Author: alohawild

I am writing, eating, and drinking red ales at The Rock Wood Fired Pizza. I tried the cajun calamari, which was an insult to Cajun folk and cephalopods. I am now going with another beer to remove the taste of the travesty and ordered my favorite, Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy pizza.

The morning started with me waking with my shoulder throbbing and me not wanting to start my day. Painkillers work, and soon I was up making liberal coffee and an NYC bagel (thanks, Joyce–I still have a supply of Zabar bagels). I attended the first two meetings in the morning for the shoe company. I did help a bit, but generally, there is little I can do as we are responsible for master data, and that is mainly loaded and pronounced as good by the project.

After that, I returned to some hobby work. I contacted Stonemieer Games and asked them to include some plastic covers for my recently ordered plastic figures from the Expeditions board game. I learned that the metal figures and the plastic figures have different-sized bases and are not interchangeable, so I will need both sets if I want to mix and match. How strange. I also mixed up some epoxy (I use 15-minute epoxy) and reattached a metal mech to its base. This is the second time I have had to repair this on two different mechs. This time I pulled on all the bases to check that no more would fall off. I installed a switch on the radio project to power off the radio (while leaving the battery to charge as needed). I also stained some of the wood for the face plate and then cracked it (puke!). I am letting every dry before I try to fix it. Looks like I will be cutting thin plywood for the faceplate!

After doing good work on the radio project and my games, I headed to the bike. I rode (it does not move) 1.3 miles in six minutes. That is over twice my average pace, and I was winded at the end. Next, I showered and dressed. I then made lunch, beef barley soup from a can and a salad left over yesterday. Sticking with my Doc suggestion to lose ten pounds every six months as part of my retirement planning.

I boarded Air Volvo, leaving behind all laptops, and headed to see Susie. Traffic was light, but I had to slam the breaks when a family of three decided to cross Hall Boulevard (five lanes), not at an intersection. I also avoided rear-ending a pickup truck that stalled out when the owner did not know how to shift it. I arrived at Susie’s place without scratching the paint at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

Susie was ready, and Anassa loaded Susie into the co-pilot seat of Air Volvo. We then drove to Woodburn and back in just over an hour. We stopped at the southbound rest area, took a picture to share, and called Barb and Leta. Leta (Susie’s mom) and Barn (Susie’s sister) chatted for a while on my iPhone, using a three-way call on FaceTime to see each other. Everyone was doing dine, with Barb having Sophia, her dog, filling in for her on the camera. We soon rang off and continued on the short tour. We did not stop anywhere and soon returned to the hummingbird house to see Anassa’s shift end, allowing Ansassa to wish Susie a lovely week (Anassa usually works weekends). Louis took over, allowing Ansassa to wish Susie a lovely week.

Louis set Susie in her bed, and we watched M.A.S.H. for the rest of the afternoon in Susie’s room on Hulu. Susie only nodded off once. At 5PM, with me starting to nod off, I decided to head out and kissed Susie goodbye after pulling out the crash pad. Susie is prone to falling out of bed. Lousi promised to check on Susie after I left so she did not feel abandoned or ignored.

I was deeply saddened as I drove home. I was feeling lonely too. I know it is a reaction to all of this, but that knowledge does not lighten the sudden darkness that sweeps in and engulfs your soul. The world turns black and white with few greys. I reached home, and suddenly the colors started to return, and the world was no longer a place of sadness–yes, that fast.

I collected my laptop and headed to The Rock and felt better. Soon I was sitting in the bar and ordering seafood failures with beer and good pizza. I started the blog there and looked out the same window I always use. The world was a kind place again, and I had things to do.

Excellent!

Thanks for reading.

Here is Heaven Scent, a birthday present to me from Dondrea and Z:

I will forgo the narrative and cover the interesting items from Saturday.

