Friday, March 31, 2017

I fell asleep quickly and slept through the night EXCEPT for the cell phone that rang in the dining room at 4am.  Teresa ignored it the first two times but the third time she answered it.  It turned out to be Wilson.  He had tried to get into his apt but MT had locked it from the inside and was probably sleeping without her hearing aids so she couldn’t hear anything.  Since he couldn’t get inside he called us.  He came over a few minutes later and slept in the guest bedroom.

I woke up at 7am feeling quite refreshed so I got up.  We obviously got a lot of rain overnight.

Teresa showed me an official letter from the Alcala real estate agency.  I didn’t understand most of it but it’s obviously a notice that if we stay in the apt for another year the rent will go up 5.75% to 1,533,375 pesos a month.  We’re going to start looking around seriously next week.

Wilson got up about 8am and left for his apt.

Teresa left early for a 9am exercise class and I headed out at 9:30.  I saw Oscar there today – first time I’ve seen him since the Confama gym.  It’s tough coming back after missing just one day but I did my nearly 2 hours.

I made a trip to the bank for more cash so I can pay the apt rental tomorrow.  I made another stop in Exito where I picked up hotdog buns and mustard.

Among new US movie releases I would like to see Ghost in the Shell (6.9).  Locally, I would like to see Life (7.0) playing in Santafe mall at 1:10, 3:30, and 6:10pm.

I took a short nap from 2-3pm.  Soon Teresa and I left with MT for her hearing appointment.  We waited about 5 minutes for a taxi but still arrived at the doctor’s office in Ciudad del Rio 15 minutes early.  She was taken in at 4:20 and was out just before 5pm. 

We walked about 3 blocks to Mercado del Rio where the ladies had some sort of salad and I had a burger with fries and a Pepsi from Juicy Lucy.  The burger came in a fresh bun with an onion ring, bacon, cheddar cheese and lettuce inside for 24,900 (about $8.50).  I think it’s the best burger I’ve had so far in Medellin.

We quickly caught a taxi back to the apt.  On the way there was some light rain which stopped soon after we got back.

About 9:30 it started raining again and stopped just before we went to bed at 10:30.

T-shirt of the day: I was addicted to hokey pokey.  But then I turned myself around.

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Last night I fell asleep quickly but woke up at 3:30am with a cramp in my left calf.  I quickly worked it out and fell back asleep finally waking/getting up at 8:30 feeling pretty refreshed.

I skipped the gym again today and watched some of the Today show until 10:30 when I showered, dressed and headed out.  I stopped at Servibanca where I took out the remainder of the cash for this month.  I went to the pharmacy where I bought 3 packages of Isoklon sleeping tablets and my new Duodart prostate medicine.  I tried to pay for it with my debit card but the young lady said something I didn’t understand.  Finally, I understood my debit card wasn’t working so I paid in cash.  (Dummy, you just used the remainder of your cash for the month at the ATM.) 

I stopped in Exito and bought a bottle of instant coffee, a tube of Sensodyne toothpaste and, on impulse, a bottle of Lipton iced tea.  We’ll see how this one tastes.  I literally laughed, and the cashier laughed with me, as a 5’ long paper with receipt, discount offers and coupons came out of her printer.  Today was bag-less Thursday but again they put my things in a plastic bag.

I spent most of the afternoon entering my remaining tournament games into Shredder 10 and studying them for my mistakes.

I traded some emails with Jose Cruz and we made plans to meet next Tuesday morning at Mall Laureles to play chess and perhaps in the afternoon to pay and sign up for the card we need to play rated games.

It started raining just before 9pm and was still raining when I went to bed at 11:30.

T-shirt of the day: Teach your kids about taxes.  Eat 30% of their ice cream.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Last night I fell asleep quickly but woke up at 5am and got up at 5:15.  I finished writing and posted yesterday’s doings and went back to bed at 6:30.  I finally got up at 8:30, watched some of the Today show and went back to bed for a short nap. 

Because the last round of the chess tournament was last night instead of tonight that changes my bicycling plans for today.

I left the apt at 11:50 and waited across the street for 10 minutes for a bus.  For some reason there were plenty of seats available on the metro today, maybe because I left at noon instead of 1pm?  Getting off the metro at Estacion Hospital it was obvious they had a little rain earlier.  At Aventura mall I checked out all the restaurants and decided to try the burger combo today at Bonanza grill.  As usual I first asked the cashier if he spoke English.  An attractive 20ish girl standing next to me was looking at a menu and she asked in English if she could help me.  I said maybe and continued with my order in Spanish.  She said at least you know enough Spanish to order and I replied that my Spanish is horrible but at least I won’t starve to death.  The mall has a dozen restaurants in their food court and if I was in a real hurry I could always have a hotdog downstairs at Dogger “The real American taste”.  I read my Nook while enjoying my meal – the burger was pretty juicy like over tenderized burgers in the US.

