It is a strange day. I took off two days and then the weekend and, otherwise than buy groceries, went nowhere. I then got up early today to not go anywhere and go to work.
This scenario begins when I start with the alarm that I wake up just before it goes off, usually; I wake one hour before the alarm and then awake one minute before it goes off, or it wakes me (this Monday it woke me). I put on a robe and stagger out, trying not to wake Susie. I check the settings of the heat/AC as I pass it in the hallway. Next, I clean-up the previous coffee and make new coffee.
I sit down at the computer and check my email. Get breakfast and the first cup of coffee for the day. Before the emergency, I would write a bit and then stop to shower and then head-out in the car. But now I just grab the Nike computer and read the email there and start work too. I work until I find a point to break and then head to the shower and then return to my spot. I noticed this today more as I had been on vacation for a long weekend.
I have two planned stops. I order lunch or make it and eat it. I try to take a walk and rest a few minutes before returning to the emails, texts, and video meetings with the crisis of the moment. I try to stop at about 5PM.
Today I had to catch-up as I was out for two days and did not work the weekend. I am almost caught-up as I worked through some of the video conferences.
I felt tired and a bit ill all day. It was Monday, and I had stayed up late all weekend. It is hard to switch back to 6AM mornings. I was going to have a salad but instead ordered burgers from Red Robin for Susie and me. I find a burger helps chase away the Monday blues. It was delivered on time and was perfect. I felt much better.
More robot parts came in from Digi-Key. Digi-Key is covering AdaFruit while the focus on helping their home city of New York. I read on AdaFruit’s website that they just got in more plastic to make more face shields!
I also received a new book from the US Naval Institute: Fighting the Great War At Sea: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology. It was referred to in the other WW1 naval books I recently read. It is a giant book with pictures. I was looking for more technical writing, but we will see.
Susie had the second half of her burger for dinner. I made myself Chicken Soup from a can and a grilled cheese sandwich. The cheddar was almost beyond saving, so it was an excellent time to finish it.
I liked this song and was listening to it today. Hope you like it: The Shape of My Heart.
I completed the deployment of the armies on my board game, Blitzkrieg in the West, that I am playing against myself. Usually, I play online on Monday nights. I put off online Dungeons and Dragons for a week. I wanted to get this wargame done, and I have not taken the time for the roleplaying game to get ready as we are starting a new module. On Blitzkrieg set-up, I stopped at the deployment as I tired tonight and did not finish up the deployment until 8PM. But today, I did finish re-reading all the rules and checked a few things and made a few corrections in the deployment and order of battle (such as the strategic reserves were deployed by Germany too early).
(this is from Germany looking France–blue troops)
My initial impression is that the German Army is smallish for the job. The Luftwaffe is five-time the size of the allies’ airforce. That will have an impact! The Germans also have specialized units to break the fortresses in Belgium (the Belgium fortresses quickly fell to these special forces in the actual war and are relegated to footnotes on the war). I have tank,s and motorized infantry pointed at Belgium. I will begin tomorrow and see how it goes. The French are entrenched on the East. I am interested to see how this simulation goes.
The stock market went up and down. The technology stocks are up. The experts are looking for another dip. My 401K recovered to now less than -6% loss for the year. I am expecting to do more than break even this year. I am just below, I believe, the maximum contribution. Obviously, I like long positions and enjoy dips. I like buying low.
The reports are following the same pattern for the last month. This Monday was higher than Sunday, with just over a thousand deaths in the USA from the infection. Here is a huge pipe organ version of Come Thou Almighty King arr. Samuel Metzger.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 