The morning was uneventful, with me having an NYC bagel and liberal coffee while I wrote the blog and read the news. Legal maneuvers, in Trump’s case, were most of the news. Once I had the blog written, I showered, dressed, and cleaned dishes; I boarded Air Volvo but put the Nike laptop in the cargo hold in case I needed to cover something. Facing light traffic without witnessing any unique application of physics and law in vehicles, I soon arrived at Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

Susie was already waiting in her wheelchair for me. It was a warm morning with overcast skies and some night lights still on due to the grey skies. More like are usual winter-spring weather; the forecast was wrong again. Susie, in a sweater, headed out with me into Mezger Park, which was still lightly peopled, but each moment more cars and families were coming to enjoy the facilities. There was the usual large count of dogs walking their humans; some dogs even shared a human. We found a bench, and Evan joined us.

Using FaceTime, we called Leta, Susie’s mother, and Barb, Susie’s sister, on my iPhone so everyone could be seen. Leta was in her chair in her living room, and Barb was preparing for her dog to walk her after a short drive to a dog-friendly park. Susie was delighted to see everyone. Barb and Leta were happy to hear that Susie ate her breakfast and seemed in good spirits on Saturday.

After the call, I pushed Susie in her wheelchair to the rest of the circle to reach the hummingbird house again. I was sticky as it was a humid morning, unusual in Oregon. Anassa, the weekend nursing aide, moved Susie into her bed, and then we put on Snow White, the original animated Disney movie, at Evan’s request. He had never seen it before. I managed to stay awake, and Susie drank a small glass of water while we watched the movie. It is a new record that I stayed awake for the whole film–Evan was surprised by how slow-paced the movie was. Susie loved it and sang along to all the songs.

I left with a kiss for lunch and gaming. Susie decided she, too, should have lunch, and I arranged for Anassa to arrange that.

Next, Evan and I met at the 649 Taphouse in Aloha, Oregon, and there I had a salad (I changed locations at the last minute to allow us more time to learn a new game) and a small red ale. I set up and taught the board game Expeditions, which I learned from a play later in the evening that I missed two things. We then played, and it took two hours with me winning, but it was just a learning game, and I still had some rules wrong. I enjoyed the game again, it being my second play, while Evan was unsure about it.

After heading out and arriving at Richard’s place without incident or traffic, we played a four-person Expedition. I learned my mistakes on the rules quickly, but still could not quite get my groove and scored third, with Kathleen finding more of her groove as the game went on. Richard crushed us with a strategy to keep to the base hexes and build up groups of cards and workers into a card-based engine. Kathleen could have caught him, so I am unsure if it is an effective plan. We agreed we want to play again next Saturday!

After the game, we all headed out, and I had a salad for a late dinner and went to bed. I watched the last episode of Good Omens 2 and was surprised by the show’s direction. After that, I went to bed and slept without waking up.

Thanks for reading.

Friday was a work-from-home day, and I got to sleep in until 7ish, but I did wake before my alarm and got going early. In the kitchen, still, where I left it, I started the electric kettle and boarded the stationary bike and road for ten minutes or two miles. I plan to get to thirty minutes this weekend. I found the last yogurt, blueberry, and took that and coffee to the office to start my day. I was not as wobbly as yesterday–better.

I did the usual reading of my emails, Slack channel updates, and news updates (trying to find any exciting news buried under Trump-related updates). Nothing very interesting happened. I also updated my Quicken books as I am preparing to close the July books. Work was hours of Zoom meetings and me updating various folks on issues. My new project is also heating up, and I had to politely tell some folks to do some work.

Lunch, the morning highlight, was reheating the jambalaya I made a few days ago. No seafood in this version. I enjoyed that while we did another emergency discussion that included my new work (yes, getting even hotter), and when that was done, I watched YouTube on the ShipHappens channel. Another update on their effort to rebuild an old small wooden-hulled WW2 ship in the UK. I also watched an interesting video on damage in the shower in the USS New Jersey and what they learned; this is available on the Battleship New Jersey channel.

