Today 21July2023

I am having dinner at the GVB alone; Mariah could not join me this Friday night. I spent most of the afternoon with Susie. We watched the Disney animated movie Moana while I was logged into work, reviewing documents and designs and helping with a few crises of the moment. The emoji of the team today was the animated facepalm. I could not finish the last status meeting as I was becoming impatient with folks on the project–best to log out before I say something. It is good to have a beer and dinner–prime rib is the special on Friday–sinfully good.

Susie was sad when I left, near tears, but she understood I would be back and kissed me goodbye, three times and held my hand. I set the TV in her room to M.A.S.H., the second season; she likes the earlier seasons, and they are not often on the reruns on regular TV. We use Hulu for this.

Susie was weighed today and is still only 68 pounds. Her weight is stable, but it is still not improving. I will get more desserts!

Right after I arrived, we managed to head out to Metzger Park next door. The park manager was out and had a chainsaw. He thought I could use a haircut, but I good naturally demurred. Next, the manager got on the tractor and cleared the logs from the fallen trees. It is hot and dry this summer and not time to have stacks of dried wood in the light forest of the park!

We found our favorite bench in the shade with redwoods, cedars, and butterflies. We did a three-way call to connect to Leta, Susie’s mother, Barb, her sister, and us on FaceTime and could see and hear each other. Leta, sporting new bruises, had fallen in her garage, and, according to her, it looked worse than it was. Barb was less convinced. Susie was delighted to have a call with all of them and to see them. Barb had mostly recovered from her trip back to Michigan from here. She did, she said, sleep until noon today–but looked awake. We connected with Barb while she was grocery shopping. We talked for ten minutes, and everyone was happy to reconnect today.

Before this, I was at the house doing my usual work-from-home Friday. I slept in, finally getting started at 7AM, and then made breakfast–an NYC bagel with a veggie smear (thanks, Joyce), yogurt (plus fruit and Organic), and liberal coffee made in my French Press. I was online reading stuff and getting ready for the hours of status meetings. After managing to listen and send updates to my team for any issues identified for us (just one minor thing which unfortunately did cause a faceplant emoji from the team), I found time to shower and dress. Next, I hosted an hour session with the software architects and engineers on how Nike is redesigning its processes and the impact that would have on our systems (existing and future). No details can go here, of course. I reheated some jambalaya I made the day before for lunch while I did the session–I used an Avatar instead of a live camera image.

My boss sent me my official bonus. It was the expected amount and is over 20% of my annual pay–a good year at Nike. I also ran the numbers for my retirement, with the results suggesting I should retire soon. The numbers show we will be OK. For various economic reasons (and tax reasons), I will be putting this off for a while.

I packed up the computers, my Nike and my Apple, and boarded Air Volvo. I headed to Susie’s at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. The traffic was light, and I had no issues or police entanglements.

And that takes me full circle. The person doing the local writer’s anthology has not returned my emails. Looks like my Howard story has no home. I have not heard any new complaints or compliments on my 2600 AI story.

Thanks for reading.