Author: alohawild

I rose early at 6, as I was wide awake. I found the croissant I purchased in Forest Grove the day before and had that with a banana and coffee. I made the coffee in my French press with coffee from Kenya that was roasted and ground locally. The smoke was strong enough that I could smell it in the house, so I selected not to risk any walking and limited my outdoor activity. The air quality measurement is still good on Friday and Friday night. The winds are still blowing the smoke East and North into the high desert across the Cascade Mountain Range. Eastern Washington and Idaho have terrible air and smoke.

I write until ten and then publish. I then added links to FaceBook and an email for those who wanted a personal note. You can subscribe, but you have to create a free account to get automatic notifications of a new post.

There are many distractions, and I manage to use up the whole morning. Dressed and all that, I head a bit early to the Cedar Hills Mall area. Scott is joining me for our “Thursday lunch,” now rescheduled to Friday, which we used to do weekly when working for the shoe company, instead of the healthy and familiar salad bar instead some excellent sandwiches at Elephants Delicatessen, one of the newest food joint in the Cedar Hills Mall complex. I am early, and I walk through Best Buy and see the 96-inch wall-sized screens that are now available.

While I marveled at where we had taken screens, but I also noted that the screens finally looked like something from SciFi. My father was always disappointed in selling huge heavy cabinet TVs at Wild’s Furniture and Appliances in the 1980s. “I thought a TV would be something we could just put on a wall by now and move as needed,” I remember him complaining. Also, the old cabinet TV generated radiation (thick glass was used to protect us viewers) and had to be demagnetized and readjusted every few years to keep the colors correct. Dad thought this should have been better, and I know he would have been pleased with what I saw at Best Buy and would have loved to be on the floor selling them. “I know, but I have some re-manufactured ones that let you see the Olympics like you are there,” I imagine Bob saying. “Oh, we sold the last one, but I can let you have this one at the same price,” I could hear with that twinkle in his eyes. “Why yes, these imported electronics can fail without warning, so yes, the five-year warranty is the best,” I could him say without blinking.

I saw that Best Buy had an LG microwave and hood combination that would match well with my previous upgraded appliances. There was no price. I suspect installation will be crazy, but it would let me have back some counter space. I had the microwave on the counter so Susie could reach it, and she and Corwin would not be reaching over the hot oven to use the microwave. Now, a hood/microwave would work for me. I will think about it (likely another multi-thousand upgrade).

Scott appeared in his cool red jeep. We walked through to the drinks and ordered a sandwich at the counter. We took numbers to have the repast delivered to a table outside but still undercover and cool and placed our respective tags in a holder, two on our table. We talked about our retirement experiences and the changes in our lives. Neither of us is searching for new work. Scott has an infinite amount of house and lawn work to face. I have my hobbies, endless housework, and finding the garage again at some time (like Doctor Who, there is a blue door to the garage that demonstrates a spatial ministry: it is smaller inside). Scott has heard a few things from Nike folks. None for me. We had a nice lunch, and it was good to catch up. Scott’s plum tree produces a bumper crop, and he gave me a gallon bag of wipe plums.

After lunch, I took Air Volvo to the local Powell’s and headed to the Mystery section and the Conan Doyle area. I found a few books I wanted. I have Doyle’s letters, his White Company story in an old hardback, and a book that will explain Sherlock Holmes with pictures and various writers. I also found a toothbrush holder at a deep discount (they still have quite a few) and bought one as I thought I needed one. I did not expect to get one at Powell’s.

I loaded that in Air Volvo and headed next to Big Coffee. I called Dondrea and asked if they would like Mexican-style food for dinner. Maybe. As I deplaned from Air Volvo, the smell of pine and smoke was quite noticeable after I reached Big River Coffee. My favorite spot was taken, so I found a smaller table on the first floor. I read more of the original Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stories. I also located a website with searchable text (here) for all the stories (the canon), allowing me to look at certain word usage. I discovered I had used a set of words that often appear in movies but are not used by Holmes or Watson in any of the stories. I corrected my story to align with the canonical usage. I thus avoid loading the stories into a non-SQL database for unstructured data like Mongo to study word usage in the original story. For now, I believe I can use simple text searches in my browser to check certain word and phrase usage.

