Author: alohawild

I had a CT Scan (“Stable findings without measurable evidence of metastatic disease”) today and started the blog in the afternoon after mopping and cleaning before it heats up (78°F/25.5°C, no humidity). Though that is not hot, we have not been this warm this year, and it is going to feel hot this bright day here in the Pacific Northwest. Hot and sunny in April does not happen here, until now!

Hmm. Another sunny day and blue skies. I open all the windows and screen doors and air out the house. I also started to get things better ordered. Emma C is coming on Friday, but I also feel it is time to get things more organized at the house. I wrote the blog all morning and managed to get it done without too many typos. I also learned that I failed to publish on Monday. I corrected that, too. My bank transferred my first living cost transfer from my IRA to my savings (this counts as income this year, but I am over 55, there is no fine, and since this is no longer a 401K managed by under Nike’s rules, I can withdraw as I wish, it is just usual income). I got all that proper in Quicken and corrected some snares I caused at US Bank.

I enjoyed more than an hour on the phone with some part of the Skyrizi managing company as it re-did all my insurnace (despite doing it all before and everything was still the same) and they soon discovered that I have apparently already spent my $9,200 in out-of-pocket expenses and dedutable (so far I have not received a $5,000 plus bill for the MRI and CT scans, but I suspect some one will someday show up with a bill, but it may also be that their payment for retirement people may have covered the cost but that still counts for out-of-pocket; I have no real income). Thus, the nearly over $6,000 cost for the injectable treatment is covered. Mysterious things were said to me about a debit card that is now loaded (and approved for use) to cover my expenses of $6,000. Hmmm.

While looking at Facebook, I saw a post about the SSPX and possible excommunications that may happen in July involving the Holy See. I was looking for something more for my class. Going over the controversy involving SSPX members who wish to undo Vatican 2 and want the old Latin back in Catholic Churches fits what I was looking for. This controversy (not well understood outside the Catholic Church’s clergy) may seem ridiculous, but these people believe they have lost something, that their church is in a moral crisis, and have now broken with their own leadership to push a return to a more comfortable time, at least for them.

I traveled to BJ’s Brewhouse and had an iced tea (a beer would mean a nap and more calories) and the California-style flat bread (I think their best item, though, in Beverton, they make an excellent, though expensive, steak — but not so in other BJ’s I have tried, only this one). I updated my plan for the second class with SSPX information and tightened up the text. I sent it out to Joan, Pastor Ken, and Dondrea, not for approval but for them to know what I plan.

I head back, skip by the house, and head to the usual Great Clips, and soon I’m in line for a basic businessman haircut. My hair looks more snowy than I remember it. Those last black hairs have turned white or fallen out. In less than an hour, I was updated to a more organized look.

Joan S stopped by to look at my new flooring after I got back from my haircut. I had also watched more Star Trek DS9 before she got there. We chatted for a while (she has picked out the same floor we were surprised to learn). I then got a text from Mariah, and I soon said goodbye to Joan S, boarded Air VW the Gray, and met Mariah at Hopworks off of Powell at 6ish. I had a beer and wings. We talked about jobs and work. It was nice and time quickly ran away from us.

I returned to the house about 9, did a few more chores, and then read and went to bed. I had an early start on Thursday with the CT Scan at 9 in Portland.

Thanks for reading!

I rose later but woke as usual with the Sunrise. Coffee from yesterday remained, so I reheated it and returned to my office. I found the last Greek-style yogurt in the fridge and had that with a banana while I wrote the blog. James could not make Tuesday morning games, and so I passed on two-player games. Also, this let me get ready for Emma, my niece, coming for a short weekend to look at a college and apartments. She wants to sample the local public transit (the robust Public Transit was one of the reasons I moved here back in 1996).

I wrote the blog and found that yesterday was not interesting at first, but soon I found things to write about, and it was at least 500 words, which is my measure of whether I at least covered a day. I found that a count below 500 is more of an outline than a story of my day. When I am short, I often reread it, remember more, and soon the text blows past 500 (around 800 yesterday).

The weather is not helping. It is sunny, and the skies are blue here in Oregon. I don’t want to write. More like California than the endless gray of late Spring and Early Summer in the Pacific Northwest. While my roses are happy to get sun and will likely top the fence before June, I suspect the moss and the snowpack (which feed the rivers and streams in the summer) will miss the rains. Smoke and fire will come, and the animals will suffer.

I finish the blog, do my usual checks, and mangle a bank transfer (I managed to cover the checks and payments on Wednesday morning). I wish to get to other writing, but I have to prepare for my Sunday School class first. I want to send the notes and plans for the class at least a week early to Joan and the Pastor (plus Dondrea, as she often mentions it during worship); thus, they will be informed of the class content with time to ask questions or request changes.

