Today 27May2023

I overdid yesterday and had to take cough syrup and my anti-coughing heavy-hitting prescription. My now-retired doc realized I was doing more damage coughing than my body needed to do with a cough. Years of coughing had created a habit in my person that made things worse. I needed to stop the coughing reaction, so I had a wickedly powerful anti-coughing drug. You do not drive or make important decisions after taking it. I took one last night, and the coughing stopped, and I slept until 4ish when my kidneys (those workaholics) needed to empty their tanks. And they refilled in three hours again! Give me a rest–literally. I must be careful as I easily overdose on anything, including a chemotherapy drug that put me in the ER. It worked too well for me, but I did manage to keep the feeling in my hands and feet.

After dealing with the coughing, I was home before midnight and was asleep just after midnight–at least, that was the last time I remember seeing on the clock last night. I had traveled from Richard’s house in Portland. I crossed over the Willamette River on the high Freemont Bridge, with the insanely high on-ramp taller than the bridge’s roadway. I call it the Space Shuttle ride as it is banked, is two banked lanes that join at one lane to the bridge, and has in the past been filled with rain water at the joint (so exciting, and I guess a sixty-meter or 200 feet tall drain is too much to ask for).

Before this, Richard, Shawn, and I tried another of Richard’s Kickstarter games I did not buy into when I saw it announced: Dead Reckoning. This is a reworking of a successful new style of games where you use a form of card drafting, except you collect transparent cards to slide into the cardholder to improve your cards. Quite impressive and my first time with this system (may be a surprise to you, dear readers, that I have not played some well-known gaming systems). The theme is pirates exploring the Caribbean to acquire bases and resources, improve the players’ crew, or trade/attack merchant shipping (your choice). Unfortunately, Shawn and I had some trouble with the mechanics. I decided that since it was a pirate-themed game, I attacked merchant shipping and was soundly crushed twice. First, I had to stay in port and repair my near-sinking ship! Second, I had to upgrade my crew to improve my ship; ugh!

Knowing the game well, Richard was able to use the game mechanics more efficiently and somehow now had nine cannons, and Shawn and I were hiding in port! I made raids and managed to be the worst pirate ever, losing battle after battle and spending most of the game putting the fires on my ship. Finally, Richard was ready to win the game, so Shawn and I arranged to go down in flames with both our ships already on fire and fight a final battle. Unexpectedly, I won and sunk Shawn’s nearly already sinking vessel.

Dead Reckoning uses a strange cube (not dice) dropping system that lands on a ridged surface with markers to tell you who won and what loot and damage is assigned to both sides. By this time, I had upgraded two gunners and managed to draw both for that turn, which gave me the advantage to win the last two battles. It was a fun and thematic game, but you could use some how-to information to play for first players if you want to not be crushed by an experienced player. Shawn bet me by ten points, and Richard was far beyond our scores. Still fun. Next time!

I had ignored the game as I thought the damage system was strange and did not know much about the card-improving system. Glad to have played Richard’s to learn more about it. I checked the pricing and found a copy still shrink-wrapped version for $240. Or about, now with inflation, about three bar bills with friends.

Before I headed across Portland to Richard’s in light traffic, I was at Rogue’s bar in SE playing board games with Evan, having a nice lunch, and a few excellent Dead Guy Ales. We returned to the basic Lost Ruins of Arnak (a board game), and both really enjoyed a two-person game. The theme is living in a 1920s archeology movie in 1920s’ South America. You dig and face horrific guardians that you must use your resources to overcome. You are building up the same resources to do your research, represented by a track independent for the digs, and here most of the points are found in the game to win. It is a bit silly; for example, my favorite tool to acquire in the game, the Hat, did not show up this time. We played the basic game (with the additions from the add-on that are meant to improve the base game included but not using the more showy things like personality or alternative boards). We had time to play two games, with me winning the first by quite a few points and then winning again by three. Evan’s first game went poorly, which happens when nothing works. I sympathize and have had those games, too; it makes you want to cry in your beer.

Arnak is a new (2020) boardgame that Richard introduced me to, and I liked it so much I bought a copy and then found all sorts of excellent replacement parts to improve the experience (i.e., one currency in the game is a compass, and I have found little ones to replace the cardboard ones). It is a worker placement and resource management game with deck building mechanism. It is also cheap, with the base game at about $50 and the nice add-on for less than $30. Now you can go to Esty.com and buy all the cool upgrades, and there was that Kickstarter that upgraded the meeples with better meeples. Actually, a set of stickers might be better than the meeple replacement.