I managed to add another page as Holmes and Watson discuss their impact on our human beliefs of soul and self (as represented in the books The Mind’s I). With absolute glee, I have Holmes quote Jesus (without crediting). But as this is set in the Holmes of the 1880s, he would have been raised with these words, and they would be found everywhere in their society. It is not likely he would not have heard them and would use them.

I received a text that dinner at Si Señor Family Mexican Restaurant was on for 5. I had enough time to consider new financial items. Without warning, my US Bank Savings account reduced the interest rate to 1.9%. I was told it was not going below 4%, but it is likely that there is some manipulation going on that I missed. I noticed this when my interest payment was 1/2 of last month, and there was more money in the account. F**k!

It’s time to get serious about investing after this curfuffle. I created an account with the US government, Treasury Direct, and enjoyed setting up various account links. However, I made an error setting my savings account to a checking account (but providing the correct routing and account values). I cannot fix this online nor delete the account, and each attempt (as I learned this) requires new authorization codes to be emailed to me. Not knowing if this would work, I ordered a $100 savings bond (inflation-adjusted) and will see if this works. I managed to connect my Treasury Direct to Quicken. The download of updates each time requires a One Time Passcode (OTP) emailed to me; apparently, there are no trusted devices when dealing with the Treasury.

I was a few minutes late for dinner because of a terrible accident, and I was rerouted around it. When I got there, Z and Dondrea had eaten most of the chips. It was happy hour, and we ordered happy hour items. We all got nachos. Z and I both ordered the mixed appetizers, which neither of us could finish. Sticking with Dondrea’s theory that alcohol makes weight loss impossible, I had iced tea while they had fountain drinks.

Z and Dondrea had previously been shopping for back-to-school supplies and were happy that this year’s total was under $250. Last night, I researched calculators and found Ohio’s official recommended 8th-grader calculator list. I took that to Amazon and found a green version of a TI science calculator that was approved by nearly everyone and was discounted (a pink calculator was $20 more for the same model; Barbie lovers are going to need extra cash), and Dondrea used the link to order it after sharing it with Z.

Air Volvo returned me home after saying good night, and I tried to get my servo to work on my electronic project there. Nothing. I am either going to shelf this and return to the model building or tear everything down, document, and try again. I find that a start-over and rebuild often uncover the issue when doing low-voltage microcontroller work. It may be that the Seeed XIAO controllers are unstable, and I know these voltage levels are tricky to control motors and servos. I have run into instabilities on my projects before (the unfinished radio project being one of them). This is why cars use 12V, heavy wires, and with lots of amps.

I finished my night reading a brain cookie Star Trek novel set in the original show. After showering and sleeping for a bit, I again woke in a cold house, got up, put eye grease in my left eye, and climbed under the covers. I woke at 5 with a sore throat and the start of hives from the smoke. Apparently, I am allergic to something burning. The hives stopped at 6, as the wind must have blown the toxic stuff away. My sleep was disturbed.

Thanks for reading.

Update: I spaced that I spent the late evening doing boring paperwork. I caught up on my finances from April through June. I revised Quicken by checking every transaction in June (already done in April and May) and then collected all the paper and receipts for those months and various statements I have printed (nothing is mailed anymore if I can help it) items and statements here. I punch holes in the paper and just bunch the receipts into a folder that fits into the binder. All caught up, and July will get placed in a binder once we are in August. 

Waking late is always a surprise. Years of the pandemic, months of strict chemotherapy timing, and over twenty-five years working in a multi-national American corporation in Information Technology (IT) means early rising as the corporate world is flat (not a flat-earther dream, but maybe their worst nightmare). Now I am retired, and there is no structure unless I want it–so far, no. As my friend Scott (also recently retired) said, every day is Saturday.

