Today started a bit rough. Susie had some trouble sleeping, so she ended up waking me around 4ish. I did manage to get back to sleep, but I was up again at 7ish for Nike. I usually start at 6ish, but I just could not do that today.
Work today was just the morning as Nike closes at noon in the summer. Three hours of Zoom meetings! All were status or process. Soon the morning was over.
Susie was still a lump-in-the-bed after the sleeping problems. I headed out to Portland. Mox Boarding House for lunch and maybe purchase the wooden replacement for the cardboard “food” markers for board game Wingspan.
Megan, the store manager, was happy to see me. In the bar, Tatyana and Sydney were delighted to bring me lunch. Today I tried the Jerk Chicken and the cheesecake dessert. I did better the last couple of times. The Jerk Chicken was a mess of different flavors, and the cheesecake was served in a small jar, and I had to dig it out–it was very edgy but not that great. Never fear, the other items are excellent. They have very few customers, but a few more with games this time. I am there to support our newest local gaming store!
I promised to bring a game next time that I can set-up and they can slip into a few times while working. I worked a bit more on “Howard’s Lockdown” story. I am trying to get the story to flow better.
I talk to Megan and do buy those replacement parts for Wingspan. We talk about the low traffic to the store. Their start-up in the middle of the Corvid-19 disaster is not really working. They also don’t really want to start the marketing for this store as only a limited number of people can enter the store (1/4 of the fire marshal’s maximum). There cannot be a crowd, and we can’t play games at the store as you can’t social distance across a gaming table. Mox’s main drivers for revenue are not possible. It is sort of a very long soft opening for the Portland store. I will continue to come and see them–it is not much but it is something.
I drove through Portland, it is still there, to get to the other local gaming company. There are a few boarded-up windows here and there. Mostly, downtown is just running Portland’s normal weird.
(Yes the Patagonia store on Burnside has huge posters of people wearing masks over the boards to protect their windows)
I head to the other local store, I hit our store in Aloha earlier this week, in Portland: Guardian Games. There I find the new Call of Cthulhu book on running a role-playing game with horror in the Dark Ages. I have skipped the Roman setting, but England and possible Brother Cadfael meets Lovecraft is impossible to resist. I told the staff at Guardian Games to imagine the Holy Grail quest mixed with Lovecraft. Was Morgan le Fay one of the faces of Nyarlathotep? My head did not quite explode. I have to write a Holy Grail adventure in this setting with a Brother Cadfael like addition. The staff told me to tell them how it works out.
Also, my favorite figure magazine has returned to publication with the July edition! Wargames Illustrated is back, and the issue includes a WW2 German infantry from the cold Easter Front tree of six plastic 28mm figures. And clear painting examples! This publication is a mostly figure based gaming full-color magazine from the UK. I am drooling over the Dark Ages Irish figures and the Afgan warriors. These figures’ lines and faces are sharp and clear with poses and weapons that would fit historical or fantasy gaming. Again all hard-plastic with multiple parts. Not really fragile, and there is always a spare set of pieces I can toss in the spares box. I can use that later to fix any breaks.
To that end, I put a head and an arm back on a cultist a few months ago–somewhere in the house is a tiny lost head. That does sound like the way a horror movie starts. It is about three millimeters, so I am not worried about it haunting me.
After getting my purchases, I had to head home with some directness. Nike called, and they need a vendor patch applied to the development system so back to the house. On the way back, I drove through ground-zero of Portland, well ground-zero, according to certain confused reporting. Yes, the courthouse is still there. The fence is still there. There was even a security guard at the back corner.
(Yes, the Federal Court House! That is the fence that is world-famous)
I drove by where the elk-statue was once standing–the link has the information on what is happening to the statue. It is a pile of sand now with various messages and a memorial leaf blower. Tourists were taking photos. I could not get a picture as I had to not run over the tourists and motor scooters and drive.
That is right crazy media people the crowds in Portland in front of the Federal Courthouse are tourists taking pictures of the graffiti.
I got home without incident and no traffic. The inbound traffic in Portland was looking heavy. I signed back on to Nike and put in the changes, and answered various questions.
I then took a nap.
I awoke and headed to the first Powell’s store to reopen. Yes, it is back–but only in Beaverton. I missed my chance as it closes early; I will get there tomorrow!
(Closed, but opening again tomorrow)
I was not paying attention to the market. There is more and more talk about the Moral Hazard issue with the Federal Reserve’s choices. The Fed is making the rich richer and filling the banks with easy money, but none of it can reach poor or middle-class. Gold is flying. Options are trading fast and furious. My 401K is on a rocket ride straight up. Looks like a massive bubble to me. I am paying off debt and getting ready. I could be wrong, and this could be an enormous recovery. I would prefer a massive recovery!
It saddens me to report the good news that only nearly thirteen-hundred Americans died today from the virus. The curve is headed down again. It is still a terrible number.
I found this song that I think is well known and hits for all the events, Fix Me, Jesus. This is Methodist hymnal #655.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 