Friday June 28, 2018 Computer

Please see more of my artworks for sale at my websites:  http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/ or http://saccc05.tripod.com/

REMINDER: If you are interested in getting the Blogs via email, simply send me an email to aljbourassa@gmail.com and I will add you to a special list in my Blog settings. Even though that does not appear to work again either…...  Google sucks. 

THANK YOU all for your patience and support.

******

Friday June 29, 2018

Yesterday was really wet in the morning so no walk for the dogs.  That also gave a respite to my bare legs (I've been wearing shorts since I got here) from the sneaky insects.  My legs now have a red blotch pattern that I am sure is a hit with the locals.

Cristina gave me a really close haircut at my request.  It is really short and I was tempted to go shorter yet, almost to the scalp but chickened out on that.  I am not displeased and it certainly is a lot less worry, although I should remember to wear a hat outside so I don't blind people...

We found out that the Colombia-Senegal game was on a local station so we just stayed home to watch.  Colombia got a late goal to win 1-0 and actually ended up qualifying first in their group, which nobody was expecting, thanks to Poland beating Japan.  It didn't take long for the horns to sound in the streets to celebrate.  Then it was nap time.

Cris went to the police (fiscalia) looking for information about the death of her son Christian.  They were no help at all, seemed to have no record of anything so she will return again.

I put on my handyman hat and fixed one of the toilets upstairs, then set up new printer with its cartridges of ink to fill the tanks… Now we wait for computer..
Today is my daughter's Anniversary, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY JILL, and also my granddaughter Danai's graduation from high school.  How time has flown and the kids have grown.  Danai will be joining her brother Dawson at the University Of Alberta in September.  Congrats Danai.   Photo credit to Jill:

My darling Danai is on the right.  We are so proud....

Today we had Miguel take us back to the computer repair shop and I brought along the frayed power cord.  The tech said that the computer powered up right away so he did not even charge us,.. yes, it was the cord that was the culprit.  So we bought a new cord and headed back.  Part way home I asked who had the new cord and everybody had a blank look on their face.  A thorough search of the car, and all pockets, did not turn it up, so we returned to the shop and checked the street, the tech, and the neighbours,.. no cord, so we had to buy a new one again...

So, after a week, I finally had my computer operating but then had to transfer many things from the laptop first.  Then I properly initiated the new printer.  Then I hooked up a new external hard drive that I have had for almost 3 years.  All photos from Colombia will now go on that hard drive.

So we now have set up the main computer station with many electrical protections, a working table with the telephones, the second computer station that was Christian's, and a very useful shelf unit.  Finally we can feel comfortable to operate again and we can retire the laptop for a while....  Printing business cards and emergency cards with the new phone numbers..., so much to get done now.   I haven't uploaded pictures for almost 10 days now.

Cristina just back from a second trip to the police but it seems all she gets is shrugs and no closure.  Latinos just do not seem to feel any responsibility to others... so sad....

Soon we will begin the process for residency so we can tackle the things like health insurance, driver's licences, etc. etc...  My buddy Tom from Manizales called and is being a wonderful resource.  A trip up there and to Medellin will not be very far in the future.

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  That was the day’s excitement.

Al

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© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission. 

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

Wednesday June 27, 2018 Latin America

Please see more of my artworks for sale at my websites:  http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/ or http://saccc05.tripod.com/

REMINDER: If you are interested in getting the Blogs via email, simply send me an email to aljbourassa@gmail.com and I will add you to a special list in my Blog settings in the hope that it will one day work again.  I won’t do that without your permission, and THANK YOU all for your patience and support.

******

Wednesday June 27, 2018

The differences so far between Ecuador and Colombia are negligible except for the heat.  Latinos have a "me first" mindset from childbirth that is frustrating for those of us from different cultures.  While we more than appreciate the help we get, it is still upsetting to us when we have an appointment to be picked up at 11:30, so we get ready on time only to have that pushed back to 1:30 at the last second, then they actually don't arrive until 2:00 because they had to wait for lunch...

