Just as I had given up hope of seeing the blue sky or the sun, it appeared late Thursday morning. It was a busy day, unexpectedly, but not very interesting. It will be a short blog today.
I was up later, which was a good thing, as I finally switched back to this time zone (though I leave next week for New Orleans). I find that at this age, I bounce back more slowly, but I suspect it is just retirement mode, and I can notice it now. Before, I was busy and there was much to be about, and there was no time for being tired. I remember three+ shot coffee drinks with sugar to keep going. I do not miss the all-nighters, weekend work, often with limited sleep, or reaching 40+ hours worked by Wednesday morning! Those 100-hour workweeks were harsh!
I write the blog, explore my email, unsubscribe from right-wing stuff that mostly wants money, and one Republican congressman offering to let me pay him for a newsletter. No.
I enjoy my cup of coffee with more peanut butter toast, write the blog, and update the Quicken transaction flow. Ensuring they are correct and meaningful. It is easy for you to do it every day and check them about every month.
With that done, I focus —or try to find focus —for writing the blog. The sun rises, the dark moves to gray, to white, and a hint of blue suggests the sky will show later (and it does), and the squirrels, fearless in my backyard, are bouncing all over and investing the lawn with their bounty to be used later. The slightly fermented apples of my old apple tree are enjoyed, and the furry treasure planters seem even more careless after that. The birds also come for the apples, and their flying seems more complex afterward.
The spinners from the trees are flying all over, rising and falling as the wind creates updrafts over the fence walls. It is marvelous to watch. I sip my coffee and try to write, but the fall show is hard to ignore.
I call Peak Vision (you can see Mount Hood’s top just over the trees there) and they agree to a 3:45 appointment. I need to resolve my glasses issue. I want to wear them all the time, which is different. I can see well at over 10 feet, but I cannot wear them to use my computer or talk to people. I need something different. Deborah makes many suggestions, having more experience with this than I do (this is my first pair of glasses for aging eyes).
Deborah and I connect by phone and text all day. Later, we will watch another episode of Murders Only in the Building together. We miss each other, but we stay in contact most days.
I get a few cards out before the mail comes, and when the mail comes, it is mostly stuff I toss.
I managed to book the rest of the hotels for our trip, and later I booked an IHG near the airport for myself. I have an insanely early flight, so it is best to just use the hotel shuttle rather than risk an expensive Uber and a traffic mess. I looked first at Aloft, but they wanted an extra $100 for a night ($300 should be a nice hotel).
I call Leta to say, “Hello.” Her mouse on her Apple computer has failed. A new one was acquired, but it too does not connect. One of the reasons I keep a wired mouse for my Linux systems. You never know when something will update an interface or when the batteries will fail. I tried to help, but even restarting and alternating between the mice got no response. Ugh! It is nearly impossible to diagnose over the phone, even with the video, and I called Leta’s daughter, Barb C, to see if she could help or had any ideas. I could not help.
(I am trying)
Next, I board Air VW the Gray and stop first at Happy Panada for lunch. I had the usual American version of Chinese-style lunch. A group behind me was loud and opinionated, so I put on music on my laptop to drown them out a bit (with the waiter’s permission). I was trying to work on the hotels and other stuff, but it was too loud even for me. I paid my bill, enjoyed a fortune, and headed to the glasses place in the EV.
The traffic was typical, but 217 is somehow not under reconstruction (for most of my nearly 29 years here, it has been being reconstructed for various reasons), and traffic was only slow in a few places. Wow! I arrive an hour early, slip into a nearby Starbucks, and avoid buying anything, as the line seems long each time I look.
Two folks are working with one woman, using the two-screen setup on her Windows laptop. Another person was clearly doing some kind of call response, using the coffee joint as a temporary base and source of Internet, with headphones too. I have an extra screen too, but I am out of the habit of using it. Hmmm. Maybe I should get it out, return to headphones, and work from coffee joints. I used to do that. All interesting.
Because of the hearing loss from the brain tumor (all my hearing on the left side is gone), I may speak too loudly on a phone, and I do talk to Joan S for a while and walk outside. I see the woman looking happy that I stepped out. Yup!
Glasses were mostly me apologizing for misunderstanding, and the glass folks and my Doc reworking the glasses. I paid $160 more for the improvements and was told my insurance covers a second pair, so I will do that in December (before my COBRA coverage ends) and get to enjoy no eye coverage in ObamaCare. They took back the glasses, and I should get a revision when I return.
I drove home, but stopped at the local store to stock up on candy. Still amazed that 217 is working and has worse traffic than 217 in Beaverton! I get a cheap bucket for the candy. At home, I move the table and put out the candy a day early. I talk to my neighbors and they get some. Excellent! Today is the close of the 28th year at 20625 SW Clarion Street, Aloha (Beaverton), Oregon 97003 (or 97006 and Aloha).
(Free candy to celebrate spookiness on top of an EV that had a ‘free’ EV rebate from the government–as scary as it gets for some folks. Boo! From a liberal.)
I managed to write some more of my Dungeons & Dragons adventure and made my first encounter more fun. Hill giants with a potion of speed and a pile of rocks. Put evil DM laugh here.
Time was somehow already late. The day, like most now, disappears in a poof of unexpected tasks and confused usual tasks, but I will still record them here, and even this quietish day has 1000+ words.
Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 