Author: alohawild

Today is my last working Monday until 8Nov2021 started with me sleeping in a bit, getting ready, and making my first meeting. No status meeting, but an alignment meeting. Actually, all the meetings were more about alignment than status today as the data conversions and testing move on.

I will not detail just a typical working day with various discussions and only a single crisis of the moment. It was a pleasant Monday, and I was not tired or frustrated at the end at 5ish.

To avoid the extra expense of GrubHub or other delivery services, I settled for can soup; today, I had crackers to go with the New England Clam Chowder. I spent lunch listening to Nerd of the Rings videos on the histories in Lord of the Rings.

I did forget it was Monday, and Susie appeared, and then we had only thirty minutes to get her ready. We just made it. Susie had her spa appointment with Zeriada today and then brought home a Happy Meal, except it had fries; no apple slices!

During the last meeting, a large 300+ Zoom meeting, I started dinner. Again, I tried the Japanese-style one-pot curry chicken with rice. It needs more salt, but other than that, it came out well. Chicken thighs are cooked in the pot in oil until slightly brown (not fully cooked). Garlic, ginger, nutmeg, green curry powder, and onion are cooked and mixed with washed plain rice. Add a few potatoes peeled and diced with sliced carrots. Add a lot of broth. Bake for 375F for about an hour. Not bad for a raining cold Oregon fall day.

I cooked and cleaned watching Doctor Who the first season. I have HBO Max and decided to watch all of the BBC show again. So far, I have enjoyed the show again.

By the way, I tried to go for a walk in the rain this morning, but the UPS truck dropped off my new docking station for my Apple M1 laptop. So I now have more than two USB plugs and new headphone options besides Bluetooth. In addition, my backup device now is plug into the docking station instead of the last port on my laptop. It was expensive but is the newest technology and should live as long as my laptop lives.

I have picked any music in a while and thought it best to select John Nilsen‘s Morning Has Broken to get back into the habit. I hope you liked the blog, and thanks for reading.

Events have got in the way of blogging, and my desire today to clean and organize even a little bit has me late writing my blog. I also read a book these days, and now my eyes are seeing double while I type. This should clear up soon!

It is Sunday, and I have put away most of the laundry monster that has covered the floor for some time. The need for naps and resting is mostly a memory now. Simply put, the iron replacement is working. I have also sworn off aspirin, and various leakage has halted.

Working backward, I just finished the Cthulhu-based Sherlock Holmes series, and it was just OK, I would say. I thought the author too freely changed the story, but I read the whole three books, and the last 1/4 of the previous book was a page-turner: The Cthulhu Casebooks – Sherlock Holmes and the Sussex Sea-Devils. This seemed the best of the three books and I thought this book, the last 1/2 or so, fit both Holmes and The Mythos best. 

Before this, I fried hamburgers, frozen patties from Safeway, heated a can of chili with beans, and Corwin and I had a chili burger on bread. Susie just has cheddar cheese on her burger with Riser’s Potato Salad.

I spent the rest of Sunday watching Season 1 of the new Doctor Who while cleaning and doing laundry. The laundry monster had turned into a pile on the floor, and it needed to be defeated and much rewashed. I had decided to bring this under control.

I also hoped to clean the frig and get my counter space back in the kitchen, but that will wait another day.

I made buckwheat pancakes and sausages for breakfast/lunch. I like buckwheat as that is what they served in the Laingsburg Pancake Breakfast in the 1970s. I liked the more rustic taste. I can still see all the now mostly gone biz men at the grills and singing, “hotcakes., hotcakes!” I remember Mr. Hurst singing with gusto. I only serve them in the house, and usually, nobody is awake when I make them. I might call out “hot cakes!” by myself.

Saturday was a bit different for me. No meetings from the shoe company this weekend. I slept in more than I meant to. I got Susie and me outside and in the car by 11ish, and we reached McMinnville around noon. It is the UFO Festival which has moved to September because of Covid-19. We brought the new travel wheelchair to practice a bit.

I think the fest is a bit faded by a lower turnout, and some events like the movie fest were canceled. I have never attended before. We had not dressed up for the festival and will definitely return again with tin foil hats.

I did meet some true believers and bought their self-published and illustrated zine. A small pamphlet. Susie and I had lunch/breakfast there. All seating for all food was outside. We felt safe as most folks had on masks, and everyone was careful.

An observation, I noticed many girls dressed in tied-off shirts, short and tight skirts, and other scanty outfits. “Earth Girls Are Easy” theme was on full display. Folks were happy and enjoying a nearly perfect day in October.

We drove home with a t-shirt from the event for Susie, a Roswell patch for Corwin, and a caramel apple that we sliced up and shared between Susie and me on Sunday. It was perfect.

