Tuesday

I rose after 7, near 8. Deborah sent a text concerned that I was ill or something. No, just enjoying the snuggling. Usually it is winter when I start to sleep in, but I do remember my first summer of retirement, and I often woke closer to 9 than 8. Part of the gift of being retired.

I am now less than a week from traveling to Michigan for 13 days: July 13-25. I have to pack!

But it is another morning, and I start it like most, finding the kitchen, which has not moved, and making coffee, liberal Fair Trade, and then returning to my office with a cup and starting the usual morning routine.

I always start with Quicken and check my balance at US Bank via their app on my phone (the IRA balance does not update). I find nothing suspicious, and it is far easier to invest a few minutes every day than to try to update and check everything once it accumulates. It also gives me a sense of control over my finances.

With the strangeness of the Iran-USA-Israel war and AI’s weird impact on Wall Street (which seems to be the same money traveling from one company to the next and not real profits), my IRA balance has run up again. It appears that the downs are now less than the ups, and it is creeping up.

I have moderate-to-aggressive index and Mutual Fund investments managed for a fee by U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Extremely low-cost securities, but a usual fee for active management. Many securities, when purchased by individuals, have much higher costs, but when purchased by an institution, have near-zero costs. Interesting, I did not understand that Wall Street punishes the individual or retail market with higher fees.

I am showing an 8% YTD return, but that is after withdrawals. That is as good as I could hope for. I have a sustained positive balance after living expenses so far. Also, Social Security payments have started, and I was surprised how much easier it is now that I have income. The obvious, I know, but still it was a surprise.

With the exception of a church meeting at 7, I had no plans. I talked to Deborah on and off all day. I also heard from Emma, my niece, a few times, who is now headed to Beaverton to live. She will be here with friends (and two cats) on Wednesday evening. Emma has an apartment, has sent a box of her stuff, and starts her Master’s in the fall.

I wrote until about 10:30, published my story about my Monday experiences, and then showered and all of that. I planned to visit the AAA office. I wanted to see if they could book the flights or at least have a recommendation for flights to Brazil in November. I boarded Air VW the Gray and headed across Beaverton. I discovered more hole installations and was surprised that lunchtime was a good time to close a lane on TV Highway, but soon I passed that and saw lots of cones, but nothing was going on.

Aside: I have imagined leading a group that just drives around the greater Beaverton area, putting up cones or taking them down. Likely thieving the Beaverton City cones and reusing them (not sure Beaverton would notice; they have so many). I could create imaginative traffic patterns. But it is just a dream; I have not done that. What you see, dear local readers, is from the local municipalities, not a bunch of traffic terrorists led by an ironic mastermind. I did not do this. I digress.

I walked into the AAA office, saw there were charging stations (hmmm), with my upgraded membership (restored yesterday), got a passport photo (after four attempts), and left my biz card, asking if they could do a nine-person air to and from Brazil. Later, Holly from AAA Travel called and said they could accommodate up to 9 people and would look into the flights. I received a plan later in the evening that worked.

While I was in the area, I had lunch at La Provence at the former Raccoon Lodge location. There is no longer a bar, and I am seated at a two-person table. My server, Audrey, and I agreed that a Monte Cristo sandwich would be good, but she would talk to the kitchen to ensure it was cooked all the way through (I have had cold ones before; ick!). I read my book while I waited for my lunch. My sandwich arrived after a wait, and everything was perfect, and I was drinking iced tea. I ate 3/4 of the sandwich and carried the rest home for Wednesday’s breakfast.

I stop by the aquarium to look at the fish. They have a freshwater stingray, and it’s wonderful to watch. The school of large white angelfish follows one of the staff. They know who feeds them. While I miss having fish, I don’t miss the mess and deaths (the likelihood of a fish dying in my tank is a function of its price and beauty; ugly, cheap fish live forever). Freshwater crabs are interesting, and there seems to be a huge collection of freshwater shrimp now for micro aquariums (multiple colors and sizes, with the usual prices doubling for color and size). I notice that 2 grand will get you a nice starter marine tank, I smile, and a walk-out with just a memory.

I return home, and after some more strange results on my Apple TV streaming service (I don’t have cable, as I reported before), I watch Switzerland and Colombia play for an extended period without a score. A shoot-off followed, something I had not seen in years, and Columbia was eliminated by missing twice to Switzerland’s one failure. I had a cold burger and some coleslaw for dinner, leftovers from M@ and Nikki’s July 4th party.

Aside: I could see that both teams’ play was better than that of the eliminated teams  (including USA) I watched. The passing, the slow aggression, and the lightning-fast strikes. But defense was there, applying pressure, and many shots went astray or into the goalie. I suspect there will be more shoot-outs in the next round!

I sent travel updates to Gordon G in Brazil and others, worked on my plan to run a Call of Cthulhu game at a local gaming store, and read more of my book.

The church meeting followed, and that took 90 minutes. Details cannot be covered here. It will be another church adventure for me. More to follow.

I read more and made a cup of tea (which I would regret later), including locating my New Orleans setting for Call of Cthulhu (CoC, and yes, I played NOLA before even seeing it). My thought is to start with a comic-book version of NOLA, focusing on cosmic horror. I read one adventure I got a few years ago and the oldish NOLA supplement for CoC.

It was a process-heavy day, and soon my mind wanted sleep, but my body was not tired (not enough walking and caffeine). I rose, made a slice of toast, took some ibuprofen to counter the caffeine (it works for me), and returned to bed. I dream bright, but now-forgotten dreams of travel and processes. I woke for a moment at sunrise, blinked, and it was 7:30.

Thanks for reading!