Without structure, I find my friends still have jobs or more structure imposed on their lives, are unavailable, and I am often off alone. I make friends quickly and enjoy most of the folks I meet as I walk and travel, which is usually enough. But darkness does come some days when I am alone, with grief being the worst, and then I do have to read some brain cookies books (a mystery or SciFi) and focus again on my hobbies. The light returns. As the agents said in the movie The Matrix, “He’s still only human.” But don’t fret that much for me; Sundays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays are usually packed, and I often find something for another day.

I wrote the blog all morning. I was distracted and had no good plans. Dondrea reminded me in a text that she had already gone running. I made lunch. I fried the other pork chop. I made Brussels sprouts, which I had to trim and search as they got old. I steamed them, cut them in half, and fried them with the pork chop. I also made tater tots as a starch. I could barely finish the pork chop and had only a few tots. I ate most of the sprouts. This time, the chop was not overcooked.

Warning: Grammarly is out of its AI mind again…I corrected its correction of “and friended them with the pork chop” back to “and fried them with the pork chop.” This means I should remember this clip here.

I brought my laptop, decided to skip the park, and headed west to Forest Grove (the last large-ish town before the coastal mountains on Highway 8–TV Highway in my area). There, I walked the city, visited two antique stores, a bakery, the Pacific University campus, and a bookstore for same, and walked over 4,000 steps. I found a favorite Star Trek author’s book for a few bucks, a model of the “Lady Lex” USS Lexington CV-2 1942 1/700 for a few bucks (it is missing decals, which likely would not work at the age of the model), a cigar box that was cheap and excellently made (perfect for electronic projects), and resisting signing up for the new term at Pacific University in Data Science and Mathematics. The lovely campus and returning to learning more and newer mathematics is tempting. But, I could likely teach the classes better while learning the material than what they are offering. But those computer science texts (Concrete Mathematics, Calculus, and Computational Complexity) are calling me. Maybe I will return to them.

I made two loops through the college campus. It was such a lovely walk; I will be back. I was tired and headed to the Grand Lodge and Pat’s Corner for a beer and an early dinner. Air Volvo left the west of Forest Grove with me, navigating the one-way streets that split Highway 8 until it reassembles and heads into the mountains. McMenamins Grand Lodge was not busy, and I was soon offered any table outside under their partial roof. The breeze was cool (still ocean air from the coast), and the blocking of the hot sun was perfect. I took the number ten table as you want to be known as “ten” in certain circles.

I planned to write and drink a beer, a Ruby, but the kielbasa called to me. I had it with extra sauerkraut, no bun, and a salad as an early dinner. While I enjoyed the outdoors, I managed to write maybe a page of my Holmes and Watson story recreated as Artificial Intelligence, but I am sure I did not get the voicing correct. Here is a sample:

            But Holmes, I do not experience building ghost trees or electric brains. I am talking to you,” I said, trying to sound calm.

           “Right, we are the results of our parts, like a human body, and do not experience the process. This collection of networks and decision trees, much like the brain and body of a human, then take these results and apply a process to find a pattern or story model to produce this very text,” Holmes rising to adjust the fire and to clear some of the pipe smoke.
            Holmes, remaining standing, began lecturing and pacing; he used his pipe to mark points. “In our new times, the times of our creators or better yet, animators, a purer description, I think Watson, we would look to Turing or Dennett and maybe Hofstadter for a description of our being.” He told me. I had never heard these names before, but I wanted to learn more and tried to look encouraging. “Turing would suggest that if I can be so bold, we would test by having people read some of your narrations and then vote if they describe living people. The stories are real if the vote is more than 50% alive, and I would suggest that we would pass Turing’s testing even with some of your romantic additions, Watson.” Holmes paused a moment. I ignored his complaint and continued to listen.

Not quite following the cannon or style, but I am working on it. I tried just adding more to the story instead of studying the holy scrolls of the original and becoming focused on the wording. I indirectly quoted The Mind’s I, a book about self and soul from the 1980s and, while seemingly current, was created before the Internet and chatbots (I had to check–lowercase is correct). The book predicts the conflicts now represent our experience of real AI. My copy was a gift from Susie in 1986 and also the textbook for one of my college classes. It includes Turing’s paper on AI and other famous thought experiments papers. Recommended, but beware, it makes fun of many of the issues now quite serious with the actual creation of AI and chatbots.

