Story 1March2023: Wednesday

Going backward, I have some sausage and crackers for a snack after reaching the Volvo Cave from First United Methodist Church of Beaverton. There, it was Wednesday, choir practice, and I played Zophia (Z) board games while Z’s mother practiced with the choir. Today Z, who turned twelve on Tuesday, picked the board game Architects of the West Kingdom to play; we had not played it for a while and managed two games.

Z won the first game by six points but was a bit hyper or out-of-focus, and I had to slow her down a few times and explain a few things to her. But she seemed to enjoy the game, and once she got in the groove, Z started to crush me. I did a last grasp for points building the cathedral to prevent a washout!

In the second game, I built a few higher-point buildings that gave me some advantages. I played very efficiently and managed to pull ahead and stay there. Again, I rushed to build the cathedral at the end, my usual play, but I was trying to end the game before Z caught me. I managed an eight-point win. We both had fun, and Z built two great works in each game–something I have seldom seen.

We are playing all the add-ons and promo cards with the Princess and Pirate impacts (costing me -4 points in the last game to Z’s glee). I won’t summarize the game as I have covered it in many blogs. Feel free to google it and look at it on Board Game Geek.

Before this, I enjoyed a slice of pizza at Sizzle Pie and a lager plus salad. One of my favs is pizza and salad. I parked Air Volvo at the church and walked over. They were not busy, and I asked them for recommendations. I would not usually order a jalapeño pepper chicken and broccoli pizza, but it was good. The salad was just greens with freshly made croutons and not enough dressing. The beer is a bit plain but perfect for my mood. I wanted to just relax for a while, and it worked for me. The place filled up while I was there.

Before that, I was taking Air Volvo from work and had Slack channel updates even though I was flying. Work was busy or nothing. It switched about every hour from boring to crises and back again.

I went to Chipotle for lunch. I was having a chicken bowl with a lot of guac and eating it with chips. Right after I ordered, I got a meeting at noon that was another crisis of the moment (with a call of over forty people). Again the day was bouncing to eating without any concerns and then swallowing and rushing back.

I did the call parked in my car at our building for the project: Clubhouse. It was a political meeting masquerading as a technical discussion. I deleted my words and will just say that beer was a good idea. I did buy a nice mocha and drank it slowly in the afternoon to get my focus back.

Before the troubled meeting and various discussions that were brought forward, I was visiting Susie at the hummingbird house. I reached her via the highways, and the going was fast without incident or slowness, a surprise. Susie was happy to see me but was having tummy issues. I called after 5PM, and she was better. Susie had just finished her breakfast and was resting in her recliner in the living room and was uncomfortable.

Susie can be found in Portland (Tigard) at 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

We managed to reach Leta, her mother, in Lansing. Leta was having her lunch. Leta and Susie chatted for twenty minutes or so; at that moment, I was thinking I was clear of crises, so I stayed a bit longer. Susie did not want me to leave, but she was going to rest some more, so it was OK for me to go.

Before all of this, I was in the office in time for two hours of Zoom meetings and various ad hoc in-person meetings and discussions, mostly on the same issue in different versions or viewpoints.

I woke at 6 and did my exercises, and made liberal coffee to go with the banana and yogurt. I had the last 1/2 off expired yogurt (how can it expire?). I did my usual reading and preparation for the day.

Returning to the previous day, after finishing the blog, I had trouble paying my bill at McMenimens. My waiter apparently left, and no waiter was now assigned to me. No more service. I had to go to the bar and wait for someone to finally conceded that I might be a customer and let me pay my bill. It is always strange to experience passive-aggressive service at our local chain–some things never change here.

I also stopped by Barnes and Noble and picked up an electronic and modeling magazine before heading home and going to bed early and reading about Tesla coils and a simple circuit to generate millions of volts. Yes!

Today I got a new volt meter and other tools from AdaFruit in NYC. It is also a Bluetooth speaker. I just had to have it. They said they only stocked it because it was so cool. It arrived today and I will set it up on my bench in the office.

Well, that is all, and it is late. The series The Mandalorian started again today. I watched the first episode while writing. It was excellent. Recommended.