Today 13July2023

Susie’s sister, Barb, flew in today and drove herself from PDX to the hummingbird house, arriving at about 1PM. Navigation worked until she got close as she was sent to the wrong street; use Metzger Park instead of the address to find Susie, as the hummingbird house is next to the park. Susie was pleased to see her sister, and we stayed with Susie until dinner time around 5PM, cheeseburgers being on the menu tonight–we demurred when offered dinner.

Susie was resting when we got there, and Barb woke her when she arrived. Taking a moment to awaken, Susie was so happy to see her. Jennifer said it was the best smile she had seen on Susie. Barb called Leta, their mother, and did FaceTime with Leta so everyone could see each other. We moved Susie to a wheelchair and sat on the porch as it was already hot outside (88F or higher–31C) and just chatted and enjoyed the warm sun.

Susie got her bottom sore when sitting for a few hours, and we retired to Susie’s room with Jennifer putting Susie on her side, and I started M.A.S.H. We chatted and watched M.A.S.H. until dinner time.

Barb and I then headed to Beaverton Central, having to dodge construction and find parking. Barb had trouble with the rental, a Jeep SUV, as Nav wanted to use the highways in rush hour, and she remotely started, but the Jeep needed some mystery process to allow it to drive. She had to restart the Jeep. Next, Barb was stopped at the parking garage. The touch screen, built to be used underground, was over 98F (body temperature), and the screen did not work as it could not detect touches (using temperature differences to detect touch). Barb was stalled. The machine would not take her credit card (out of state), and I had to walk to the entrance and give her an AMEX to work. Barb felt that the universe was selecting her as a new test bunny! Once we sorted the parking garage, we headed to the carts. Barb found a gyro, me noodles, a picnic table in partial shade, and beer. Barb found a German product fresh from the keg and me, Red Zepplin Ale, to drink.

Next, we headed home with Barb stopping at Safeway to get some items. We chatted until 9:30ish, and Barb rested as the jet lag and time difference started to weigh on her. I was up until 10:30ish doing bills and laundry. Susie’s Rx bill was over $500 with the addition of Ensure. While it is doctor-ordered, I still marked the over-the-counter (OTC) expense in my books. While technically, a medical professional has ordered it for medical reasons, the IRS agent that reviews my taxes could disallow it as OTC; if I sue the IRS, I will win as it is medically necessary as determined by an independent professional, but it is not worth the time and risk. The same is true of the gloves I buy every month.

I was in bed a bit early for me, felt good, deciding to write the blog on Friday morning.

Returning to my start of the day, I was up at 6:30AM and enjoyed a pastry and liberal coffee while I read emails, slack channel updates, and news articles. I cleaned up, dressed, boarded Air Volvo, headed to Clubhouse Nike Building off of WHQ, the office, and arrived before my first hours of status meetings.

Work was busy with me setting up my out-of-office, the production fixes, and last-minute fixes for the testing of our next release (yes, the final testing of the next version starts two weeks after installing the current release–the life of software engineers is to be constantly working on the next release), and approving access now that my boss, Brad, is on sabbatical. I also started on my new project and created the design of access–the first step of installing new software after the actual build is to design security and access. It was a busy day.

I then headed to WHQ to have lunch. I got a note that my lunch with Scott was canceled, so I headed to the closest food, the Lebron Building, and got a bagel sandwich. I read my emails as I was about to start lunch and discovered that Scott was wrong and we would meet. I had my bagel wrapped, headed to the Serene Williams building, enjoyed the salad bar, and talked to Scott about software and work items for a working lunch. While there, I got updates from Barb that she had reached PDX without issue.

And that brings us full circle in Thursday’s story. We did get good news, Susie did not lose any more weight in a week. That brings us hope.

Thanks for reading.