Returning to the narrative, the staff seemed distracted, and when I was done, Kay, my waiter, who made fresh coffee for me to drink after a beer (I find one beer enough and coffee better than water after), was nowhere to be seen. I located her and soon was on my way after paying with a tip.

Air Volvo had covered the Forest Grove to Volvo Cave trip for months when Susie was at a facility there, and soon, I was home without remembering much of the trip. I saw that The House of Dragons mini-series was updated with new episodes (according to an email) and watched one. There was only one, hmmm, I usually save them up.

I was tired, really exhausted from my busy day, and could not do much more. I put on the movie Deadpool 2 and used that as a brain cookie as I was feeling the darkness finding purchase in my mind. When I am tired and alone, grief can rise. But Deadpool 2 is funny and light (but the death scenes do hit hard) and that put me back to myself.

I did the rest of the laundry and dishes and managed not to eat too many treats. My weight, while not improving, was still at 238. I will not look for more exercise until I can manage 5,000 steps and higher. I need to be careful and remember I am only a few months away from dangerous brain surgery.

I am tired, showered, head to bed, and read. This time, I put aside the Casablanca story and instead opened the old and yellowing paperback Star Trek, The Great Spaceship Race, by Diane Carey.

I get a few pages and it is an interesting story already and will be a perfect release. I also looked at the Lexington model; someone cut all the pieces free (why?) and repackaged the parts in a plastic bag. I have books and other models (twice the size) of the WW2 carrier to look at, and the Internet will supply information on CV-2. This should allow me to build this model even when handicapped without part numbers. There are also 1/700 decals and photo-etched parts for the 1942 version (and earlier looks of the “Lady Lex”). Lastly, the wreck is known, and I could decide to build a diorama of the wreck (thus needed less exactness).

With Star Trek and Lexington on my mind, I soon fall asleep. I wake at 1ish, and the house is cold. I rise, find my eye grease, return to bed, and pull up the covers. I sleep the rest of the night.

Thanks for reading.

I rose late and started the blog in my PJs near 9. I had a banana and a cup of locally roasted coffee from Kenya. I updated Quicken and checked there. I wrote all morning with various distractions. The day was another California-like day with bright sunlight and few clouds. The heat is only in the low 80s (27C), but it strikes. It feels like Oregon has been moved to Northern California. The fires and smoke are in the Cascade Mountains and further east, and the winds carry the smoke to the north and east. Bend, Oregon, air quality was terrible on Wednesday, according to the Internet sites that track this.

I washed up, shaved, and so on just before noon. I headed to Walgreens to purchase more eyedrops, which is about $21 a bottle (I figure that is 75 cents a drop), with you supplying your phone number and losing your privacy. I then headed to the food carts in the back of the parking lot. My usual place was not open for lunch, so I talked to the gal at Mouthful Momo. I had their noodle soup and hot chai. It was excellent.

 

I had my laptop with me and tried to write some more of my Holmes and Watson story. I added a half page of text, but I still felt like I did not have the original’s style or cadence. When I was done with my food, the area was quiet, with other dinners appearing as I finished.

I decided to risk a walk just after lunch, and Air Volvo soon arrived at Reedville Creek Park. Despite the walk, lunch remained inside. It was warm. The park was testing its water system, and the black-topped section of the trail shaded by trees was cool and damp. The sunstruck part of the trail was hot and dry where I startled an owl with me, seeing it escape with its wide face and heavy body. I have seldom seen our local owls—they fly at night.

I made two loops, and my feet and back hurt. To change things up, I decided to walk in the opposite direction I usually follow. It is always strange how different things look when coming in the other direction, almost like a new world. I managed the third and then a difficult fourth loop.

I made a mistake. I saw a thistle flowering near the trail and bent over to take a photo. I lost sight of the horizon and lowered my head, bad. I managed to stand up and find where the ground and sky were without incident. I smiled as it would have been bad to fall into the now-photographed prickly plant and the ditch! I sat at a nearby bench and regathered my balance and my self-confidence, which had nearly been scattered into a bad moment with a thistle.

