Author: alohawild

Going backward, I just started writing today’s blog after returning from Matt V’s place, where we play Dungeons and Dragons twice a month. Or lately, when we can. Matt and our players are all busy, and getting a Sunday night free for role-playing is hard. We have met for over a decade, maybe two for some of us. Matt grills beef and no-meat burgers, or nothing in the case of our vegan players who eat at home. We have a meal and play 5E, the current version of Dungeons and Dragons. There are rumors of a new version, One D&D, but it appears to be more of an extension than a replacement.

We are playing the add-on Spell Jamming, which is Fantasy mixed with Sci-Fi and involves flying ships into space in an impossible bubble of air and gravity. Tonight, we fought a new threat to our space from void space. I play the evil lawful (often known as Lawful Effective) and help blast and fight our way through a massive collection of lycanthropes. I did have to use the Remove Curse spell to prevent my cleric from joining the lycanthropes! It was a fun game, and one of us was temporarily changed into a T-Rex!

It was a fun night of gaming. We will likely get one more game before I face brain surgery on 20 May. We discussed what I was facing, and help was offered. Let’s plan for a positive outcome.

Before this, I had a late lunch with Corwin at BJ’s. The bartender, Jillian, whom I have known for years, was our waiter and bartender. I had noodles, and Corwin, my suggestion, had the prime rib. I did have a beer and a few bites of Corwin’s dessert. I took Corwin back to the Volvo Cave and rested until 4:30 when I needed to head toward Matt’s place.

Before lunch, I was at Best Buy. There, I bought an expensive laundry appliance. LG makes a washer and dryer combo. There is only one door, and it does the whole thing in a few hours. Getting rid of an appliance forever and LG’s product and lower power consumption seems a total win. The new appliance costs more than replacing the washer and dryer, installing, and hauling away. It seems the right thing to do. Neal, the sales guy, and I managed to get that ordered, and it will be delivered and installed on 10 April.

I was disappointed when I tried to replace the stove (I am unhappy with the current one, which never stays clean) as none of the ones I liked could be delivered before mid-May. Neal and I looked again, and I found a GE two-oven stove for much less that fit all my requirements. I am still not going with induction, but I am going with a smooth top and convection. I also looked at dishwashers. I looked at one, but Neal suggested an LG, and I picked one out that was also 1/2 the price I was looking at.

In the end, the lesser stove and dishwasher could be delivered and installed on 15 April, and even with haul away, it was thousands cheaper. Neal was happy to write that up.

I put extended service on the laundry, but I am unsure of that item.

Before this, I was at First United Methodist Church, and our pastor gave a lecture as chairperson for an NGO that is trying to stop human trafficking in the East on what he saw and the terrible story of human trafficking in Asia on his last trip. It was a departure as it was more of a real-world and social ill, but I think the appalling human cost he described was worth the investment. He did the slides and storytelling and showed me how to avoid scam calls. The human trafficking was for call centers, scam centers as he called them, that are stealing vast amounts of money. People are forced into crime and calling. A terrible story.

Before this, and it seems to pale against Pastor Ken’s talk, I was driving on TV Highway and saw the donut shop, made a U-turn as there was little traffic on Sunday morning, and got a donut and fifty donut holes to bring to church. Z and others were happy when I put them out before the service (even Ken had a few).

You will find Ken’s story here in our recording of the service. Recommended.

I rose at 7:30 and wrote all morning long. I was able to clean up and dress in time to get donuts. I did have a banana and liberal coffee while writing.

I slept well.

Thanks for reading!

I am writing this on Sunday morning. I am up early to try to write before church. It is a dry morning with some fog.

Saturday started with me sleeping until about 7:30 and getting started writing the blog for Friday. I wrote until late in the morning. I also did my usual download of transactions using Quicken and assigned anything that needed manual intervention, but most things still needed manual work. I closely follow all my active accounts. I update the 401K, IRA, and deferred compensation at the end of months or quarters. I tried to log on to the IRA and discovered it is somehow connected to a strange email account. I will have to call customer service and get it fixed. Ugh!

Taking a pause from writing, I made breakfast: a NYC Zabar’s Everything bagel with cream cheese and Equal Exchange French Roast liberal coffee. There is nothing like the taste of liberal in the morning.

