Thursday Too Busy

Thursday, I knew, would be a busy day, and I would have no time for packing or anything else. I woke and started my day by writing the usual blog entry and making coffee. I would drink three cups and leave the rest for tomorrow. It was another sunny morning that was clouded with marine effects later, but it was a warm day. There were a few sprinkles, but no return of our usual rains.

I started on the blog and tried to find my focus. Deborah called, and various church items, best not covered here, came forward, and that too took my time, and I did not finish the blog before I had to head toward lunch with Brad J and Scott W at our usual Thursday. I showered, and all that, and soon was in Air VW the Gray. I was in a dress shirt and a sweater vest. I put on another vest, green in color, black slip-on shoes, and a pride tie in the car. I had unloaded the cargo hold earlier, and all the games are now on the shelves, except for a few new American Civil War (ACW) wargames.

Brad J was already there when Scott and I entered, having met in the parking lot. We talked about travel and all the old Nike folks we had met of late. Scott and Brad had some advice for my trip, with Brad recommending the Getty Villa and Scott reminding me that LA traffic is a Thing. We all had the lunch special (1/2 a sandwich, side salad, and a cup of the soup of the day, something tomato) with Scott W and me taking a Hammerhead Beer and Brad J going for a zero-alcohol IPA. Lunch was pleasant, but Scott W passed on a walk after lunch; he had things to do.

I moved to the bar, ordered coffee, asked for a manager, finished the blog, and tried their cheesecake (OK, but not great). I scheduled the next Theology Pub, though I will be in California for that. I published the blog and saw I would be a few minutes late for Gaming with Doug’s group at 2.

I am the youngest, and there were three of us: Doug, Dave, and me. Doug put out a spread and made beef soup with veggies for dinner. There was also freshly-made sourdough bread. It was fun to play Finspan again, and we had a tight game with Dave making schools and wtih me adding high-value fish to my tableau. I lost to Dave by one point. We played Flip-7 for three games, and each one of us won.

After some soup and too much bread (Dave also brought zucchini bread), I headed out and drove to the church. There, I changed my sweater and shoes and put on a tie. I walked into a challenge.

The copier/printer was not working. The usual issue: toner. I soon located the supplies and installed them. Rebooted the copier/printer and moved to the next issue. The resources on the PDF specified a setting I did not have. Pastor Ken set the paper to plain, and I told the machine that I had added plain to tray one. Soon, we had it running on cardstock, which thankfully did not jam.

But there is more; these need to be cut; they are badges. We have a huge paper cutter (it is a church), and I cut the copies as they came out and then in sets. Only one mishap (one hand slides the paper on the other side of the guide, and the other pulls down the handle) as I leaned in, and gravity caused the handle to fall and hit me in my glasses. I was relieved that the blade was not involved.

Jeff and Z walked in as the blade handle hit me. They were concerned, and then Jeff laughed with me about the mistake. If you can laugh about it, you are taking things too seriously. I think Z smiles nervously, wondering what is wrong with us. Ken had lanyards for the badges, supplies in three colors, and I attached the correct ones to the colors and then gave them out. I had one.

The speaker, David Harrelson, gave his presentation, Indigenous Place Keeping: Learning from the Land, for just over an hour. We had about 44 folks there (including everyone). There were a few folks from some local native language classes who knew of or had heard of David. The presentation was interesting, and he quoted some of the geology I follow on YouTube. There is evidence of long-term human intervention from ash records recovered from lake cores. David shared that there has always been a Beaverton, as the native village was named after beavers and was West of the current downtown. He shared that fire was used to manage the land and that science, some historical documents, and the archaeological record show this. It was an interesting topic, and the Q&A went on for a while.

Folks and David lingered for about an hour, and there were plenty of cookies and light drinks. I headed out at about 9, then went to The 649 and had an Old Fashioned and some cheese fondue with bread, apples, and some sliced brats. I read the news and looked more at the Getty Villa, and just surfed.

It was after 11 when I packed up and headed home. There, I went to bed and soon slept. I woke a few times and then had a terrible asthma attack at 6. I could not breathe for a moment. Once I could, I took my emergency inhaler, and it cleared the issue. I should have taken last night.

The next speaker is Nicholas Kristof on Oct 1st. He is an award-winning journalist and has a Wikipedia Article.

Thanks for reading.