Managed to dodge harsh realties all day.
Antonio was blocked from accessing his account at First National online. The computer would issue a code to Antonio, which he would enter into his cell phone. He had five minutes to do it.
The problem arose from Antonio being in Bogota. It was complicated by the need for Larry Lance at the bank up here to perform the routine using his cell phone that was already in the system. Antonio could not communicate with Lance in a timely fashion. This morning, he asked Mary and me to help by contacting Larry Lance at the bank.
After a frustrating eternity of going back and forth between Antonio and Lance in Spanish and English, I began to understand the crux of the matter. I had Lance enter Mary's phone number into the system and let him go back to his business. Mary and I would use two telephones, Mary's cell phone to communicate with Antonio ready at his computer in Bogota, mine to obtain the code at this end and give it to Antonio on my phone.
The bank security program now had Mary's phone number. Uh oh. Big mistake. Only Mary's cell phone could access Mary's long distance carrier Boss Revolution for calling Colombia. She, therefore, brought me the AT&T land line phone for me to use with her old calling card. That card couldn't be used with my cell phone. Good. Now all we had to do was enter several series of numbers to use the old card. Aaagh!
There I was, with a phone in each hand, talking to and listening to Antonio, in Spanish, on one side, interacting with an automated banking system, in English, on the other side. Two layers of security. Five minutes to get it done.
I did it.
Afterwards, I caught my breath. Mary went to the bathroom. I surprised myself by giving out a little chuckle. From the bathroom came another chuckle. Soon, we were laughing uncontrollably. Felt good.
In the midst of all the confusion, Victor Amaya showed up. He may have been glad when he received a call summoning him back home post-haste.
Mary and I had cod-fish for lunch, with stewed jicama, plantain and a mixed vegetable steamer. guava juice on the side.
Time for a little sun and breeze. First thing was to snap one of the hibiscus flowers. The plant had begun to bloom Tuesday before last, but no good shots.
Mary beckoned me down near the field. There were white objects that had caught her attention from afar. Turned out to be mushrooms. Some rather large.
She did some weeding in the flower beds. I tagged along.
She worked until it was time to cool off with popsicles.
Been a full day.
76.5 °F, clear. (Frankewing)
Nephew Todd brought his sister Denise & her Leah over on the golf cart. It took all four of us adults to keep up with Leah Marie. Her specialty nowadays is remote controls and cell phones.
