Today 29Nov2023

This was not a very interesting day; maybe that was the best part. It is time to be a little boring.

The day started at 6:15, with me waking from a now-forgotten vivid dream. As usual, I woke at 5AM (the pre-time change was 6AM) as my body seemed to be on daylight-saving time forever. No matter. I started and found the kitchen, still in the same place, but I am never sure about it, at 6ish. I just made coffee knowing that Nike was serving breakfast and lunch this week, as we are continuing to test the new software–food provided for the testing folks and the support (us). I took my pills, hoping to get to breakfast at Nike before any nausea started (I did avoid that). I read the email from work and my own, read status updates in Slack channels, and read some news. Thus, fortified with information, I was prepared to start my day. First, I showered, shaved, and so on to enable me to dress. I used both Arnica for pain relief in my left heel and Utterly Smooth to reduce/avoid nerve loss in my hands and feet. I completed my preparation by wearing my worn Nike’s.

I boarded Air Volvo in the cold morning, frost on the grass and roof but not on Air Volvo; I headed to Nike WHQ’s Swift building. I arrived there without issue. The roads and sidewalks were only lightly sprinkled with leaves. I took the elevator as my walking was quite unsteady with my heel pain.

Work started with Zoom status meetings until 10AM, and then a few more discussions followed. Lunch, a southwest-style grilled chicken salad, was served, and I read some news at my desk while eating it. In the afternoon, my walking was much worse, and my lack of balance was causing my back to hurt, making walking awkward and tiring. I was sleepy after lunch and walked around the building–I was exhausted by the short walk from the pain, and the limping. Ugh!

Swift was cold and getting colder. Tickets are open to fix this. Let’s hope it improves!

I decided I had enough of pain and cold and told my boss I was headed to the Beaverton Employee Store (BES) to replace my Jordon Air Force Ones (AF1) with a worn-away heel. I would also work from home on Thursday, as I have a 7:30AM meeting and an afternoon doctor’s appointment. Brad, my boss, agreed.

I headed out the door, entered Air Volvo, and drove directly to the BES. There, I found the usual AF1 shoes and tried them on. The padding was better, and the heel, of course, was not worn down. Much of the pain was gone. Brad had mentioned that he recently got some shoes, so I went to the extra-light running shoes and picked out an old favorite, Zoom Air, and found an electric blue (my name for the color) that fit well, and there was almost no pain. Excellent.

I purchased them at the employee discount and then carried out my purchases to a bench outside. I removed the old, worn shoes, put on the Zoom Air shoes, and then walked back into the store’s regular entrance. I stuffed the old shoes in regrind and walked back to Air Volvo, almost dancing as the shoes felt better. The Zoom Air bounces back and makes you want to run; perfect!

Aside: Air and Zoom Air are different cushioning systems.

With happy feet, I ran to the office; I returned to the Volvo Cave. I got the post, junk, and found a package. A box of pears without a card; I tried one, and they are excellent. Thanks to you who sent them!

I finished the day with one more Zoom status meeting. The teams produce work plans every quarter in a scramble over two days for the next quarter. This is then voted on, and anyone can stop it and ask for changes, but once accepted, everyone agrees to run the plan for the quarter. It is a great process and produces a detailed plan and support from the folks doing the work. They, after all, helped create the plan and even voted it in. This new plan was accepted today with a highly positive vote. I was a tourist this time as our team is assigned 100% on a project, so we have no work to plan outside the project. Still, it was fun to be part of it and to feel all that positive energy.

After that, I rested for a bit and then got up and ate reheated pasta with ground beef I made a few days ago while watching a newish movie. Twenty-five years ago, the SciFi show Babalyon 5 ended. This year, they made an animated movie that revisits the middle of the Babalyon 5 storyline from the TV show–just a few bucks to purchase. A few voices are new actors as a few could not participate, and many, sadly, passed away. The animation is not great; the cartoon look resembles the Warner Brothers Batman series.

While the movie at first dragged, it found (often like the original show) its groove about 1/3 way into the story, and suddenly, the jokes and humor of the old show reappeared. The gallows humor is especially great. I was laughing non-stop after the 1/2 point. But, dear reader, I loved the show and know the characters well, so if you are a fan, watch it; otherwise, maybe not.

I am tired; the pain has worn me down. I wrote the blog early so I could read or nap tonight. Thanks for reading!