Today 15Sept2023

It is Saturday morning while I write the story of Friday. I got to sleep (and slept most of it) for about ten hours. I did wake up nearly screaming at 4:30 from another nightmare. I had gone to Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio show at the Portland Art Museum, which fueled some terrifying monsters, De Toro-styled, with eyes in their hands. I managed to fall back to sleep and got started again after 8AM. The last two hours, a dream-filled (and forgotten) light rest with many wakenings. Finally, I started by skipping the bike again and finding toast with peanut butter and low-sugar jelly. Liberal coffee reminds me daily that liberals must remember who they are and always be vigilant.

Returning to Friday, I had taken the day off from the shoe company, which, of course, meant that I was eating an NYC bagel (with cream cheese), a yogurt, and liberal coffee while doing my first 8:05 meeting. Yes, on my day off. The status meeting about the big project is good to align and to hear about any schedule changes. Next, one of our experts presented how we extract, transform, and load some master data. I was also able to add some historical information. It was a good experience with many questions, and more importantly, answers to the questions were provided. We only saw 1/2 the content, and there are some requests to explode some of the slides to whole presentations. We are a detail-oriented audience. It was a good use of my paid time off.

Aside: I went no further on my essay for the Naval Institute. I could not find my voice for the piece, and I just have too much going on to write this month. But, I do plan to do an Artificial Intelligence essay and offer it to 2600, The Hackers’ Quarterly. Again, I have to find the time to put that together.

More on Friday: I wrote the blog for Thursday on Friday morning. I often stay up late to write the blog but I need some sleep. I was up at 6:30 on Friday–not getting that extra sleep and ending the night with a nightmare. It was a longish blog, and I ran late in the morning.

I finished the blog, showered, dressed, and boarded Air Volvo with my laptop hidden in the new book cover. It looks like a dull thing: A thin encyclopedia volume. I traveled across Beaverton in the late morning and soon arrived with no issues at Susie’s place at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. The traffic was light as it is not a holiday weekend, and school is running now. The evening traffic is usually snarled with kid pickups and taking the same to various sports and other scholastic events: A swarm of mini-vans and SUVs.

Susie had finished her breakfast and was waiting for me. She was exhausted (reports are that she is not sleeping well), and while not losing weight, she is stable at 70 pounds–not a safe weight by any measure. I pushed Susie in her wheelchair into Metzger Park next door, and we were mostly ignored by the very busy yellow jacket wasps that were carefully searching the ground. I also grabbed a poo bag and cleaned up the now-hardened dog pile in the walkway. Yesterday, I didn’t want to mess with it while fresh. I managed to perform the ritual that the dog owner failed at without disaster and deliver the poo to the trash without a stinky issue.

We found a sunny bench pointed away from the sun. It was a bright and sunny September day in the Greater Portland Area. Dark blue skies indicated that the air was clean–not smoke or smog. My eyes were burning, and my anti-allergy meds must have been working over time, as the pollen in the air was harsh. In the park, pre-school kids were out in the park along with the usual dogs exercising their humans.

Using FaceTime, we called Leta, Susie’s mother, on the cell phone. We did not connect with Barb, Susie’s sister, who was off to Canada to celebrate the close birthdays of her and her husband, Gordon. A train trip to a canyon and hiking. Leta was well and in her house. She was happy to see us and the excellent weather. September is the best month in the Pacific Northwest–recommended to visitors as with school back on the Oregonians are not swarming the coast and other lovely places. The weather is perfect most days.

Aside: The rains return in October. In October, we will have fewer sunny days until they become just a memory when it rains all day and night. There is usually nothing but gray skies in November. We get snow, if any, in December and maybe January. The rains get warmer and continue until May, June, or July. We have seen little snow this past ten years, and the rains often pause in May and stop in June now. Unless you love rain like us, I would not suggest coming in the Spring.

Next, after a friendly call with Leta, we returned to Susie’s room. We watched Only Murders in the Building and tried Linda Frankovich’s (nee Wild) wedding cookie (the cupcake having been a causality of baggage handlers). Susie was happy to get a bit of wedding cookie, and Susie, being so tired, struggled to not fall deeply asleep while we had the episode playing. We watched just one episode in season three. I then headed out with a kiss, and Jenifer put Susie to rest in her bed in her room.

Air Volvo took me to Portland in moderate traffic, and I found two-hour parking (I wanted a four-hour spot but could not find one) and returned to the Portland Art Museum (PAM). The modern art section (puke!) was closed (no French Impressionists today)–I bought a membership last time I was there, so my entrance was free today. However, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio exhibit was still on (this is the last weekend), and I wanted to look at all that fine miniature work again. The movie was a stop-action. I walked through the busy exhibit backward, having been there before. I looked at the use of color and shading in the larger items towards the end of the presentation, the hard part of this kind of work. I marveled at the tiny clothing and metalwork. A tiny four-inch or so bicycle must have taken someone a month to make. The clothing and metals were not just small; they had been painted to have shading and color changes. I am not that good. I took pictures, and I have the book.

After discovering the modern art exhibit was closed, I left sooner than expected but headed to South Park Seafood, only a block away. There, I sat at the bar that Susie and I used to visit before or after the Oregon Symphony. I had a glass of something red and Spanish, a board with cheese, and salmon spread with crackers. I had coffee with an upside-down cake (not as interesting as the wine and the board).

I returned to Air Volvo with twenty minutes left on my parking and soon reached the Volvo Cave. I discovered (I had my laptop with me at the bar) that A Haunting in Venice, a new Kenneth Branagh mystery movie with him playing my favorite detective, Hercule Poirot–I bought tickets–the last good seat. Later, I learned from the credit this is a reworking of Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party. This is one of the Ariadne Oliver stories, a mystery writer working with Hercule, played well by Tina Fey. I have seen the David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker version, and while this one is almost unrecognizable from the more traditional BBC version, it worked for me. Recommended, but not cannon. 

Aside: I was wondering why I knew how it was done when watching the movie, but when I learned it was a reworking of an existing one, one I had seen, I knew I was not really that smart. Just memories.

While waiting for the movie time, I stopped by Powell’s books and bought two books on History (generally, I only purchase history books, and everything else is on my Kindle–just to keep the clutter down). The Shortest History of the Soviet Union has been a kick (I am already on page 18). Recommended. The New Concise History of the Crusades (Updated Student Edition), used and under $12, seemed a good buy as I often look up the Crusades. Maybe Google would be cheaper (free), but often, the information earned is worth the price, zero. I also like footnotes to find original sources (those are often on the Internet for free–undoubtedly worth the price of not heading to a library or using a library loan). I was reading these as I needed a break from Canadian murder stories (but they are so good).

I was home by nine-ish, reheated a small bit of chicken with potatoes and carrots–it is still too plain even when reheated–and took my pills with food. I read and then fell asleep early, about 10ish.

Thanks for reading.