I returned to my 1/700 scale (small going on tiny) model of the WWI SMS Derfflinger. The jewelry cement worked, and the model hull is now looking better. I practiced painting the black strip at the bottom of the model. This is a waterline model, meaning, for you non-modelers, that it shows only the parts that sit on the sea–there is no bottom. I have some of the dark grey and black now on one side; it looks good. Next, I mixed up some epoxy clay (two parts you combine to make it harden), just a small amount, and filled in an opening on the end of the model where the deck was not fitting well. I also filled the crack at the very ends of the hull from gluing the two pieces together. The bow needs to be smooth and impressive. The treated areas dried in an hour, and I took out sanding sticks and carefully smoothed the areas. It looks good. I will have to paint them primer using a brush.

I found the practice etched practice set and my cigar box of folding tools. I then went through the practice of folding a box and a tube. I need to remember how to do this and get the skills back. It is very intense and tiny work. I use my safety glasses with the 3X bifocals with a very bright light. I learned that the etched brass will fly and disappear. There are little tabs that hold a piece to a sheet; you cut these with a good heavy hobby knife. I cleaned off these tabs, and one piece flew off the table after the cut. I forgot to hold it with a transparent tool as the force can flip the tiny piece like tiddywink. More practice is needed before I start on the ship parts!

It was time for lunch. I called Leta while I was driving; I still try to call her every day. She mentioned that the strawberry poppy seed dressing salad was at Panera Bread again, so I decided that worked for me. I arrived there safely in Air Volvo without witnessing any local driver shenanigans. I connected to my account on their touchscreen ordering system and soon had a cup of hot tea and a salad to enjoy. The salad was perfectly made, and this particular store looked cleaner and more organized than the last time I visited. Excellent.

I had some time, and I was meeting Evan at The 649, so I headed to Best Buy. My appliances are all looking sad, and my washer leaks. Neal, the sales guy, explained the new super one-door washer and dryer combo. The one he was pushing required me to rewire the circuit for 30 amps—almost the same as the stove! There was a European model from LG that required only a regular wall plug and did the same thing in a smaller physical footprint. Now, that got my attention. All these are over $2,000, but it would reduce the total laundry footprint.

Neal also told me I could probably fix the leak issue by checking the filter he showed me. I had spaced that there was a filter. He suggested cleaning that and suspects the leak will go away. He said he would still like the sale, but he was an honest guy. Good move, Neal. I come from a long family of salespeople. Trust gets you the big bucks.

Next, without Neal, I looked at the stoves and dishwashers. LG has a special sale for $100 off for each additional item you buy. I liked their dishwasher, and they have a nice stove with two ovens. It’s time to upgrade, I think, but as usual, I will see what I think on Sunday (it is a pile of money). Sleep on it.

With dreams of new appliances, Air Volvo gets me to The 649, which is already busy. Evan is waiting for me. There is a political rally there at 4PM, and we are told to use a round table. Crystal and Stephen are bartenders and opened. That surprises me, as they were on Friday night, too. Natalia joins them later in the afternoon as the place packs with the political folks. I noticed that the dress style of the bartenders was comfortable today as they would be working with a large, distracted crowd.

Evan was thrilled to beat me by three points in the board game Concordia using the Cyprus map. He rushed to build the last of his outposts, thinking he was further ahead than he was. I was just one city from winning when he ended the game. I had missed the Farmer and Metal cards to Evan, so I purchased a pile of other cards and started building brick cities as I had the Mason card. I also got out all my colonists, which awarded me many points. Evan played very well and deserved the win.

We tried to play the basic two-person Furance using only the base rules (excluding all the new cards except for the one fixed card). I got lucky and landed a huge pile of resources, which allowed me to make money each round. I purchased a few cards but made money from the resources I collected from missing out on purchases. I scored high and won as we were squeezed out by the rally. We packed up and left. I had to return and find my hat and laptop, and I was on a chair that had wandered a bit.

I spoke to the manager, Kareem, and he is happy to see us come and play our games. He shared that his wife especially likes to see all the colorful games when she is working and likes it when we explain them to her. We are quite welcome there. Nice!

I headed to Richards and arrived in moderate traffic. People were making the usual lane changes without reason, but I managed to avoid any lost paint. I was early, and Richard had me come in early. He had spent hours preparing for today’s game. I, too, had read and watched videos on social media about today’s game: Inventions.