Lunch is warmed-up leftovers, and I am soon dressed and ready. I do fit in another Star Trek DS9 episode while enjoying my reheated repast. Next, I boarded Air VW the Gray at 85% charge and returned to the local Insomnia Coffee, where I found a table. The EarPods, new to me, work to eliminate any noise, and I connected them to my laptop (the iPhone voice interrupts me with text and updates) to listen to music from my playlists. I spent the next two hours reading and updating my notes. I translated the Greek (often looking up every verb and noun, as my memory of the words has faded, and I cannot pronounce any of it). I am using the NRSV translation, which echoes the Greek structure for The Book of Revelation. That is why you see so many ‘and’s and some wooden wording in the NRSV. I keep my notes to 4 pages and avoid copying too much information from decent Wikipedia articles. I am annoyed that the NRSV changes clear words to more modern words that may carry more meaning than the original. ‘Prostitutes’ to ‘fornicators’ is a leap in my mind and creates an out-of-context problem, as it suggests an additional punishment for infidelity or legal divorce that is not in the text at all. NIV goes further, and it is hard to map the Greek to its rewording, at least for me.

Lost in the Greek for hours, I think I need to add one more topic to the class to fill the 45 minutes. I like to have too much material so I can edit or carry some of it to the next class. I also like to get ahead of the class by at least a week, meaning that if something happens and unexpectedly takes all or most of my time that week, I am still prepared. No midnight cramming for me! An advantage of being retired, I can invest my time as I wish.

I stopped by Market of Choice (I forgot cereal for breakfast) and got bags, tin foil, plastic wrap, and food for dinner. I saw a box of Jambalya Mix and decided to try it. There was a special on Andouille sausage, and that got me going in that direction. I returned home, cooked the chicken thighs (boneless and skinless), and then the one pack of sausage (the other went to the freezer). I added a sliced green pepper and celery. I should have drained the oil/grease. The pack went in, but the final version was OK, but the spices were subdued by the oil.

I downloaded a new NOVA episode, “Angkor: Hidden Jungle Empire,” and watched it while cooking. There is new learning using new drone technology and LADAR tracking, and our understanding of Angkor has expanded. This is my hope for archaeology that new technology will create new information before a spade is lifted or a drive started. I hope that someone will use the same technology (with adjustments for an overlap in a modern urban setting) for the mounds in the USA. I also hope that ground-penetrating science will improve, allowing us to avoid digging some sites (saving money and leaving the site for the future and even more advanced technology).

Aside: What I would hope for is that shipwreck scanning gets so good that we can see the markings on the ancient jars. We can then start tracking where these jars come from and create trade lists. And maybe the clay from some of the broken jars can be retrieved, giving us more information about the location where they were created. Can we get a tree cross-section from the surviving timbers? Carbon date them and create a weather model. Did some DNA survive? Pollen? What is the source of any metal? So much microdata to retrieve.

Aside: LADAR has been something available to me for robots, but it was expensive (a few thousand) for my minor stuff. But I have read about it and even looked at the coding to read the data and make assumptions about the readings. Yes, you can build a drone to do this in your garage.

I had two bowls and watched more of DS9, and I enjoyed it. I finished the folding and putting away of the laundry as I found my happy place in NOVA. In Thailand, they have begun reconstructing the water systems at Angkor, and they will provide water even in the dry season. It works! Wow!

I read Violet Blue’s summary of Black Hat Asia 2026, a top-notch hacker convention that just finished, and she was the keynote speaker. Her words are behind a paywall, but she had a good time in Singapore. Again, she reports in her weekly Hackers’ update newsletter that Corporations are hiding their failures instead of fixing them and that governments have found that they can buy personal information rather than collecting it themselves. ICE is training its people to use some heavy-hitting hacking tools; I think nothing good will come of that.

Aside: Violet Blue is a writer whom I have followed for years. She resides now in New Zealand. I have spoken to her once. I have never met her in person.

I put away the laundry, started more, and organized the guest bedroom from something more of storage with a bed. I washed sheets and blankets for Emma and moved other items to different places in the house. I then dressed for bed, read for a while, and soon turned off the light and slept. I woke once to prove hydration, but now at 1, not 3-4. Some of me is still on Michigan time!

