Author: alohawild

Working backward, I am eating a cookie and writing the blog at about 8 p.m. I spent the early evening scanning photos of Susie. I did a few more kiddie photos I missed yesterday and then scanned in some wedding photographs. Fewer tears and the wedding brings back smiles and good memories. I will be traveling tomorrow and pick this up next week.

Susie dancing with her dad at her wedding in 1990.

I talked to the church folks, and the preparations for Susie’s Concert are moving well. Food plans seems to be settling.

I came home early and rested and slept. The coughing wouldn’t stop and got terrible in the afternoon. I took a cough suppressant and took a nap, which helped. I woke in time for the 5:45 p.m. PDT stand-up meeting, which was done on Zoom and overlapped India’s morning (6:15 IST).

I looked up the JFK Airport to Roosevelt Island transit, and it is more than an hour’s trip on the subway and requires a shuttle to connect to the train to the island. I will have two pieces of luggage and a bag. This is another adventure, and I always wanted to take the subway from JFK to avoid the crazy NJ traffic and $200 travel costs. My AMEX is set up in my Apple Wallet to pay for the subway. Exciting. I love NYC.

I made a roast beef sandwich with two slices of cheddar cheese for dinner. I painted the bread with Thousand Island salad dressing and spooned coleslaw over the dressing. It was so good! I bought the $15-a-pound thin-sliced beef for this. I must get some corned beef from Elephant’s next week. I love a good sandwich, and it does not blow my calories like pasta.

I did a few more meetings, going further back, and before that, I had lunch alone at the Nike cafe. I again selected the pop-up, which was a rice and chicken item—not a curry this time. It was still good, and I ate all of it. As I watch my calories, I am pretty hungry when lunch comes at 11:30, but I need to eat slowly; otherwise, I will still be hungry when I finish these rice bowl items. I read NY Times items on my phone while eating.

I canceled my Sunday NY Times print subscription. They were mailing it to me, and I would get it on Monday. I then opted for an all-digital subscription. I did this during a break between meetings.

Before this, we had the introductions for the new boss, Erika. I work for Rajani now. We had an excellent meeting, and Rajani introduced everyone. Erika has known me for years but has heard what I am about nowadays. It was the first pleasant re-org meeting as we started to find the flying formation, what we call it.

The day started with me rising at 6:30 with my alarm still waking me. I am still not ready for the time change. It is hard to get started, but I get to the office and read emails and Slack updates. I later make coffee and retrieve a banana. I run out of time before I run out of coffee. I need to make the liberal coffee first in my French Press. I ended up putting most of the coffee in an insulated cup. I pour the remaining hot water into the insulated cup and put the cover on it when I make the coffee. I then dump out the still-hot water and fill the still-hot cup with the remaining coffee. The coffee is scalding when you do that and I drink it on the way and at work.

The crows covered Air Volvo again with art, but it was misting, so it just wiped off. I drove slow but light traffic to Nike’s Swift building on WHQ.

I looked at electric cars to replace Air Volvo. Car and Driver says that the Korean-made ones are the best. I did look at a BMW for $111,000, but no, I could buy two Korean ones for that. I want something self-driving that I can travel in. Nothing has gotten my attention enough to do more than look at build-yours websites.

Thanks for reading. I am packing and just checked in to my flight. I am going cheap this time to see if I can do it. I also noticed that First Class on a red-eye flight had few services on my last trip. It seems like a terrible waste, so I will try cheap and spend the money on more interesting things in NYC. I will be staying at The Graduate Hotel on Roosevelt Island.

 

 

 

What could be worse than a time change weekend? A f**king Monday after. Especially if you have a grey Pacific Northwest, damp Monday, and thus no light to help you wake up. There is just not enough coffee for this. I woke before the alarm, somehow an hour before, and had trouble sleeping again. I rose just before 6:30, found the home office, and checked the emails and news. I also popped into the kitchen and made liberal coffee, the Equal Exchange brand packed in their warehouse in Portland (of course), and had a banana. The morning passed quickly, and soon, I was cleaning up, dressed, and ready to board Air Volvo, which seemed like the night.

