Author: alohawild

Monday is my weekend, and I go slow and enjoy my coffee. I rose with the sunrise. Well, about sunrise.

I made coffee, just half a pot, grabbed a banana, and headed into the office (once a bedroom) and looked out my lovely window and watched the tulips (survivors of another wet or nearly bulb-drowning winter) open and bask in the unusual warm and sunny weather. The old roses are failing this Spring 2026, but I have added mulch and bone meal to them and hope they will get happy.

I start on the blog and also do my usual steps of reading my email (mostly deleting), and I find in the email a video for the new board game that is being developed via Kickstarter, Brass: Pittsburgh. They have gone beyond bling on this version and are pushing what is sane for a board game. But this is how we get change. Glare-reducing coatings on boards, cards that are not paper, and wooden, not cardboard, pieces. It is interesting to see how far they can push this, though at a $125 starting price, plus yet-to-be-determined shipping, the price has turned a few heads, and there are videos arguing against buying this game, arguing it has gone too far into bling. I see it as a technology level change.

I have backed it and ordered cards and pieces to replace my existing copies: Brass: Birmingham, Brass: Lancashire ($350 will get you three new games, all blinged out, but I do not play all three that much to invest). Brass is a mean game, and usually, as a player favors one, I like the less popular Lancashire over the number-one-rated (yes, above all others of thousands and thousands of board games) Birmingham. I suspect I will enjoy Pittsburgh, and the other copies will languish on a shelf.

Monday is laundry day; going back to 2021 and the Pandemic, when we returned to work, and Mondays and Fridays were work-from-home days. I would do the laundry between meetings and fold later. I still do that. I wrote the blog while running the blog. I also read the news on the New York Times, but I was more interested in their discussion of books, cooking, and AI. I have reached my saturation of Trump and how-can-they-do-that moments for a while.

Again, I write this the next day, then have to try to recall the day, and it always surprises me how hard it is to recall the events of the day before. How quickly a day leaves your mind. But suddenly, it replays in my mind like a poorly edited, often boring film.

I shower and dress, and then add the towels and washcloth to the laundry to be done. I stripped the bed and washed the sheets first. I next board Air VW the Gray and smile when I see that this time it is at 100%. I have to override the charging to 100% each time. Physics makes the power to charge the last 20% about the same as the first 50%. Thus, it is cheaper to keep it at 80% and do 100% only when needed for long-distance travel. But I perfer 100% as that gets me 300 miles if I need it. Old habits of keeping a car gassed up in case of bad weather or emergencies. But if you keep an EV at 80%, it is a lot less money. Hmmm.

I took the EV across Beaverton and reached McMenamins Cedar Hills without incident, turned before the construction messing up my travel times on TV Highway, and ordered a crispy chicken sandwich with Buffalo sauce and blue cheese dressing. It was tangy and worked for me, but I stuck to iced tea; I do not need a beer-caused nap or the calories. I arranged for the Theology Pub to have a room on Thursday night.

I was rushed as I realized that the Skyrizi Pharmacy, Accredo, had not sent me my dose or called me as promised. F**k. In the EV, I call them, and the Pharmacy seems to go with “who me?” when I point out that my part of this process is to take the injector pen and slam it into my left leg. They say that someone insured did something that displeased Accredo, and then this meant they did nothing. I was unpleased with them now. The displeasure spread like a rash to me. I remind the person on the phone that I do not care about their problems, but that they have only one role as Pharmacy, and it does not include the role of NOT DELIVERING the stupidly expensive Skyrizi. I was informed that I was misinformed and that it will take them two days to call me. As I was already on the phone, I was surprised to be told to effectively buzz off, as the customer must follow the process. Some day they may call me to schedule the delivery of Skyrizi, and it was my fault if I miss the Thursday deadline. Hmmm.

I see a letter to Skyrizi and Accredo, and cc’d to The New York Times, soon. I wonder if the NYT would like to investigate if everyone is being treated like this for stupidly expensive drugs? I like letters.

