Friday with Mexican Food (slightly revised)

I rose early at 6, as I was wide awake. I found the croissant I purchased in Forest Grove the day before and had that with a banana and coffee. I made the coffee in my French press with coffee from Kenya that was roasted and ground locally. The smoke was strong enough that I could smell it in the house, so I selected not to risk any walking and limited my outdoor activity. The air quality measurement is still good on Friday and Friday night. The winds are still blowing the smoke East and North into the high desert across the Cascade Mountain Range. Eastern Washington and Idaho have terrible air and smoke.

I write until ten and then publish. I then added links to FaceBook and an email for those who wanted a personal note. You can subscribe, but you have to create a free account to get automatic notifications of a new post.

There are many distractions, and I manage to use up the whole morning. Dressed and all that, I head a bit early to the Cedar Hills Mall area. Scott is joining me for our “Thursday lunch,” now rescheduled to Friday, which we used to do weekly when working for the shoe company, instead of the healthy and familiar salad bar instead some excellent sandwiches at Elephants Delicatessen, one of the newest food joint in the Cedar Hills Mall complex. I am early, and I walk through Best Buy and see the 96-inch wall-sized screens that are now available.

While I marveled at where we had taken screens, but I also noted that the screens finally looked like something from SciFi. My father was always disappointed in selling huge heavy cabinet TVs at Wild’s Furniture and Appliances in the 1980s. “I thought a TV would be something we could just put on a wall by now and move as needed,” I remember him complaining. Also, the old cabinet TV generated radiation (thick glass was used to protect us viewers) and had to be demagnetized and readjusted every few years to keep the colors correct. Dad thought this should have been better, and I know he would have been pleased with what I saw at Best Buy and would have loved to be on the floor selling them. “I know, but I have some re-manufactured ones that let you see the Olympics like you are there,” I imagine Bob saying. “Oh, we sold the last one, but I can let you have this one at the same price,” I could hear with that twinkle in his eyes. “Why yes, these imported electronics can fail without warning, so yes, the five-year warranty is the best,” I could him say without blinking.

I saw that Best Buy had an LG microwave and hood combination that would match well with my previous upgraded appliances. There was no price. I suspect installation will be crazy, but it would let me have back some counter space. I had the microwave on the counter so Susie could reach it, and she and Corwin would not be reaching over the hot oven to use the microwave. Now, a hood/microwave would work for me. I will think about it (likely another multi-thousand upgrade).

Scott appeared in his cool red jeep. We walked through to the drinks and ordered a sandwich at the counter. We took numbers to have the repast delivered to a table outside but still undercover and cool and placed our respective tags in a holder, two on our table. We talked about our retirement experiences and the changes in our lives. Neither of us is searching for new work. Scott has an infinite amount of house and lawn work to face. I have my hobbies, endless housework, and finding the garage again at some time (like Doctor Who, there is a blue door to the garage that demonstrates a spatial ministry: it is smaller inside). Scott has heard a few things from Nike folks. None for me. We had a nice lunch, and it was good to catch up. Scott’s plum tree produces a bumper crop, and he gave me a gallon bag of wipe plums.

After lunch, I took Air Volvo to the local Powell’s and headed to the Mystery section and the Conan Doyle area. I found a few books I wanted. I have Doyle’s letters, his White Company story in an old hardback, and a book that will explain Sherlock Holmes with pictures and various writers. I also found a toothbrush holder at a deep discount (they still have quite a few) and bought one as I thought I needed one. I did not expect to get one at Powell’s.

I loaded that in Air Volvo and headed next to Big Coffee. I called Dondrea and asked if they would like Mexican-style food for dinner. Maybe. As I deplaned from Air Volvo, the smell of pine and smoke was quite noticeable after I reached Big River Coffee. My favorite spot was taken, so I found a smaller table on the first floor. I read more of the original Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stories. I also located a website with searchable text (here) for all the stories (the canon), allowing me to look at certain word usage. I discovered I had used a set of words that often appear in movies but are not used by Holmes or Watson in any of the stories. I corrected my story to align with the canonical usage. I thus avoid loading the stories into a non-SQL database for unstructured data like Mongo to study word usage in the original story. For now, I believe I can use simple text searches in my browser to check certain word and phrase usage.

I managed to add another page as Holmes and Watson discuss their impact on our human beliefs of soul and self (as represented in the books The Mind’s I). With absolute glee, I have Holmes quote Jesus (without crediting). But as this is set in the Holmes of the 1880s, he would have been raised with these words, and they would be found everywhere in their society. It is not likely he would not have heard them and would use them.

I received a text that dinner at Si Señor Family Mexican Restaurant was on for 5. I had enough time to consider new financial items. Without warning, my US Bank Savings account reduced the interest rate to 1.9%. I was told it was not going below 4%, but it is likely that there is some manipulation going on that I missed. I noticed this when my interest payment was 1/2 of last month, and there was more money in the account. F**k!

It’s time to get serious about investing after this curfuffle. I created an account with the US government, Treasury Direct, and enjoyed setting up various account links. However, I made an error setting my savings account to a checking account (but providing the correct routing and account values). I cannot fix this online nor delete the account, and each attempt (as I learned this) requires new authorization codes to be emailed to me. Not knowing if this would work, I ordered a $100 savings bond (inflation-adjusted) and will see if this works. I managed to connect my Treasury Direct to Quicken. The download of updates each time requires a One Time Passcode (OTP) emailed to me; apparently, there are no trusted devices when dealing with the Treasury.

I was a few minutes late for dinner because of a terrible accident, and I was rerouted around it. When I got there, Z and Dondrea had eaten most of the chips. It was happy hour, and we ordered happy hour items. We all got nachos. Z and I both ordered the mixed appetizers, which neither of us could finish. Sticking with Dondrea’s theory that alcohol makes weight loss impossible, I had iced tea while they had fountain drinks.

Z and Dondrea had previously been shopping for back-to-school supplies and were happy that this year’s total was under $250. Last night, I researched calculators and found Ohio’s official recommended 8th-grader calculator list. I took that to Amazon and found a green version of a TI science calculator that was approved by nearly everyone and was discounted (a pink calculator was $20 more for the same model; Barbie lovers are going to need extra cash), and Dondrea used the link to order it after sharing it with Z.

Air Volvo returned me home after saying good night, and I tried to get my servo to work on my electronic project there. Nothing. I am either going to shelf this and return to the model building or tear everything down, document, and try again. I find that a start-over and rebuild often uncover the issue when doing low-voltage microcontroller work. It may be that the Seeed XIAO controllers are unstable, and I know these voltage levels are tricky to control motors and servos. I have run into instabilities on my projects before (the unfinished radio project being one of them). This is why cars use 12V, heavy wires, and with lots of amps.

I finished my night reading a brain cookie Star Trek novel set in the original show. After showering and sleeping for a bit, I again woke in a cold house, got up, put eye grease in my left eye, and climbed under the covers. I woke at 5 with a sore throat and the start of hives from the smoke. Apparently, I am allergic to something burning. The hives stopped at 6, as the wind must have blown the toxic stuff away. My sleep was disturbed.

Thanks for reading.

Update: I spaced that I spent the late evening doing boring paperwork. I caught up on my finances from April through June. I revised Quicken by checking every transaction in June (already done in April and May) and then collected all the paper and receipts for those months and various statements I have printed (nothing is mailed anymore if I can help it) items and statements here. I punch holes in the paper and just bunch the receipts into a folder that fits into the binder. All caught up, and July will get placed in a binder once we are in August.