Today 28Nov2023

The day started with me waking with my alarm at 6:15. I had slept poorly and woke a few times, and as usual, around five, I finally fell into a deep sleep to be blasted awake after six. I was thinking about starting my day and realized I had fallen asleep sitting up. It was going to be a hard day!

I found the kitchen, now sort of awake; it was still in the same place. There, I made liberal coffee and an NYC bagel (thanks, Joyce and Smiths-Krammers) with cream cheese. I took this to the office and read emails from my accounts and Nike’s, enjoyed Slack messages, and was generally informed for my day. I took my meds–not forgetting. I showered, shaved, and all of that to be ready for work. Dressed, I collected my Nike laptop, coat, hat, and scarf (a Manchester United one from when ManU was served by Nike). Air Volvo managed to get to Nike WHQ without incident, and the number of school buses was limited to a few. The army of leaf blowers was building piles, so I drove around the empilers. 

I parked and took the elevators. My left heel was still hurting, and now my leg was tired of the limping, too. I found that breakfast was still being served, and I had a croissant and some bacon, second breakfast–so hobbit, while I did my first three hours of meetings. I then discussed some issues, and I cannot discuss this here, but I was dissatisfied.

I called Leta from work, and she was just finishing dinner. She looked better and was unhappy with a few things at The Willows. It was all a good sign, and nothing seemed worse and a few things better. Leta is working on ways to return home by getting some devices to help her put on socks and pull up her pants with just one hand. Leta is trying to get better and return to her home. Excellent.

I had lunch, again supplied by the project, and it was pretty good: Chicken teriyaki, pot stickers, steamed bok choy, plus rice. I read news and articles to get my head back into the game. I did a few hours of more meetings. I also saw a truck light up over the long line of leaves made by the leaf blowers and started to vacuum up the leaves. Fall here is about leaf control.

Mariah sent me a text with the promise that Von Ebert had changed its way and returned to chicken wings that are so good the chickens volunteer. I, at first, could not believe that Von Eberts in the Pearl District in Portland had repented after servicing cheaper products and was now offering the heavenly smoked large wings again. Mariah reassured me that Von Eberts had mended their ways. Always willing to forgive, I agreed to return to Pearl District and sample the fowl products.

Why yes, the blessedly good wings are back, and the beer is the same with me enjoying their Volatile Substance IPA. We talked about writing my travels and some future traveling plans. Mariah will hook up with a graphic designer she knows to make the posters for Susie’s Celebration. Mariah may meet me in New Orleans at the end of January. I plan to start my book there by using this blog as the basis. I may include some extracts of Susie’s writings to let her words tell some of her story. I will do that while enjoying New Orleans.

We headed out early, having had an early dinner, and I got to try out the wide shoulder of Highway 26 when cars suddenly stopped. Instead of slamming the brakes, I pulled Air Volvo’s wheel hard and into the wide shoulder and escaped scratching any paint.

After that, there were no more events, and I was soon home. In the mail was my passport card, which is only usable in the USA and Mexico. I got my new passport a few days ago. The rest of the mail was junk. A package did appear, and it contained another Gearing Class US Destroyer model 1/700 scale (small) and a dry dock modeled after the Navy drydock in Boston. I will use this and the other model and extra parts to build a model of DD-840, my dad’s destroyer USS Glennon, in the late 1950s version before the Gearing destroyers were rebuilt for extended life in the Cold War.

I have been laughing and enjoying the new Sherlock Holmes novel, The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, by Lyndsay Faye. The story “Memoranda Upon the Gaskell Blackmailing Dilemma” has Holmes telling the story of the case that delayed him in the cannon Baskerville case. He makes comments on how great a man Watson is but criticizes the romantic description Watson writes. It is fun to read, “he has written of women shaped like women (surely unsurprising)” and other complaints. Lyndsay Faye purports to tell the stories between the cannon stories and tells convincing stories with a bit more modern language but still sounds like the famous detective from Doyle. I will return to the cannon soon to compare, but I am enjoying it (Faye’s Holmes has more humor than I remember in Doyle’s, and I like it). I make take a spin at a Holmes story.

Aside: the 1980s Steampunk version of Call of Cthulhu role playing game (RPG), Cthulhu by Gaslight, had a horror-based Holmes story. I reworked the story ten years ago and played in a Spy version of Savage Worlds RPG. I loved rewriting the adventure to work for Savage Worlds and to make some improvements. I even built a little model of Stonehedge for the big finish: Moriarty, now a powerful sorcerer summoning the Lovecraftian forces to ruins. I might have to write another story or adventure with Holmes and Watson!

I am cold tonight, and the pain is in my back, too. I also have a doctor’s appointment, previously planned, on Thursday. The MRI scan of my head is on 14 Dec to see if there is any cause for my sudden loss of hearing. I am trying to fit the medical expenses into this year for tax efficiency.

I just keep going! Thanks for reading.