It is another desert morning on Friday. It is frosty cold (0C) in the morning and highs later in the 70s (21C). I rise at 6:30 on a work-from-home Friday and quickly make coffee and a bagel (thanks, Joyce) with cream cheese. We have a staff meeting at 7AM via Zoom to include India at the end of their day. Rajani covers mostly calendar and process items. While the meeting was discussing various processes, The Email arrived. Yes, layoffs, and yes, stay home all next week. We were expecting it, but everyone was surprised at how it affected them. The grief and anger returned.
I must admit, I am hoping to be selected because I am tired of this. Give me the package and leave my life alone. Pick me before you pick someone in the green card process who has bought a house, raised a family here in the USA, and sees India now as more of a place than home. Yes, I have over twenty-five years of experience, but it is time for someone else to have that. I am tired; let me rest.
But that never happens. I will likely go on at Nike, Inc. I will work until 2025 and likely 2026 to prove to myself that I am better and to thank my co-workers for letting me go on medical leave and then support my recovery. I will be there for them as they were for me. Be the future you want now. Do unto others as you would have done for yourself. Return kindness with kindness.
I also looked up the cost of traveling to the Maldives for a week starting next week, which is $2,500 for me…
Corwin wanted to make soup, so I managed to wash, after spilling many, the beans for soup. The beans need to be soaked overnight. So, I started this and will start the cooking process for lunch on Saturday morning. The ham bone is waiting to flavor the soup. Dondrea, I am sure, is smiling and nodding while reading this, as this is more of her style than mine.
Aside: This is a leftover from the pandemic when dried beans were impossible to find. I had ordered some from the Women’s Bean Project and still had one last set; Corwin wanted to make it. I strongly recommend their products as both good and good for the world. I just ordered some more.
As you, dear reader, can imagine, I was distracted all day. Still, I attended all the status and process meetings and even approved a few items. There was a software architect meeting (I am still treated as one even after losing that title and being relegated to the project’s basement like a steam shovel in the kids’ story). I spent the whole meeting listening. As this is a deep and complex discussion of Nike software work, I cannot repeat the details here.
While attending Zoom meetings, I made and ate a grilled ham and cheese and the remaining coleslaw. I did not have my camera on. Some details are best not shared on Zoom! I also put away the dishes; the mic is off, too.
My weight has flexed again to 255 pounds. My waistline and shape continue to change, suggesting I am improving. I believe I am exchanging flab for muscles, and that makes the flex happen. I fit in a restaurant booth today in Portland! That was a nice surprise. I am enjoying walking again (now that my belt is working, I have drilled two new holes, and I hold up my baggy pants).
On the less happy side, LL Bean back-ordered my new 40′ waist pants with a delivery date just after my brain surgery; I canceled the back-order. The new belt and one khaki-colored pair will appear soon (the pants must be shortened).
I discovered that the impossible-to-find add-on for Wyrmspan, my new favorite board game, was possibly available at Puddles Games and Puzzles in Portland. It was a lovely sunny day, and you could see the mountains, Mount Hood, the remains of St.Hellens, and just the tip of Rainier in the Seattle area. Glorious.
At 3PM, with the shoe company quieting to the usual nothing-to-see Friday and the shock-and-awe of layoffs, I decided to risk Friday traffic and find this store. Having been warned by online reports of a total traffic melt-down, I took the more scenic route, Canyon, to Highway 26 (called the Sunset Highway as it points at the sunset, making it a good reason to wash the car windshield and include sunglasses in your vehicle if headed west). The reports were wrong, and it is no surprise that Portland keeps telling the world, “No, don’t live here; it is terrible.” Nav took me into some traffic, but it was just a slow point, and soon, I arrived in the Grant Park neighborhood in NE Portland.
