Saturday with games

Going backward, I changed the dressing on my incision, and it was still weeping around 11. I went to bed being tired from the trip to Portland.

My incision is unchanged today but not getting worse. I still have days of antibiotics left to take and cream to put on the wound. I am trying to just let this heal, but I want this over with. Heal, damn it!

Before, I was at Richard’s in Portland playing a new game, Ultimate Railroads, which is a worker placement and resource management game, not a Euro train game. Michael, Chris, and Richard (who won by a hundred points) all played well and were flying up the points. I was slow to start and never caught up. I liked the game and would recommend it to anyone who likes board games. Unlike some worker placement games, you start with five workers, which gives you plenty of options each round. But like many mean games, most options can only be taken by one player, so you are often forced out of your best plays by other players taking the option. There is also an option to buy first and second place, thus allowing you to get the best options. I liked it, and once I was about  1/3 through, I had a good handle on the rules and process and look forward to playing again.

Air Volvo had no trouble with the light traffic headed into Portland and the high bridges on the way back (including what I call the space shuttle launch super high on-ramp that is taller than the bridge). I was not tired and managed it all. I left Richard’s after one game at 9:30-ish, which was a bit early for us.

While we were playing, I explained the surgery and related events to the gamers, and then Chris, Michael, and I (all IT and, in my case, retired IT) discussed AI and its impact on IT and corporations. This was after Richard asked if it was true that AI was reducing IT departments by 20% or more. We agree that AI is just the latest buzzword, and much of what is being attributed to it has been going on for years, and the press is just beginning to understand the changes. One change was that natural language and image processing have recently improved (i.e., AI-generated art, document creation, AI story writing, and so on), making AI more visible to the public. We covered that there was unthoughtful hiring after the pandemic, and the layoffs are the usual reaction from management. Hiring has stopped as most companies are still trying to understand AI and what they need. It, to us IT folks, is yet another set of changes in a field that is about change.

Before heading to Portland, I spent the day at the house. I did not want to get overly tired and have to skip gaming with Richard. I did not do any writing as I wanted a break after writing for three days and getting Howard stories published. I just read, surfed, watched YouTube videos, and tried to be careful.

Aside: If you want to buy a Howard story (the price is zero or pay-what-you-want), you can find the stories here: AlohaWild Publisher. This is a shameless plug. I would recommend Howard’s Lockdown as my best story and Howard in Florida for IT folks, especially SAP folks.

Go backward more; at the house, I reviewed the current issues of Make Magazine’s story about turning Hot Wheel cars into RC-controlled racers. The story includes a video transmitted in real-time from the car–yes, tiny work. I discovered that the maker, MAX Imagination, on YouTube produces excellent videos, parts lists, and even plans for builds, including converting a Hot Wheel to RC. The Maker uses a new style of soldering iron that heats and cools fast and has a temperature reading on the iron. It is also USB-powered and can be run from a battery. This is safer and easier to use than the excellent one I got from AdaFruit years ago and better than the battery-powered one I use when I need quick work.

I ordered using the link for the maker, so Amazon will credit MAX Imagination, the soldering iron, and then many of the parts the maker used to make the RC Hot Wheel. I am thinking of a tiny submarine for an aquarium. The maker used SMD (surface mount devices) parts to reduce the footprint of the build instead of the old-school through-hole electronic parts, which is out of my experience. The use of WIFI to control and receive video is also out of my experience, and the use of two different phones to control and view is not something I would want to do. However, the Arduino-based work, the wiring, and the model-building reworking are all within comfort level. The maker had power issues with an H-bridge, and then the use of a transistor to control a motor is all in my experience (including the failure when building/using an H-bridge). So I bought $200 in parts, with the soldering iron being a third of that, skipped the SMD for now, and will see if I can make that submarine with video work. It is great to be retired, and I love that something this crazy costs only a little over $100 (excluding the tool upgrade).

I made lunch by cutting up the locally made German-style smoked sausage, browning it a bit in a non-stick pan (thanks, Steve), adding leftover pasta from yesterday’s soup making, adding water, covering, and letting the steam get everything hot. Next, I finished it, first cooking out the excess water, then adding some tomato sauce, dried oregano, and some capers and cooking until thickened. It was good. Corwin ate most of it, and I had one bowl. It is prepared food (the sausage) and carbs (pasta), and I keep all that to a minimum. I do like the taste.

Later, I had cheese and crackers for a snack. I skipped dinner because I was full after a bit of cheese.

On returning to Volvo Cave, I had a bowl of lentil soup I made a day ago. I like to have something to eat when I take my pills.

Breakfast was the usual: liberal coffee, a banana, and yogurt with fruit. I rose late after 8, wrote the blog until almost 10:30, and dressed after 11.

I woke wide awake at 3 (?!) and finally went back to sleep and woke late.

Thanks for reading.