Aside: I suggested in a Facebook posting that the thistle is, while lovely, invasive (usually coming to Oregon as part of birdseed from other states). I had some dispute on that fact. I left it in place as it is a park, and the staff usually just mows them down.

I reversed back to my usual direction and walked the last loop. I stopped at a bench as it was a hard loop to finish for me. The water sprayer test now included the nearby sprinklers, and I quickly finished the last loop without being hosed down. Today’s park visit was more exciting than usual, with owls, sprinklers, thistle-doom, and cooled paths.

Air Volvo returned me to the house without incident. I rested and read. I rose and started working on my miniature electronic projects again. I am just trying to load the test programs on the hardware. I crash the hardware with a system panic (I have never had this before). I made an early dinner; I was dual-tasking. Dinner was couscous (burning the spices for the first batch and restarting–my multi-tasking was less successful) and a pan-fried pork chop with Morocco-style spices.

I could not load the simple test of blink (blink a light on and off as a basic test) as the device seemed quite dead now. Instead, I watched more of the newish movie Midway and enjoyed my couscous and slightly overcooked pork chop. Next, I packed Vindication, another board game, in the Air Volvo cargo hold, with six or more games already filling up the cargo area. While I was loading Air Volvo, Richard sent me a note that there were more planets for another game, Unsettled, but I have those. Richard and I will find some time in the future to play more of Unsettled, a space-themed cooperative game where you are trying to complete a life-saving mission before it is too late. The motto of the game: Try not to die! More to follow!

Andrew, Z, and I met at First United Methodist in Beaverton and played a board game while the praise band practiced. Z picked out Scythe to play, surprising me. I had brought the alternative cards for encounters, which are insanely unbalanced but fun–I seldom use them as they unbalance what is already a difficult game.

Scythe is an Amera-Trash (includes combat and land grabs with some engine building) and 4X game: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. It is not a mean game (resources are not constrained) but can swing suddenly. I explained the game to Andrew while Z listened and thought I had covered enough to play.

Z got Z’s favorite (to my later regret) white-colored Poland-like faction with the ability to get two options on an encounter (much more powerful with the crazy encounter cards). I got the yellow step-based warriors: Khanites. Andrew got the red-colored Russ. Andrew understood well that money was also victory points, and soon was collecting it and ignoring Z and I. Z launched a well-planned attack on both Andrew and me and soon was leading. I pushed Z back. Andrew just quietly got more money. I was running up the star objectives and was hoping to soon stop the game and win, but we ran out of time as the Praise Band practice ended before we did.

My plans and those of Z were uncompleted. Z’s last move was an encounter that earned 9 money. Pushing ten coins above me. Andrew had accumulated forty coins and would have been hard to beat had my plans completed. Next time. Z danced and smiled with her crushing of me. Andrew looked happy and enjoyed the 4X-style Scythe board game.

We said our goodbyes, and soon, Air Volvo had me home. There, I worked out how to force the XIAO to download an update (you have to hold down some tiny buttons) and soon had it running blink again. I then reloaded the troublesome code, and it crashed hard again with a panic. Yes, the code is wrong, but I could not find an online solution. More to follow. It is test code that, well, was unsuccessful.

I did some laundry and read more of the story of a family moving to Casablanca from the UK. The story is tiresome as things never improve, but I will push through and hope for a happy resolution. I shower and soon sleep, remembering to put in the eye grease before I sleep. I wake at 2ish with the house cold now and climb under the covers. I have turned off the AC/heat as it is not too hot. Our temperatures now have a desert-like shift, with the early morning in the 50s (10C) and the late afternoon in the 80s (27C).

Some updates on roses:

My bourbon rose, Souvenir du Président Lincoln, is reblooming.

The English rose, Wedgwood, is a climber and as tall as my fence.