While enjoying Air Volvo, I did witness a truck pull out in front of a motorcycle as it dived for the turning lane in moderate traffic. I suspect the motorcyclist wanted a third arm to wave an obscene gesture as they drove around the commercial tuck. Air Volvo alarms did not ring as another car slowed while Air Volvo tried to merge behind it. Exciting. I also ignored some breathtaking lane changes while on bridges. It appears that sunny days in the Greater Portland area bring back the daring or foolish outside.
Puddles had parking in front, and I took advantage of that. “Why yes, we have two add-ons left,” I was happy to learn that I had acquired both. The spare one for a friend. I also found the mat for the card-based game Furnace and bought that, too. The selection of board games appeared more intact than usual, but soon, the place was full of kids, and school let out, and collector card games appeared to be the main focus of the store. Two tables were ready for games, which the younger folks took immediately as if they owned them. Feeling like an older gray-haired guy might be unwanted in this crowd (or accused of over-interest in the less-than-18 crowds), I was happy to leave with my purchases.
Aside: I noted that the young folks had gift cards, and it appeared that instead of latch-key kids, these kids were card traders and players, both young guys and gals. Mom and Dad parked them here until it was time for dinner, soccer, chess club, or whatever the kids do now. The school is across the street. The store sells the cards and provides play spaces. An interesting solution.
I found Tacovore, and after some difficulty going the other direction on Freemont, I found their parking lot. I grabbed Wyrmspan, my laptop, and one add-on and headed inside. They are one of the non-waiter Mexican-style places you find in Portland. You order, find a table, and bring a number. You bus your table (I felt guilty when I forgot, next time). Food, excellent food, is delivered.
I had the house margarita with chili and regular salt (I’m not sure I could do that much chili). Soon, Wyrmspan reloaded with cool coins and wooden food items for feeding dragons in my copy. I had to leave most new items in plastic bags as the provided containers did not fit the larger wooden components. Hmm.
I tried the blackened salmon taco and it was the best taco I had. I later tried the meat version, and it was too spicy for my taste, but I am sure it was great for those who want a more dragon-like meal, sticking to the Wyrmspan theme. The drink was excellent, and I was told, and can’t counter this, that it is the best margarita in Portland.
I headed home in Air Volvo, well-fed and ready to face traffic. My Nav was unhappy when I refused to use the onramp to Highway 26 and the tunnel as a parking lot, as that is what it had become. I continued on and found my way to Burnside and took it home after convincing, having to pull over, the Nav on Air Volvo that the scenic route, as it called it, was the only way. I enjoyed the trip, remembering my first time with Susie when we got lost and took Burnside to Portland. Also, most folks were parked on Highway 26, so it was light traffic. It was an excellent drive, but as I was traveling westward, it would have been better had I gotten the streaks of pollen and sticky off the windshield of an Air Volvo.
Returning with smiles, enjoying my day, and forgetting work, which I may never return to, I arrived at the Volvo Cave with no adventures or loss of paint. I rested and read Eric Cline’s new book, After 1177 BCE. The footnotes are extensive, the charts of the timelines work the cost of the book, and it makes me want to teach Sunday School again. Resist! Dr. Cline’s book includes recent work in the field and covers work from the 1800s to just a few years ago. I nap a few times and then keep reading for an excellent evening of learning new history and renewing what I already knew.
Not willing to let the day go, I headed to the 10PM showing of THE MINISTRY OF UNGENTLEMANLY WARFARE (2024), which is sort of a mix of John Wick movie violence and lack of plot-but-action-makes-up-for-it style, a WW2 thriller-like Guns of Navaroe, a femme fatale WW2 spy story, and Castle Wolfenstein video game recording. In other words, it is perfectly silly and perfectly fun. If you like John Wick movies, then this will fit the bill. It purports to be a true story found in the recently released WW2 Churchill documents and even includes pictures of the people portrayed.
I was out at 12:15 and considered visiting The 649 as Avery was closing today at 1AM today, but decided I was tired and she did not need another customer. I was soon home, showered, and nodding off to Eric’s story of the Edomites. I was soon asleep.
Thanks for reading.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 