 (once), d5 (once), or c5 (3 times).  The latter is the opening move of the Sicilian Defense but I played the King’s Indian Attack.  In the 4 games where I had the Black pieces my opponent opened with Nf3 (once) and e4 (3 times).  I was happy for the latter as I was able to practice the Sicilian Defense.

I won 2 games with Black, 1 with White, and 1 draw with each color.

Even though I have (had) a rating of 1667, my performance rating in this tournament was only 1286.  Yikes!

Teresa just called me and informed me that she cancelled her massage appointments at Stella Duran.  She is going to have lunch with her cousin Cecilia.

I took a little nap from 3pm to 4pm when Teresa came back.  She told me that John said he’s very happy with Laura’s work but she needs to learn to speak English better.  That should improve greatly after a year working in the US.

For dinner Teresa warmed up some spaghetti for me and I made myself a large slice of garlic bread.

Yikes!  I thought the game started at 7pm but when I connected to my Slingbox I found the game to be early in the 2^nd quarter.  The game actually started at 6pm so I missed our new QBs first game action.  The Bears ended up losing to the Bengals 30-27.

Today’s Step Count was 5,335.

Well, it finally happened!  I ran out of t-shirt sayings so its time for some jokes.  Two things: 1) I apologize if anyone finds any of them offensive.  There are some sensitive people out there.  2) I know I have a few duplicates in my collection so I would appreciate if someone could point them out when they see them.

Joke of the day

A young boy had just gotten his driver's permit and inquired of his father if they could discuss his use of the car.  His father said he'd make a deal with his son.

"You bring your grades up from a C average to a B average, study your Bible a little, get your hair cut and we'll talk about the car."

The boy thought about that for a moment, decided he'd settle for the offer and they agreed on it.

After about six weeks his father said, "Son, I'm real proud. You brought your grades up and I've observed you have been studying your Bible, but I'm real disappointed you haven't gotten your hair cut."

The young man paused a moment then said, "You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that, and I noticed in my Bible studies that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair and there's even a strong argument that Jesus had long hair."

And his father replied, "Did you also notice they all walked everywhere they went?"

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Last night I took my sleeping pill and muscle relaxant, it took a few minutes to fall asleep but I slept through the night finally waking at 6am and getting up at 6:30.

I watched the first 20 minutes of the Today show and left for the gym.  I completed all my exercises in 2 hours.  I saw Charles working out there.

Back at the apt I spent hours trying to recreate the recording of my 8^th game that ended in a draw.  I got close but no cigar.

I received a text message from Alex who is down in Putomayo.  He moved out from living with Alba – more specifically, her family.  He’s going to stay in a hotel there for awhile to figure out what to do next.

This au pair thing is getting complicated quickly.  Laura was going through an agency to become an au pair in the US.  Now she wants to become an au pair for a family that will live in England and then in Australia.  So does she need to have 2 visas?  To be continued.

At 5:45 Teresa and I took an Uber to Oviedo for 12,800 pesos.  First I added 40mil to my Cine card balance then bought 2 preferred seating tickets for 7,250 each.  As we were leaving the box office we ran into Jose from the gym who had just seen The Darkest Minds (5.5) and reported he liked it.  We then went down to the food court where Teresa bought a Subway sandwich for us to share.  Back upstairs we got in line and bought a large popcorn (salt only) and 2 large sodas for 21,500 pesos leaving me with a balance of 37,900.  I now have 23 total ticket purchases on my Cine Colombia card.

The theater was nearly full and Teresa thoroughly enjoyed the action movie.  She loved the seats also and now always wants preferred seating.  I’ve certainly spoiled her.

Outside we easily caught a taxi back to the apt.

Teresa talked to Laura and I was informed I would have to put 10,000,000 pesos (about $3,500) into some bank account as escrow for her visa.  I don’t know if I would want to do that because who knows whose account that could be and they could steal my money.  Anyway, it’s a dilemma easily solved because I don’t have anything close to 10 million pesos.  I guess Laura will be back to the agency for the US.

Today’s Step Count was 9,376.

T-shirt of the day: Life is better without boyfriends.