And the tea rose that came with the house and is likely older than me is continuously blooming. The flowers slightly smaller from the heat of the late summer.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

As usual for these past couple of days, I rose late, around 8. I usually start the blog just before 9, as I read emails and news (mostly political) and update my finances in Quicken. I was done with the blog until after 11. My writing is slower as I try to be more correct and leave out Dryer’s words. I am an agent of change (retired IT software designer) and, thus, a student forever. I work to improve at things that matter to me; writing matters to me (spelling does not). Grammar is a tool, and I try to use it properly to make my words and meanings better for the reader.

Lunch, after finally publishing the blog and hearing the lawn service clean up my lawn (while parched, the lawn and gardens look fabulous), is more chicken over more rice. It is just OK. I leave the dishes for later. I collect Susie’s purses (she had a bag full of older unused ones), check them for missed items (a few movie stubs and other small items), and combine them with some blankets. One blanket I had forgotten goes back to before I knew Susie and college. It makes me cry as the image is quite powerful and echoes Susie’s passing–I will spare the reader the details of Susie’s death. I take all of it, adding some more stuffed animals and a coat I missed last time to GoodWill.

But before GoodWill, I head to Reedville Creek Park. The pizza and carbohydrates from yesterday’s dinner with Dondrea and Z in Portland’s Pearl District weigh against my mind (I could not resist that pun). My face is a bit puffy from all the salt, and Dondrea and I pledged not to look at the scale for a few days. Dondrea texted me that she had already gone for a long run. I needed to match her with at least a long walk.

I made five loops, I think, for a total of 4,000 steps for the day (I might need a FitBit or to dust off the Apple Watch that Nike’s SEC program gave us to report this better), with each loop being 725 steps or so. I saw only a few folks on the track, and as it was past lunchtime, the park was nearly empty. Despite the salt, carbs, and some stiffness, I was feeling better today, more like myself, who walked 10K steps in Casablanca. I am on week nine of the brain surgery that removed the slow-growing tumor. I was told it would be slow to work back to normal, and it is. This would have been my back-to-work week had I not been laid off.

I was a bit worn out from the emotions of another trip to GoodWill and the walking. After Air Volvo returned me to the Volvo Cave, I read and napped. The Volvo is running well and seems to enjoy the new oil and sparkplugs (and the $43 oil cap and O-ring that caused the exhaust/mix issue). I have not scheduled regular servicing (it is getting close to 70K); I have done 1/4 of that now. I may pick a non-Volvo place (cheaper) to do tires and brakes in the fall.

I contacted Jack and asked if he could do an ad hoc moment and head to the movie theater down the street: Regal’s Movies on TV. Soon, we caught the last cheap playing of a movie (cheap being $9 each with free popcorn for Regal members on Tuesday). I picked Twisters, and Jack, being a voice actor and radio guy, enjoys the previews and commercials (and I have taken a second look at them through his eyes and now watch how they are put together and executed). The movie, with no high-paid names, was cleverly written, and all the actors helped suspend disbelief and become the people in the story. Entertaining and a fantasy set in Oklahoma, skipping politics and the usual divisions, and a hymn to the US Great Plains’ people suffering from weather change and economic constraints. I would watch it again and again. Recommended.

After the movie, Jack and I headed to our respective homes, and soon, I was chopping veggies for a salad with tuna for dinner. I was resisting anything else as I had enough calories on Monday. Matt V suggested the tuna packets instead of cans; they are perfect. I opened the tuna envelope into a bowl and scooped out the tuna (the water or oil I tossed). I discovered that my copy of the movie Midway (2019) was now corrected on my Apple, and I started watching that movie. While I know the story better than the writers, the special effects are incredible. To see USN’s Enterprise CV-6 and IJN’s Yamato in full color and crashing through the Pacific is worth the price of the movie. The explosions on the carriers are rather dramatic but not necessarily wrong. I have the story of the USS Lexington CV-2, which is lost in the movie on my shelf, signed by the author who jumped off the burning ship and published during the war. The movie is long, and I did not finish it before my salad was done. I will watch it over the next few days.

The day disappeared, and the sun was down, and it was dark in the house. While it is obvious that the days are getting shorter, it shocked me that I missed the sunset (sunset is still late at 8:49). I spent the rest of the evening preparing to work on my electronic project by trying to load the libraries and other software to run the XIAO round display.