Frustrated but with absolutely nothing I could do about it, I went to the comic book store to see if the next issue of an amazingly interesting Lands Unknown: The Skinless Man was available. As the universe seemed to have planned special handling for me this afternoon, there was a note on the store’s door that they had no new comics due to a processing issue. I went in anyway, and yes, they were right, it was much like my previous visit, but even fewer choices. I learned from the sales clerk that there is chaos at Dark Horse Comics, and the store has been embroiled in the mess. Yes, another thing that is frustrating, and I can do nothing about it.

I went home and discovered that the $5 comic would cost about $4 to ship and would not be issued until April 22nd anyway. Hmmm. One more shot from the universe, which now leaves me alone, for now.

I finish up the dishes, do more laundry, and find more things for my May Sunday School class on the Book of Revelation. I read more of The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards, Book 1). I drove over to Best Buy and, after looking for something cheap and something I thought might not break for a few years, I picked a $79 Canon that can print on both sides. I did not want a photo printer. I also bought extra-large replacement cartridges, which cost, one black and one in various colors, more than the printer. I switched back to cartridge printers as my tank Epson failed when the print head failed. With cartridges, you get a new print head included in each cartridge. That seems less likely to fail. HP has not impressed me of late, and others had warned me off HP. I used to use Canon Laser printers for years. Loved them.

I got the printer installed without issue, then let my iPhone set it up after repeatedly trying to use the manual setup process. The iPhone works well, and my first document, the adventure I have been revising for the last month, printed well. Excellent.

I then updated my Dungeons and Dragons character to 11th level. I am now adding Bard abilities to my sorcerer and wanted to add that for a few more levels. I want to get to those interesting 2nd-level bard spells! The printer printed out my new character sheets (which is why I went and got one). With that done, I talked to Deborah for a while and then headed to M@’s place.

M@ was recovering from a cold and a fabulous time in Ireland. Betsy, one of our players, joined that group in Ireland, and all praised Ireland as a great trip. M@ made us burgers for various dietary restrictions. Mackers could not make it, and Jack was filling in for Scott. Which gave us a tank and a paladin against a tricking and charming vampire. My character’s habit to cast Calm Emotions, which also blocks charm and fear effects in D&D 2024, was of good use, but Karyn’s critical hits were excellent. Jack also helped push to the end. My character managed to make his concentration checks in the claws of the vampire and, resisting necromatic damage, disappointed a hungry vampire. We managed to complete the old S4: The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth.

We also started the S3: Expedition to Barrier Peaks. This and S4 are not my favorites, but that may be because I only DM’d them rather than played them. I enjoyed playing them so far. Thanks, M@!

After the game, I was home, started more laundry, finished it about 11:30 and then stopped reading and slept until 5ish and then rolled over.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

It seemed that I woke only a few minutes after getting the alarm set. How could it be 6:30 already? I climbed out of bed and found my way to the coffee maker. The sink was stacked high with dishes, and that would get handled later. I assembled coffee, making a whole pot, and then found my way to the shower and did all the usual things. I put on a white dress shirt, a Pride tie, a green sweater vest, and my black church shoes (what Jesu in India called “preacher shoes”), and assembled the remaining items, the cooked and cooled sausages. I risked putting plastic wrap over the coffee pot and set it on the car floor (I should have wrapped it in a towel to keep it from moving).

The electric grills were already in the car with other items. I checked that I had everything; I forgot the extra butter, but we had plenty. Traffic before 7 in Beaverton on Easter Sunday is nonexistent, and I arrived early. I parked Air VW the Gray on the street next to the church. Emmaus Security, from the other church before us, recognized me, and I walked to the kitchen and soon unloaded the EV.

The coffee had spilled, leaving about half of its contents to spice up the EV. The fine German Engineering, unlike the Volvo I had (redesigned by the Chinese who own Volvo), did not put the pain cables and computer on the floor, and thus there was no loss or fire. I would not want to spill coffee in a Tesla! I will clean that up later, maybe (the carpet is black and plastic-based and will shrug off the coffee).