In my first game vs Dario I had the White pieces and it went into the endgame which I won with 2 passed pawns.  In the 2^nd game I had the black pieces and on his 9^th move he blundered and I won his queen.  We still had a lot of time left so we started a 3^rd game.  We went into the endgame and he blundered a rook.  I guess it just wasn’t his day.

I stopped back in Aventura and asked at the pharmacy if they had Tums.  No.  Back in Envigado I bought a pound of fresh strawberries from a man on the bridge for 6,000 pesos (about $2).  I stopped in Exito but they don’t have Tums either.  What, I have to order it from the US?  I can’t believe it.

I was back in the apt by 4:45.  It started raining a few minutes later.  It finally ended about 6:30.

I received an email from MBE that I have “documents” waiting for pickup which might be my March Chess Life magazine.

I placed an Amazon order for a few things I can’t find here like Tums.

T-shirt of the day: I never argue.  I just explain why I’m right.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

I had a pretty bad night, taking a long time to get to sleep (probably mainly because of my cold) and waking several times during the night, finally waking/getting up at 8am.

I decided to skip the gym today.  I watched 30 minutes of the Today show and left the apt at 9:45.  On my way to the bus stop I asked the Citibank guard if the ATM was working and was told no.  I quickly caught a bus to Medellin.  From the bus I noticed quite a few people in Colombian team jerseys.  A young man in one sat right across the aisle from me so I asked if Colombia is playing today.  I was told yes and I asked what time and was told 4pm.  Today is a mostly sunny day so the weather was feeling pretty warm. 

At MBE I picked up my 2 packages which turned out to be 2 small red umbrellas (free) from Shedrain.  I did have to pay an extra 20,400 pesos (about $7) in delivery charges for them.  I also paid 44,800 pesos for my box rental for April.  I asked if Victoria was there.  Another young woman named Nobraska (sic) came and in very good English informed me that Victoria’s in a meeting.  I was told that she does speak English also.  Now they tell me.

As I walked up Avenida Las Vegas I noticed there is now a Starbucks in the Plaza One Business Center.  I stopped at Citibank and took out some much needed cash.  In Starbucks I was pleasantly surprised to find it air conditioned.  Standing in line ahead of me was a young lady in a short skirt just above her knees and very nice slim legs.  She also had a pretty face.  She was obviously with the man in front of her.  I don’t want to give everyone the idea that all ladies her are beautiful but there are quite a few – especially in this area of town.

I paid 7,700 pesos for a small vanilla latte and when the girl brought it to the counter she showed me the heart made on top before she put the top on.  The place wasn’t crowded and I settled down on a nice couch to read my Nook.  I noticed the cup my small drink was in was labeled as 300ml.  I rechecked the price board (what do you call it, marquee?) and saw that it’s advertized as being 354ml.  What happened to the other 54ml?  Hasn’t Starbucks gotten in trouble for things like this back in the States?

I walked back across the street and up to Oviedo where I bought a package of French toast bagels for 7,900.  I was looking forward to sesame but I guess they were out today.

Back outside a Sabaneta bus had just pulled up, a woman jumped off, no one immediately got on so it pulled away.  I had to wait about 10 minutes for the next one but I was still back at the apt by noon.

I received an email from Jose Cruz with 2 links.  In his words:

I am sending you 2 links related to chess. The first one is for the chess league where we play; it gives you all the information about the present event or the next one and also in the 'calendario' at upper right, a list of all future events. As you may see there, there seem to be 2 tourneys coming up in April and one in May.

http://www.actiweb.es/ajedrez-deporte-paisa/

The other link is for chess results for all chess events in the world...amazing. I am sending you the link for Colombia directly. Here you can find the results for our event round by round. And see also your opponent for tonight's game. Enjoy it...

http://www.chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=COL

Omg, in one of them it stated that the final match is tonight not tomorrow night.  I double checked with Jose who confirmed that. 

My performance rating in this tournament thus far is 1649.  My opponent tonight has a rating of 1658 so how I do tonight will increase or decrease that number.  At least, since I have the white pieces, I should be able to play my favorite opening tonight.

