Day 112: Thursday

It is the 112th day since I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It is slow-growing and benign; I am scheduled for Surgery to remove the tumor on 20th May. Assuming that goes well, I will be out for two months to recover. My surgeon informed me that I need to lose some weight to make my chances better–somehow, more weight can mean more brain pressure. I am working on it.

The morning played at 6:30, waking me. I woke at 3AM to prove hydration, woke at 5ish, and rolled over. So it was harder to start this Thursday morning. I had some vivid dreams, but they faded immediately, and I am sorry I do not remember them. I do remember they were excellent, but not the content.

Discombobulated, I rose, put on my slippers and robe, and entered the home office. I could make the computers work, and soon, I read emails, Slack messages, and the internet news. Trump was asking for yet-another-dismisal and yet-another-way to delay his trials. The news was harsh, and I will not cover it here.

I had some coffee and ate a banana before cleaning up, dressing, and boarding Air Volvo. I reached the Nike WHQ Swift building before 8AM. The morning was full, as is usual for me, hours of Zoom status and process meetings. To my colleague’s amusement, I also reviewed some software changes and pointed out the issues in the code, some poor non-standard coding, and others more style items and repeating of code over and over. All of this was written like the code we wrote twenty years ago. Just when I think I am a dinosaur, I am reminded that I am still a cutting-edge coder. Rajani, my new boss, was laughing when he saw me next; obviously, my face was showing a sour expression.

Lunch was with Scott, who made it early, and we headed to the nearby Nike cafe. As usual, I had the pop item: a rice bowl with beef. Scott had “nuts and sticks,” as he describes the salad bar. I have developed a reaction to the salad bar and picked the special instead.

Note: my colon and poo-er have worked better these last few weeks. I am being attentive. I still do not have a strong feeling if I need to use the restroom, and instead, I always head there after 10AM and again after 2PM, discovering that I am ready to let things pass. My cancer doctors like my plan to just try at those times and have suggested it to his other colon cancer survivors.

Scott and I talked about the chaos of the project and Nike as a whole. Spring Break always brings some chaos; folks go a little mad when they need to find something to do with the family. The upcoming layoffs and year-end at Nike all make folks a bit crazy. To me, it feels like a tea party and an unbirthday with Alice!

I decided I had enough of the office and headed home. I was also looking for a delivery. Sadly, my new board game, Inventors: Evolutions of Ideas, did not show up today. Richard has his copy—growl. It is closer to Lisboa, designed by the same designer, as it has no thematic parts—just some wooden markers.

Last night and a bit today, I updated a new Word document with accounts and passwords for accounts like the utilities and AMEX.

I am tired today, but once the blog is done, I will rest tonight. The SMS Derfflinger model will have to wait another day.

I had a few more meetings. My last meeting was at 5:45, and we said goodbye to one of our India-based leads. Rajani even had a quiz on him, including his nicknames and food loves. It was a really lovely goodbye.

I reheated some Popeye’s chicken and had that with coleslaw for dinner.

And that takes me to writing the blog…thanks for reading.