I am floored by how much better the Internet makes the interchange of information on history. Now, there is much that is false or poorly researched, burying the Internet, but professional historians and curators are great, and it does not take much digging to find the good stuff. Cody Carlson, Ph.D. WW2 stuff and the historical ship people (USS Texas, USS New Jersey, USS Midway, SS United States, and so on) are great. Drachinifel channel is the ultimate in facts and pictures for navy ships of any country in modern times (before 1400). Ocean Liner Design is all things for all liners with incredible video work and reconstructions. Youtube is a library for me, and often the list of the books you can buy to get the best permanent reference for ship geeks–My Bismark book is a treasured recommendation from the curator of USS New Jersey! I have resisted the 20+ books for the Tolkien perfect library; yes, there are many goodies for Lord of the Rings and related material.

Returning to the story, work was not interesting, and I packed up my Nike and personal laptop, my Apple M1 13″ 2020, and boarded Air Volvo. Traffic was light, and soon I crossed Beaverton without entanglements from Beaverton’s Finest or watching the unique use of lanes. I stopped by Target to buy flowers; I always buy two bouquets, so there are flowers in Susie’s room and on the shared dinner table. The little plastic sheets were missing, so I had water dripping on me while I waited in the cashier line. Target had three cashiers and two working DYI sets–better than usual. I used a human. Oddly, Target had ziplock bags at the endcap, and I got a box. I was surprised it was something useful–usually, magazines about Aliens or strange toys for some forgotten movie–but today, it was just helpful stuff.

I finally reached Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie was waiting in her recliner in the shared living room. Jennifer, the weekday nursing aide, popped Susie out of the recliner and into the wheelchair with enviable nonchalance. Susie and I then headed into Metzger Park next door to the hummingbird house. It was a warm morning, just hitting 80F (27C) then, and sunny but with lots of high clouds.

The park was busy; it always seemed busy around lunchtime, with some corporate warriors taking an extended lunch break with a book and a blanket on the grass or finding a bench or picnic table and families with smallish children using the swings and other devices of childhood delight. We found a bench and were visited by one yellow jacket that was not interested in us (not the usual three unwilling to leave that we previously experienced). Once the pest left, we called Leta and Barb (Susie’s mother and sister, respectively) using FaceTime to do a three-way call on my cell phone. Everyone was available today, and we soon had a friendly chat. We talked for a while about various items while Barb did laundry. Next, we rang off, finished the park, covered a bit of the neighborhood, and completed a large circle at the hummingbird house.

Susie was then placed on her bed by Jennifer. I connected my two laptops. We listened to music for a while, and I did some reviews for work (you are where your laptop is), my first code review in years, as one of the leads was on paid time off (PTO) today. I also did a work Zoom meeting that Susie had to listen to. Soon, Susie was asking for something on her TV, and it took me a while to understand it was M.A.S.H. I found season six was ready to resume–Susie was happy to watch that. I also got an Ensure for Susie, and she finished it while watching M.A.S.H.

Jennifer weighed Susie, and she was 70.5 pounds on Friday. No loss, but also no improvement. According to Jennifer, Susie refused to eat breakfast again and finished 3/4 of her dinner, at best. Let us recall that Susie was a victim of the newer version of Covid-19, and likely her tastes were lost or altered (other impacted folks at hummingbird house have reported this loss–Covid-19 is not flu; it is much worse from our experience). Susie will no longer drink the chocolate flavor Ensure (before the favorite) and now enjoys the vanilla version. I am sure that the changes in taste have impacted Susie’s eating.

At 5ish, it was time for me to go; I was starting to fall asleep–Susie was sleeping too. I had sent my 4PM end-of-shift message to work (only to learn that there was excitement at the 4:35 status call), which I cannot detail here. According to him, Rajani got his usual SEC Friday events and was working until 8PM (sorry, Rajani!). I set up the crash pad and kissed Susie goodbye–I could tell she wanted to go home with me. It is always hard to say goodbye. The staff always then checks in on Susie after I leave, so Susie never feels abandoned.