I asked Laura to switch her black umbrella for the new red one but she told me she wants to keep the black one – she tells me it’s more classy and goes with whatever she’s wearing.  Sigh!  The only reason I ordered another red one is because that’s what she told me she wanted. 

Teresa came back from the gym at 2:15.  She accepted one of the red umbrellas and I put the other one away.

At 2pm I heard some thunder in the distance and dark clouds rolled in.

I took a little nap from 3:15 to 4:15.  At 4:45 I finally turned on the TV and Colombia was beating Ecuador at halftime 2-0.

We had a little storm come through between 3 and 4:15 so I didn’t leave the apt until 4:45, walked downtown to catch a taxi and was at the chess league by 5:30, an hour early. 

I talked to Jose Cruz and he talked to someone and reported that the only way we get a FIDE rating is by playing in tournaments identified as IRT – which I guess means something like Internationally Rated Tournament.  The upcoming IRT tournaments are a Holy Week Pre-Game tournament (whatever that means) April 12-16 and an under 2000 tournament April 12-16 April 27 to May 1^st.  Then there’s a Pre-Game open tournament for Seniors May 17^th to 21^st.  Maybe I’ll enter that one.  Now I know that they have some kind of tournament going on almost al the time.

My opponent, Hernan de Jesus Correa, rated 1658, and I started our game on time.  I was able to play my opening but he quickly managed to brake open the center.  (I’ll have to analyze that to see what I could have done differently.)  He soon had his queen, bishop and 2 rooks aiming at the pawn in front of my queen which was protected by my queen, king, and 2 rooks.  That didn’t give me much space to maneuver.  I held on and in the endgame he had a passed pawn, bishop and king against my bishop and king.  But the bishops were of opposite color so as soon as he tried moving his pawn I would take it and it would be his king and bishop against my king and that’s not sufficient material to checkmate.  So we ended up playing a 2-hour, 62-move draw.  My performance rating for this tournament ended up being 1650.

I walked to the bus stop and quickly caught a taxi back to the apt.  I learned that Colombia won 2-0.

I just relaxed with some mindless TV for the rest of the evening.

T-shirt of the day: If you met my family, you would understand.

Monday, March 27, 2017

I slept pretty well, falling asleep relatively quickly and only getting up twice during the night.  I woke up at 6am and got up at 6:30 but this probably will mean I’ll need a little nap after lunch before going to my 6:30pm chess match.

Another very overcast morning.

When I left the apt at 9:30 it was mostly sunny outside with a bright blue sky.  Walking through the park I recognized a couple guys playing chess.  I completed my workout in a little less than 2 hours.  Did I mention there are some nice looking ladies working out here?  Today I learned that Teresa’s private workouts are Monday thru Thursday except on long weekends when it’s Tuesday thru Friday.

I think I forgot to mention last week when Laura and I took the metro together I learned I can use my Civica card for both of us.

I took a little nap from 2:15 to 3:30, mainly just resting my eyes.

Well that’s interesting.  I received 2 emails from MBE that I have packages identified as “umbrellas’ waiting for pickup.  I was expecting a red umbrella to replace the incorrect color (black) they sent me but certainly not 2.

I left the apt at 4:15 with my large umbrella (I heard thunder in the distance and there were dark threatening clouds out east), but without my sunglasses.

I stopped at Herman’s stand and talked with him briefly.

The metro was crowded but not cattle car crowded partly because I was fortunate to be standing in the area between two cars until we got closer to San Antonio station.

At the chess league I soon saw Jose Cruz.  He’s the Cuban man with the Colombian wife living part time in Florida and part time in Medellin.  I talked to him about getting an FIDE rating and he believes we have to “join” FIDE somehow to get a rating.  I thought the chess league probably pays to be FIDE affiliated.  The “owner” wasn’t there today but we’ll try again on Wednesday.

My opponent on board 11 was Diego Fernando Restrepo and he’s the 7^th highest rated in the tournament at 1745.  He arrived a couple minutes late but played well and had me in trouble for most of the game.  I thought I was going to sneak out of it but I ended up resigning on the 38^th move. 

Again it was pouring as we finished the game.  Luckily I had my large umbrella so I didn’t even get the bottom of my pants wet as I walked to the bus stop.  I quickly caught a taxi back to Envigado for 18,000 pesos.  I was back by 9:30.

Teresa informed me that her mother doesn’t want to call SS tomorrow she wants to go to Bogota.  I understand we’ll wait until the rainy season is over which means June.