Traffic was light but slow; everyone was. I reached the office, and the parking lot was empty. Folks were running late. I started the day with the first meeting. Folks were listening in their cars, driving in. I drink all the liberal coffee and get more free coffee, and then I have to make more. Folks are drowning this morning in the dark waters of caffeine. If this was Dune, coffee and tea are spice. It must flow!

I received an invitation to a meeting tomorrow for our new boss, Erika. I believe I work now for Rajani as part of the Master Data (and whatever else they need me to do) team.

The coughing was back but not as bad. It just sneaks in. I found that my emergency inhaler is helping. I need to keep the airways open, and I am getting better.

Lunch was curry chicken on coconut rice at the Nike cafe, which was excellent and prepared by the pop-up chefs. I like to pick one station and see what they serve. It is always good if it is a bit under-salted (perfect!), and the pop-up has you pay while waiting—great!

I did a few more status updates and process meetings. I had a snack because I had a headache (you try not to think of a brain tumor when it is likely sinus issues) and some mint tea. At 3:15ish, I returned home feeling exhausted, my lungs raw, and my chest tired of coughing. Air Volvo got me there without issue.

I saw the mailman and apologized that the mailbox was loose and slanting. The Amazon guys have trouble turning around their trucks and have hit the box multiple times. It is plastic and is not cemented in. It just pushes over. The mailman said it was OK and smiled.

I rested at 3:30ish and woke again at 5ish. Yes, I was exhausted. I felt better.

Bharathi stopped with some excellent Butter Chicken that was my dinner. We will try to meet for lunch at Nike. It was perfect, and I shared a taste with Corwin, who loved it, too. Bharathi helped with India Night and knows I love Indian-style food. It was perfect.

I spent the evening scanning photos for Susie’s Concert. Seeing them without Susie asking about the moment, smiling, and looking at them with me is hard. I found these kiddie shots of Susie in the closet. Susie’s mom sent them to her a few years ago. Tears. Corwin saw them, and his eyes were wet, too. We missed her tonight.

I started on the blog. The cough came back as I tired.

Thanks for reading.

Sunday started with me rising from the ashes of standard time and rising like a phoenix into daylight saving time! F**k that did not happen. My alarm went off at 7AM, and I could not understand why the universe decided I needed to be punished. I located my slippers and waited, but they did not put themselves on, nor did the universe end with some glorious Jesus returning to save us from daylight saving time. No messiah today to stop this madness! Until November 3, we will get to enjoy this strange new time. Maybe we can get an apocalypse by then. Unfortunately, the closest thing we have is four candidates running for President and Vice President to the Four Horsemen. And the election is AFTER the time change. So be ready, dear readers, to do this again. Nothing is coming to save us from it.

Seeing that I was alive, I quickly sat at my Apple and wrote the blog. I discovered the furnace/AC clock was an hour the wrong way, and I corrected that. What it is connecting to is a mystery to me. It is not Internet-based. I made toast and low-sugar jam for breakfast with the liberal coffee I made in the French Press. I wrote for ninety minutes.

I dressed in my gray suit, black shoes, gold vest, and pride tie. A flash of color for a gray day in Oregon. The golden chain for the vest pocket watch finished the look. This means suspenders under the vest and not a belt for this look.

It was just misting when I boarded Air Volvo for Beaverton’s First United Methodist Church. Dondrea was preaching again; Pastor Ken was still in Asia. The choir anthem was an old piece by John Stainer. Mr. Stainer was an Anglican in the late 1800s and early 1900s who wrote many pieces, most not played now, but he does slide in on some Methodist service even today. Today was God So Loved the World, which he published in 1887 and is part of a more extensive work, The Crucifixion, one of John Stainer’s works still performed to this day–I have heard it a few times.

