Day 336: Friday with Ice and Snow

It is reported that we have all the snow and ice we get in a year now for this weekend.

The snow and ice started on Thursday afternoon, but it seemed to fizzle-out. This morning the slush was freezing, and the sleet more snow. Air Volvo had some ice in it, but not too bad.

I slept until 6:30ish and then rushed like a madman to make the 7:05 meeting. This was a demo of the software we have worked on for four years to get to this point. Our colleague, a recent hire in the new facility in India, did a brilliant demo and the users, with just a little grumbling about a few bugs we have on a fix list, accepted the software.

Much of the day was paperwork and process to sign-off the software and get it installed. We were all tired as we have worked weekends and India time and Portland time for more than a week.

I did a bit of groovy coding to install some software for a change control process.

Lunch was re-heated German-style goulash with veggies—sort of a stew. Breakfast was a bagel, from the fresh bagels I had delivered from Einstien Brothers earlier this week frozen and then toasted today with coffee. I drank almost the whole pot myself–I am tired from all the long hours these past three weeks.

Susie’s physical therapist came, despite the snow and ice, this afternoon and worked with Susie. Susie did a bit better today. They worked on improving Susie’s posture and strength. Susie still had trouble at first getting up and down from a chair, but she got back to almost normal by the end of the session. So better news this time.

Mariah had texted me, and we would meet for dinner. In the morning, I had started Air Volvo to run the defrost to melt the first ice on it. Just in case I needed the SUV. It was worse now, another 1/4 inch. I had to defrost it for 15 minutes again.

Aside: Just before the Covid-19 mess, I had put some stuff in my garage much that was to be junked. It has stayed there until this Covid-19 is over again. I am not going to risk people’s lives over junking some house items. This means that Air Volvo sleeps outside now and is getting iced this weekend.

Mariah and I both finished work 4ish, and I picked her up; Susie stayed home. I did fishtail once with Air Volvo, and Mariah made it clear that I was not to repeat that. We drove in the snow and ice to The Rock Wood Fired Pizza for beer and pizza. I ordered a large pizza, I brought the rest back to Susie. In Oregon, you can now order mixed alcoholic drinks to-go. Susie would also get a “bucket” of their version of a huge Long Island Iced Tea. Today, we officially move to lower virus risk in Washington county, and we can now eat inside a restaurant again. We are now “dangerous,” not “highly dangerous.” There is something oddly Douglas Adams about this.

Mariah and I talked, and the staff at The Rock remembered us. They asked about Susie and told them we could not get tiny chains for her walker. They thought that funny. We told them we wanted to bring a drink back to Susie with the remaining pizza. They made an excellent drink to-go. It was a lovely time, and I was so happy to see the bartender Eric again, and I think I have had Courtney as a waiter before.

16,877 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. The number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to get the final numbers.

2,098 people in the USA today died from the virus.

I picked a communion song, Let Us Break Bread Together, an Afro-American spiritual. It is my fav for communion songs, and I sing it to myself once in a while. This is a more political version, but I like it. I was singing along when I played it.