Today 26Dec2022: Boxing Day

The day started with me waking late after ignoring my alarm at 8:30, writing the blog, and having breakfast. The ants are everywhere, and I will get traps on Tuesday (at least, that is the plan). I have ham and yogurt with liberal coffee. The time seems to run away from me, and soon I am rushing to make it to Susie’s, at least in the morning.

The rain is light (Later, I have minor flooding at the house, with the garage floor showing some flooding as the rains turn heavy later), and I have no trouble reaching the hummingbird house. However, I do witness some creative lane changes and sudden stops.

Susie had just finished breakfast, and we headed to her room to watch TV. First, we put on Willow, the new show on Disney+, and we watch the next two episodes. We are now at the last available one. The episode seems to focus on the young people’s love interests, and just as that is about to resolve, the bad guy attack. Next, we put on Winnie the Pooh’s new animated series. Susie, now in bed, fell asleep, and soon I left with a kiss. Susie was sad to have me go.

I headed to Ebert’s in Portland’s Pearl District, and they had no wings left. I did manage to order dinner instead with a 1/2 chicken with sides. More food than I wanted, but I came for smoked chicken, and I got some. This was the last time I used my laptop before I lost it.

I walked over to Powell’s Bookstore, the giant one in Portland, and it was so busy I put on a mask. I looked for something and then saw that the cash-out lines were so long that they had a gal with a sign on the post saying this was “The End of the Line.” I found another gal with a like sign, and she laughed when I told her she could tell folks, “The End is Near.” I found the other gal later, her line was shorter, and I said I found a different “ending”; she ignored me. She was straightening books and other tasks as cash-wrap and pointed out that “The End” was superfluous as the lines were shorter now.

After getting a mint mocha and a slice of lemon cake, I went to Starbucks across from Powells and left my laptop in a bag. I remember now walking out with just my coffee. Damn it!

Next, oblivious to my missing laptop, I went to Guardian Games across the river. A train went for twenty minutes blocking traffic. I pulled off the road as the intersection was already full. I watched as folks drove up and were confused about what to do. Some found a place like mine and pulled over so traffic could flow. A wrecker pulled up and just sat blocking traffic, and cars then drove around it, going the wrong way on the part of the road. It being Portland, it was all done slowly and politely. Finally, the trains were done, and traffic flowed.

At the gaming store, I looked for something I needed. I found a fun rule book for $25 on flying battleships. I read that for a while in the car. I crossed Portland to Richard’s house.

Shana, Richard’s partner, Richard, and I tried The Halls of the Mountain King board game. The game has you play a clan of trolls rebuilding the halls after a raid by gnomes ruined the halls. The game uses resource management and a worker placement system with a unique pyramid building of workers. While I scored in the basement, I enjoyed the game.

Shana left us, and Richard and I tried my new board game Ostia. This is also a resource management and worker placement using a circular device you find in many Euro games. This game has you manage a port, Ostia, being ancient Rome’s port to generate resources and to select your action. This can be a brain-burner as you have to mange the action is moving stuff around to determine you action. Tricky. There is also a larger map where you travel and collect rewards for exploring trade routes. You also can buy victory conditions to fill (something I forgot) and also you should select the trade routes that will pay off the most for your resourcing (something I forgot). Richard understood the things I forgot and crushed me. We played the game in an hour and it played well for a short game. I think we like it.

I headed home after that. The rain was heavy and local flooding was surprising drivers. The four-story ramp unto Freemont Bridge had standing water as it connected to the bridge proper! The water around the Volvo Cave is the most I have seen.

I then discovered that I had lost my laptop and could not sleep at all.

I read and finished The Red Scholar’s Wake and really loved this short novel. I recommend it. I used it as a distraction.

I stayed up all night worrying and hoping to get my laptop back in the morning.

Thanks for reading.

I am challenged to use a Window machine and Grammarly does not work well in the new editor for WordPress. I have managed to activate much on the Dell Laptop. So not all is lost. Sorry if I missed any typos.