This is a massive board game and a brain-burner. It uses a chain process that allows you to take extra actions on your turn. You also stack actions. Thus, you start one, leading to another; you complete the new one and then return to the original. You almost need a notepad or a memory marker. The magic to the game is to find a mix of actions that leads you to chains of what you really want to do. It took us an hour to teach; Chris was new to the game. We then spent under four hours, with some turns taking a long time as the player searched for a magic combination. Richard won, Chris was not far behind, and I was far behind as I could not find the combinations and stayed in the Stone Age too long. While we need more plays, it is a good game for monster-sized brain burners and follows board games Lisboa and Weather Maker, which are all designed by Vital Lacerda. I

I returned home via Air Volvo, traveling in the Oregon mist and through local flooding (the usual for Oregon in March). The mail, which arrived on Saturday, included my refund from the City of Portland. It was over $700 and covers 2022-2023 taxes, yes, two years. My adjusted income following Oregon and not the new SALT-reduced federal (Trump administration tax increases) rules meant the city needed to return most of the tax to me. Which covers the Earthquake insurance bill that was delivered on Saturday, which was $611. I will point out that the optional insurance cost has not increased while the required insurance on the house has doubled. Allstate and other insurance companies all explain that their costs are higher, yet optional policies are still unchanged. Hmm.

I had a late shower and went to bed.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

It is now Saturday morning when I write this, and I do not particularly like Friday, yesterday. I am not excited about decanting that day and drinking it again. I will be very selective and void the bitter bits. Mostly, I had a few meetings on Zoom for work with folks who were so me-focused that it was impossible to understand the problem statement, and people were talking cross-purposes to the point it was like having three meetings simultaneously. Terrible. I later had to take painkillers as my jaw was so locked that I hurt. A very unhealthy meeting for me. Lastly, none of these topics can be discussed here on social media.

But let’s start with Friday and skip the painful bits altogether (the dental pain from locking my jaw returned just writing the above). I rose at 6:30 on Friday, even though it is a work-from-home day—Nike WHQ is in the office Monday through Thursday. My first Zoom meeting was at 7, but I got coffee made in time to drink it during our group’s meeting. After that, I made a NYC bagel with cream cheese. The sink was full of dishes and the dishwasher clean, but it had sat closed too long. I added the dirty to the clean and ran it. I also started my laundry; I like to wash my clothes on Friday and put them away between meetings.

The nice coffee from Uganda (Thanks, Kramers) ran out, and I am back at the liberal Equal Exchange French Roast. Something dark and bitter—much like the image Fox News shows of us woke folks—I enjoy the liberal taste that I have made since President Trump was elected. Yes, every bitter cup reminds me of those four years (sorry if that sounds political and not funny—it is meant to be true and yet funny).

The status and process meetings continue. Somewhere in a break between Zoom meetings, I clean up and dress. I moved the laptop to the kitchen and left the video and sound off while I made a nice lunch. I listened and often stopped and argued with folks who would prefer that I keep silent. After a while, I did. I sent texts to individuals who validated my understanding and then let the spinning and verbal dancing continue. I kept hearing we need to “understand” something–I created it, but since someone else was updating and sharing it, they assumed I knew nothing about it. I decided to remain silent on that point, too, as it would just add to the cross-purposes. Instead, I made pasta, heated spicy sauce from a bottle, split chicken breasts when still frozen to make it easier, and finished defrosting chicken breasts in water. I managed to get the chicken in the oven as the meeting ran over.

Lunch was great, with the flat chicken spiced up by the pasta and sauce. I cooked all the chicken so I could use it in other things. I also replied to a production issue, saying that this is how it works. I received an email reply that was in agreement with that. I was going to recommend a fix, but I realized I should let the data owners work this out (I don’t want to add to the noise).

Frustrated from the meetings, Friday afternoon began with the usual quiet. I worked on my death papers as that was more fun than work (!) and needed to get done. I bought a workbook, “I’m Dead, Now What,” with spaces to fill in for all the information needed if I cash in on 20 May 2024. It is very detailed and covers items I would have missed. It is also very depressing. I also have some Word docs that answer the questions in the workbook on accounts instead of trying to handwrite all those numbers (instead of copying and pasting them). It is sad to write notes on your own funeral and final arrangements.

I also watched a how-to video on my new board game, Inventors, which is coming on Monday. I will play Richard’s copy (how does he get his first?). It was a very long play-through, and I watched it between meetings and reacted to emails, Slack messages, and so on. I also finished my laundry but failed to put it away.

I received my new jewelry glue today. This is wicked, as it is a resin diluted in a smelly chemical. But it is clear, dries very slowly, can be adjusted until it hardens, and can be removed with acetate. I usually use a welding product for plastic to plastic, but today, I tried this on the SMS Defflinger model’s decks and hull. It was perfect—a surprise. Knowing this product, I let the ship rest for the rest of the night. It looks better. I will finish the hull with this glue.

I decided that the pain, the work issues, and allergies would not make my folding of tiny brass parts a success—I should revel in the model’s hull looking good. I rested and took a short nap. I could have slept until Saturday, but I could not do that. I could have had more pasta and chicken, but I decided to drink beer and eat bar food instead. I grabbed my Apple laptop and headed to The 649. Parking was complex, and I got a bartop seat near the window (the bar has no seating), a leftover from the pandemic and still the only location from which to order.