I had a light turn pink on my trip in, and I tried to brake for it, but then I heard the coffee and drove through it. I reached back and turned the now rolling coffee pot back to normal. There was a small sea of coffee. Hmmm.

Nothing was ruined, and I soon was unpacking things. Z and Dondrea soon appeared. Seth set up the tables while Z and I organized the food. Later, Pam would appear with a pile of cooked bacon and reheat it in the microwave (Costco). We would serve freshly grilled pancakes, brown-sugar-and-honey pork sausage, and bacon from Pam. We also had coffee and even tea from Bill.

We started serving around 9, when there were lots of early folks, and kept cooking until after 10. Other folks stepped in and cleaned the kitchen (which was not too bad, since nobody dropped anything this year—don’t ask).  We also kept the crew small, which helped prevent mistakes. Seth started to cook pancakes and I stepped out. I just mixed the pancake stuff.

By 10:45, all was put away and back to normal. By 11, I was ushering for the Easter Service. Today, we had 64 plus 8 online. Lower than last year. As it was the first Sunday in April, it is tradition in Methodist Churches to hold communion on this day. Rev. Anne gave the Easter Sermon and retold the story of Jesus’ disappearance from the tomb and his appearances thereafter. Pastor Anne concluded that Mary Magdalene was ready to see Jesus, while the others were too consumed by grief and their own thoughts to be ready to see the angels and Jesus. Anne believes that only Mary was open to the revelation, and we need to remember to be open to Jesus and God (less Peter and more Mary, using my own words).

Pastor Ken did communion and reminded everyone that at the Methodist Church, communion was open to anyone. I got to use the new process and just raise my arms to get everyone to stand and find their way to communion (or not). After church, my feet hurt, so I got in the EV and headed out, wishing folks a Happy Easter.

I drove to BJ’s Brewhouse, sat at the bar, and had their prime rib Sunday dinner. Taylor was my bartender, and she remembered me. I talked to others at the bar, enjoying an easy (there was no line as BJ’s is not the usual Easter Brunch choice) meal and excellent prime rib (though it is cheaper and better in the Detroit area). We chatted about travel and other easy subjects, including baseball, which was playing on the big screens at the bar.

The beer, food, and the four hours on my feet had me ready for a nap. I spent a few hours enjoying a nap and rose again around five or so. I did not need dinner. I said good night to Deborah, who figured I was napping before. Next, I did the dishes and read. I read The Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastards, Book 1), which I bought last month on my Kindle. It is a high-fantasy story, reminiscent of The Thieves World, without the darkness or Lankhmar-based stories, as it is city-based so far.

Painkillers, a bowl of ice cream, and a new high-fantasy story make for an excellent ending for Easter 2026. I went to bed. Finally got the pillows arranged and read until I started to lose track of the words, nodding off. It was too warm (with Easter being sunny and reaching 80°F/27°C), so I turned on the fan in the master bedroom. Sleep then game with the light breeze.

Jeff installed ceiling fans in the two bedrooms during a previous house update.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Sorry it has been a busy Sunday and then there was that nap…

Saturday started with me rising with the sunrise and then resisting, and finally rising. Coffee was required, and 1/2 a pot was made, Fair Trade, and consumed. Music was played after I did the usual updating in Quicken, quickly fixed my checking with a transfer, and read email. I have slowed my intake of news as it has been distressing as the war burns on. Deborah did send me The Late Show on No Kings Day, and that was all I could take of the news, but it did make me laugh. Battleship New Jersey had a spoof where they fired a 16″ gun (they had a flag with “Boom” on it, sticking out of the barrel for April 1st). Battleship Texas had a “photo” of the newly repaired Texas firing the guns. I reviewed the news in the New York Times, which had an excellent article on cozy murder mysteries to read (only two had I read), which was more interesting than the war. I have the first one on my Kindle.

