Author: alohawild

Today I tried to work from home, and for a while, the coughing and wheezing gave me a break, but at 3PM, it was screaming banshees in my chest, and no means to stop the noise. But I then took my inhaler and some cold/flu meds and was better. So this is primarily a game of managing symptoms until the nose running and wheezing halts.

I started at 6:15 and sent an email that I would work from home as I was still coughing, and nobody wants at work for me to gift this cold to them–definitely a white elephant. I attended the usual ninety minutes of status meetings. I tried not to ask questions in the Zoom meetings as I have been out for the last four days and am still trying to get back into things. No reason to waste everyone’s time on an obvious question.

I was tasked to review some items, read more technical specifications, provide feedback, and re-reviewed the documents when updated. I did this while the meetings were ongoing or between meetings.

I did my stretching exercises today, now that I was back to work, and while I did cough a few times, it did not set off exhaustion or a coughing jag. Better.

I was running on limited sleep, as I had trouble sleeping last night, and I could quickly nod off for boring stuff. So I spent the boring time reading tech specs and reading some news articles. I kept going the whole morning. Breakfast was an NYC bagel with cream cheese (thanks, Joyce, for sending the Zabar bagels) and some fruit from a can. Coffee, as always, is Equal Exchange brand liberal coffee (fair trade certified) to remind me in each cup that the world still needs work–liberal work. I have been drinking this on most days since President Trump was elected.

I slipped a shower in between meetings and then attended an architect and engineering meeting on how to fix a performance problem. As a result, we have approved a POC on a possible improvement.

Once that was done, I headed to the hummingbird house and arrived without issue. I am still coughing and wearing a mask. I keep my distance and minimize the things I touch. No reason to donate this terrible cough to others.

Susie was in bed on her side, resting. She was having tummy issues and was sleepy. So I made it a short visit (I was getting messages on those tech specs while there–no rest of the wicked). We called Susie’s mother, whom we connected with before she had to head to church. She is helping with the church holiday camp. Susie nodded off a few times, and soon I said my goodbyes.

Susie was not the only person with some issues. I was sleepy, too, and the coughing jags were back. I stopped by Carl Jr. and acquired their western burger (a guilty pleasure) for lunch, which was well made. Excellent.

I did some more items at work and then rested and had a terrible coughing attack, and my breathing issues worsened. So I took a nap, somehow sleeping in this mess for an hour. That helped, as did the inhaler, cold/flu meds, and constantly blowing my nose.

At one point, the messages, texts, and emails from work and friends were coming so fast that my iPhone sounded like R2-D2.

I was cold too. I had reprogrammed the heat to be low on days I work at the office. So I turned the heat back up to normal!

Work finished, and I reviewed the emails, texts, and Slack channels. After that, I made buckwheat pancakes (like we used to have thirty-plus years ago at the Sidewalk Sales Day in Laingsburg). I still remember all the biz men working under Mr. Hurst’s direction singing, “Hot Cakes!” I also got some cooked and frozen bacon and heated it to go with it. Maple Syrup, lightly poured on top, finishes the meal for me. It was sausages back then, but I have bacon.

The coughing continues, my nose is producing an outflow that one wonders how there can be that much stuff up there, and my chest and stomach muscle hurt now when I cough.

This takes me to the other event for today; the Colonoscopy police called me. These folks ensure you are ready for the dreaded deed on 22Dec2022 at 6:35AM–I am the first one. I got my updated directions today, arranged a taxi ride to Portland, and then an additional check on Friday is needed. I will have to slip out to Portland at noon on Friday for a breathing check. I was frustrated that we would be repeating this again and again at the last minute. So I start the fun, assuming I pass the test on Friday, on Wednesday. I will arrange a return trip at 8:15AM to the Volvo Cave. It is forbidden in Oregon to drive on a day when you are knocked out by an anesthetic. So taxis for me.

I received a new set of special gaming poker chips I bought myself for Christmas. These are used in various games, and I needed some good ones. Iron Clays 200 set was delivered, and my 100 set, which I already own, and, when combined, covers any needs.

