Day 207: Thursday

I find that Thursday is the day I have the most resistance to writing this blog. I want to relax or go out to dinner or watch some shows. Writing just is not that welcome on many Thursday nights. Tonight ended with me watching the end of American Football as it is NFL Thursday Night. Susie and Mariah and sometimes Corwin were watching the game. Today is the second Thursday, and so Theology Pub started at 7ish.

The topic was temperance, and this often morphed into politics as the President in no way could be described with that word, temperance. It was good to get the nine or so people online, most drinking adult beverages, and talk about how to use temperance in our approach to life. We concluded that temperance and virtue did not require sacrifice and are values we have agreed to share and strive for.

We miss going to the bar and having these discussions. Eating and drinking and having the public watch us discuss and often disagree while still happy to see each other was one of the best things. Folks would ask us about our church group, Theology Pub, and be glad we came. Seeing a church group talk about Theology in a bar I think gives people hope and even a feeling of peace. I hope that Cascade Brewery makes it through the Covid-19 shutdown, and we can again meet there in their bar and see everyone again.

Before this, I went to the liquor store and bought some bourbon and some locally made Dead Guy Ale. I wanted this for the NFL game and for Theology Pub.

I made Jambalaya for dinner from a box. I added a cup of rice, can of Mexican style stewed tomatoes, chopped green pepper, kielbasa, ham, and bratwurst. This makes enough for four.

Work finished about 5ish, with a few more meetings and discussions. I also had to do training on how to use OnAir, a platform for online conventions. I am on a small panel this weekend in Australia to talk about software, all virtual now. Originally, I had a paid trip to Melbourne to do the presentations. We are trying to keep the conference alive for next year by doing a virtual one.

I had various status and alignment meetings all afternoon. Susie was up about noon to take her Thursday pill. She then had scones, made yesterday, and a banana for breakfast. I had just finished a can of soup, beef veggie, and made grilled ham and cheese for lunch. I was not paying attention and nearly ruined the sandwich.

While cooking, I found a nice video on how to play the Pax Parmir board game, so I watched that for my lunch break instead of not burning my sandwich (oops). Pax Parmir rules and processes are unusual for most players of board games. I am trying to get them down. The 2020 videos are quite good, and they make it pretty clear now. Someday I will get to play this game again.

The morning was status meetings and some more design discussions. Thursday is a rush of the meeting trying to get everything put away for Friday, which is supposed to be Zoom-free day for Nike. I have just one status meeting on Friday, a critical status meeting that is an exception.

Thursday, like Tuesday and well Wednesday, has early 7ish meetings making it a rush in the morning. I managed to make the early meetings and also make coffee and have a banana for breakfast. The meetings stopped about 10ish, so I slipped in a walk today. My legs are still very stiff, but it seems to be working–it hurt less today and last night.

Over nine-hundred twenty people, eleven in Oregon, were reported to have passed away today in the USA from Covid-19. Today was the second-highest day in Oregon for deaths and new infections.

I turned the Methodist Hymnal pages and found this song again, #375: There Is a Balm in Gilead.