Avery, Stephen, and later Crystal were the bartenders for Friday. Food and exotic drinks are offered. I stick to beer and appetizers. The 649 often misdelivers food, and Avery had to chase people who kept changing tables, which did not improve the situation. The bar was filled almost to capacity with people vaporing in coats outside.

I smiled, did not ogle the women bartenders (who do wear tight clothing, de rigueur for the exotic mixologist bars—and I am old enough that they would be my grandchildren), and was always polite. When Crystal told me she messed up my order for nachos, I told her to take her time and not to worry. I am always treated as a most welcome customer.

I wrote while drinking and eating, one of my favorite relaxations. I found Grammarly and could agree with most of the changes to the 2009 writing I was updating. The changes are mostly syntax, as the writing is just above the stream of consciousness. This is my 4E Dungeons and Dragons adventure that now needs to be revised to 5E. I plan to play this story, Finding a Broken Sword, and republish the revision. The old version is still visible on Amazon. I am headed to just a PDF version on a gaming website.

The story’s bones and rules have already been revised, and I was just editing. I am using the standard monsters for the start of the story. I love to write adventures; it is like writing a science fiction novel, except this one is played. I try to write it so another group, unknown to me, can play it. I have received little feedback, but my groups seem to like my stories and adherence to a pro-player writing style.

Aside: Imagine in another setting where Moriarty had sharpshooters take out Holmes and Watson as they left 21B Baker Street. While perfectly reasonable (and would be what I would do), it certainly does not make a good story. In a pro-player style, our heroes, Holmes and Watson, would likely have had his Baker Streer Irregulars spot the assassins and then have a good chance of driving the sharpshooters away. Or, in more Holmes over-confidence style, somehow Holmes knows that this type of shooter uses a specific bullet and always shoots the chest as a better target than the head. Holmes wears a new-fangled bullet-prove shirt, his own creation, and thus is shot but not hurt when he heads out without Watson (telling Watson to not go outside), and hence assumed dead, Holmes can track the assassin to Moriarty. Moriarty kills the assassin for leading Holmes to him and escapes in some improbable way, of course. Watson later complains that Holmes would be dead if the assassin changed methods. All of this makes a good story (and is tempting to write with the release of Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty into the public domain).

Back to the story, I revised the adventure’s first section and started on the second section. It was about 9ish when the pain required attention, and I was growing too comfortable–sleepy.

I returned home, glued more on the SMS Derfflinger model, showered, and went to bed. I felt much better about the world and soon dreamed of traveling to some now misty place and enjoying more food and drinks. It was not a bad way to end a Friday I could have done without.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

 

It is the 112th day since I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It is slow-growing and benign; I am scheduled for Surgery to remove the tumor on 20th May. Assuming that goes well, I will be out for two months to recover. My surgeon informed me that I need to lose some weight to make my chances better–somehow, more weight can mean more brain pressure. I am working on it.

The morning played at 6:30, waking me. I woke at 3AM to prove hydration, woke at 5ish, and rolled over. So it was harder to start this Thursday morning. I had some vivid dreams, but they faded immediately, and I am sorry I do not remember them. I do remember they were excellent, but not the content.

Discombobulated, I rose, put on my slippers and robe, and entered the home office. I could make the computers work, and soon, I read emails, Slack messages, and the internet news. Trump was asking for yet-another-dismisal and yet-another-way to delay his trials. The news was harsh, and I will not cover it here.

I had some coffee and ate a banana before cleaning up, dressing, and boarding Air Volvo. I reached the Nike WHQ Swift building before 8AM. The morning was full, as is usual for me, hours of Zoom status and process meetings. To my colleague’s amusement, I also reviewed some software changes and pointed out the issues in the code, some poor non-standard coding, and others more style items and repeating of code over and over. All of this was written like the code we wrote twenty years ago. Just when I think I am a dinosaur, I am reminded that I am still a cutting-edge coder. Rajani, my new boss, was laughing when he saw me next; obviously, my face was showing a sour expression.

Lunch was with Scott, who made it early, and we headed to the nearby Nike cafe. As usual, I had the pop item: a rice bowl with beef. Scott had “nuts and sticks,” as he describes the salad bar. I have developed a reaction to the salad bar and picked the special instead.

Note: my colon and poo-er have worked better these last few weeks. I am being attentive. I still do not have a strong feeling if I need to use the restroom, and instead, I always head there after 10AM and again after 2PM, discovering that I am ready to let things pass. My cancer doctors like my plan to just try at those times and have suggested it to his other colon cancer survivors.