Another Kickstarter was delivered today. My friend Violet Blue has published her book and delivered it today. I received the ePub file today and other eContent for her. I have sent it to my Kindle to read soon. The book is not her usual erotica (yes, that word) or technology book (yes, she goes both ways), but about her life growing up in San Fransico drug culture and then being homeless. It is authentic, and that is what I like about Violet. I will provide a link to her autobiographical work on Amazon when ready.

Update: The ebook is here for pre-order on Amazon. Please consider it. A printed version will appear soon.

Well, I am tired. It hurts to cough. It is not worse, just not slowing much.

For day 14 of Advent, I picked Happy Christmas (The War is Over).

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116

Going backward, I am writing the blog after another day of paid time off (PTO) from a nasty head cold. The coughing is from the drainage and causes wheezing when I am tired. All of this is starting to fade. I had my usual colon issues from lack of sleep, but as that matches Covid-19 symptoms, I ran a test that was negative–no Covid.

I finished reading the rules for my new Kickstarter board game, Ostia. This is resource management with a race to reach the end-of-game with the best combination of placement and filling orders game. It is a Japanese-based build, and the game comes in English, primarily well-translated, and when finding not-so-good English, the meaning is obvious. There is a Japanese version of all the rules, of course. Like all Kickstarters, this game is lovely, and the pieces are upgraded. No regrets.

The game uses a strange mechanism to determine your next action instead of cards like Concordia or The Lost Ruins of Arnak, and I do not know if I will like it. You have a port that is also an action wheel. Each ship on the section you choose gives you one of the resources (except for the admin action), and then you redistribute the ship markers round-robin, and the last ship marker location determines your action. Oh my, that is a brain-burner. “To do a move action, I will pick the gold segment, as it has three ships which will then get me to the move action as it is three away and I get gold too,” is an example of the inner thinking this requires. “But I need permits to move, and so I will have to take the permit segment and then use the two ships to get to the order action instead and fill an ‘order’ as I have all the grain leftover from the last turn,” is more example of deeper thinking. Yes, really complex game cycle.

I am looking forward to trying Ostia.

I punched it, upgraded it with the wooden parts, and included, to some degree, the add-ons. One add-on does not add many rules, and the upgrade kit already incorporated it–so I left it in. I also received card sleeves and used them; the included organized fit the larger cards with sleeves–definitely a premium Kickstarter product. Again, looking forward to trying it out.

Next, Mariah sent me a note at 4ish that she could do dinner in Beaverton. I concurred that I could use dinner out, and we settled on Golden Valley Brewery (GVB). It was Happy Hour when I arrived, so I had a cheap, locally-made beer. Mariah had a cocktail (off the Happy Hour menu) and a beer product. We both had the meatloaf.

This was my celebration dinner for my story being published (for no money) in 2600 Magazine. My fiction, “Turing’s Battle,” was accepted. Mariah was familiar with Alan Turing, and we talked about how I met one of the code breakers that worked with him on Enigma. My story is about the Turing Test, where a reverse of the test is used to extract intelligence from gamers to create an Artificial Intelligence based assistant to help with real modern naval battles. I originally submitted the story to the Naval Institute, was turned down, and sent it to 2600, which accepted it.

Before this, I visited Susie, careful not to touch her or anything except the minimal things in the hummingbird house. Jennifer followed by cleaning everything I touched later. I was happy to have everyone be careful. There is no reason to share the head cold.

Susie was delighted to see me. I brought the Baby Jesus in the Grotto carved olive wood nativity. I think we bought this in 1994 in Israel near Bethlehem on our first-ever international trip. Susie was happy to have it in her room for the holidays.

We called Susie’s mother, and Susie and Leta could see each other; we used FaceTime on my iPhone. As I was ill for days, this was the first time they could see each other in days. Leta was in the middle of cookie production. She wants to send some to Susie, and I am sure others will receive dividends from the output.

Next, we called Rev. Anne Weld-Martin, and Susie was happy to talk to Anne for a bit. Anne was pleased to hear that I was improving.

Lastly, we reached Dr. Peter Koper, who was happy to catch up with us. We will be seeing a Christmas letter soon with all the family details. Dr. Koper was glad we reached him. He even demonstrated his new technical savvy by using Alexa. We had an excellent talk.

