Story 13Sept2022

My ticket for Grammarly is on hold until I can invest some time in making some changes for them. However, I am getting excellent and demanding service from Grammarly support–they want immediate feedback. I have also noticed more updates that have smoothed out the workflow issues. I will try to help them when I have more time.

I am also having a colon issue, best not described, that keeps me running to the restroom. I have been enjoying this for a few days now. I seem to have only two settings now–everything and nothing. So far, no accidents.

I will go backward to narrate today. I met Mariah at BJ’s Brewhouse, yes–there again, to celebrate Mariah buying a house and my 25th (actually now 26th) year at the shoe company. We had the steak, and Eric, our usual waiter in the bar, was ready for us. He informed us that the pork chops were sold out, my goto, and we instead had steaks. Kate, another waiter, wanted to know when I moved into BJ’s as she saw me there three times this week!

Before this, I was resting at home. I had stood and walked too much, again. I also picked up the missing prescriptions (I missed the notification that they filled them–all weeks early–and those need to be refilled) and then bought some groceries at Basics next door. This is a new grocery store that recently opened–I like it. I was limping in the grocery store by the time I finished. I needed some milk and other items. Finally, I realized I was risking too much and drove home, unloaded, put away, and then laid down.

Moving further back in the day, the official celebration was today, the first party for folks with 25 or more years at Nike, including retired folks since the Pandemic. I shook the CEO’s hand during the party as he tried to duck out. I got to say a few words before he excused himself and left the party. Earlier, he actually tried to tell the joke that it was one of the few meetings where he is not the oldest person, which, forgetting the seniority of the crowd, booed and moaned at that remark. He recovered and got the toast done for our service: Honor the past while creating the future (I think I got that right–corrections are welcome).

Before reaching the party, I arrived at the Tiger Woods Conference (TWC) center after parking in the new parking garage, the furthest one, parking on the empty 4th floor (this also lets you take the ramp out, and everyone has a stop sign for entering the ramp, an easy out), and walking for twenty minutes to the TWC. I then used the cubicles on the second floor to catch up on emails and Slack messages. It was an hour before the party.

The party was downstairs, and I soon met old friends, many retired, and got a hefty pour of red wine, Pinot, and drank that for about an hour. The speeches were excellent, but mostly it was nice to see, literally now, old friends. However, I was tired, and I am brittle from chemotherapy still (and that other problem could return), so I stayed until after 4PM. Nevertheless, it was an excellent party.

Before returning to the Nike World Headquarters, I was with Susie at hummingbird house. Susie was having a good day, and I wished the Physical or Occupational Therapy could have been there. I suspect Susie could have stood and maybe walked today. She tried to converse with me, but I had trouble with garbled speech and could only get some of it. At least Suie was trying, and it made me feel we are making progress. Hummingbird house keeps Susie safe, and she is getting better, very slowly, but I think better. I am more hopeful today.

Susie was ready when I got there, I called Jennifer before I headed there, and Susie and I headed out into gray skyed Oregon outdoors (from clouds and not smoke!). Today is a fall day and something we see in October and sometimes in September. The rain had stopped, and the benches were dry in Metzger Park. We called Susie’s mother, and she and Susie chatted while we sat in the park. The winds were low, and the debris from yesterday’s high winds had been cleaned up. No pinecones hit me today!

Susie, as I said, was having a great day, but I had to head out soon. My phone was shaking with lots of messages from work. Today was the start of the project’s next phase–no rest for the wicked, I believe, is the quote from Macbeth that fits this.

Before reaching Susie, I had lunch at Jimmy Johns and had a sub with a diet drink and chips. I can eat about 3/4 of a smaller sub. I like the Italian-styled sub sandwich.

Preceding lunch, I was at Clubhouse for the morning with meetings from 8 to noon with just a few breaks. I managed not to have any issues and listened and discussed some new designs here and there. Details can’t be shared here, but I was busy, which was nice.

I started in a rushed morning, more rushed by my colon, going for the everything-mode multiple moments for me, without me having an accident. I began at 6:15 and had to push it all morning. Before I woke, I dreamed of working on projects and finding my way in a maze of buildings. That sort of matched my day too!

Thanks for reading. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures, and I don’t take many photos at Nike for all the usual corporate reasons.