Thursday Zooming

Thursday started with me rising just before 8. It is another hot summer day, with the winds dropping and smoke in the valley. Many forest fires, including a few large ones, are burning, especially in California. The temperature for The Volvo cave deck (outside) reached 97F (36C) on Thursday. I stayed inside most of the day and forgo any walking until late.

I spent the morning with a banana and the last croissant from Beaverton’s Tous Les Jours bakery. I made liberal coffee and could taste justice all morning. Justice is not revenge, as most people believe, but the right things happening for the right reasons for widows, orphans, and the poor.

I write yet another, it seems, endless blog about yesterday. I was slightly time-boxed as I had lunch with Scott. We both retired from Nike and agreed to meet weekly or at least a few times a month to stay connected. We both get busy and sometimes forget about the meeting. “When every day is Saturday, it is hard to remember it is Thursday,” Scott said once, and I agree.

Before lunch, I completed the transactions to buy $10,000 in savings bonds at 4.28%, a type that is adjusted for inflation. I also transferred much of the after-tax-deferred compensation lump payment to my savings account. I also signed on to ADP and printed out the paystub that covers this payment. All of this was done with Quicken transfers to align with these money movements. Neatness counts with money and dealing with the Fed and the IRS!

Aside: Deferred compensation is another higher-earner tool for tax avoidance. I stacked a percentage of my earnings after social security and medicare payments (matched by my employer as I was not an independent contractor) into a before-tax investment. These earnings would enjoy (or suffer) the index funds’ performance–I did very well. I would set a percentage and distribution method each year when I leave my employer (the shoe company in this case). In well-off and multiple high-earner families, 100% of an earning would often be shielded from State/Federal/Local taxes. At a later date, retirement, for example, the distributions would begin. Continuing the example, someone who moved to Texas would greatly reduce the State/Local tax burden compared to receiving the distribution while still residing in Oregon. Also, this is taxed as income, and usually, a retired person has a much lower taxable income later in their life. Thus, all these taxes are avoided or reduced. Meaning that the rich and wealthy pay less. Not sure I am a fan of this tax break for well-heeled families, but I used it, though my plan faltered when I retired this year and not two years from now.

I finished the blog after ten, dressed, and started to organize my work table more. I am going back to model building and figure painting. The tools for model building are much smaller, and few need to be plugged into the wall. I am not using my airbrush and not spraying much paint except for the grey-colored Mr. Surfacer primer. Hard plastic does not take Tamiya Color Acrylic Paint well without a primer. Also, when hand brushing, you also have to be ready for two coats and lots of tiny fixes unless masking (and then there is always something still).

I use a scalpel to make cuts and leave X-acto blades for limited use for heavy cutting. Scalpel blades cannot take the stress of hard cuts and are so sharp that a mistake could send you to the ER! I use the wickedly sharp English Steel Swann-Morton blades (like the movie, “So sharp that just looking at them, you get cut”). If you are cutting cardboard or curves, use an X-acto knife with a fresh blade. If you want to remove the micro bump, the scalpel is perfect, and the sharper, the better.

Returning to our story, Air Volvo boards and I take the next flight to Elephants Delicatessen in moderate traffic. My worst trips to Portland are Thursdays, and I seldom travel to Portland on Thursdays to play games or for dinner–it is messy in Beaverton. I arrive thirty minutes early, surprising me, and I walk through Best Buy as planned. I wanted to be at the Cedar Hills Mall, the location of the delicatessen, to look at headphones. None have the ability to send all the sound to one side. I find I only hear half the music as stereo technology splits the sound. I have no hearing on the left side and miss some of the sound; it appears the setup is on the source. Hmmm.

I walked in the heat, already over 85F (30C), and soon saw Scott in his red jeep. We found drinks and then ordered sandwiches and found a table outside. We saw some folks from Nike who were happy to see two retired guys, and we chatted for a few moments until our food was delivered. Scott and I talked about Scott’s lawn work, my health, and my issues with depression. Scott had just read “Howard’s Lockdown,” and he seemed to like it, but he thought it a bit chaotic (my words) and spotted a typo I know about and suggested a change for usage (“marked” to “labeled”). He found DriveThruFiction not easy to use and the AI generated art I put in the text interesting but strange. He had to guess how some of the art connected to the text; I might need some titles for the art.

I learned from Scott that I will have to be more careful with my transitions in my Sci-Fi writing. I have seen this in other sci-fi I have read. The writer gets too attached to the events and exciting words to describe them and forgets to be the narrator. I love feedback—thanks, Scott.

For those who would like to give my writing a spin: DriveThruFiction.

It was good catching up, and we will meet next Friday. I headed back as the smoke and heat grew. I spent the afternoon not doing much but reading, organizing my workspace, doing dishes, and making dinner. I had two Zoom meetings.