Between the two games, Dead Reckoning and Arnak, I would recommend Arnak as cheaper. Engine builders and more Euro folks would like Dead Reckoning better. On the other hand, dudes on a board and resource managers (what I like) are more robust in Arnak.

Before all of the gaming and eating (and drinking), including the Salmon Fish and Chips (excellent!) for lunch, Evan and I were with Susie 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 watched a short animated movie, Raya and the Last Dragon. I did not like it the first time I saw it, years ago, but I thought we should try it again, and I thought it was better this time. The fight scenes are nearly live-action, and almost all women main characters add a different feel to the movie. The movie is about tribalism, not trusting people different from you, and forgiveness. Rather powerful emotions for an animated feature, and it does not always work, but I still liked it. Susie did not sleep through it, which says the most for it.

Before setting up in Susie’s room with Susie in her rocking chair for the film, I took Susie for a more extended trip to Metzger Park. The day was cool and about 65F (18C), but with no wind, the Oregon sun struck hot (Saturday’s air was clear of pollution and humidity, so the sunlight was warming). Susie was in her favorite sweater and was comfortable. The roses in the park bloomed, and a large yellow butterfly did a close flyby to Susie, to her delight. We found the Oregon Swallowtail for this year!

As usual, we called Leta from a shady (slightly cold) bench on my iPhone using FaceTime so we could see each other. Leta was on her new deck reading in the shade with her sun hat. Leta and Susie both limit their exposure to direct sun. Leta was enjoying her day and was happy to see us outside again. Leta asked about my health, and I reassured her that I would take it easy (but still overdid it). The park was full of kids and folks walking the paths, as we were, and enjoying the cooler day–a near-perfect day.

Aside: The nice weather is not typical. Oregon should be non-stop rain and gray for May and June. May-June is considered one of our worst months as it is warm and full of Pacific-based storms, Pineapple Expresses, but not this year. Instead, we have Northern California-like weather. Our pine forests are stressed by this change (hotter and drier), and the insects are feasting on them. The birds in my backyard are lower-altitude birds (jays are missing). My roses, which need to be watered in May, are growing huge. Things are different from the 1990s-2000s when I moved here.

Susie and I enjoyed the park and then, as I have said, set up and watched a film on her screen in her room. Once that was done, Susie was tired and struggling to stay awake. Anassa, the weekend nursing aide, got Susie comfy in her bed, and I kissed goodbye with a promise to spend Sunday with her. Anassa set the new roses I cut for Susie in Susie’s room.

The Saturday morning was slow for me; I made a tuna fish salad bagel in the broiler (forgetting the onion and celery) and tried to work on my radio project but discovered that the Dremal battery was dead. I need to clean up the casting of the buttons I made to replace the Bakelite originals. The buttons will not be used in the new electronics, so I recast them in transparent acrylic and will put flashing lights behind them. It has no function but will look great (dear reading, you can tell that I am a software architect, no).

I did the dishes and laundry and picked up the kitchen a bit (trying to make things better every day). I paid the bills (remember, I have to cover over $8,000 a month–after insurance–medical costs for Susie), and my budget (not formal by any imagination) is still holding with me, exhausting my current balance in December. I have a plan for 2023, but I plan not more than three months out for all the obvious reasons. I have stopped house improvements, new automobiles, and interesting travel for 2022. Staying local and ready to help Susie or the hummingbird house at the drop of a hat.

I woke feeling better and with a light asthmatic/allergy cough. I found the coffee, made breakfast, a tradition on Saturday for me, and started my day reading emails and bidding on antique US postage on Hipstamps.com (an extra budget thing to keep me sane–I lost all the bids as folks were willing to pay too much).

I have some classes on AI I have been meaning to create, but I need to finish the radio project first. AI is getting a lot of press of late, and I should write about that more. I might have to write another SciFi story for 2600 Magazine (someday they will finish publishing my first story!). I also keep threatening to connect ChatGPT to Zoom and let it do the meeting for me (“Send me a summary after the meeting, please,” I fantasize about asking ChatGPT to fill in for me on Zoom). My fear is that my colleagues have already done this, and I could be one of the few humans in the meeting!

The Cardinal Richelieu is in full bloom, and the stress is nearly gone.

David Austin’s The Herbalist is in full bloom and growing into the usual monster bush.

The now impossible-to-find painted roses from the previous owners of Heirloom Roses are starting to bloom. You can see the signs of the paint on the rose. It is a fast-growing and continuous blooming rose.

Thank you for reading. And sorry for any typos; I don’t have time to check all the text today.