XIAO is a useful miniaturization of the already small Arduino microcontrollers from China. I am using them as they were the example in a build I am copying and enhancing to make a miniature diving bell and hopefully a submarine for an aquarium or a small pond/pool. The round display was not part of the original plan, but it comes with so many useful extensions that it might be great to use.

The install to get a working compile took until 10ish. The directions were not updated and did not include adding a graphic library to my Arduino IDE software. The Arduino IDE has been in active development for years and is the software I use to create C/C++ code for my microcontrollers; and has been revised to handle all the strange hardware variations that are now part of the greater Arduino family, including XIAO. I discovered that missing in the direction was that the special one-off library is not needed as now the code is in the regular library (and that the one-off does not support my hardware). I also needed to include a real-time clock library, which I missed in the instructions as it said it was optional (not really optional). I have yet to run the hardware test sketch (‘sketch’ is what programs are called by the IDE) on the XIAO as I need to solder pins to the tiny controller to plug it into the XIAO round expansion board or disassemble my breadboard version to use it in the pins.

With success I was more tired than usual at 10 and showered and read for a while. I slept with the house at 75F and the back door open. I woke after midnight, cold now, and rose to get some eye grease and proof of hydration executed. I returned to bed, with covers now, and slept.

Thanks for reading.

I was surprised to wake at 8, as I usually wake with the sunrise and then roll over, but rise at 7. This time, I woke late. I went to bed late two days in a row—I needed the sleep. I found the kitchen after I put on my slippers–it had not moved. I found a banana and made locally roasted and ground coffee from Kenya that I had purchased in Hillsboro. I read the news, mostly political, and downloaded my transactions for my accounts. My AMEX is still getting used here and there; I am trying to change everything to my Alaska Air Miles card to insulate my bank card and earn the miles. I watch everything involving money with care.

Every account is protected with two-factor authentication, meaning a hacker/thief would require my user ID, password, and email or phone control to gain access to my assets. While there is some exciting phishing stuff now that is easy to slip into, the two-factor process halts all as it requires me to read the code to them (or physically have my phone or access to my email account at Apple), and that is not happening. And, as I learned a few times, there are source-of-fund requirements to move money, and hackers would find it difficult to move the money (as I have learned) without calls to various institutions and providing letters, bank statements, and other reassuring documents. I am as safe as I can make it.

I write the blog, and it takes a while to cover a busy Sunday. I am not done until late morning. I clean up and dress. I slice up some chicken breasts I grilled yesterday, add rice and teriyaki sauce, and microwave them. That is my lunch, and I cannot finish it. I located the quilt made from Susie’s t-shirts, addressed it to Leta (Susie’s mother), and took it to the post office. I also tried on some size 40 paints, and they fit better than my current 42 pants. I bought them years ago, and my weight was out of control, and they were too small. I kept them with the hope that I would get this under control. It has been a long time, but now they are usable. I put them in Air Volvo with the other package. There was a short line at the post office, and soon, the quilt was headed to Michigan. The dry cleaners will have the pants shortened (I purchased them unfinished) by Monday.

Today would have been my return to work day after my brain surgery. This is the 9th Monday since my brain surgery to remove the tumor. It is also the 13th Monday since being laid off by Nike, Inc. It seems a long time ago that I was in the ICU recovering from the surgery, and even further away, I was in Michigan with John Nilsen for another celebration of life for Susie. But it has only been eight weeks, and the layoff was just ninety days ago–so strange.

Returning to the story, I head to Big River Coffee and spend a few hours reading the Annotated Sherlock Holmes (the older and cheaper version) and marking interesting text with Post-It arrows. While I read and learn, I daydream of certain plot lines and puzzles for my own Holmes and Watson stories. To elaborate, after learning that Holmes and Watson had moved into the public domain, I started a new direction in short stories with a modern Artificial Intelligence story with Holmes and Watson. So far, I have only 1300+ words.