Dondrea gave the sermon on the last part of Acts. The story is that Paul is surprised to find the Romans and the local Jews willing to listen to him. Dondrea points out that the folks who lived in Rome had to deal with many different views and often explain or even justify their faith. The locals were not threatened by new ideas and embraced them. We need to listen, even to people we don’t agree with, to build a better community. We cannot live in a comfortable echo chamber, a prison of our own, and thrive. We must be more than that. Also, we know what is right and should just do that.

After church, I should go home and do some scanning, but I was tired already, and Rev. Anne Weld-Martin invited me to lunch at Copper River. I accepted and met them there after I crossed Beaverton caught in church traffic. I forgot about some of the Sunday church traffic and was stuck for a while, but I finally reached the place, and Rev. Anne and Rev.Dr. Wayne was soon there. Paella was on the special with sausage, shrimp, muscles, and salmon. Just excellent and slightly under-salted (perfect!). We chatted about church, music, Susie’s Concert, and travels. Wayne had the lobster fettuccini from the regular menu and loved it.

After dinner, I helped with the logistics of getting Wayne in the car and headed home in Air Volvo. It was now raining, and the drops were cold and threatening to be sleet. I returned home. The water around the house was high again, and the drains were more pools than drains—something I need to invest in. I went inside and carefully changed out of my slightly damp suit and back into regular pants with a belt. I rested and read but knew I needed to grocery shop today as I was traveling on Wednesday night. I have two more nights left in Oregon this week.

Aws was checking. He is an Iraqi who has lived in Beaverton for over ten years and is a friend. I was thinking about him as Ramadan starts soon. I always wish him well, and we talk about the challenges of being observant, or at least partially observant, in Beaverton. It isn’t easy. He was happy to see me as I was shopping.

I had made a list and forgot to put shaving needs on the list (ugh, but I can shop in NYC if I don’t cover that before the trip). As usual, I added a few more items as I shopped. I filled the cart, and after $247, it was enough. Aws checked me out, looked at my pile, and I told him my nephew (that is what I call Corwin) was living with me. He thought it was good that I should not be alone (he learned of Susie’s passing). Looking at all the groceries, we laughed as we knew I would likely have had a bag of items just for me. Aws is working two jobs, 17-hour days, and cannot be observant this year. “Living the dream,” he said. He also said he had saved enough to travel to Europe soon. Excellent.

We fist bumped (COVID-19 replacement for handshakes), and I left thinking good thoughts for Aws and all the world Muslims: Good Ramadan to you all.

Corwin is better and received the bounty I supplied and put it away for me. Now I had a headache; I was cold and wet. I rested, read, and found peace in Songs About Jane by Maroon 5 and then Supernatural by Santana, played on our Amazon Echo. I gently napped, and the coughing and discomfort left me. The music made me smile. I read more about the Dark Tower adventure, reaching some of the more out-of-proportion items (an ancient dragon that does not fit nicely) from the original. There were suggestions on how to deal with this rule break (according to the D&D 5E math, a group of adventures would be entirely destroyed by this creature and, therefore, should not be used in an adventure as an encounter–it is against the rules). I am not sure what I will do if I play this adventure.

I had a can of tuna for dinner—nothing fancy—but that did not stop the headache. I then made a cup of tea, which worked and also helped the cold symptoms. With the pain behind my eyes fading, I started on the blog.

The day seems to have disappeared, and it is almost 9PM.

Thanks for reading.

One of the places I plan to visit again in NYC:

I am up early, 7AM, on Sunday morning, and a time change with the Spring Forward is causing us to lose an hour. I have to write the blog before church, and it is best to start early. It is pouring rain outside, and I can hear the water in the gutters. Likely, when the light is stronger, I will see the small lake in the corner of the backyard as the water collects again.

