Today 28June2023

It is the early evening, and I do not plan to do much more than write and do a little housework. I am somehow more tired than yesterday. Going back a bit, I left work and returned to the house after seeing Susie as I was just not feeling well; I was fatigued. I ordered dinner delivered, Chinese, going with salt and pepper calamari and chicken and cashews with hot and sour soup and crab puffs. I plan to eat this over a few days. I rested a few times and finally picked up all the magazines in the bedroom from the past months and recycled them. I am not going to get back to read them or reread them.

Going back further, I had lunch from the food trucks at the Nike building called Clubhouse–our home for years now. The project supplies lunch and coffee in the morning for this weekend’s go-live. I had some BBQ chicken with some wonderful potato salad and slaw. Again sitting with Michelle V and some team members for master data while we consumed our bounty. Michelle was happy to meet some of our team, and we talked about rock and roll (Michelle’s daughter is a Swifty, and her husband likes the Doors) and concerts we have attended. It was a nice lunch.

Afterward, I packed up my laptop and headed to 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. There was not much traffic, and the forest fire smoke stayed away (this year, the rains have been heavy, so the fire season is yet to start for us), so we have a hot and bright and clear skies day. Susie was asleep in her recliner in the shared living room. Jennifer, the nursing aide for the weekday, had trouble getting Susie going this morning. Susie was too tired to eat, so Jennifer helped her–Susie barely spoke during my visit and to Leta, her mother, on the phone. I am worried that Susie is fading. It is hard to know what to do, but we will keep going–it is what we do.

Susie agreed to head outside. Jennifer quickly popped Susie into her wheelchair; we headed outside, and it was warm with a cool breeze, nearly perfect. I pushed her wheelchair, and I was tired, and it seemed more challenging than usual. We got to my favorite shady bench near the redwoods and cedar. We called Susie’s mother there, and Leta told us she was staying inside as it was still smoky in Lansing, Michigan. The fires in Canada are filling the Midwest and the Eastern US skies with smoke. Leta skipped the Taco Tuesday the night before at her church as it was outside–Leta has asthma.

In Metzger Park, we saw the usual collection of younger kids and dogs of various ages and sizes. One butterfly remains fluttering here and everywhere. The crows called out to us as we crossed back onto the road. I yelled back and seemed to surprise them. Soon, it was a short visit, I was back at hummingbird house, and Louis was filling in for Jenifer, who had an errand to run. Susie was sad to have me leave so soon, but Louis momentarily distracted her as he placed her back in the recliner. I went with a kiss and a promise to return on Thursday afternoon. Indiana Jones, the newest and last one, is released in theaters on Thursday–I have tickets already for the 3PM show.

My trip across Beaverton back to the Volvo cave was without events, and Hall Boulevard is still open, making the trip uncomplex–no detours. I was dead tired when I arrived at the Volvo cave.

Moving back to the start of the day, I woke early and rolled over, and only seconds later, it was 6AM and time to start. I had a 7:30 status meeting at the office, so I had to start early and rush. Yes, in the strange logic of IT, I drive in to do a Zoom meeting in the office at 7:30. I do a few hours of status meetings, and we identify an issue that was declared a crisis, and for a moment, it was. We cleared the issue in a few hours–it was already being resolved. I also had to explain to a smaller group that when we have unworking critical data loads, it is best to fix it, even if that too is a risk–it is bad to have a break, but it is worse to not fix them. Leadership may want to delay the fix implementation to reduce the risk and noise in the current go-live, but we must have the fix done and ready. I seem to be teaching a new group of folks how to do production support–but at least they listen.

Well, readers, that was my day. I struggled with fatigue the whole day, but I have the next two days off, and the weekend work appears to be minimal too. We work Monday on the shifts and will likely work the next weekend.

I am not going out to get a beer or anything like that tonight. I will do the dishes, relax more tonight, and stay home. I will sleep in, sort of, on Thursday.

Aside: I am still paying over $8,000 in monthly health expenses after insurance. I am starting to burn through the cash I borrowed from my 401K ($50,000). Nike bonuses are paid in August, and I have $30,000 in Nike stock (from the stock purchase program) and other liquid investments. This should be enough for any surprises to reach the end of 2023. My financial plan is to not sell assets for this year if I can avoid it, so I can get a considerable tax refund to help cover next year. I have increased my 401K and deferred compensation to reduce my taxable pay to enable this. I also plan to cash in Susie’s IRA for next year as Susie is over 59 1/2, and that will likely cover any expenses and surprises when added to the tax refunds. For 2025, I am ready to cash out stock options as needed (hoping they are still above water) or refinance the house to cover another year, but that is out too far to plan more than a penciled-in plan. I can cover the high medical costs for the next couple of years and see that I will be OK even in the misty future.

Thank you for reading.