I finished The Fourth Protocol yesterday and liked the ending. Despite the claim that the British Labor Party was controlled by the Soviet Union in the late 1980s (hinting at the outrageous claims we would later see from Fox News), it was fun to return to the Cold War and a UK spy novel. The recent movie Bridge of Spies is highly recommended if you, dear reader, want a trip to the Cold War. Or if you want the sexy comic book version, Atomic Blond will do.

I spent the morning writing the blog and talking to Deborah. I next headed to Safeway and got some raw pork breakfast sausage made with honey and brown sugar (I usually go for maple syrup, but they had only one packet). I got some bananas (my potassium is always low) and ice cream (my weight is down to 225 pounds, and I could risk a bit of the good stuff).

I have no memory of what breakfast or lunch was when I typed this. It is always strange that when you write an accounting of the day, you have a blank moment. And then ‘pop’ the moment replays in your mind like an invader. “Oh, that is right,” you think. I took some potatoes and bacon, reheated them in the microwave, and had that wtih the end of the coffee. Yes, that was it.

I then tried to cross Beaverton and discovered that TV Highway is being reconstructed, and other parts of Farmington are being updated, too. Thus, there is no way around the closed lanes and long waits as lights take three passes to get you through. I try to dodge this, but soon I am locked into the slow going.

The gear shift, so to speak, on my EV — it has no transmission — is on the steering column, where the blinkers or windshield wipers are on more conventional vehicles. I still find myself reaching in the wrong place after 1,631 miles in the rental. I try to shift the cupholders. Still, I made it to Portland with only 15 minutes of extra time, only to discover a train was stalled in SE, but I managed to back up and out of the blocked street and drive around the train.

I would not recommend this, but foot traffic was actually climbing over the flat train car stuck at the crossroads. Kids and families. Yikes!

I found street parking a block away from Lucky Labrador’s and soon had Czech-like beer and a bowl of peanuts. There, I opened my laptop and returned to editing a Dungeons and Dragons adventure I used last Thanksgiving. This was my second revision, and it was starting to come together. I need to revise the maps and add some suggestions to make the last encounter more exciting. A paper golem comes to mind, but more on that. I plan to publish it on DriveThruRPG as a pay-what-you-want adventure. I was excited to get close to the end of the editing. I have another one to edit, and then I thought up a new adventure when in Utah involving stone structures and petroglyphs. It might be a solo adventure in the form of a quest for illumination.

I ordered an Italian Grinder. My tongue has taken some damage from various meds, and maybe an unknown battle with Covid-19 (I may have caught it without being aware), and I like things now with strong salty flavors. The sandwich took the edge off of my hunger, and soon I was headed to Richard’s.

XIA is a board game (here) that was designed in Oregon. It is not a favorite of mine, but I played better this time (still coming in last with some bad luck that had Laura and me fighting for last place as she experienced some challenges, too). This is a build your ship 2D space game where you trade, fight, or explore. Not really 4x. Kathleen and I both believe that Richard ran away with the game, as he had played enough to know the best choices, though Kathleen gave him a run (only a few points behind him). The game is arranged into a random universe of tiles. Getting your ship destroyed is possible, but that means respawning.

With coffee (I was sleepy from lunch, jetlag, and writing — plus a beer), terrible luck, and no rerolls or other useful advantages, I pushed on and enjoyed the game despite my bottom showing on the score. I watched Richard do his own thing, and soon he was too far ahead for me to imagine catching him, but Kathleen did scare him. The game is shorter than you expect, and you have to find a source of cash quickly (and not be bashed up by a nebula or killed by pirates) to get going. It reminded me of the board games Istanbul and Scythe, both racing-to-win games. A few more plays and we would start to get a handle on it, I think. I might have to get a copy. Hmmm. So many games, so few times to play…

We finished about 9ish, and I headed out to cook some sausages and get to bed early, 6:30 seems really early now. The trip back was not difficult. I got a call from Pastor Anne that her printer was not working and the Easter Sermon for Sunday was not ready. Yikes. After I got the sausage started, I contacted her, drove over, and found that you need to close the scanner to replace the ink cartridge (!?). With that done, the printer worked. The Easter Sermon was printed. Emergency over.

