The night/morning of the holiday was filled with events. Without any discussion or planning, my colon decided to empty every few hours. My sleep was interrupted, but I did avoid any early releases and managed to clean up (my supply of precious commodity–tp–is reduced) and return to an exhausted sleep. I repeated this adventure at least five times. The last event, at 6:30AM, was more jet-powered, and luckily, I had already started the shower and could easily clean up. Breakfast was an NYC bagel eaten untoasted in the Air Volvo on the way to work at Nike’s building (not on WHQ) Clubhouse. With hopes that my colon was done with a different kind of zoom meeting that I usually do!
The building was open, and coffee and breakfast were now available. My colleagues doing the 6AM starting shift were unhappy as coffee and food were unavailable until 8AM. I was fortified with coffee and food and relieved that my colon was done with its unannounced antics, and I could do a few more usual Zoom meetings. It was a dull day, perfect for go-live on a holiday, and the main issue was the discovery, as often happens, that the converted data does not look like the test data, and maybe some of the integration should have been tested end-to-end before putting it in production. But, hell, we now know what works and what does not, and the fixes are flying in fast. As we say, the data is always better in production to test our software! The stuff that our group is responsible for seems to work as it was carefully tested, tested end-to-end in quality (not production), and tested with real conversion data. It also went live two weeks ago.
Our developer leads from our partner visited, and we discussed one program fixed thirty-seven times since going live six months ago. He said the program was sexy. He explained, “How else can you describe a program everyone has their hands on”! He pulled that statement off without smiling. We were all but falling down laughing. For a dollar, I offered to show the source code to folks. More laughing. Yes, we are going a bit silly–but it was funny. It is not broken code, but sexy.
Our senior director was relieved to see we were silly and bored. I learned that others have been a bit silly–This install is extremely important, and we are all happy that it is not crashing (yet).
Lunch, skipping other work details, was from the supplied lunch trucks. I had the spicy reindeer sausage with grilled onions deciding my colon needs to be taught who is boss. Take that!
After that, I headed off to see Susie with clear skies on July 4th (which never happens here), hot and dry. Susie was awake and waiting for me. I picked up on the way in a July 4th bouquet of flowers for Susie, a card, and more flowers for Jennifer, the usual weekday nursing aide, for Jennifer’s birthday. Anassa, the weekend nursing aide covering the holiday, too, put Susie in a wheelchair, and we visited on the cool porch. We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and talked to her on my iPhone using FaceTime to see each other. Susie was awake and happy to just visit for a while.
Aside: I found Susie’s Harry Potter Trivia cards when cleaning the house and brought them to her. We tried out a few. They are hard.
I soon had to return to silly and boring at the office and kissed Susie goodbye after getting her back in the main room at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. I soon, in no traffic, was back at the office.
By 3:30PM, I was falling asleep from lunch and the lack of sleep, and I said goodbye. Often it is the third day, tomorrow, when the fertilizer hits the fan on these huge installs–so best to get some rest now. The senior director visited and suggested folks head out to rest. He, too, is waiting for day three.
I reached home without incident and found my nicely made bed and AC keeping the house 75F (24C) slept until 6:15. Evan called me to play games at a bar, but I demurred and went back to sleep. I woke up and decided to broil some BBQ chicken.
Defrosted some chicken thighs (skinless and boneless–which is not a good choice for BBQ, but I had that). I boiled the chicken after defrosting it in the microwave to cook it. I then salted and peppered it on a rack over a cookie sheet covered with foil, baked the chicken at 350F for ten minutes, brushed on some BBQ from a bottle, and baked some more. I then turned the thighs over, painted them with more BBQ, and broiled them for five minutes. A bit dry (bones and skin were needed), but still good.
I made couscous with Indian spices (Garam Masala), almond slices, dried cranberries, raisins, and chopped dates (no pit). Cook until browning in butter–hot! Stir in couscous into hot butter, seasoning, and toast–turn off the heat. Add 1 1/2 cups of the water from the chicken boiling to finish; be careful, as it boils on contact. I made frozen beans in a glass dish in the microwave, adding butter, almond slices, and garlic powder and covering it with plastic wrap.
A great dinner. I watched Order and Disorder science show, costing me $1,99 to rent while eating. I finished the first half. I will watch the second hour on Wednesday (if I make it back from work). I started A Capital 4th on PBS but needed to write the blog, so I stopped. Mom Wild called; she was watching and remembering the year we, Bob and Barb, plus Linda Wild, did the Capital 4th on the West lawn in Washington, DC. Leta was there too. A great memory and a reason for anyone to do July 4th in Washington, DC.
Happy 4th! Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 