We opened on day 13, the next Advent door. We passed on the candy as I could not safely break off a small piece.

Without a kiss or any close contact, I headed out.

The morning was a sleep-in morning. The first one in days. I was not going until 9:45. I was up at 2-3AM coughing and wheezing and put in another day of PTO. I collapsed with cold/flu meds and slept another seven hours, finally getting a night of good sleep. I am feeling much better now.

Lunch was reheated pizza, and breakfast was a real bagel (thanks, Joyce!) from NYC. I added yogurt and liberal coffee (i.e., Fair Trade certified product branded as Equal Exchange and shipped from Portland).

As I said, I was up a few times but finally just slept through. I have some ginger tea left from the Chemo support package sent by friends, and that helped my throat at 2ish, and I was able to finally sleep with that and cold/flu meds. So I would recommend the tea for colds.

Mariah has suggested Stranger Things as my next binge-watching.

Here is The Twelve Days of Christmas song from our Canadian Friends for the 13th Day of Advent (12 days left).

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

I took the day off from everything. I am still coughing and taking cold/flu over-the-counter (OTC) products to help. I still have breathing issues, and the banshees (wheezing) in my chest are making sleep nearly impossible.

I did feel better in the morning as I got some sleep last night after 1ish.

I started the day at 7ish with coffee, raisin toast from Karen at church, and liberal coffee made in my French Press. I read emails and tried to go slow.

I binged the rest of the Umbrella Academy and called and spoke to Susie at the hummingbird house. She misses me and wants to see me, “I need you.” I am still coughing and a little worse this evening than I expected. I get better and then get worse as I lose sleep. If I am better on Tuesday, I will see her.

Susan’s Aunt Joyce sent me Zebar bagels from New York City, and thus I had a real bagel for my second breakfast, toasted, with cream cheese. I had to slice it–yes, old school. Thanks, Joyce!

I had to head out as I was out of cold/flu meds. When I got to the Wallgreens nearby, the shelf was near empty of OTC cold items! Yes, there is a lot of this out there. I found there were four boxes left of the high blood pressure cold/flu OTC and purchased two of the boxes. I am trying extra strength, and that seems to help.

I got messages from work about a performance issue I was already working on. It is crushing one of our tests. I tried to help a bit with some suggestions that cannot be implemented for the next run–but it is a possible answer. 

Not a very interesting day, and I tried to get more rest, but the noise in my lungs or the coughing kept waking me. I have been here before, and only resting will stop it.

Sorry this is a short blog, but thank you for reading.

Advent day twelve seemed like a good time to go classical: Gloria.

Now, if you need a pick-up from the shopping and political noise: You Can’t Stop the Beat. One of the best things to come from Convid-19 was the videos; this is a fav.

 

 

I spent the whole day at home having pizza delivered for dinner and a gyro for lunch. I have tried to rest and get better, but you cannot will the breathing issues and the wheezing/banshees in my chest to improve. I put in for a sick day for Monday, suspecting that Monday would be worse. The usual pattern is that I am OK for a day, and then it worsens. I seem headed there.

The banshees screaming in my lungs keep me awake, so I took more cold/flu meds and hope that will help. I am up at midnight (Monday morning) writing this.

I slept into 7ish and then got going slow. I called Anassa at the hummingbird house to let Susie sleep in as I would not be there at 10AM to take her to church. I wrote the blog for Saturday. I did the hour of status calls and then rested some more.

I spent the day binge-watching the Umbrella Academy, which I still like, with the third season now starting for me. I would still recommend it, just get through the first two terrible episodes in season one.

I was shocked and surprised to learn that the Hackers’ Quarterly 2600 will publish my SciFi story, “Turing’s Battle,” that the Navy Institure turned down! Yes, another published piece for me. I am excited to be part of 2600, something I have been reading for years, and meaning to write something for them. It does not come with pay or anything helpful like that. I am excited to be published.