My watch reminded me that it was International Dance Day, and I did send Deborah a video of me dancing to Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwo’ole. Here for your own dance.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Describing a surprise:

On Monday, I heard a strange banging sound. It was sunny with a dark cloud over the house. I went outside and discovered it was raining in my backyard, hitting my deck roof, but not in my neighbors’ yards, and the raindrops were huge and slow (likely melted hail). Yes, it is the Pacific Northwest. Beware of dark clouds, even a single one, and carry a hat, coat, or umbrella if there is a cloud anywhere! At Nike, I have had folks, new to the area, who have to go home to change after getting soaked at lunch or walking between buildings. I would smile and remind them we are in the Pacific Northwest. It rains here, always (even when it is sunny). 

Starting the story of Monday, I spent the morning, rising late but waking with the sunrise, writing the blog, making coffee (Fair Trade), and getting my day together. Later, I would strip the bed and start the usual Monday laundry. Monday is my Saturday, and I miss the Saturday morning cartoons (oddly, He-Man is getting a movie, Masters of the Universe, in June!), but I write, do my usual tasks, and do not go to work (my favorite bit).

I deal with church things that invaded my usual peace on Monday, and it leaves me unsettled for the rest of the day. When I am stressed, I eat (without working and caregiving, I have lost weight), but today I have trouble. I make Trader Joe’s Beef and Broccoli and eat most of it, and then have crackers with cheese. Not good. I sliced potatoes with my mandoline slicer and managed not to cut myself, added some cheese, milk, and ham, and baked that for dinner. I did not get it right, and the potatoes are not quite done. Cook first, then sauce them, I think. I will look up a recipe; this should not be this hard.

I hear from my bank, and I have arranged for the first payment from my IRA to cover my usual expenses (always thinking of the Addams Family, with Gomez pouring gold coins into a briefcase for his lawyer, “For the Monthly Expenses,” and then breaking into another sword fight). Yes, the Addams Family movie is my model for paying bills (I once used Nixon stamps for bills).

Deborah recommended Star Trek DS9, and I have started from episode 1 and find, as she said, this is a very interesting show. I enjoyed the first three episodes that I watched on and off all day. Instead of cleaning, writing, or doing other housework, I just sat, ate, and tried to relax. I suspect my 230 pounds (yesterday’s weight) may have slipped higher. I will try to get some walking done. Ugh!

Corwin contacted me, and I drove to his apartment. He needed to pick up a work vehicle, and I drove him from his place across 26, back 26-217 into Tigard (south of Beaverton), and then I headed back alone. I took the path over Cooper’s Mountain, and things have changed. I think it has been six months since I drove that way. It felt very comfortable, and I kept saying ‘wow’ at some of the new houses and other constructions. I was also relieved that many are still farms. A vineyard hazelnut farm I have driven by for years is for sale for $4 million with 52 acres (I looked up the price today). Six million would get you just short of 300 acres (one of the signs I saw and wondered about), but it is already sold.

Aside: I am not tempted to become a vineyard owner or proveyour of filberts. I am hoping that someone will buy it as a farm, and that the trees will not be pulled down. I look at my apple tree, which was left as part of the old farm that once stood here (the builders left some). It now grows sideways after it fell, but it seems happy. It reminds me, I can almost hear it whisper into me, “You are truly only a steward of this small patch and not an owner, but have an apple in the fall and remember all who came before you.” The apples are hard and sour, but when sliced and eaten that way, they are wonderful. Hmmm.

And I hate to be so short on a blog, but yesterday was just a sit-and-relax day. I don’t do them very often, dear reading, and hope you (and the universe) will forgive the lost day and the extra calories!

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

At church, I had a dispute with another member about folks making noise after I had gotten them to be quiet. I handled my interaction with the church folks poorly, and the anger I faced was harsh. I later publicly apologized to the church. I was left shaking and upset, and it ruined my day. Even as I write this, I can feel all the emotions returning.

I talked to Deborah for quite a while as she helped me deal with the mess. It was good to talk. Dondrea and I talked later; she was there and thought I had handled a bad moment well. Even as I write this, I still feel upset. I am not sure I can be an usher, nor at this moment do I want to return and teach this coming Sunday. This crap I thought I left when I retired.

My Sunday evening was spent watching Star Trek Academy’s end-of-season show (it was excellent) and eating a salad with ham and cheese, along with chopped carrots and celery. I next watched multiple YouTube videos, including Battleship New Jersey’s channel update on the US Navy’s plans to build a battleship. The Discriminating Gamer channel had a list of the best board game expansions, and two that I was considering, and he says they are great. I see a purchase in the future. As my emotions were still in a swirl, I skipped any political items.

I started on, despite my reservations about this coming Sunday, the notes for my Sunday School, and focused on the end of The Book of Revelation (no ‘s’). Taking an obvious cue from the text, my first class focuses on the beginning, and my next on the end. This avoids the imagery and play-like nature of the majority of the text. I will cover that in another class, as well as the connection to popular versions found in books, shows, and movies.