That night, we played Wingspan’s board game at Cory’s house with his wife Jenifer and their neighbors Mackers and Ann. Mackers won. We had a few drinks, and I helped remind everyone how to play.

Moving to Friday, this will be shorter. I worked the day with various status and crises of the moment at the shoe company. We then met Mariah at Golden Valley Brewery and had dinner and drinks. We had a nice dinner.

I was hacked in Facebook messaging and spent the next three hours withdrawing some link that spread the infection. Then, finally, I was able to clean up most of it.

I hope that this crazy summary works for you.

Thursday morning started with the alarm at 6:30 and me holding out the last minute to get dressed and only was a few minutes late for my first status meeting. I had hours of status meetings, all Zooming, this morning. I slept poorly with lots of dreams last night; it was a hard start!

I had Safeway deliver today, and it was a lot this time. A colossal order, and I still managed to forget the bananas! The order was delivered in the middle of another alignment and status meeting. I left on the camera, and folks watched me, with the sound was off, carry in bags after bag. I then, listening, put away everything. Another day in the pandemic!

For lunch, I made a ham and cheese sandwich–I had bread now; GrubHub and DoorDash are running about $25 or more per order. I just can’t spend that much on lunch here at the house. I was tempted to make hot dogs or even chili dogs but decided to eat the sandwich instead. I do not want to eat all the favs on the first day after delivery!

I made Susie cereal with milk for breakfast.

I had a few more meetings. Then, I drove Corwin in Air Volvo to work. Usually, I let him drive, but if we are running late, I drive.

Next Wednesday, I scheduled some tests for Susie and took the day off as it was early morning tests but went on for hours.

Moving to dinner, I made Bourbon Chicken from a new recipe and made it too salty. I will try again someday and use less Soy Sauce than on the recipe.

Today I got the request from the HP Lovecraft Film Festival (next week!) for my t-shirt size. I also sent them a copy of vaccination card to get me pre-approved to the theater. I have a scan on the cards no and an email to myself with the scan attached if I need to provide it. I am exited to be going on October 1.

Switching to Wednesday, it started the same with me tired and get going late. I managed to make all the first meetings on time, and like most days, I Zoom’d.

I made oatmeal, cut oats from scratch while I listened to a meeting. I like the more chewy and flavor compared to rolled and instant oatmeal. I add my own amount of brown sugar to finish it. Susie has some too but likes the instant better.

The day went by without much excitement. I ordered groceries on Safeway.com between discussions or while listening to status meetings. I had beef veggie soup for lunch as I was not paying $27 for lunch delivered!

The Zoom meetings when on for a while. I did take a break and fell asleep; I quickly rundown. I am feeling a bit better each day now.

After my last planned meeting, Susie and I got into Air Volvo to meet Mariah for drinks and a quick dinner at Stanford’s. First, I had an appointment. Susie got to attend as I parked the car and used my iPhone for another shoe company Zoom meeting. The other folks on the call were surprised to see me in Air Volvo, parked for safety, and having a meeting with video. We covered the issue, and the meeting was quickly over.

Mariah met us at Stanford’s. The bar was closed with velvet ropes. Apparently, it was trendy and packed. So we instead got a table in the regular seating. We had drinks and dinner. I had this giant steakhouse burger. Susie and Mariah had the beef dig sandwich.

Susie and I headed out while Mariah finished her drink; Mariah was walking over. Harry Potter was on a special showing Wednesday night. Susie and I found our seats in handicap, and we enjoyed seeing the 2nd Harry Potter movie. I like this one as the original crew is in it and the original director. The following films look a bit more CG, and the story is also darker. These first two films created images that stay with me of Harry Potter and his friends.

I went right to bed when we got home. Susie required some care giving So too. I was not able to blog on Wednesday.

Sorry for missing a day. I hope you enjoyed this crazy outline of my day. Thank you for reading.

A postscript: I am still struck by the National Guard person helping with directing people at the doctor’s office on Tuesday. It gets to me that we need the National Guard now to make our medical stuff work in Oregon. I think about how bad it is and get very sad. 

The morning started early with the alarm and me ignoring Tuesday until about seven. I then managed to find my computers and log on to the shoe company and my home accounts. Not much is happening at work overnight; that is, there was nothing I could do anything about happening.

Looking at some of my emails, there are notes that I am still bidding on an actual ticket to the 1893 Columbus Expo in Chicago. I read about the Expo and have the tour book published back in the 1890s. I might write a story about Howard touring the Expo one of these days. It was in this Expo when the Midway and Ferris Wheel were invented. It always helps to have a few items from the historical place when you are writing about it.

Continuing the story, the day follows with three hours of meetings on status and alignment. Zooming the whole morning away. But then a call on the landline. Susie’s doctor’s appointment was canceled yesterday, and the office offers us a different doctor at 130ish today. We take the offer!