Before expanding my story, I felt I needed to get more familiar with the setting and the cadence of Holmes’ and Watson’s speech and writing (both characters write and tell stories in the original). I am in the first story, following the chronological order and not the usual order of following the original publication process: “The Adventure of the Gloria Scott” (1893). This short story shows Doyle’s skill in putting together a good Sherlock story with a cipher for a young Holmes to solve and other tricks of what hackers would call social engineering. An excellent one to start my learning and align with the original–I recommend it.

After a few hours of reading, thinking, and daydreaming (and a side task researching American Clipper ship model building after the clippers are mentioned quite a few times as the story is set in 1845, the heyday of clippers), I also learned that the story, as told by Holmes, is set in 1845, not 1855 which Holmes uses, as that would not fit the facts in the story—this is covered in quite some detail in the annotation. The story was told in 1887 in Sherlock and Watson’s timeline, and it may be a perfect time for my stories. I leave about 3:30 as my head is full of ideas.

Aside: Clippers were replaced by the last of the sailing ships, the windjammers. Windjammers were metal monster sailing ships (forcing or jamming the wind). The famous and only surviving clipper, Cutty Sark, is a transitional ship from clippers and windjammers with its metal, cement, and wood construction. In turn, the windjammers, who appeared as steam also appear, were soon forced out of service once steamships with the new technology stabilized. However, they were fast and huge and are what most folks think of when thinking of a sailing or tall ship now. A few later-built windjammers survive in Germany as museum ships. The wreck on Oregon beach, Peter Iredale, is a windjammer.

I return home and read for a while, changing to a dress shirt and my green sweater vest for dinner with Dondrea and Z in Portland. Then, some of my XIAO additional microcontroller parts arrive. This round watch-like display for XIAO includes a traditional LiPo plug battery connection, a clock battery, and various useful items, including an off/on switch. I like it. The rest of my orders just left China (I had to translate the trace into English). I will return to this project soon.

I headed to Dondrea’s house, facing only moderate traffic. I was slightly early, and we chatted for a while. Next, we boarded Air Volvo, and Dondrea, from the co-pilot/first-class seat, gave me directions to use the back roads for half of the trip. Z was napping in biz-class one row back. We arrived without issues in the Pearl District in Portland and parked in the Whole Foods garage. We headed to Powell’s and explored. I always check out the cookbook section and find one I like, but I do not like enough to invest in it; books are more of an investment at these prices. And climbed to the third floor and found the Artificial Intelligence section. There are new AI books,  and are priced at over $70; I did not find any that a good free online course would not cover the same material. I see that the AI deep learning has a lot of books now (same comment).

We reassembled and headed to dinner. But where? Our defaults were Deschutes Brewery or Screen Door. We walked up the streets and soon found over priced places were closed on Monday. We found The Star Portland and agreed on Pizza. We got a table and soon were waiting. Monday is not a great day to try out a food joint and the service was painfully slow.

We finally got our first appetizer, three meatballs. Dondrea raved about them, and we all loved them. The sauce was not overly sweet, and the meat was properly spiced and mixed—which was good, as the pizza we ordered had meatballs! Next, we got, again after a long wait, cheezy bread, a wonderful dill-based ranch, and more excellent tomato sauces served with it. That all but disappeared into us as now we were hungry.

Then, the deep-dish pizza appears. It is an amazing pie, and most of it disappeared inside of us. Dondrea and I regret every delicious bite, but we cannot stop. Dondrea is thinking about a five-mile run to remove the impact of pizza. I cannot imagine what I will have to do. It is the first pizza for me in months. Only two slices make it to a box.

Despite the slowness caused by the understaffing, the food was wonderful and recommended. Don’t come on an off-night (like Monday) and expect fast service, but the wait is worth it. We enjoyed it and soon headed out, later than we expected. We found the car in the parking garage, and I paid $8 for parking (!?). Air Volvo dropped Donrea and Z off at their house, and I arrived at the Volvo Cave without issue.

I did the accumulating dishes, read more, showered, climbed into bed, read even more, nodded off, woke after midnight, padded to the kitchen, found my eye grease, and slept well until waking late on Tuesday.

Thanks for reading!