I went home, moved the sausage into a glass container, and set them in the frig on a heat pad (glass shelves don’t like sudden heat changes). I then closed my eyes and woke suddenly, I believe only minutes later, at 6:30. Ugh!

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

I rose as the sun did and drank coffee I made in the kitchen, standing on my new flooring that Jeff installed while I was in Utah with Deborah for about two weeks. The price was more than I had hoped, and Jeff was concerned that I had picked the cheaper “rental” grade floor, but he agreed with me that the color was wonderful and matched the house well. The extra cost was from mold and water damage from the previous laundry. That was where the smell was coming from. Jeff had to replace some of the walls and flooring. It looks wonderful, and I am happy.

There is no Good Friday service at First United Methodist Church of Beaverton. I do have to get some sausages and butter for Sunday. I have my two grills and Z, and I will be making pancakes for Easter. The usual Easter morning starts at 8 for us on Sunday.

I spent the morning writing the blog and running load after load of laundry. I made grits (with milk and water with a bit of salt) for breakfast. I added two pieces of bacon that Corwin cooked for me the day before. It all went well with the Fair Trade coffee. The bitter taste reminded me that the USA is at war, and there was a prayer and tear for the pilots who were shot down over Iran in their F-15E.

I wrote, then showered, and connected with Jeff. He came over, we settled up, and we talked about the new floor and the work. Next, I called the pharmacy that supplies Skyrizi to learn that they had done nothing (despite my signing up for automatic refills) and might miss my window to get the injectable. F**k. I called Emily, my nurse provided by Skyrizi; she returned my call, and we were both surprised. There is some hope that the pharmacy can get the stuff to me next week. Ugh! They will contact me on Monday (not Friday, since they don’t ship over the weekend) and maybe work something out. Hmmmm.

I got a double beef from Arby’s for lunch because my watch reminded me of a SPRC meeting (for those who do not speak Methodist, this is the church’s HR committee), and I ate my sandwich and fries during the meeting. I originally had the Zoom meeting running on my laptop on the deck, but the neighbors have a new, younger dog, and soon they were all barking, ugh! The contents of the SPRC meetings are private. We finished the meeting in 35 minutes.

I toured the plants as I had been away for two weeks. My surviving tulips were bright. Two of my roses are showing stress, and I added some bone meal and mulch to them. The stressed roses are both old roses and in a less sunny spot. I will likely (with the two exceptions) have roses soon (instead of impressive thorny sticks). The dawn redwood is happy, growing, and turning green again.

I then decided I was tired and just did laundry and read The Fourth Protocol, a 1984 Cold War spy thriller novel by Frederick Forsyth. I remember the movie, but I had never read the book. I enjoyed his earlier mechanical-thriller designs and recommend The Day of the Jackal. In The Fourth Protocol, he expresses political views against the Labor Party and suggests that any left-leaning organization must be controlled by Marxist-Leninist ideology (yes, this being before Fox News was even an idea), but I still like the story and its mechanical nature. I also enjoyed his book, The Odessa File. The movies are dated and treat women as objects. The new BBC show, an updated version of The Day of the Jackal story, was good, but it does not follow the book.

I made dinner instead of buying it, having done two weeks of restaurant food. I found some aging red potatoes left over from St. Patrick’s Day that I baked to go with a defrosted pork chop. I had the frozen green beans as a side (though they were not good). I overcooked the pork chop again, but it was still good. The wine was excellent.

I spent the rest of the night reading and resting. I spoke to Deborah often (we miss each other’s company). I will travel again soon (back to Michigan). I started to nod off as the book built toward its conclusion. I will likely finish on Saturday (though I have gaming on Saturday night and Easter pancakes).

I was asleep about 11 and did not wake until 6ish.

Thanks for reading.