Susie gets going early, and I serve her the last of the instant oatmeal.  If I want oatmeal now, I will have to start the old fashion way. I do have those in the pantry. Or maybe I have grits in there–I love grits. It takes a while, but I enjoy making this stuff from scratch.

Next, I have a sandwich but discover that the bread is gone. The ham is the Olympia Provisions heart-shaped ham. My box of veggies and bag of meats arrived today. I decided to have some delivered (free delivery to Portland and near Portland). I got the beer and sausage combination too. It comes with two four-packs of well-made and local beer: Lager and IPA. So I had the cheese and ham for lunch.

We took Air Volvo in the afternoon to the docs. This was a younger women doc we had not met before. I think she was nervous as she actually read Susie’s chart and said she was not sure what to do. She was talking fast. But, in the end, the doc had a few ideas and strongly urged Susie to ride her bike and do her exercises as all the issues could be from not getting enough exercise.

We did blood work, and the tech was good and got all she needed in one not-so-painful poke. There were other tests that were easy.

I should mention that a National Guard guy at the doc office helping direct people and providing masks and PPE as needed. He is part of the activation of the Guard in Oregon. This is to help all medical people get through the surge by having the Guard troops take over some jobs. I thanked him for helping!

We headed home after that. Then, as usual, I got Susie a Happy Meal with apples. Also, while driving Air Volvo, I managed to call into a meeting and helped align another issue. Susie was welcomed to the Nike meeting on the call and offered many options to install some software patches. She demurred.

Back home, and I am tired and rest a bit and fall dead asleep. I could have woken next week! But, I managed to awaken late and make a later dinner of chops, Stove-top stuffing from a box, and fresh and sweet corn from the veggies delivered today. I just made a piece each, boiling it. So, we have three ears of corn left for the next dinner!

That is the summary for today.

On a sad and happy note (I am not sure which way to go), the last book, published after the writer’s death, of my fav Italian crime solver was released today: Riccardino (An Inspector Montalbano Mystery Book 28). I have it waiting in my Kindle for me. I cannot recommend this series more, but I warn you it is also very unpredictable and harsh, like the Inspector. I will miss waiting for the next book. 

That is all I have. My roses are about to do their last blooms. The trees are starting to turn away from the color green, and reds are now showing. The sun was out, and it was hot, nearly 80, this afternoon. But, everything is starting to feel damp and mossy again. It makes an Oregonian smile.

Thank you for reading.

 

Today started with a power failure at 3ish and went on to 10:15ish. This made the morning extra chaotic. On Mondays, I have to get Susie going in a cold unlighted house. It is still close enough to summer that the light is still bright. I also keep a super bright flashlight next to the bed–I could find my way with that to the darker parts of the house. Susie managed to get dressed, but she was quite confused by the cold, the lack of light, and me not dressed. We got Susie out with her driver at 9ish.

I managed to get my iPhone to work for the second status and an alignment meeting. We also had another alignment meeting at 10ish. Next, the power started about this time. After the meeting, I reset the clocks and took a shower in a lighted bathroom with hot water (there was likely hot water before, but the control for the water natural gas water heater is electric).

Getting caught up on email and text messages and Slack messages, I was ready to head to Portland. I drove Air Volvo to get a burger at Burger King with cheese. From there, I put on the Nav to the address of my new doc.

No details here, but I have a few old health issues, and we discussed solutions. More tests will follow to validate the information we have.

Before the doc, I had an hour to kill; I never trust traffic to Portland when it takes nearly two months to get a doc appointment. I have missed one once. So instead, I got to spend an hour walking and stopping by Starbucks for coffee and some banana nut bread.

I had forgotten about one of our Eastern-style food places. Belly dancing (masked) every night. Something I will have to try soon. Marrakesh is at the corner in the photo.

Back to work and then a bit of rest. I am fatigued from the chaos of the power loss and getting Susie out the door.  I also walked a mile or more in Portland to just release the stress.

Susie is white-faced and had some. I had some caregiving this late afternoon. Susie was too weak to get out of bed. I got her up, and she managed to get going again. I got her some cookies, I got three types she likes on Sunday, and she started to look better.

I make dinner of pan-fried burgers with cheese. Corn from Schwann’s. I microwave some potatoes and dress them up with sour cream and butter. It was a hit with Susie. Her color was back, and she was happy again.

Now moving backward to Sunday, I was feeling all the hours I have worked on Sunday. I was on the 8 and 8:30 calls. Nothing for me to do.

I got going slow. I did do a Zoom meeting with Church folks. I saw I was dressed and, while late, I managed to connect. It was pleasant to see some folks and chat a bit.

