Day 216: Saturday with Voting

I still remember my first time doing the mail-in only voting in Oregon. We received a list of things and people to vote for. We then were given a punch card and instructions to bend a paperclip to make a punch to knock-out the holes in the card. Yes, we had to match the ballet to numbers on this weird card and then punch out the right hole to vote. We all noticed that some of the punches were left, and we all dutifully removed them. It required careful attention to detail to vote that year!

Then there was the famous election where Florida made a mess of counting the vote. We learned, and I remember my fellow Oregonians commenting on it, “Those are called chads.” Yes, we in Oregon had the same voting cards like those used in Florida, and we did not get voting booths, and we had to make our own punch. We also had to pay for postage or hand deliver it if we waited until the last minute. In Oregon, we were unimpressed by various complaints in Florida that it was too confusing to vote, and they should get a Mulligan.

I mailed my ballot in that election. I was in Europe in Laakdal, Belgium, when the non-results was announced. The locals thought it was hilarious that the USA could not handle a simple election. They gave me pencils for next time, “This is how we do it here.”

Today our ballets came, and you may use black or blue ink to fill in the bubbles. I did look up the candidates for Oregon lesser offices but voted pretty much Democrat. I was not happy with the Democrat for state Treasurer–I am for a big infrastructure project–he is against it, but I was even less enchanted with the other candidates. He got my vote. I also looked up come county officials and found enough to feel that I picked those I would want.

This year, and maybe the previous years–I never noticed before, we have a prepaid envelope to mail our ballets. I put a Scooby-Doo stamp on it anyway. I am happy to invest a stamp, and I can still hear Mike Pence say, “And we would have got away with it except for those meddling kids!”.

I did use the optional secrecy sleeve. Not sure how it works, but it gave me that 007 feeling and so I used it. I am sure the Oregon version of Q branch would not have been happy if I had not included it. I signed it on the back with my best biz signature–it matches my driver license John Hancock.

Today, reliving the morning started with a crushing headache and getting up in time to intercept the grocery delivery from Safeway.com. Coffee, food, and turn off some lights got the pain under control. Safeway was on time. The screen door caught my foot and cut my ankle. Not very deep but a bit messy. Usually, the door is just in the way.

Susie was not up. I made her a ham and cheddar cheese quiche using a frozen pie crust. I cut a piece out for her and put the rest in the refrigerator on a mitt as it was still a bit warm. Later, when I called her, she said it was wonderful. I tried a small slice, and it was good before I left.

I met Evan to play games. He has an acting gig tonight, a 72-hour under-the-gun film, so we could only play for a few hours. I brought the board game Concordia. After my first game, I bought it and the add-on Concordia Salsa (all of which is now combined into the better and slightly cheaper Concordia Venus). I enjoy playing this game and would always slide a game in when I can. You can find a review and explanation of this game here.

We had a great time, and I almost blew my lead and lost! I also slipped, and Evan got a farmer and vintner card that counts for a lot at the end of the game. I also let him get seven points by causing the game end–If only I had bought one more bricks! It was a good play, and we did not have to undo any mistakes.

We saw our friends at Mox again, and they were happy to serve us some adult beverages and lunch. Evan tried the duck, and it looked wonderful–he said it was excellent.

I dropped by another gaming store in Portland–Guardian Games, and the staff was happy to see me. Before Covid-19, I would be there many nights renting a room, trying out the newest games, and giving them reports on how the new game or add-on played. We talked about some games, and I bought a deck of event cards, Lovecraft horror style, called Sidequest Decks. These are much more useful than I expected. A connection, a plot, and a resolution on every card with the back being the map of the area. I added them to the wood crate I use to hold Call of Cthulhu stuff. I found the crate in a local antique store; it has “American Embalming Fluid” stamped on the side. Bringing that to a horror game gets some attention!

Dinner was at Mazatlan for Mexican with the Weld-Martins. I called them as I was driving back from Portland, and they were planning for Mexican, and we agreed to meet them.

I got home and Susie got ready and we met Wayne and Ann for dinner. We had a nice dinner and masks and care were taken by Mazatlan’s staff to keep us safe. I felt safe there.

After that I voted and started to write this blog. I run a bit late on Saturdays.

More than six-hundred thirty people in the USA died from Covid-19 today.

I turned again to a hymn in the Methodist Hymnal (#369) and decided that one will do and found a nice version of it: Blessed Assurance.