Today 13April2023

Covering essential items tonight, I saw Susie in the afternoon and stayed with her for a whole M.A.S.H. episode. Susie was in her recliner in the shared living space, watching M.A.S.H. on the large screen. Susie resides at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and they chatted for fifteen minutes. Susie was tired today, and I had some issues with her mouth; I had to wipe it for her. They cleaned her mouth after breakfast (I asked), but it needed more work. Susie was looking tired and a bit sad, so I decided to risk staying longer. I watched work issues on my iPhone (I have an app on the iPhone for the shoe company Slack channels where all the updates happen) the whole time and even replied to a few items. But time was running out, so I kissed Susie goodbye and then asked Ana, the nurse aide for today, to get Susie some water. It is good for the nurse aides to ask Susie something right as I leave so she is distracted–it stops the tears (for either of us).

The next important item was my Physical Therapy with Michael. I was there for a lunchtime (noon) appointment. We changed a few exercises to make them harder and dropped one that did not help. Michael showed me how to do the new ones, and then he watched me do them. I will do them again on Friday.

While Bethany Therapeutics Associates no longer requires a mask, I still wore my N95, and Michael put one on. While I believe they are safe, I woke to a cough today (allergies, I think), and I can’t afford to get sick from colds or flu–who will check in on Susie?

After the PT that lasted until 12:45 or so, I headed to Bethany Public House and had my usual bowl of chili and a Diet Coke. After that, as described before, I headed to see Susie. Again, the driving was nuts, with folks making dangerous lane changes and mangling traffic merges to the point of me having to drive on the shoulder and braking instead of accelerating. Yikes! I managed to not scrape the paint on Air Volvo.

This evening we did Theology Pub with the topic being Woke. I pretended to read my copy of The 1619 Project during the discussion. We all agreed you need to be nice to people, and there are some limited cases where maybe folks overreached. However, many of us thought that the complaints rang untrue, and it was good to be woke and try to make folks better: “Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” For those readers who think woke is terrible, I am unapologetically liberal.

Aside: Being aware of your message and how it impacts your audience is an important skill. Everyone needs to practice audience awareness and get good at it. Or, in simple terms, rude delivery ruins a good message.

The morning was challenging; my head and lungs seemed disconnected when I woke–disconcerting. Wheezing and coughing through the start of the morning–I thought I was headed to a 911 call as my breathing was short and fast. It was harder to breathe out, which is my usual issue with an asthma attack. I changed to work-from-home as I was not sure what was wrong. I slowly improved–inhalers were used! My lungs and head started to work after various blowing and coughing cleared the passages, and the inhalers removed the inflammation. By 9ish, I was fine. Ugh!

The book I am reading has not been as good as I hoped, the newest Elric book by Michael Moorcock, as the last story seems to have pages upon pages of internal dialogue that just does nothing for me (I just skimmed it). I loved the first 2/3 of the book. So a mixed bag, I think. But, if you like Michael Moorcock, this one will fit the bill (even having to skim a few pages towards the end).

Another aside: Messages that conflict with people’s beliefs are poorly received. To expect the message to not spark a negative reaction is naive. Usually, the response is, unfortunately, a personal attack (often reflecting or deflecting the true issue).

I made dinner from the freezer today. I found some bacon-wrapped pork tenderloins and green beans in the freezer. I fried two tenderloins in butter in a hot metal pan and then baked them in the same pan at 350F for twenty minutes (a tiny bit overdone). I cooked the green beans in the microwave and then wilt them in butter on the stove with a bit of garlic powder, Chinese-style pepper, and a dash of onion powder. They were good. I also microwaved two small potatoes and ate them with butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper. It was a great dinner. I watched the next episode of The Mandalorian while eating. While I like the show, it is a bit chaotic this year.

Thank you for reading.