Saturday started with me rising about 8ish and finding my slippers and robe. I went directly to the office and began the long blog on Friday. I was not rushed, as Evan was out of town, and I had no plans other than to cough less and rest a bit. I wrote for an hour, before I noticed. I paused, made liberal coffee, and then made a NYC bagel (thank you, Joyce). I held the bagel and looked down; my thumb was in the wrong place. Instead of moving my thumb, I moved the knife in error. Snicker-snack went the Vorpal blade bread knife, and I sliced my thumb tip well. After the bleeding did not slow, I found a bandaid and let it hold the wound together while I typed the blog and ate my breakfast.

Even with the new handicap, I finished the 1300+-word blog at about 11AM. I forgot to mention the new Panda movie that I went to on Friday night. It was slightly less funny than the first three, but I was still laughing, and there was a lot of commentary from some of the bad guys that was really funny. It is its own movie, and I liked it. Recommended: Kung Fu Panda 4.

I was coughing again and doing light housework. I washed my bedding and dirty clothes and put away most of the laundry. When he moved in, Corwin brought some giant white towels with him, and I have no space for them, so they are set in a chair for the moment. The towels, my clothing, and the dishes are put away. That reduced the clutter, and I put out some of the recycling, making even more space.

I headed to Walgreens and found two USB-A 32G memory sticks to store Susie’s photos and skating videos. To my surprise, they were expensive, and a USB-C was locked down, and twice as expensive, I passed. The Aloha Food Carts are there, and I went to Bombay Chaat House for an Indian-style veggie lunch. Harvey was running the truck again and happy to see me again. I got cha masala tea and their three curry specials. It is not too spicy, but delicious. They supply hot spices if you want to take it to another level; I demurred today.

I ate outside, and soon, the cold wind rose. The sky was blue and sunny at first, but soon, clouds filled it, and the rains returned. This is more usual for us in the winter, with ten-minute micro weather systems and the cold wind blasting from the desert, blowing east-to-west against the earth’s rotation. Here, the heavier cold air flows down the thousand-foot cliffs into the Columbia Gorge from the high desert and then pours to Portland and over the west hills to Beaverton. The wind can be ten degrees colder than the air and blast off your best cowboy hat, kill your tender plants and trees, and freeze mist on bridges. Black ice is very real here, and some bridges are so slippery when iced that you can’t stand on them, let alone drive over them. Oregon will take your life or at least smash your car if you are not respectful to the American West.

I returned home and located the China photos. There were only a few with Susie in them. I tossed most of the images as they were not that good. I kept the good ones. I found some photo albums. Found Susie’s fans from China trips, one handpainted of a tiger and another cloth of a phoenix, Susie’s favorite images. I also located the bill for Susie’s new skates, $980, and threw that away. I will scan the photos on Sunday.

I was coughing often, but I finished remaking the bed and decided to use it. I read for a few hours, resting on the covers. I am reading the Dark Tower adventure that I just received. My reading reminds me why it was famous; most encounters and events are unique, with no boilerplate boring “five orcs attack” like writing; there is even a note in the text if the bad guys will run after being overwhelmed. I can also see that the 5E rewrite was done with care; in AD&D, poison was deadly (it does damage or disables in 5E), and treasure was experience points. There are lots of treasure and magic items (in AD&D, you get the choice of keeping a magic item or selling it for more treasure, which means more experience points as treasure was experience points), something missing in Wizard of the Coast material (the owners now of Dungeons and Dragons and the publishers of 5E). I carefully follow the 5E rules when I write adventures, but I try to write more in the older style found in this adventure.