T-shirt of the day: Drinking rum before noon makes you a pirate, not an alcoholic.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Laura came back at 3:30 in the morning because Teresa got up and that woke me up.  Against that benchmark I knew I had gotten up 2 times previously.  I’m sure I got up at least twice more after.  Each trip it takes too much time to get back to sleep.  I finally woke/got up at 8:45 feeling pretty good only because I slept in a little.

It’s obvious we got some rain overnight.  It turned out to be an overcast day with a short light drizzle.

I checked the EnCicla website and it appears they have a bicycle station at Carrera 70 and San Juan.  The only problem is that it’s a manual one, without an attendant.  It is supposed to have instructions but of course they will be in Spanish so I’m not sure that will work for me.  Someday I’ll watch someone else go through the process of returning/checking out a bicycle and then I’ll know.  My plan for Wednesday is to play chess with Dario until 4pm, take the metro to Estacion Estadio, rent a bicycle, ride to the manual station and check in my bike (if I can figure out how it works), walk the last couple blocks to Opera pizza, have a pizza for dinner about 5:15ish, walk back to the manual station and check out another bicycle, ride back to Estacion Estadio where I’ll check it back in, and then walk to the chess league in time for my 6:30 match.  If I can’t figure out how the manual station works then I’ll just take it with me to the pizza place and hope I can keep it close for security reasons and finish my pizza in time to get it back to the stadium on time.

On March 6^th I had received an email from Shedrain that they would send out the correct umbrella (red) the next day.  I checked online and see via MBE’s tracking system that it passed through Miami last Wednesday so it should be here soon.

Teresa wanted to know why Eddie didn’t go to the gringo meet-up last Thursday so I translated the following message for her:

The day before the gringo meeting I sent Eddie the following email "Teresa doesn't want me to go to the meeting because of my cold.  I plan to go for about an hour, have some pizza and leave.  Save me a seat." He told me he only read the first sentence because he thought the rest of the email was bullshit (his words).  He said he arrived at the pizza place 30 minutes early and stopped at a restaurant across the alley to watch a soccer match.  After the match ended he ordered something to eat and got involved in another soccer match.  He never bothered to walk across the alley to the meeting.  I told him I'm mad at him.  (He always told me he wanted to be alone anyway.)

Laura went to Frisby and picked up food for everyone for about 58,000 pesos.  I had chicken vegetable soup, cole slaw and a Frischuleta.

About 5 months ago I received chess computer software from Ruben called Shredder 10.  I had figured out how to use it to analyze a previously played game but after saving it, I couldn’t figure out how to reload it.  I spent the morning reading the instruction manual, reading the online help screens and with trial and error (and reentering several games) I finally figured out how it works and the correct format to use when entering data.  It’s still a learning process but I’m making progress.  For example, I figured out how to do an automatic analysis of a previously entered game, the problem is that the comments are in German.  I have enough challenge with Spanish, I don’t need to be spending my valuable time translating “der kann naturlich nicht genommen werden” into “Of course, it can’t be taken”.  I googled online and I understand I need to go to Playchess.com and update my Shredder computer software.  In Playchess.com I finally figured out how to register but I couldn’t get a connection to the server.  I’ll try again another time.  When I finally exited Shredder I got the message “An unsupported operation was attempted” and I couldn’t get it to go away without rebooting.

At 8pm Laura came back with 6 empanadas for us to share for dinner for less than 10,000 pesos.  I also finished my cole slaw from lunch.

I watched Contagion (6.6) on Netflix.

T-shirt of the day: I’m currently unsupervised.  I know, it freaks me out too.  But the possibilities are endless!

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Possibly because of all the hot lemonade I drank yesterday I got up 5 times during the night.  I woke up at 6:30, made a trip to the bathroom to clear my nose, drank half a glass of water to stay hydrated and went back to bed.  I finally fell asleep about 8am and woke/got up at 9:45am.  My cold seems to be finally breaking up.

The Colombian Peso closed at 2,918 to the US Dollar.

I noticed that one of my blog readers, whose name I won’t mention, “+1’d” Thursday’s post but I have NO idea what that means.

I’ve been giving advice to a future expat named Alex from the SF area.  He finally got his apostilled SS benefits letter so he only needs to get his visa approval from the Colombian embassy, dispose of most of his possessions and he should be here in May.

A storm came through from about 4-5pm.

Teresa and I watched 12 Years a Slave (8.1) on Netflix.

Laura left about 9:30 with full makeup and dressed like she’s going dancing.

Tonight I tried the Maracuyá SunTea but I didn’t care for it.  The search for a decent iced tea continues.

T-shirt of the day: My silence doesn’t mean I agree with you.  It’s just that your level of ignorance has left me speechless.