Once a year Katrinka and I have to go to the immigration office here in Renon in Denpasar to get new visa photos for our renewed visas. I'd heard they were giving seniors and people with little kids express treatment, so instead of arriving early in the morning to get a low number, Katrinka and I arrived shortly after the lunch break, went to Window #4 as usual, mentioned I'd heard that. We got numbers and could see there were many people ahead of us. Probably at least a 30 minute wait. No problem. There were maybe 80 people waiting and we were the oldest I could make out which wouldn't always be the case. Numbers were being called. Only numbers and people would get up and walk into the room where there were about five officers to deal with them, each with a stationary camera. After a few minutes our names were called and we were out of there ten minutes later. I'd asked the woman dealing with me why didn't she take fingerprints as usual. I assumed it was because they already had them but she said it was because we were over 70. Ah, one of the perks of seniority.
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Monday, August 28, 2023
What woke us up last night
A magnitude-7.1 offshore earthquake occurs in Bali Sea at around 03:55 Aug. 29. No immediate reports of damage or injuries.
No tsunami warning was issued following the earthquake. - that's good because Gili Air, where we had our honeymoon is tiny and is pretty flat and near sea level. It's just north or the west end of Lombok which just east of Bali.
Saturday, August 5, 2023
Heart to Heart Post
I'm only able to keep up with the minimum right now as I'm lethargic and sleeping a lot. Since I knew I wouldn't get much done, I went to a doc today for a yearly heart check. I'd gone to a nearby tiny clinic a couple of weeks ago because a pharmacy read my blood pressure at 150/100. The doc at the clinic said you can't rely on those digital tests and did a manual and got 130/85 which is good but said I had bronchitis. He also said I had an irregular heart beat and to check it out with an EKG. Today the cardiologist at the nearby public hospital, the newest and most modern in Bali, said it was 150/100 and to take some mild blood pressure med. But he said the EKG was good. My heart's fine, beats a little slow and the irregularity isn't bad and I've had it a long time (he could see my whole medical history). So I went back to the clinic and the young Saturday doc there said my blood pressure was 110 over 70 (unusally low) after he did a manual and said they only do manual and my irregular heartbeat is normal, not bad, because it adds a beat which makes up for it being a little slow. He also said that lethargy following bronchitis is normal especially for my age because there was a battle going on in my lungs and bombs were dropped and so forth and now it's being rebuilt. He drew me a picture of normal and good irregular and bad irregular and explained that the top number in blood pressure is systolic, the blood to the body, and the bottom one I forgot the name - like pistolic - is the blood to the lungs. Never knew that. Anyway, walked four kilometers going from place to place which made me feel better than lying down. Still only on cardio aspirin. Oh - total cost of the today's doctor's visits and EKG was about thirty-four bucks. - DC