Thursday was full of items. I rose after 7 and soon made coffee. This is the Equal Exchange brand from the Portland, Oregon warehouse, already ground. I have a huge bag of Starbucks beans, but this one was open, so I will use it up. Ever since Trump was elected the first time, I have changed my coffee to liberal. Every morning, I am reminded that we liberals are always seeking Justice with Compassion with every sip of that dark, bitter drink.
Let me pause and note the shocking anti-Muslim statement I have seen of late on social media, accusing a whole religion of the sins of a vocal minority; it has saddened me. I thought we were past such simple manipulations, but once again I see this is not true.
Just in case we all need a reminder of our agreement as a people, please consider the following. Please notice that the order is: first, we are in this together, Union, and that Justice is our first priority:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
And
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Lastly
“Justice” defined by Noah Webster in 1828: “The virtue which consists in giving to every one what is his due; practical conformity to the laws and to principles of rectitude in the dealings of men.”
Note: And a reminder that English traditions of this time used the masculine pronoun and the masculine form for groups. Webster means everyone. It is an inclusive word and has nothing to do with revenge. And for those reading Bible translations that use the word “Justice,” this is what it means in that context too.
Returning to the story, I wrote the blog and did my usual morning tasks of updating Quicken with transactions and reading the news. Mostly, less about the President and more about wars, costs, and disasters. I have noticed a change over the last few months. I read my emails, mostly deleting them. I had an 11 meeting at the church, and I managed to get the blog posted (and yesterday’s that I failed to send out by email and post) and showered and dressed. I reached the Beaverton First United Methodist Church on time in Air VW the Gray.
The meeting, I will skip the details, went for an hour and then I talked to Jack and Wendy on some other items. I later called Jeff A to do some work for us. I ended up calling Wendy twice to cover other items. I have a long list of items to get completed at the church.
Lunch was a bust; Scott W was not able to make it, and I had missed his text. I had lunch alone and got Theology Pub booked for next month. Another item completed. Next, it was a day full of sadness; I drove over to the local gaming store, Rune and Board, to cancel my Tuesday night games. We never got anyone to join us, other than Nic, the store owner, and it was best to bring the experiment to an end. Again, I have noticed that the store’s focus, rightfully, is on items that generate excitement and revenue: Collectible Card Games and Warhammer 20K. I talked to a customer, McCloud, who had finished some huge, wonderfully awful demons for Warhammer. We talked about painting for a while. I was amazed to see cards for sale priced at $850. I headed out.
Next was buying too much for too much at Costco. I selected meats and dinners for me for the next couple of weeks. I also got a few items for the church, including ‘hot’ cups. Costco has no boxes. I just pile the stuff into the EV cargo hold from the cart. It takes a while to unload at the house, and I split up the heavy purchase of meats and call Corwin to get about 1/2. It was $300+ of items, and he and I are not set with food for the next month. I put most of it in the freezer, as it is just me. I put most of it in separate bags. I usually cook one steak, a pork chop, or make a batch of goulash for multiple meals.
I have Costco chicken for dinner, and they’re not good, ready-to-reheat scalloped potatoes. Corwin is running late, and I eat and finish the last episode of Star City. It is an anti-ending, as it leaves many arcs unfinished, much like the Cold War disappeared one day. I enjoyed it, and though it is dark, I would recommend it.
Corwin appears, harvests some Costco chicken and scalloped potatoes with Hank the Dog (“Pee dog,” as I call him), whom I watch with care. The dog seemed delighted to be back at the house and ran around the house. We finished the first season of Slow Horses.
Corwin and I then watched the lunar eclipse, with Corwin managing an excellent photo by using video, selecting a frame, and then taking a screenshot. I could not reproduce his photo, but I must admit, I did not try too hard. Corwin then headed home with Hank the Dog, who managed not to pee on anything (that I am aware of, but the bedroom doors were closed). I returned to painting my Scythe Sultan figures and finished up the base painting. As usual with model building, figure painting, and assembly, they often finish suddenly. I will follow with shading and final finishing steps. I use a column pawn, not the usual pawn supplied in my version of Scythe, to mark actions. I bought a spare set, painted one gray (it was green from another faction I already have) with primer, then copied the faction board, cut out the faction symbol from the copy, and glued it to the column. Later, I painted it with transparent anti-shine from a bottle. I will try to update the other Scythe markers to match my updated version.
(Hank the Dog watching us watch the moon)
Next, feeling out of sorts, I nodded off, then woke up wide awake. I picked up my book on Quantum Computing, finished the introduction, and started the first chapter. I read past 11 and stopped as the material got complex. Not the time for that. But I felt better about making some progress on something I wanted to do. I also looked at my final hotel reservation in Nashville for my 15Sept trip, but was not happy with the Studio 154 Lux Hotel rooms, as they were expensive and seemed to lack windows when I went to its website to book a few days. It seemed like a repurposing of a commercial building into rooms, but without windows. Hmmm. More to follow. Also, they wanted an extra $30 to book, with a chance of cancellation. Double Hmmmm.
I ordered some printer ink cartridges because I am getting terrible results with my new Canon 4720 Printer. I have found this replacement printer a disappointment. The scanner is no longer usable on my Apple after a software update, and now it cannot print. I have always had a disdain for printers; they always seem to be more dust collectors than printers.
I returned to bed, slept, and woke with terrible leg cramps. I drank more water, and that stopped it. I managed to sleep until 7ish. There were dreams, but none stayed with me, not even a flash of a memory.
Thanks for reading!
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 