The news is everywhere that Portland is under siege not from the virus or protestors misbehaving (again), but from an opaque federal armed law enforcement force. Apparently, there are multiple snatch-and-grab actions ongoing with the Federals hoping to scare a confession before they have to perform catch-and-release. That is at least the stories I have read. For the nay-sayers, we have already had to have a judge’s order to prevent the use of tear gas except when needed when there are true dangers or real crowd control issues. I, being naive, thought that was the rules for using tear gas. The Federal forces in Portland are not following this. Again, I was just naive that the Federals would consider the safety of Portland before popping off more tear gas. Very naive, but I am learning.
I am sorry to make what is close to a political statement, but it is not a political statement. I want to remember in this blog how the days feel. I feel under siege.
Returning to today, work started at about 6:30AM this morning. I had a Zoom meeting every other hour or so working from home. I had an emergency at the moment about every hour too. I, as is a whole team I work with, are on call this weekend. I do not expect to be logging on to my Nike computer this weekend, but we will see.
I have known for some time that I am the “keeper of the holy scrolls” on how the legendary (we actually use that term instead of legacy) main accounting and order processing system at Nike. We are now in the process of converting to a new system at Nike (by the same vendor as the previous system, SAP). So I am writing little stories of how the original systems work and how this will now work in the new systems, at least what had been decided and what is agreed too. These stories I then email to the “dream team” as they try to work out how to map the new system to our existing reporting systems. I am also doing this for the data conversion team as they try to understand our legendary system. I am now the “old guy” who the young whip-snappers asked questions of.
Lunch was reheated Chinese food we ordered a few days ago for dinner. It is the last time for it–it is getting old. Nike closes at noon on Friday in the summer. I waited for Susie to get home–she had a eye doctor appointment today before heading out.
I stopped by Rune and Board to buy Brass: Lancashire, a boardgame I saw there last week. I decided to get it as it is a classic. I saw the Sit Down and Shutup video on it last year and have thought about getting it for some time. I have not seen it for sale often, so I decided to pick it up now. Tonight I punched out the game and read the rules.
I was talking to the owner of the store and he told me that my other local store, Rainy-Day Games, was sold to the same owner of Guardian Games in Portland. We were just chatting about games, and he mentioned this. It was a surprise to me, but all the businesses are moving out of the strip mall where Rainy-Day Games and I was expecting some changes.
I took a short nap–I did not sleep well last night.
We headed to meet a friend at Cedar Hills McMenamins for dinner: beer, and burgers (or fish and chips for me).
Today, more than nine-hundred seventy people’s lives ended today early because of the virus.
Here is a sing-a-long version: Song For The Nations Vocals.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 