Thursday More Repairs

I was up early before 6 this morning. I could not roll over and go back to sleep this time. I turned on the coffee that I remembered to assemble the night before. I took my morning meds as I waited for my Oregon-made bagel from The Market of Choice in Reed’s Crossing. I was surprised that they sell authentic boiled bagels; this is my first bagel I have found in Oregon (others are bagel-like bread products). I discovered that my previous overpurchase of cream cheese (from Costco) enabled me to have the bagel split, toasted, and spread with cream cheese from a block. It was a good start to Thursday morning.

ScottW was out of town, so I had no plans for the day. I started my morning by texting and then chatting with Deborah, who resides in the Eastern Time Zone and was already up for hours. We like to start and end our days together, even when we are on different sides of the USA. I invested the morning in writing the blog, getting dressed (and all that), and writing a card to Mom Wild. I try to get a card out to Mom Wild every day.

I had my own beef stew for three meals, and decided that was not happening for this lunch. I headed to Beaverton’s Powell store, and although not the City of Books in Portland, a whole city block, the store is well-organized and is an excellent mix of used and new books. There I find, for almost too much money, a Core Rulebook of Pathfinders, the original version. This is the version Sean is using. It is nearly two inches thick, printed in color, and has annoyingly small print. It is a reworking of Dungeons & Dragons 3.0/3.5 (which was from 2000-2008) and was released in 2009. I have played all versions except 2.0. I liked the 4.0 version, one of the few, and the newish version 5.0, and I am trying to enjoy the 2024 version. The rework in Pathfinders is not known to me. I decided it would be good to have a book.

With the book (heavy), I headed to Pastini for lunch. This is a chain, but the Beaverton seems to often serve food a step above the usual Italian-style chain. I had a glass of wine for too much money, and had I not added garlic bread to my pasta and salad lunch, the wine would have been as much as my whole lunch. Yikes, and I ordered the house wine. I was the only one in the whole place ordering wine. Next time, iced tea!

I enjoyed lunch while spending time ordering new pants (sadly, not in a new, smaller size) from Lands’ End. I had noted some wear on my pants, and one pair of gray pants had gone missing. Time to get some new ones. I was holding off to see if my size would change. Not yet.

Lands’ End was having a 40% off web sale, and I was happy to pay less than last time. The pants, unfinished, will all have to be cuffed here in Beaverton when they appear. My usual process. I buy my shirts from LL Bean, as my past experience has shown that they last longer than Lands’ End shirts.

There were spare tables, so I didn’t mind being invested for some time at Pastini, but I needed to be home for the repair person for The Machine, which was now leaking water when running. Ugh! The repair had broken or loosened something.

I returned to the Doc Savage novel (if 148 pages can be called that) #9, The Mystic Mullan, and was nearing the ending. The storyline was confusing and shifted to the USSR of the 1930s, where Doc Savage and his team were captured by the Soviets as spies and had to escape from a Soviet prison. I do like some of the base story and the betrayals and unexpected allies. I think elements of the story would make a good Dungeons & Dragons adventure. More to follow. I have one more Doc Savage I bought in Michigan, which I have not read before, at least I have no memory of it. The Doc Savage paperbacks, reprints from the 1970s, have distinctive covers that I still recall after thirty years, and I will see if this one is better.

The repairman came, and in his broken English (I believe he is Ukrainian), took apart The Machine and partially reassembled it. He then ran tests, and the machine leaked. A hose was punctured. He will order a replacement and thought it was installed in error by the warranty work. He apologized for not finishing the repair, and that I still have no laundry to use. Next week we will try again.

You often do not control the journey life takes you. It is all you can do to control your own reactions. I was supportive with only the goal of getting The Machine working again. It will be next week. I did not want a deep understanding of The Machine and its parts. I now have a good sense of it and how to repair it.

Disappointed that I could not do laundry, which was accumulating (I had decided Saturday morning was laundry day at the local laundry mat), I had a free afternoon. I took my Doc Savage book and boarded Air VW, the Gray, and headed to River Coffee, where I had coffee and read more. I checked, and the new Fantastic Four movie (rated a muddled 80% on Rotten Tomatoes) was nearly empty for the 4:10 showing (Regal charges full price after 4, and this was the more expensive 3-D version). I called and nobody was available, and I headed to Regal by myself.

I got a Megan 2.0 tin popcorn holder (they could not get anyone to buy them) and a glass of water (free), and joined a few people for the movie. While I liked the film, I think the Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer, and Galactus are complex subjects that are nearly impossible to get me to dispel disbelief and become immersed in the movie. However, this movie did a great job of it, and I liked the mix of 1950s and sci-fi technology. I also noticed, as mentioned at the start, that this was Earth 828 and not our Earth (or part of the already explored Marvel multiverse). This allows for a narrow focus on the Fantastic Four. The usual bad guy, Doom, was not included in this story (except for a brief flash), and I think it was a wise decision not to add to the already crowded storyline. They already have a Doom movie planned to follow. Overall, a good Marvel movie, not great, but good, and I suspect the next one will improve on this storyline.

I never got dinner, other than lots of popcorn, and returned home. I finished the Doc Savage and chatted with Deborah as it was an early movie. We enjoy finishing her day taking. I did the dishes, assembled the liberal coffee, Fair Trade certified, for Friday, and put out the trash (the day for trash pickup after twenty-eight years is changing to Thursday next week).

I soon nodded off, woke, took my pills, put on my PJs, and crawled into bed. I soon was dreaming forgotten dreams. I suspect I dreamed of Deborah and me dancing and swimming in Iceland while dodging bad guys trying to overcharge me for dinner with Doc Savage directing us to safety.

Thanks for reading.