Today 30Oct2023

Today started at 7AM with me rolling over and starting my day at 7:30AM instead. Today, and until 8Jan2024 Mondays are work-from-home days for Nike WHQ employees. So I was up at 7:30 and finished my homemade no-knead bread and a banana for breakfast. Of course, I made liberal coffee in my French press to go with breakfast and to help me wake up.

Meetings started at 8AM, and I was reading the events from the weekend. The go-live has begun, and this weekend, we loaded the first changes into production. While the process was successful, there have been some data edit issues. Our changes worked and seemed stable, but maybe not as loved as we hoped. Details cannot be put here.

I spent until 10AM in meetings, as usual, and I then slipped into the shower, cleaned up, and dressed. I also finished my bread process this morning and had it doing its second rise. It was baked and ready before lunch. Excellent. I reheated some Brunswick Chicken Stew I made this weekend and had it with the new warm bread.

I added an extra teaspoon of salt (I saw in another recipe they increased the salt) and let it rise a bit longer (twenty hours). I added 1/2 cup of King Arthur grain mix and 10% more water. This really changed the taste and even the crunch of the bread–excellent flavor. Jack C was asking me about my use of King Arthur Flour Company. I have used them since the pandemic, as they shipped flour during the pandemic when all the rest was not reachable. I like their recipes and boxed mixes. I love their gift sets and have sent them to many folks to enjoy, and they love them. Bob’s Red Mills products are good and local. I buy their grits, oats, and other specialized items. I have bought Bob’s products for years, and, oddly, I have never used their flour products–I am sure they are great.

The recipe is from NY Times, with me adding more salt and grain mix.

I watch ShipHappens on YouTube and Nerd of the Rings: Travels of Sauron. I also watched Drachinifel’s new video on the Midway wrecks. I was nerding out while burning my mouth on too-hot microwaved stew and crusty bread; I must admit I had three pieces of warm bread with the stew.

I then discovered again, the third time, that eTrade had hosed up my money transferred. I called them again, and they checked that and said everything would be OK. Later, I found myself locked out of trading. I then transferred the money I would use to buy a treasury out of the account to my US Bank account. Yikes! I will get the money away from them and stop using the account. Enough is enough. I will leave it in place until tax paperwork is provided.

I returned to work for more status meetings in the afternoon and followed along. It was quiet for me, and with me crying every couple of hours, it was best to not have any high-stress items or some complex issue to solve. I am not myself still.

In the early evening, I head to Safeway. I acquired a large pumpkin ($8) and four small pumpkins ($2-$4), usually used for making pies. I also got some good candy for Halloween. I returned and rested as I was tired. The emotions that come rolling over me exhaust me. Anything that suggests change or life or death starts the tears. I saw Awz at Safeway, a checker who came to live here after the Iraq War, and asked about me and my wife. In tears, I told him she had passed, and he was shocked but kind. I find myself comforting him, “It is the way of things,” and “She died in her sleep–the best way.” I hate to shock people, but the truth is best, I think.

I made a salad for dinner, chopping veggies and ham to make it a meal. I added sesame sticks and Mexican-styled shredded cheese to jazz it up. I put on The Phantom of the Opera, the Movie, but this made me cry, so I switched to Rocket Man, which caused less sad emotions. I carved the large pumpkin in the kitchen and made a large eye that fit a lens for the creepy moving eye device from Lady Ada in NYC. I cut a slit second eye, a small nose, and a mouth with one tooth.

I put the device into a zip lock and got it in place. I will have to pin it in place each time I move it. I put coin batteries (2023) with LED electrically taped and wrapped in plastic wrap to protect it from dampness. It’s so easy, and I bought LEDs and 2023s in bulk years ago.

Next, I took the small pumpkins and cut slits into them, and slid the 2023 battery and LED into the skin. Borg pumpkins or lighted ones, at least. I wrapped these LED/Batteries with extra tape instead of using plastic wrap. Worked a bit better.