Story 9Sept2022

This will be a brief blog. I was tired yesterday and went to bed early. All my plans to write and maybe play a game of Nemo’s War did not materialize as I was worn out. Today, while I write this, the sky is yellow and overcast with smoke, and our air quality due to smoke is yellow 69. I am also initially writing this in MS Word as Grammarly is hard to use in the WordPress editor. However, I am not finding MS Word much better as it seems outdated.

The light is so muted this morning that I had to turn on my desk lap!

Returning to my story, I was going, as usual, a bit later Friday, about 7ish. I work from home on Mondays and Fridays as mandated by the shoe company and thus do not have to drive to the Clubhouse. The Clubhouse is the former golf office building and is the home of the project and my working home for over five years.

I found oatmeal, instant, in the pantry and made two packets for breakfast. I made liberal coffee to go with that, using the French Press.

Today I learned that the project decided to move on from the software I have worked with for five years or more, which affected me more than I expected. I don’t usually grieve for work but having worked on this stuff through the pandemic, I was surprised how it has leaked into my soul. I will miss it and feel myself going through the phases of grief: anger, denial, bargaining, and acceptance. It is taught that these are separate steps, but I have found you shift between them, and acceptance is not really that but sort of wearing yourself out in the other phases of grief.

I was already tired and dragging, and the news of the change had all the exhaustion just move to the surface. My back hurt, too, so I rested for a bit and was surprised when the phone ringing brought me back from a profound sleep. I had only closed my eyes for a moment!

I went back to my in-home office with some coffee and kept going and following along at work. Fridays are usually quiet, and this is the first working Friday—during the summer, Nike WHQ closes down at noon on Fridays—was uneventful. There were no crises of the moment, and the Friday emails, texts, and Slack messages quieted as it was early Saturday in China and India and late afternoon here in the Pacific Northwest. We are also not getting the notorious Friday 4 PM emergencies that often plagued the heritage SAP system. But, again, they are one day ahead, and Thursday is a bit busy—their Friday.

In the middle of work, I headed out to see Susie (I am not going in order today but going by item). I was there just before Tracy from Physical Therapy (PT) showed up. Tracy proved that Susie could stand on her legs. However, Susie is just off balance and very unsure of herself. Susie leans to one side, the stroke damage is visible, and one side is stronger and more controlled. This mismatch makes it even harder for Susie to feel safe.

We also managed to get Susie to use the new peddles from a recliner, and she was able to peddle a bit. We can keep working on this without PT as it is not high-risk like standing. So we can get Susie some exercise now!

Tracy had Susie standing in a walker, and Susie had started to compensate and was standing straight. Success got a smile from Susie. We are just a little bit hopeful.

Susie was tired, and I left with a kiss as Susie was headed for a snack and a return to her recliner in the living room. She was watching Blueblood, a fav, reruns. I returned in Air Volvo with the sky turning yellow and the East winds from the desert making the air worse and the winds high.

At the house, the trees, gum trees, were being beaten together by the strange backward winds (winds don’t usually go East to West), and it was raining small branches, leaves, and prickly balls (I don’t care for those) all over my front lawn and the street. The air was hot and roared. Yet, my trees did not break as they have survived snow, the 2020 cyclone winds, and the winter winds for years.

Changing subjects, I was trying to print something successfully on my new Elegoo Jupiter 3D printer. It failed again! I know I had correctly reset the printer’s Z axis and was disappointed. Worse, the print was welded to the bottom of the resin tank, which was full of resin. Resin is slightly poisonous but not that dangerous. A mask and gloves are mandatory.

But that does not usually require the local cat. I noticed some things fell off shelves and a piece of furniture fell. I put most of the stuff back and then saw the cat. It was likely trapped in the garage when I closed the door yesterday. It was hiding by the water heater, and I started to meow at me. I pointed at the open garage door, and it just meowed. So, I meowed back and pointed again—my attempts to communicate the obvious failed to impress the unhappy cat. Putting asides what horrors could happen if I got a broom and tried to force it out, I instead, thinking the obvious might still work, went back inside, found an unbreakable bowl, filled it with water, and placed it in front of the cat.

The cat looked at the water, got out, smelled it, walked by it, and then ran out of the garage. When it hit the road, it jumped for joy and ran faster for home. Later, I looked up while working on the printer, and the other local cat was looking at me in the garage. I said, “No,” and waved it away. It looked disappointed. Cats!

The new tank is about three times larger than anything I have worked on before, and the printer is just set on the garage floor. It needs its own table. Soon, I was spilling resin, trying to get it back into a bottle after filtering it. The tank holds much more resin than I am used to working with! A good feature when printing, but the handling needs more space and better planning. I finally broke the print from the transparent bottom—it uses a high-temperature strong 97% transparent plastic film that is replaceable.

I saw that the resin was strangely sticky and wondered if it was just old or maybe a bad mix. It is only soluble in alcohol. I was soon pouring alcohol on the tank out in the driveway like it was water. Unfortunately, I forgot about the strong sunlight, and soon the remains of the goo was rock hard and still sticking to the film. I had to scrap it off with a plastic scraper. I finally managed to clean the tank. I brought the tank into the house and used water to remove the remaining sand-like bits.

I grabbed the water-soluble transparent resin I bought some time ago to try again. I replaced all the bits and cleaned the old resin where possible. Then, I started the print again. The new resin is blue transparent, even in the tank, and soon it was correctly printed. Yeah!

Mariah sent a text, dinner with beer. I accepted and then, as often happens, spent a while drinking beer alone at BJ’s Brewhouse, chatting with Mo, my waiter, and saw Kate, who bar tendered for me last time. She was doing tables today and dropped my beer off.

Mariah showed after I got a second load of chips for my cheese dip complements of Mo. We both had salads for dinner, but those steaks and prime rib looked excellent. Mariah was excited as she might have found a house she could own. This is no mean feat in the current market and ongoing interest rate uncertainty! The price was lowered, and the terms changed to work better for her. The owner liked Mariah and wanted her to have the house. Excellent.

We talked and hung out for a while. Mariah commented that I looked tired, and I agreed and headed home. Air Volvo got me home as the winds slowed. I will sweep the street on Sunday once the air is good—it is covered with tree debris.

Next, I was going to write, but I staggered and grabbed a seat in the living room. I found a fantastic science show: Everything and Nothing. I managed to get through ¾ before I started to fall asleep. I went to bed at 8:30 and managed to be back awake with my heart pounding from a nightmare. Not very nice. I went back to sleep anyway and managed to wake up again from an unpleasant dream. Finally, at 12:30 took my pills and went to sleep.

It was a painful hard day. I am glad it is over.

Thanks for reading.