While Rajani was suffering the new issues, I was driving back, stopping for gas and dinner at Don Carlos to get some excellent to-go Mexican food (at less than $15–good and cheap for Oregon). I stopped by the local gaming store, Rainy Day Games, and bought card sleeves–I have never used them before. I was surprised that six bucks got me 200 (in two packs). The new board game Expeditions cards were showing damage from just one play. Playing cards use a white margin around the cards that do not display any usage wear (also allowing magicians to easily alter cards without much notice and allowing other shenanigans from less fun people). Still, the printed black border on the cards for Expeditions shows white flashes that could identify a card. I wrote a report on Board Game Geek and got a response that others are seeing this. Thus I bought sleeves to protect each card. Much like the plastic covers, you see on sports cards for sale. I was relieved that the bins to place the cards were sized to allow for sleeved cards–not all games storage trays are correctly sized for sleeved cards.

I watched the new season of Good Omens on my TV via Amazon Fire while eating my dinner. I binged five episodes before heading into the office–I recommend it (but it is not the same as Season 1). There I sleeved the cards for thirty minutes and updated more month-end information on my books in Quicken. I use Quicken to download and centralize every expense, payment, and investment and to capture tax information as it happens so I can survive any audit. Again, I plan to write off a considerable part of my payments for medical items (OTC medical items and equipment costs, even when prescribed by a doctor, are not accepted in most cases–like Ensure Susie gets). While I should not qualify for an audit (makings less than 500K annually), I will be ready.

I read, finished the laundry (Friday being laundry day), and wrinkled my dress shirts which might need another trip through the process to fix. I should have split up the laundry but instead just hefted everything together. I downloaded the Killing Joke, an animated Batman movie, one of Mark Hamil’s versions (yes, he was the Joker’s voice for years), and watched it while I had some cheese and crackers to go with my meds.

After the show, I went to bed, read for a bit, and finally slept before midnight. I did not wake until the sun rose. It was nice to sleep.

Today started at 6AM with my alarm. I found the kitchen and started the electric kettle with fresh cold water (In the USA, we use cold as the water has not passed through the water heater and thus still mixed with air and tastes better). I climbed aboard the stationary bikes and road for 2 miles for just over ten minutes. This left me a little wobbly as I had not done that much before. I want to get to thirty minutes this week.

I used the hot water to make liberal coffee in my French Press and found another blueberry, organic yogurt. I took the coffee and yogurt to the in-home office and ate and drank while reading emails, Slack updates, and news updates (overly focused on Trump and not enough on the world markets and events in Ukraine, from my point of view). I then looked at some work items and lost track of time, and soon was running late.

I rushed into the shower and soon got dressed, picking a dress shirt, even with all the outdoor items I had planned for today. I then, still running late, found my thermal cup (still in Air Volvo), washed it, and then recharged it with liberal coffee. I took Air Volvo to the office with my Nike laptop in the cargo hold. There were no issues, and I witnessed no extra-legal driving and arrived just in time for the first meeting.

I spent the next few hours doing Zoom status meetings and updating Slack channels. I also met with folks now working on my newest project on Zoom. I did meetings and updates for the morning. I also recharged with more Starbucks coffee, free until 10AM, at our in-building coffee bar. I then rushed to Nike World Headquarters in Air Volvo, landing in the NYC garage on a nearly empty third floor.

I walked across WHQ to the Serena Williams building to meet Scott for lunch; we often meet on Thursdays to catch up. Scott was early, and we started lunch early and sat outside, having each enjoyed the salad bar. We talked about the current projects and Nike in general.

After lunch, Scott walked me to the extreme end of the campus to show me the cornerstone of Nike WHQ. Cool! After that, I headed back (an even longer walk) in the now heat of the afternoon. Next, I reboarded Air Volvo and headed to Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

Susie was happy to see me when I walked into the shared living room. Michelle Nixon, the owner of Allegiance Senior Care, was there with her grand-babby, and Susie got to hold the little person. I arrived just as they were leaving and visited with Susie on the porch as it was hot, and I already had walked much in the heat.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and Barb, Susie’s sister, in a three-way FaceTime on my iPhone. Leta was outside watering, and Barb was at her house. We updated each other, and then, as it was a workday, I had to ring off and head out. No walk in the park today, but we had a pleasant visit on the porch and chatted with family.