I make a sandwich. Corwin has bought some bread and will soon head out. I have a plastic glass with me. The water helps to put out the coughing, so I sip it often. Traffic is messy in Beaverton, but light in Portland, and my trip takes about forty minutes. It was Kathleen, Richard, and I for The Fox Experiment tonight. This dice-rolling game focused on breeding gentler foxes, something still done in Russia. A fast-paced five-round game where you collect dice based on the pair you select to breed. You then roll the dice and see how your new pup did. It is always fun to collect and roll your own dice–it is a satisfying feeling to roll all those dice. We managed to be taught and played a game in 45 minutes. We played a second game as we liked it. Richard won both games, which was not unexpected, but I outscored Kathleen both times. I missed playing the last turn and gave Richard one of my best pups. Until then, I had a chance against Richard. Next time!

The Fox Experiment is by the same game designer as Wing Span. I would recommend this game as it is elegant, fast, and easy to learn. It has no connection other than a well-designed game to Wing Span.

To finish, we played one of my least favorite games, Project L. It is an excellent game where you apply plastic geometric pieces to a card. You score the card and its reward when you complete it. Richard loved this one so much that he helped us. He crushed us. Kathleen was excellent at it. I managed not to embarrass myself.

It was a time change night, and Kathleen was not feeling well, so we decided to stop early at 9ish. I drove Kathleen home to the other side of Portland and into Milwaukee. I returned to the highways, ignoring NAV’s wish to take a slightly faster Portland street path. I didn’t want to learn about the latest drag racing or other legally questionable events in Portland. My trip was uneventful, and I was soon home.

Corwin was out, and I made a bagel sandwich to go with my pills. If I eat something, I have a better experience with them. I took the cough suppressant, too. I wandered through the house and set all the clocks that don’t change on their own to an hour later. Puff, it is after 11, and I take a late shower, climb into the clean sheets, read, and sleep. I only wake up a few times.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

I put off writing this story until Saturday morning. I was trying to rest a bit and get the coughing to slow. I need to be better for my trip to NYC on Wednesday.

It is the 85th day since I was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma on my left side. It is a slow-growing tumor manifested by a loss of hearing and balance on the left side (which will not get better).

 

Returning to the story, it was Friday. For the moment, we work from home on Fridays, and summer hours will start in May when we have the afternoon off. That sounds great, except the project never followed that. But I suspect this year it will be better, and we will have summer hours, too.

The layoffs are done for the moment, and we are still trying to understand the new flying formation, which we call it. We still miss the folks we lost. Weekends are good for escaping the chaos at Swift at Nike WHQ.

The day started with waking at 6:30 and not having the status meeting. There was a holiday in India on Friday, so Rajani canceled it. This Sunday is the Spring-Forward time change (f**k!), so the meeting will move out thirty minutes to 7:00 next week. I rolled over and started after 7AM.

I found the kitchen after visiting the home office and checked that nothing was outstanding from India or late at night. Then, I made breakfast. The bagel, still fresh from Joyce (delivered yesterday), was sliced with care with the Vorpal sharp new bread knife (you can easily bleed for your breakfast–I just wanted one sharp enough to make bagel prep easy–this one would impress a Jedi). I used the new glass cutting board with a heavy set chef (looking somewhat like me–Corwin thought it funny) that I bought on my last trip to the coast. It is the perfect size for small work like a bagel. Toasted and covered with cream cheese, the unblooded bagel was ready. Liberal coffee was also prepared in the French Press and subsequently joined the bagel.

The work was hours of status, process, and update meetings—nothing exciting or worth many characters to describe. Our Europe, Africa, and Middle East (EMEA in Nike-speak) colleagues returned home this week after visiting for two weeks. I was happy to see and talk to them a few times over the last two weeks.

Corwin was ill today and barely left his room until the early evening. My coughing and wheezing were harsh as I tried not to use the cough suppressant pills. I stayed home today.

Jack offered to take a box of GoodWill items (minor things from Susie’s room) I had assembled. He picked up the box after I had lunch (a can of chili with some cheese). I had picked up a coin from the USS Midway for Jack; he served on the sister, FDR, which does not exist now. I got to give it to him. Thanks, Jack.

