Day 77: Thursday

I rose at 6:50 after telling my alarm to wake me at 6:30, but it set it to the evening. I woke before I was late. I rushed and soon was dressed and ready to board Air Volvo. No time for coffee or making breakfast. I got in Air Volvo and headed to the Swift building at Nike WHQ. I remembered I had a gift for Ricky, who was retiring today. I returned home. I got one of my best Army Painter brushes for his model building in his retirement and took Air Volvo to WHQ.

I found Ricky in the morning and gave him the brush with some advice on how to use it. It works best on curves and does fine work. It is the best I own. I had a spare; I am glad it found a good home.

Next, work supplied coffee and donuts for our CEO John’s address after the layoffs. They had screens ready with chairs to sit in to enjoy the presentation. While it was his usual upbeat speech and additional words from others in the leadership, it seemed to lack empathy. It may be that the wounds from the layoffs are too raw for me at this moment. I don’t know; it was just how I felt.

After that, I did hours of status meetings. It was a typical day. At lunch, I met Nancy, who has worked for us on SAP systems for many years and is now a consultant. It was her last day with us. I took her to one of the cafes on campus, and we had a nice lunch, mainly talking about old times. It was good to just talk.

We returned to the office and said our goodbyes. We have met many times over the years, and I am sure we will meet again on yet another SAP project. I returned to status meetings.

Nike has put up cute phone booths, and I used one to call Leta, Susie’s mother. It even has a special light setting for video calls to get the indirect light on your face. Leta and I talked about Susie’s Concert and a few other things. I also talked to Barb, Susie’s sister, who is getting together pictures of Susie for a display at the concert.

After that, I then attended Ricky’s Retirement Party. Ricky left us after 36 years at Nike (mainly as an employee). We had cake and took pictures. Ricky and I pointed in our picture together; I said we were pointing at Ricky’s great future. It looked good.

I had more meetings and more status and stand up after that. I approved more items. We had a break in production from the move that required us to resend a program as part of the changes did not move.

On the way home in Air Volvo, I called Corwin, who has a cold, and said why don’t we do Mexican. Corwin agreed, and we headed to a local place. Corwin had soup, and I had Chili Colorado. Likely, I blew away my calorie count, but it was so good, and that with a beer and flan definitely blew my calorie count. But I do feel better now.

It was a hard day of many goodbyes. Tonight, I watched Dune 1 with Corwin for a second time.

Sorry for the short blog. It was a day of goodbyes. It was a day when my feelings were full of ups and downs. I hope Friday is kinder.