Scott and I talked about the chaos of the project and Nike as a whole. Spring Break always brings some chaos; folks go a little mad when they need to find something to do with the family. The upcoming layoffs and year-end at Nike all make folks a bit crazy. To me, it feels like a tea party and an unbirthday with Alice!

I decided I had enough of the office and headed home. I was also looking for a delivery. Sadly, my new board game, Inventors: Evolutions of Ideas, did not show up today. Richard has his copy—growl. It is closer to Lisboa, designed by the same designer, as it has no thematic parts—just some wooden markers.

Last night and a bit today, I updated a new Word document with accounts and passwords for accounts like the utilities and AMEX.

I am tired today, but once the blog is done, I will rest tonight. The SMS Derfflinger model will have to wait another day.

I had a few more meetings. My last meeting was at 5:45, and we said goodbye to one of our India-based leads. Rajani even had a quiz on him, including his nicknames and food loves. It was a really lovely goodbye.

I reheated some Popeye’s chicken and had that with coleslaw for dinner.

And that takes me to writing the blog…thanks for reading.

 

 

It is after 10PM (22:00), and I am eating a late dinner. I have a huge 16-piece to share as leftovers for Corwin. So, this will be a rushed story, but I would like to have time to read some tonight.

Backward seems the best approach. So, as I said, I just picked up lots of Popeye’s spice chicken coming back from First United Methodist Church, where Z and I played the board game Concordia. We managed one full two-person game and two-thirds of a three-person game, adding Andrew after he finished the choir practice while the praise band practiced.

I won the first game, but Z was remembering how to play. We did not complete the second game, but we scored it, and Z pulled ahead by ten points when we ended. She admitted that I would have likely caught her and won, but a win is a win. Congrats, Z.

We played using the Cyprus map, which I seldom use. I can recommend it for two or three players. Concordia is a worker placement and resource management game with a deck-building mechanism. It is not mean, but it can be competitive, and the choices are hard. The turn structure is easy to learn and simple, but I often plan my turns three or four in advance. However, I am ready to take advantage of changes or replan when options become unavailable. You can block others, but it will cost you resources and points in the end. Precision and running efficiently are the best ways to win.

Concordia is set in Roman times, and you represent a family-owned trading company spreading out your trading posts throughout the empire. You need to acquire resources to expand and to hire people (buy more cards). Other families are expanding, too. Can you build the best and most diverse trading empire?

Before this, I was home, having left the office after 3PM. I had to call the City of Portland tax office. I received a letter saying that my tax forms were in error, and they corrected them. I think it was a trivial issue, but I still have not received my 2022 refund, and my 2023 is now expected. I received correction letters yesterday for both tax forms; Portland is just getting this work now (the tax started in 2021!). The 2021 penalties and interest were already refunded to me, and I had a 1099-G included for that in my taxes.

I waited about thirty minutes in a call line until a gal answered. I learned the correction was trivial, and my refund for both years should be delivered by mail by next Wednesday. Yay!

I called Cornerstone Tax, my local tax service, and informed them about the issue. I am sure the mistake has been repeated, and others will soon call; they thanked me for calling The City of Portland tax folks and working out what happened. I scanned a copy of one letter and sent them an email with the image of the letter. The withholding goes on line eight, not nine, which is for prepayments.

Going further back, I had a few meetings at work, and I was very unhappy with the usual behind-the-back credit-stealing that is part of the project. I don’t usually mention the political stuff here, but today was especially strange. Some of the same folks who were misbehaving got the same treatment, and the irony was not lost on me when they came to me to complain they were being mistreated. I was supportive even after they had set my teeth on edge earlier. Later, I reminded my folks (who were frustrated) that we do good work, and thus, we get more good work; just ignore the rest. But that was easier to say (growl) than to do.

I left early for lunch and had Orange Chicken at Happy Panda (too much sugar, but so good). I stopped by Barnes and Noble and got the next issue of the Fine Scale Model (there are full-colored photos). The nice sales cleric convinced me to convert my legacy membership to the new membership. I can cancel by December before I have to pay for a year. I got a free book bag and a new membership card. The cleric was happy (she gets credit for upselling me), and I meant to do something with the membership. All good.

I rose at 6:30 and somehow managed to reach Air Volvo after cleaning up and dressing around 7:30. Then, I found the Swift building at Nike WHQ before 8AM. I managed to make coffee in the French Press using Uganda-sourced coffee (thanks, Kramers). I had just a banana for