I returned to work, and after a few more updates on Slack and email, I headed out to the Nike party to celebrate our software installed on July 4th. I had a beer, a hot dog, chicken wings, and macaroni salad. I chatted with old friends, many of whom were there when we installed the software in 2000 for the first time–we are replacing the software with a better version that requires a green-field install (i.e., start over). It was a lovely party, but it was outside and in the parking lot. Hot!

There was a dunking tank, and leadership was provided as a target. Information Technology groups can never hit their targets, and it was nearly the same for those trying to hit the target to dip leadership. Some folks went for a manual override after too many misses! There were few hits.

I was tired and left at about 5PM from the party and took Air Volvo to the Volvo Cave. The trip was slow, as Thursday is always the worst traffic, but soon I was home. I then drank water and laid down to read. I woke at about 7:30 and started on the blog, having nodded off.

I also got an update that my short review of the board game Expeditions was accepted on Board Game Geek’s website. BGG is where I track my games and my first source of information on board games. I have been a member for years (2009) and pay a small annual fee to improve my experience each year. I recommend the site if you play board or war games.

I ordered a plastic cover for Expeditions (like what I have for other games) to prevent some of the components from being accidentally moved. I have found several games (i.e., Terraforming Mars and Instanbul) difficult to teach or play without these editions. Scythe uses a two-layer cardboard mat with cutouts to prevent the pieces from getting jumbled, which I was missing in Expeditions.

Well, I hope my day and my visit to Susie were interesting to you. Thanks for reading!

I will cover just the exciting bit today…I have one more meeting tonight at 10:00PM.

Going backward, I just left Beaverton Central Taps with Dondrea and Z. We learned how to play my new board game, Expeditions, together while I had the obligatory beer for the table (yes, I sacrificed and drank the beer). This is an engine-building game with some exploration and interaction between players. It is not like the board game Scythe, the inspiration for the game, except it uses the same art and some themes. It took us a while to get all the rules clear and right, but once we got into the game’s groove, it played fast. The cards you collect control how you played were quite interesting when you interacted with other cards or the board. We thought it a good game, but those looking for a Scythe-like play will be disappointed (it is closer to Wingspan).

Before we reached the bar, we met at the Beaverton Central Food Truck Park, and we all got dinner from a different truck. Z went for the waffle sandwich, me Greek, and Dondrea went with crawdads. We all loved our food which we took to Central Taps to eat. After that, we played the new game as described above.

Moving back and skipping work details, Susie was happy to see me around noon for a short push through the park in her wheelchair. The park was busy, and it was hard to find an unused bench. But, I did notice the absence of yellow jackets, and while it is sad to kill something wild, it was getting unsafe.

Without me having to brush away a wasp, Susie and I could do a three-way call on FaceTime to Susie’s sister, Barb, and Susie’s mother, Leta. Everyone was good, and Leta was happy to report she has switched her insurance to AAA with a significant cost reduction. The same for AAA coverage for her house. I will have to check for a AAA agent in the Beaverton area. Leta also discovered that the coverage is more complete while less expensive. Barb was fine. We chatted briefly; it was a work day for me, and I could not stay long.

Susie did not eat much for breakfast, Jenifer reported. Susie was not focused on eating this morning, I was told. I will check tomorrow on how Susie did for the other meals.

Before this, I started the day at 6AM and did seven minutes, 1.2 miles, on the stationary bike and some stretching exercises. Breakfast was a yogurt and 1/2 a donut. Lunch was a chicken strawberry salad at Panera’s. Trying to start the weight loss and exercises before retirement, as suggested by my doctor.

It is a short blog, but just good bits today. Thanks for reading.

Aside: We are moving to a new building at work, but the building will not be ready by our move-out time, and thus we will work from home for the second half of August–I might like that too much.