I also got bored and worked on my giant scorpion model. I filled in the gaps created by me cutting off the tail and flipping it (it was a plastic model of a full-sized Maine lobster) by planking it with small wood strips like a ship model. Next, I covered them with putty after the CA glue dried. I also cleaned up cuts with the Dremel. I also filled holes and other gaps with more putty. I cut off the face and filled that, too, with putty. I took part of the tail I removed to make a more angled tail, pegged it to the now-threatening tail, and added a barb with wood soaked in CA to make it strong. I will sculpt it into a stinger when everything dries using modeling clay. It was not much work, and I was bored, so I did some more accessible work.

I had another attack of boredom and got my Express (Python-based) devices working and connected to my Apple. I was able to read the code and update it using the Mu editor. Not sure what I am going to do with those, but I plan to return to my hardware hacking during the Christmas break (post my medical tests). I did not do any real work; I just got the connections to work.

Well, the meds are making me sleepy, and the coughing and wheezing have stopped as the congestion stops. So I will try to get some sleep now.

The Hound & The Fox does a lovely What Child Is This/ Child of the Poor combined song that I like. This is Advent Day 11 song.

I did not even get dressed on Saturday as I was coughing and wheezing all day. The moderate to bad air last week increased my breathing issues, and on Friday, it was harder to breathe during my Physical Therapy appointment. A light fever, aches and pains, and wheezing told me I had to stop and stay home.

The morning started with me coughing, my chest burning, and endless nose blowing. My day was full of the screams of banshees in my lungs; I could hear them even when standing. I took some cold/flu pills for folks with high blood pressure. I called the hummingbird house and told them to let Susie sleep in; I would not be coming today. The cold meds, as often happen to me, made me so tired that I slept until 10:40. Unforently, I had a work call at 10:30, so I was late for that one.

I had written the Friday blog, not feeling well, on Friday. Thus, I was free to rest on Saturday. However, I did some writing on my Dungeons and Dragons adventure, shortening it and the storyline to end on the next play. I left the giant scorpion model alone; I had done some work on Friday after I wrote the blog. I added some putty to some areas and attacked the reused segment as the stinger tail. It is starting to come together.

I spent the rest of the day binge-watching The Umbrella Academy reaching season two. I liked season one and found season two slightly struggling to find its storyline. However, I still would recommend it.

I ordered Chinese food from Happy Panda using GrubHub for lunch. The driver texted me that she had deliveries for multiple food orders, and I was number two on her list. She then called me when she was lost. She supplied peppermint paddies chocolates for being a few minutes late after she found our house a few minutes later.

I ate the wonton soup and appetizers in the afternoon and then reheated the roast pork fried rice for dinner. I tried to sleep a few times, but the banshees and all the hot tea, I made a pot of Irish morning tea, made that impossible. So I watched more of the Academy and tried to rest calmly in a chair with an electric blanket.

I had done laundry on Friday, so I was resting on newly cleaned sheets. I did do the dishes. Unfortunately, I have ants all over the kitchen and need to contact ant people to come back and commit insecticide.

I did watch the squirrels in the backyard jump into the old apple tree, pick apples, and then run them up into trees. The squirrels, not being experts in physics, discovered that their jumps are much shorter with an apple in their mouth, but persistence won out. After many more jumps (three to get to the top of my fence using various tree limbs as halfway points), supper was carried away. The more giant apples are lying on the ground and are eaten where they lie until reduced in size to allow safe transversal to higher locals.

The rains allowed for the poaching of apples as the cat patrol (I see three or four cats a day scouting my backyard) and the birds eating the apples do not come in the rains. The squirrels, ignoring the rain, can have all the apple goodness to themselves in the heavy wet that was the “river of rain” we enjoyed a few days ago.

Today, Sunday, when I write this, will be a dull day, and likely, if this cough continues, I will be telling you the lives of slugs and other things in the backyard. Maybe I will cover the cats’ movements or design a LIDAR system to start tracking all the animals and fruit in the backyard. Lets hope I get better soon before I try to create an squirrel based cryto currency.

Thank you for reading.

Here is the unlisted link to see our lights that were requested: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WxB0ngGHVLM

The Hound & The Fox does my favorite new version of We Three Kings, and I would recommend their other Christmas songs.