As usual for Fridays, I am writing this Saturday morning. For two nights in a row, I have not slept well. I am late to get to sleep, wake up a few times, and then early to rise. I hope it will get better soon.
Friday started as usual as a work-from-home day. Less typical was the bad headache and the lack of sleep. I had some vaxs on Thursday, which made me feel feverish, and I could not sleep. I think I managed a few hours of sleep. This made the morning a hard start. But it is overcast, and a river of moisture is pointed at Oregon (the skies are gray and dark), and there is no chance of the sun interrupting my vampire moment.
We have sheets of sideways rain all day and night, about three inches (7.5cm) of rain in 24 hours. Flash floods, flooded streets, and some overflowing gutters are just the norm for a river of rain. The ground, parched and cracked, drinks deep, as do my grass, trees, and roses. Water is everywhere now. There is a chance of slush next week as we crash from a season of fires and drought into leaves filling our drains and flooding into freezing with snow and ice. Just a routine change of seasons in Oregon!
I was reading and following along on Friday at work. I wrote some ideas about handling some issues, and these thoughts, having to be shared, take some time to organize and get down in words that can be easily shared.
I traveled through the slippery wet, windy mess that is a river of rain, and my tires even spun a bit on Air Volvo at intersections as they tried to grip the road–a lot of wet. Air Volvo is a four-wheel drive with automatic wheel selection. So it will still move when the front wheels struggle for friction as the rear wheels push the vehicle.
I get cold easily, and my coat and hat are wet soon. Air Volvo turns off when idle, and that stops the hot air. So when traveling through the constant stop lights in Beaverton (I did not cross over Coopers Mountain in a river of rain), my heat goes on and off. A bit disconcerting. The seat warmers seem to stay on.
I reach Susie without incident, the streets filling with water, and the flash floods are still in the future. Susie is in her recliner in the shared living room. The room has been reorganized to allow another resident to view the TV better. I like it. I get a winged hair next to Susie, which is better.
Susie is thrilled to see me, and we quickly call her mother, Leta, who takes the call sitting in her car. Leta was headed out but stopped to chat. We talk about the election and various health issues. Now that I have met with the doc, we can plan joint days of lab work. Susie still is not sleeping well, but she is eating better–it is a focus for her now. Jennifer now tries to get Susie’s help when getting into the wheelchair or out; this is more exercise for Susie. This, too, is a focus for Susie. Finally, I have to return to work at home and soon get a kiss and head out.
Beaverton is starting to look damp as I cross it, and water is running fast down my street. I check, and the pond is full again, but not high. All the drains are running. When the rain is heavy, my gutters drip from overflow, but not too bad. The standing water soon disappears–Oregon is drinking deep.
Breakfast was cereal with milk, and lunch was a homemade salad and reheated pizza. I watch while eating lunch the rest of a second look at the last Doctor Who special: The Power of the Doctor. I liked it better, but I still find the fading in and out of black strange–there are no commercials on the version I watch.
I continue reading, researching, and writing a few thoughts to share for Friday of work-at-home work for the shoe company. The rain is sideways and heavy, and I feel at 4ish, it is time to start the weekend.
For next year, I need to avoid increasing my compensation by selling stock as that will increase the amount of medical expenses excluded from being written off. Instead, I am arranging to borrow from my 401K next year to cover Susie’s $8,000 in medical costs a month. This will allow me to reserve the stock and other compensation for later use. I have maxed out the medical reimbursement account for next year. I can then use the 401K contribution to further reduce my income. This should allow me to breach the Trump SALT tax changes, write off the medical expenses, and get a large amount of my taxes, both federal and state, and that should, with hope, get me enough money back to help cover Susie’s expenses in the following years.
The paperwork to track every medical expense is non-trivial. I also have to open a checking account in my name; all the money is in Susie’s name, and all the debt is recorded in my name. I have to transfer the 401K loan cash to an account in my name or use paper checks (!). I have thus opened a banking account in my eTrade account.
Aside: Years ago, and at the time quite cutting edge, Nike opened eTrade accounts for employees for their 401K and stock transactions. Nike provided classes and training on using these newfangled online trading accounts in the 1990s. The shoe company has moved to Fidelity, leaving me with a personal eTrade account. I use this as my trading and now banking account as it is no longer associated with my employer, perfect. However, I have complained that Fidelity is giving the advice to use their products and that the advice is from commissioned sales teams; I do not like this.
I have canceled my game playing on Saturday as I have too much paperwork to do this weekend (preparing for yearend and my tax efficiency changes), and the house needs some cleaning. So a boring wet weekend–but boring is good. I do plan to make Dungeons and Dragons on Sunday night.
I was tired of my own company and headed out. I bought tickets to The Addams Family musical put on by the Lovegood Company (I had never heard of them before); I saw the poster at Powell’s in Beaverton and decided to try it. For dinner, I stopped by BJ’s Brewhouse and had an excellent red ale and soba noodles with spicier chicken than I had expected. Mo, one of my usual waiters in the bar, convinced me to have an over-the-top cookie dessert. I think I ruined my good rating on my diabetes!
The show, high school and college folks, was well done, and I liked how they did a minimum prop usage. However, they did not swing or get that much into the music, which, as a church production, would be asking too much. Later, I learned the church, I won’t name it here, is known for its lack of tolerance and a solid anti-gay marriage stance. Too bad, it was a good start. But here is the original cast version of the first song: Be an Addams or Die.
Afterward, I returned home, read a bit, and voted. Oregon has a mail-only ballot system. The state mails you a ballot; you fill it in over about a month and return it by mail or drop it off. I had to do some research on a few names I did not recognize and had only one hard decision deciding to go with a biologist over a local farmer for a soil position. I decided to vote for the gun control item as it is the people’s will and should be respected–we will see. I thought I should not tell people how to manage their guns, but then I decided that folks need to learn to respect elections and voted for it–sorry, gun folks. I also voted to remove the ability to enslave people in Oregon–The USA constitution still allows for the enslavement of criminals–should not happen! I also voted against having a state representative/senator who misses ten votes from being banned from running again–that is why we have elections, and I would not like to confuse that. I try not to cover politics here, but these were part of my voting experience, which I wanted to share. It took me a few days to decide on some of these issues, with 114 being the hardest issue (the gun control item) to decide.
I went to bed after voting and tried to sleep. But, unfortunately, I had another night where rest was hard to find.
Thanks for reading.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 