I started on the church committee S/PRC (Bob asked me to join, and I could not turn him down) via a Zoom call at 2PM today. I am retired and can make these times. This is the HR committee for a Methodist Church, and all of the meetings cannot be shared. I did manage to only have one takeaway task from the meeting.

An hour later, I had my Zoom call with my neurosurgeon, Doctor G. He was happy to see me, and we both agreed I was doing very well. He could not spot the paralyzation on the left side of my face. He thinks the taste and control issues in my mouth are related to his nerve work and believes it will take as much as a year to clear, but it will fade away. He told me that the tumor was not likely to return as the blood supply to the tumor was removed. I was excited to see the before and after pictures. The MRI also shows a non-dangerous lesion on the right side–always startling. I will have a follow-up MRI (I hate those) next May or so.

All was good, and we both were smiling, and he was happy to see the weight loss, too, “That is hard to do,” he said to me. I replied that “death” is a good motivator, which got a smile. I thanked him for the good work and told him I would recommend him–he thought that funny. Unless things go strange, we signed off of Zoom and will not likely see each other again, maybe once after the MRI, but I expect to see a staffer instead, if the MRI is not interesting. Let’s plan for boring.

I got out the chicken quarters and soaked them in kosher teriyaki sauce I found at Whole Foods. It was now nearing 100F (39C) on the deck, and when I lighted the gas grill, it seemed like it was already lighted!

I might have set the chicken on fire a few times. It was still good, but it took a while to get to an internal temperature of 165F; yes, I checked. Inside, I reheated the couscous and cooked some green beans with almonds, butter, and garlic powder (just a small amount). The beans were from the freezer (it was too hot and smoky to visit the 185th Produce stand—and I forgot to stop on the way back from Beaverton), but they were still good.

I had my blackened-skin chicken, and it was quite good and just cooked–not overcooked this time. Dinner was good, but I was surprised that the cooking tools were hot to the touch just from being in the sun! It was not comfortable (to understate) on the deck at a hot grill.

Aside: I am still struggling with Grammarly rewriting my words to less correct or strange order. It is out of its AI mind.

I tried TV and some movies, but I was not tired and soon returned to my work area. I got my nitrile exam gloves; I am seeing more and more people using them for model and electronic work. I located my cigar box with my etched brass tools and related tools. I find old wooden cigar boxes perfect storage for tiny model-building tools.

I locate a large brush, mask the deck, and, with gloves, paint the side of my SMS Derfflinger 1916 Flyhawk model. The color, EF-66 Light Grey, dries darker than when it is brushed on, and while not perfect like an airbrush, the look works, I think. The ship (finally scrapped as an upside-down wreck after WW2) had no color pictures. Instead, modelers like me have to go with expert interpretations of the written record. With the advent of computer 3D modeling, ships like SMS Derfflinger have been recreated in full color in books and online with extreme detail and notes about how the author/artist came to certain conclusions (some that may be disputed or updates to previous incorrect interpretations). The details available are actually dizzying to a model builder like me.

It is hard for me to start a model as I see all the mistakes and to do is to risk. I finally began to paint more of the model, starting and stopping. I have used laser-cut wood overlays for decking for WW1 models. This avoids all the painting and trying to make the deck look like wood and all the lines that need to be perfect but are tiny. The masking to perfect these deck lines is very difficult and time-consuming (and not fun). I got out my best and unused 28mm figure painting brushes from The Army Painter: The Psycho and Kolinsky Masterclass. These are magic brushes that put paint where you want it. I cannot stress how good these are. I managed to paint the tiny deck bits and only paint in millimeters of the surface. When dry, I can correct the mistakes. I use 3X bifocal eye protection and lots of light. I have to hold the model in various positions to get the deck colors on the side of the tiny bits that are the capstones. I paint the anchor plates and the gun markings and over-paint a small amount. I stop there to let the paint dry, and when I make three mistakes, it’s time to stop. While the lines are not perfect, most will be covered by the overlay. I am just ensuring the colors will align (grey under wood is not a good look).

(Yes, that is a US penny on the model, and the wood overlay is just set on)

With that, my back and legs are sore from the intensity of the model work (it is a kind of workout), so I shower and read in bed. I return to a Star Trek book and notice how the transitions are done in the book. They are very intentional. Interesting.

I take my pills, put in the eye grease, and try to fall asleep. I get up and search and finally find the plastic that is near the vent and has been making an annoying crackling sound for a week. My hearing does not allow me to locate the sound. Everything is somewhere right as that is the only working ear.

With the sound gone, I sleep and wake twice to prove hydration.

Thanks for reading.