So we arrived in the afternoon at Movistar to get a plan for my cel phone (which also needed registration - why wasn't that done when we got the first SIM card??) only to find their systems are down because their systems are antiquated (isn't that good advertising..??).  
In Ecuador I had the same phone number for 6.5 years, changed from Claro to Movistar and back again, and finally went from the unreliable prepaid to a Plan with little problem.  Here, I was forced to get a new phone number to get a Plan, no porting, and it had to go in Cristina's name because I have no valid ID here, they wouldn't accept my credit card for the first month's payment and they would not set up for monthly withdrawals from our bank account.  It boggles my mind why the whole family here seems to think that Movistar is the best choice here...  They do have a better basic Plan, but nothing much else seems to work in our favor.

The NetTalk is operating when plugged into my laptop so far.  Hopefully we will have no problem hooking up to the PC later.

Next we went to the La Herradura shopping center near home to shop at the Exito grocery (small Wal-Mart style place) which, I had thought was a decent size previously, but I was shocked at the extremely poor selection of things, most items in a single small size range.  There were several simple things on my list that we just did not find.  And a lot of their prices are only cheaper if you use their proprietary credit card (don't know if we will qualify), and the lineups were horrible at every checkout.  I did buy another blasted HP Ink-tank 315 printer (with no cable) because I was assured that it was the most economical to operate over the more expensive Epson.  Time will tell if this is true.  I have quit being a fan of HP.  And I did find a cable for it at home, I think.  I don't really want to set it up until I get my computer back (still no word on that either).
In the evening we had a pretty strong rainstorm.  This house has 3 patio areas open to the sky so it is a good thing that the drains seem to operate well, much better than the rest of the plumbing...

I hope you enjoy the pictures.  That was the day’s excitement.

Al

******

© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission. 

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.

Tuesday June 26, 2018 Necessities

Please see more of my artworks for sale at my websites:  http://souvenirphotostudio.neocities.org/ or http://saccc05.tripod.com/

REMINDER: If you are interested in getting the Blogs via email, simply send me an email to aljbourassa@gmail.com and I will add you to a special list in my Blog settings in the hope that it will one day work again.  I won’t do that without your permission, and THANK YOU all for your patience and support.

******

Tuesday June 26, 2018

This is just a short note to say that I THANK YOU all for bearing with me as we get settled.  There is so much to do and photography is not high on my list of priorities at the moment, sorry to say.

Adiela and my brother-in-law Miguel are being so very supportive in getting needed things done.  Today we ran my computer over to a shop he knows, run by a former employee, to find out why there is no power.  I suspect that it may be as simple as a frayed power cord..

We tried to talk to Movistar about their plans but we were there at Latin lunchtime so the place was packed.  We are planning to return tomorrow to get some questions answered because I hate the PrePago where we have no idea how much time or money we have left on the phone.  There is nothing worse than needing to make an emergency call with a dead phone...  I don't understand the "megas" for internet use but it appears that even the basic Movistar plan beats the medium Claro plans...  One big question is how I can manage to pay for a plan when the bank account is so far in only Cristina's name (another thing that needs to be fixed pronto).

Cristina wants a car, and we will probably search for something that will accommodate us and the 6 dogs....  Small extended cab pickups seem to be in short supply, and relatively expensive here.

A factor there is that driving in Tulua is a distinct challenge because it has the highest motorcycle vs car ratio in Colombia, and it is said the ratio is 10 to 1, which I have no reason to dispute.  And the riders have no respect for other drivers, ... cutting in front of another, with bare inches to spare and no respect for the speed or room required for safe operation.  They say the accident rate here is incredibly high as a result.  Having said all this, I think that I would rather be on the road on my own bike than a vehicle...

Another factor will be where we may end up next...  Within seven months or so the lease will be up on this present house which has many issues and we will hope to relocate to the country, whether in this area, or up higher where it is cooler.  We both want space for the dogs to run and maybe a place for a workable business, like maybe a dog kennel..  Then it is a question of rent or buy (which I hesitate to do up higher where it is earthquake country....

So many decisions to make, so we tackle them one at a time...  Manana...

That was the day’s excitement.

Al

******

© All my work is COPYRIGHT protected and may not be used in any way without purchase, or without my permission. 

If you want to borrow a picture to share with family and friends, Facebook or whatever, at least PLEASE give me credit for the photo.

NOTE that you may click on any photo for an ENLARGED VIEW.