The afternoon was filled with paperwork. I received the surgery instructions today (with a typo on it that was corrected) and had to read them. My plan to fly out after Susie’s service in Michigan has served me well. I was surprised that a second MRI was not planned, but I was wrong. A new MRI is the night before the surgery with special markers I have to keep on my head for the surgeon. I wanted to be home for 24 hours before the surgery, and I was right. I printed out the instructions and questioned some mistakes (Sunday is not the 20th, for example), sent a message back, and received corrections.

Not to be outdone, I was also sent the medical information release PDF to fill out and return. I printed the form, filled in my section, and then copied it again. I used a copy to add in the Sedgewick information. Nike uses an insurance company, the dreaded endless detail-losing and misunderstanding corporate machine that is Sedgewick, to review and approve/decline leave and other like requests. Of course, it is a call center and somewhere else in the world besides the Kentucky address given, and it has long wait times and a ticketing system. Those Republican readers who wish to privatize social security and Medicare, “yea are warned.”

Aside: From what I can find, Sedgewick is owned by the private equity firm Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG). The company just had a great quarter. It is one of those complex mixes of a private firm owned by a public company or managed by one and part of its investment portfolio. It is not transparent management, for sure. While I am a capitalist to my soul, I think this is maybe going a bit far.

The doctor’s office surprised me by completing the Sedgewick forms, faxing them back, and even sending me a PDF of the fax. I got this as a message. I sent a copy to Linda, my sister, to consider. She wants to put in a Family Leave Request, but her brothers are not covered unless they become disabled (from my reading online). I should be able to care for myself, with the only problem likely to be my balance. I am expected to take two months to recover–this is considered extreme surgery.

After my meetings finished, the shoe company Slack updates, texts, and emails slowed as usual on a Friday afternoon. I decided to cook jambalaya for dinner, with one box of rice and spices left. I prepared the trinity and the pope (onion, celery, green pepper in equal proportions–the trinity, and garlic gloves sliced thin, the pope). I got those sweating with oil and butter on the stove before adding various sausages I cut into bits. I had pre-sliced meats from the Vancouver Farmer’s Market. I got those in the same pot and let them produce all those good oils. I added some heat (Cayenne pepper). I let that cook until the pan started to show some brown on the bottom. I then added the rice and spices from Zatarain’s One Pot Jambalaya box. While not perfect, the taste is close; it only misses the smoky flavor I tasted in NOLA and is less salty. I added the shrimp (frozen, peeled, cleaned, and tailless) at the last minute. I had two bowls.

Corwin rose, being summoned back to life by NOLA-like food. He had a few bowls and started to watch cable. The cable stopped working. I had to reset my password (somehow, the same password I have used for a year no longer works, like in FaceBook), and soon, I had NetFlicks running again. I watched Kingsman, the original, while I cooked and ate.

I also did three loads of dishes and cleaned some of the kitchen (cleaning more on Saturday morning). I also did three loads of laundry.

The Dark Tower, a Dungeons and Dragons adventure revised for 5E, arrived today. This first sandbox or location-based adventure was a hit in 1979 and is still remembered as one of the great things to play in the original AD&D system. It has been rewritten and updated to the new play styles in 5E. The adventure went from an extensive booklet to a massive set of three books in the process. Adding text for the game runner to use to describe the encounter/event (DM, in D&D-speak) and including the full specifications for monsters, traps, and treasure requires expansion. I was reading this part of the night. Having set aside the detailed story of Lord Nelson for a while.

My weight is 148, and I have managed to keep below my 2030 calories daily for a few days. My pants are falling off now. I suspect my suits fit better, too! I expect I will stabilize around 245 like last time and then start to lose again in a few weeks. This cycle I think is ustual from what I read and folks tell me. I use MyFitnessPal to track this, but I do not always remember to update it. I am not a slave to my phone apps–no, I am not.

Well, that is enough for Friday. My coughing is better this Saturday morning, but I am thinking of staying inside most of the day.

Thanks for reading!