Day 326: Tuesday Working

Tuesday started at 6ish.

The first meeting was 7ish, of course, so I was rushed in the morning. Status meetings and issue meetings all morning. I had to pick them as I was often double or even triple-booked for meeting today.

The day was full of meetings until lunchtime. I met with my boss and have a new assignment. A more technical challenge that I think I will enjoy.

I slipped in a full walk today. It was a nice morning with sun breaks. I saw the crows, a murder of crows, all in a staff meeting a few streets down. I do not know what the subject was, but it was loud.

I remembered to take a picture of the creek I walk to on the full walk. Two ducks enjoy the creek on the other side, and I thought it would be a nice photo. The ducks objected to my attention and started to swim away.

The local elementary school, Reedville School, posted a message that they miss everyone. It seemed a bit sad to me. It was a good walk, sunny, ducks, crows, and sad schools.

Returning to work, I also had some solutions to review and point-of-view to give. It was a busy morning. It ended with a one-on-one meeting with my boss and a new assignment for me. We also did my review for the last six months. It was fine.

Lunch was reheated chili and a cornbread muffin. I also have to admit that the girl scout cookies were too close to me and have gone missing. It is not likely the last three cookies will be missed, I hope.

I had already blocked my calendar as I had to do some head-down work. It is unusual for me to do that of late, but the work I have now is very detailed and requires close attention. The new assignment will also require the same heads-down and likely headphones–it is very technical.

I got started just in time for Clare to get here. This is possibly Susie’s last Physical Therapy appointment. Another month just flew by. Susie is doing much better, and we hope we can continue. Clare and Susie went over a lot of exercises, and Susie was quite tired after Clare left.

Clare was ill and missed the last appointment. Apparently, the second dose of the vaccine gets a strong response. You are miserable. Clare is now fully vaccinated.

After PT was done, I went back to work and sent my finding to the wider group; we meet again to review soon. I signed off.

I made dinner; it is a repeat of last week. Steak from Schwann’s, thawed mostly, with baked potatoes (put in the oven at 400F for an hour this time per Mariah) and corn steamed on the stovetop also from Schwann’s. The steaks are cooked on the stovetop in a hot pan with just a bit of butter to get them a bit brown and then finished in the same pan in the hot oven. I, remembering to cover the metal handle with an oven mitt, make a quick pan gravy with butter, water, and corn starch. Slice steaks thin and cover with a bit of gravy.

I watched the BBC news on our local PBS channel with Susie while we had dinner. No sitdown dinner in this house. We eat in the living room, watching the news or other shows.

I then set up a new board game, The King Is Dead, Second Edition, that I purchased this weekend. I saw a review of it on youtube that gave it top marks, so I wanted to try it–one of the best games of 2020. It was not expensive and smallish–I can slide it into a spot on the shelves. So little guilt for buying just one more game…

The King is Dead, Second Edition is set in medieval Britain (gold) and Scotland (blue), and Wales (red), plus a bit of France (black). You are trying to have the most support for the new King, either a British, Welsh, or Scottish king, or the widest base of supporters if the French invade. You have eight cards, just eight, that allow you to take only eight actions for the whole game! You can use the cards to manipulate the supporters or the order of power struggle. Once you and your opponent, who also is trying to win, have stopped the manipulating, a power struggle for a province happens. The province supporters throw their support behind one of the would-be kings, either British, Welsh, or Scott, or they cannot decide and are marked as undecided–black–(you just count them; they are different colors). If three provinces go undecided, the game ends with a French invasion. Assuming the French stay away, the manipulation starts again–plots are hatched and ruined. Once this stops again, more power struggles. This is repeated through eight providences or until the French invade.

I gave it a try playing against myself, and it plays fast, and I have no idea what to do. I will need to do more videos on How-to-Play. It seems that you need to plan and plot and find combinations. All this would be easier, but most of the supporters are assigned randomly, including your first two! Each game then is unique. Also, the order of power struggles is random, but you can manipulate that, but only once in a game! It seems fast and hard not to shoot-your-wad or hold out too long for that perfect play and face the French. I think I like it.

10,712 people received the vaccine in Oregon Yesterday, and this number will likely increase as the data takes 72 hours to collect. Our county, Washington, is now at 7.2% vaccinated.

3,633 people in the USA today lost their lives to Covid-19.

I went with a newish piece that sounds like it fits the game I was playing: Agnus Dei – Samuel Barber.