I picked three texts and then tried to find a copy of my translation of part of the book (no luck so far). I formatted and assembled the initial document. I have much more to add.

I had planned to spend the afternoon on writing and other tasks, but most got put off. I went to bed and slept until beyond sunrise. I did rise once, around 3, to prove hydration.

Starting at the beginning, I rose on Sunday morning with the sunrise, reheated the coffee, and did the usual things, like writing the blog. All a blur now, lost in the distress. I remember arriving too early, chatting with Deborah, and reading the news on my iPhone. I wore my straw hat as it was a sunny, summer-like morning. The attendance was low, not more than 32, and the church started before I was ready (the clock I learned later was 1o minutes wrong). Ken gave a sermon about what it would be like to discover that you are not the generation to see the promised land, but to wander in the desert. How do you keep your faith and joy? Jeremiah was the text, and it questions why the people had turned away from God. And Ken takes it further, implying we find new “gods” when things go poorly.

Jack sang a wonderful solo. I put some of it on Facebook.

And then things went poorly about then…and I have no intention of recording that here.

I am not sure I can return on Sunday. I will see how I feel.

Thanks for reading.

I have been sad of late. That is the usual reaction to ending a trip, and since the trip before that was only a few weeks before, it seems to hit harder. But I am finding my groove at the house again. My roses (mostly) are growing fast, my mountain ash tree exploded, and I had to cut it back from the house. The apple tree is full of blooms promising a banquet for the locals (birds, squirrels, and raccoons) in the fall and winter (when the apples ferment, and the birds and squirrels stagger after bellying up to the tree).

The new floors Jeff installed are wonderful. My lawn service keeps everything tidy. Emma (Barb C’s daughter, Susie’s niece) plans to fly in next weekend, May 1, and look at Pacific University, housing, and public transit. I made a bagel with cream cheese to go with my liberal coffee. I made a full pot (and drank it reheated Sunday morning). Reading the news while tasting the bitterness of my coffee always reminds me that, while Hope is always out there, it will be some time before the world remembers Justice with Compassion. That God asked not about the greatness of our victories or the beauty of our cities, but what is the fate of the widow and the orphan in our lands. God reminds us that we, too, were once strangers to the land and calls us to treat the stranger well. The coffee tastes as bitter as these words. There is so much work to do.

I have sold and begun transferring my L3Haris stock earnings. It will cover another month’s expenses. I am paying over $1,000 for health insurance a month (and that’s for a Bronze level plan for one) via ACA (“Obamacare”) through the Oregon site. I am 62 and have three more years of this. It is part of the plan, but yikes, it is a lot of $$$.

I wrote the blog and then reviewed my notes/plans for my first Sunday School class on The Book of Revelation, and decided they were not enough to fill a full class. More is required! I headed back to the local Insomnia Coffee, put in my new AirPods after grabbing a table, and tried to add information on Roman Emperors associated with the book and times. I skipped Nero, as his persecutions were short and only in Rome, and he was gone before the time period, we believe, covered by the Apocalypse of John (though there are some who, using strange math, can show that Nero’s name counts as 666 or 616).

Wikipedia, countless online sermons, and history videos (the best and newest, I think, are by the author Mary Beard) on Rome and Revelation, and I do not want to just copy some of this into the class. I will cover just the basics and how two different time periods are associated with the book and its writing and understanding.

I have a scone with coffee, but still head to Happy Panda for Chinese-style food for lunch. There, with a few more edits, I sent my notes to Pastor Ken, Joan (head of Christian Education), and Dondrea. I like them to know what I am doing in my class, both as a sign of respect and to let them answer any questions that may come up.

With lunch inside me, fortune read, I head home. I read and rest a bit. Deborah and I chat here and there through the day. She is working on some work stuff. I get some tea and read more. I reheat pizza and ate that while I watched more Star Trek Academy. It is an excellent show (even some of the young people’s relationship stuff).

I get to Richard’s early, and we set up Nevada City, an Old West-themed resource-and-worker-placement game with some limited engine-building. The game has a marriage system that got it in trouble with the gaming community, and I agree they should have thought that through better. I enjoyed the game and was just ahead of James and thirty points behind Richard. I missed the engine-like combinations that gave Richard his points, but instead focused on learning the game. I would play it again, and the advanced game includes poker games and gunfights. Hmmm. It is out of print and not very highly rated. I did like it and thought it was unique and interesting.

We played one game and ended it sooner than we expected (we realized we could have played differently and gotten a higher score, and played longer). Corwin called while the game was finishing, and I called him back in the car. We talked while I drove home.

I read some more and then went to bed. I still get tired at night.

Thanks for reading.