Today 7Dec2023

December 7th, the day of the Pearl Harbor attacks, is always in the American conciseness. The day was always called out when I was a child as a day to remember the attack and the losses, and now when I hear the date, December 7th, I always first think of the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is a baby boomer (I am from the last year of this classification) thing.

I had a busy day and did not get home until late, and instead of staying up late and writing the blog, I slept. I am writing on Friday morning between work items. It will make for a broken writing style and only focus on the important items from Thursday. My usual narrative requires me to compose. Today, it will be a staccato-like process of writing.

It was a work-from-office day, Thursday, and I was up early and only made coffee as I had breakfast waiting for me in the office. The morning was cold, and a slight wind from the desert felt sharp and fresh. Here, our winds can run East to West when the cold, heavy air runs down the Columbia Gorge, spills over the low hills on the gorge, and freezes us. We can even get freezing air in the valley with warm air above, creating dangerous sleet and ice storms from the usual rains.

Today, it stayed above freezing, and the Oregon Mist returned, often preventing us from drying out. Still, the high waters receded, including the water in my backyard, which had disappeared by Friday morning. Coats and hats for the day.

I skipped the provided lunch at the Swift building at Nike WHQ and headed to Serena Williams Building for lunch. I packed up, boarded Air Volvo, and flew to Nike WHQ New York City garage, never full, and de-Volvo’d on the third floor. I took the elevator to the B1, not 1, as B1 is strangely on the ground floor–the garage is built on a hill.

I walked across the damp Nike WHQ using the brick-lined path through the trees between all the buildings. It is my favorite walk. Today, my legs are tired, and while my foot is not as sore, it is still hard to walk at length, but I fight through the cramps and arrive with Scott waiting for me at Serena Williams. The Oregon Mist has scaled up to rain. While traversing the WHQ, I see many orange Nike-supplied umbrellas and many folks dressed for summer looking wet and miserable. Makes you want to call out, “it is Oregon, not LA.”

Scott and I have the salad bar and use the new self-service terminal for weighing our salads. Emily, the previous cashier, self-introduces, and I smile and reciprocally introduce myself. Apparently, Emily is now responsible for assisting with the check-out, and I can see the pride Emily takes in the promotion.

Aside: I struggled not to assign Emily a pronoun in the above paragraph, but I stuck to my convention of only using pronouns when given permission.

Lunch was relaxed, and we talked a lot about work. I will try to take on a new item for work. We spoke of many items that cannot be covered here. The Oregonian has an article on layoffs at Nike, and I cannot comment on it.

After a nice lunch, I headed home in Air Volvo, but first, I got another painful but productive walk across Nike WHQ with the rain now and folks wearing coats and some hats. I lost my favorite hat, so I am using the moss green felt hat that is slightly large for me. The rain is easier to live with once you have a cowboy hat, gloves, and a warm coat. The Nike Manchester United scarf helps keep my neck and throat warm–ManU is now with another company, but the swoosh looks great in ManU colors! A keepsake for me.

Air Volvo has fewer puddles to face, and I am soon working from home. I have to leave for Dondrea’s house at about 4:30. We have tickets for the holiday play in Portland at The Armory: Dracula. Yes, and a special feminist version. I also made baggies of Triskets and sliced cheese as a snack as we would not have time for dinner and to make the show.

Air Volvo was slowed by Beaverton’s usual traffic mess on a Thursday night. School is also out on Friday, so the drivers are showing that extra “OMG, the kids are free–what will we do” stress. It is also dark and wet, not improving the local slow and imaginative driving skills. I am happy to arrive, intact, at Dondrea’s place on time.

Dondrea and I pick up Z at school. Dondrea takes a back-roads attack on reaching Portland as the routing software reports the highways are clogged. We managed to get to Portland an hour early and parked in the Pearl District underground garage. We consumed the cheese, crackers, and sliced apples that Dondrea supplied. Z, having had more equipment installed on her teeth, was eating with difficulty and had decided to starve. With some prodding, Z was convinced to try again and managed some food.

We toured Powell’s City of Books, and I escaped without more books acquired. Mainly because I did not want to carry them into the theater. Joshua Weissman has a new cookbook, and Powell’s has signed copies. Oh my! Weissman’s last cookbook was one of the best I have read, and I did sit down and read 1/4 of it right after I bought it while drinking beers at Van Eberts: An Unapologetic Cookbook. Not many cookbooks change my thinking and focus–this one did. Strongly recommended. The new cookbook continued excellent and easy recipes to make great food. If you want an online version of Joshua, try his YouTube channel. Excellent!

Z, Wild, Dondrea at the theater.

We headed to The Armory and the pre-show talk. We learned the building was a few years older than the publication date of Dracula (the original play and book). While I cannot recommend the original book, as it seems to be a contrived and artificial narrative, I can recommend the play versions. This is my third or fourth take, and each play has been by different playwrights reworking Bram Stoker’s original. I also watch many of the 200 movies, and my favorite line to compare is, “I never drink wine.” Bela Lugosi is still the best at that line–that line was not in this revision, which focused on a feminist revenge angle.

The play was a discussion in many ways about being victims and how to resist the stereotypes and stop accepting the status quo. The creature Dracula was no longer an aristocrat but a cult leader and a parasitic infection. He planned to dominate and enslave the world; with its treatment of women in the 1800s, the world was ripe for him to hide in plain sight and take what he wanted. The women in the play are successful against Dracula when they no longer accept the illusion of choice and think and act in their best interest. The character Mrs. Renfield flavored the play with long, rambling proclamations that set the tone and explained the actions of Dracula and his now-inhuman servants. Lucy was “not to Dracula’s taste” as she seemed to think clearly and act (though she often needed to be prompted)–clear and free thinking inoculated her from Dracula. Van Helsing was played as a woman with all the obvious 1800s dismissals of women. In the play, Van Helsing enables Lucy and Dr. Seward to act finally and provides the words and instruments to conclude the play. There is an epilogue and a warning with Lucy taking a stake from Van Helsing to be ready to resist false choices.

It’s an excellent play, Kate Hamill’s adaptation, and I recommend it. I would suggest looking out for Hamill’s other works.

We left, reached the car, and headed to Virginia Cafe. We discovered that it is not a food joint but a bar, and no minors are allowed. All the other open locations were bars. Sadly, no food places are staying open late in the Pearl. Deschutes Brewery, across from The Armory, closes at 9:30–before the play ends. That the brewery sponsored the play is a bit ironic.

Dondrea drove to Sherri’s, which is open to 2AM online, but it too was closed. We found a McDonald’s that could make us some burgers to enjoy in the car. They did not have ice cream, shakes, or french fries and closed at 11. No wonder the art scenes and food places are failing in Portland and Beaverton! I did see that a few spots are open until midnight in Beaverton. Next time.

After our failed attempt at a good dinner, we returned to Dondrea’s, and I took Air Volvo back to the Volvo Cave. The trip, with the Oregon Mist back, was without flooding–almost a surprising experience. I went right to bed on de-Volvo-ing.