 

I finished Thursday at my home, crawling into familiar sheets in clean PJs and soon closing my eyes in my bed and soon oblivious to the world. It felt good, but a teeny bit lonely. I slept the night without interruptions and woke early about an hour before my usual. I rolled over, and the sunrise woke me.

I returned from church in the early evening. Corwin was taking a day off, and his dog Hank was here. Corwin played video games using my excellent bandwidth and cooked bacon. He was finishing up his near-disaster laundry issue. He left it in my brand-new washer for a week, but my washer recovered, and the sanitize setting helped. I will make no further comment.

The new flooring was wonderful, and the reorganizing of stuff was not too bad. I could find things. I sorted my mail and opened my new TTRPG (i.e., Table Top Role Playing Game), The Laundry. I was disappointed by the over $350 price for four books and one (only one) signed by the author; his signature was just a blog. Hmmm. Though the price tag is about right if ordering the signed and limited editions. I think I will curtail any more investments in TTRPG releases. It was two years late, too. Interestingly, I have the first version, and it looks like this version covers less than what I had before. It is a favorite topic and setting for me, and I’m glad to see the materials finally delivered.

Corwin headed out, and I read for a while, more of The Fourth Protocol, an old Cold War novel I picked up in Salt Lake City (SLC), and an interesting 1987 movie. I had some bacon as a snack. I started the first load of laundry.

Before this, I rushed to church, being thirty minutes late. My plane was about 45 minutes late (instead of ten minutes early). SLC surprised us with a snowstorm, wtih the snow making it impossible to see the mountains. My plane needed to be de-iced. The pilot then told us that the winds at SLC International Airport meant that they were using different runways and there was a line. Next, we had to pull over, a new experience for me, as our plane’s brakes had overheated and we needed to wait for them to cool. Hmmm, my thoughts were simple, “Take your time to not set the plane on fire or have no brakes landing at PDX.” I should have ordered a drink at that point, but everyone was seated for takeoff. We took off and landed without incident.

I watched the other half of Rental Family, a brilliant movie about life and the illusions we hide behind, and I did cry and laugh at the end. Highly recommended by Deborah, and I would say an excellent film. I had coffee and a cookie (dipping the cookie in the coffee). I managed to ignore the landing (there was nothing I could do about the brakes) and watched Mulan, the cartoon version. I almost made it to the end. I had four minutes left when the plane doors opened, and it was time to go.

I found my way in PDX as usual and took the strange right to the corridor that gets you out. The construction is now done in the terminal, and it looks even better. Wow! I helped some lost people who were confused about the difference between the baggage check-in walkthrough and the baggage claim. I agree it is a bit confusing. My bag appeared moments after I arrived at the baggage claim. I rolled my large new bag (now with a few scuffs) to the MAX train, scanned my phone to pay ($2.80), and boarded the light rail car. It is about a ninety-minute trip, but it is far better than the traffic and the $80+ for an Uber.

Corwin picked me up in Air VW the Gray with Hank, unhappy to be alone in the back. But he did not make a mess. I was soon home, pointed out some food that Corwin could make (he selected the bacon and left me about 1/2 cooked in the fridge; I had some for Friday’s breakfast). Then drove after the garage door wouldn’t close (I used the manual version and later fixed it using Deborah’s advice).

The service was dinner, followed by a foot-washing service (I selected my hands as an alternative), and we sang and heard many New Testament scriptures. I was too tired and distracted to enjoy it much (also, I am not much of a fan of washing services). Still, it was nice.

I left as I was getting tired. I arrived at the house, pushed and pulled on the cameras for the garage door until it worked again, and then sat and talked to Corwin. That takes me full circle.

From the start of Thursday, in Salt Lake, we had a lovely breakfast with a wonderful waiter, and he arranged for Deborah to assemble this ad hoc breakfast for a better price. It was a cold and wet day, and it seemed time to head home. The drive to the airport and the return of the car were easy (though I almost went into the wrong lane).

Thanks for reading!

Deborah’s plane was late as the pilot was missing, and they waited for a replacement. Then there was the de-icing…She made it home safe.

I am leaving for Michigan next week.