I picked up some drinks from Safeway for Dungeons and Dragons at 5:30 and the cookies mentioned above for Susie. I also fixed the entranceway light. After years and years, it finally burned out. It was a fluorescent bulb, which was the most high-tech bulb available last time I replaced it. This time it is LED. The fixture is waterproof and requires a ladder and work to open. The wind blows water into our house’s entranceway in the wettest winter. Having an electrical fire in the entrance of our home is silly, so I put a waterproof light fixture in years ago. I put a long-life bulb in as it is no fun to replace.

I also collected some lovely paperbacks I had read and exchanged them at Jan’s Book Exchange. I have been going there for a long time and Jan, who was running the store this Sunday, remembered me. I try to bring in any SciFi I finish as Jan can never keep SciFi in stock.

It was pouring rain often on Sunday, and it made all of us in Oregon happy to see the rain and just a tiny bit sad as we know summer is over now.

I picked up Susie’s fav Happy Meal for dinner. After that, I had the 4:30 status meeting at the shoe company.

I headed with Corwin to play Dungeons and Dragons 5E at Cory’s house. Our newly minted 8th level characters. We were hard-pressed a few times as we fought Mad Max-style in our Hell Warmachines. As a writer of Dungeons and Dragons adventures, Chain Devils are a difficult challenge and used with care, and they are even more interesting in this Thunderdome-like setting. I enjoyed the Warmachine battles again.

We also had a dungeon crawl, and that was a bit more predictable. Undead and more undead. So far, we survived our new level, and I did run my wizard almost out of spells.

Moving back to Saturday, more meetings again at 8ish and getting going again. I started some laundry and did the dishes. Evan and I communicated, and Susie was going early on Saturday. So we all met at the house and then left for the Mexican place across from The 649 Taphouse. We brought a few games.

Lunch was excellent, with Susie and Evan having drinks. I had my usual Soup and a taco. Evan and I shared a flan while Susie finished up. We then headed across the street to The 649.

I got a light-ish beer, and we played Vindication. The game was long, and I managed to pull ahead of Evan and stay there. I remember this time to upgrade my speed and to Vindicate my characters early. The speed upgrade and your character being Vindicated give you more options, and I used them. Every time I lose big, I am late in getting Vindicated and slow.

I talked Evan into trying a new game based on the movie Jaws. Jaws the Board Game has one player as the shark while the other player(s) playing Quint, Brody, and Hooper–the guys on the boat in the final battle with the shark. The game has, like the movie, an exploit and prevention act and the last act on the Orca. The first act has the human players trying to save people by closing beaches and pulling people out of the water. The board is a map of Amity. The shark simply munches and tries to hide. Quint has “barrels” like in the movie, and if two are attached to the shark, the last act begins.

The shark gets more shark powers for each victim and reduces the equipment available to the humans. Thus the shark is exploiting while the humans are preventing shark attacks. The final battle is played on the other side of the board once the humans finally get two barrels on the shark.

Next, the shark attacks the Orca, and when the crew, Brody, Quint, and Hooper, are in the water, they are munched. This happens as the shark quickly destroys parts of the Orca. The OK Orca is cardboard pieces that are flipped over if just damaged or removed when destroyed and turned into water (yikes!). In the game, the humans try to guess which of the three possible attacks the shark will make (from a deck of cards) and hurt the shark. The shark player wins by destroying the Orca or eating all the humans. The humans have to get through all the hit points of the shark to kill it and win (survive).

Evan, new to the game, got stuck with two barrels real fast. We switched board sides, and Evan’s shark just destroyed all but one tiny piece of the boat. I lost Hooper to the shark. I managed to finally attach a flare to the shark, and that finished it. I had one hit point left on Quint and Broad, and one tiny bit of boat left.

Jaws the Board Game is repetitive and maybe too focused on the theme and less on making an exciting game. It is also complex enough that it is not a “beer-and-peanuts” game. However, I will have to play it again a few times as I have learned that I never like a new game. So I would not say not to dive into this game, but the play is not as sharp as I want. I will have to go back into the “water” to see.

We played a fast game of The Lost Ruins of Arnak. Susie was falling asleep at this time instead of reading her book. She had another drink at The 649. Evan just totally crushed me in the game. Revenge for the first two games, I think. We then got Susie home and to bed.

I watched the horrible show Svengoolie on Me-TV showing the old Dracula movie. Svengoolie had mixed in the music soundtrack from the French version, and that really improved the film. Of course, Svengoolie and all the commercials ruined any suspense in the movie. I still liked it.

I am over time, but here is the rose Mr. Lincoln producing a fall rose.

And my lawn service, usually cutting everything, left me some rose hips for the other bush. I like to see the rose hips in the winter. The red color reminds you of the flowers.

And the rosemary is blooming again. Always welcome in the dark raining day of Oregon’s fall!

I hope you enjoyed the long post. I know it is hard to read long summaries like this. I was just too tired on Sunday to write. Thanks for reading!