Author: alohawild

I spoke to the doctor today, and my health issues are not as serious as they seemed last night. I have more tests and procedures to follow, but my main concern from the doctor is my breathing. The doctor may change my meds after the labs. I am to use my inhaler more and measure improvements with a flow meter.

Because of the unexpected illness, I took last night off and just read and tried to relax. The nurse said if things get worse, they did not, to head to the ER. So that kind of message slows you down and has you take it very easy.

Yesterday I did work online and tried to help where I can. I am fatigued, and it is hard to do much. I started with 7ish and starting the normal long haul of Zoom status and alignment meetings.

I had cold KFC for lunch and just followed along as best as I could yesterday. The day was full of process and reading emails and messages.

For dinner, keeping to going slow, I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for Susie and me. I fry them in butter and then dribble in some water on the hot pan to make steam to melt the cheese and heat up the ham. Otherwise, you can burn the bread and still have cold ham. You have to balance the water, so you don’t wet the bread too much. The butter will protect the sandwich from the water as long as you don’t flood the pan.

I read most of Fresh Brewed Murder, a murder mystery set in food carts in Portland, last night. It is a familiar writing style and location. It is light fair but still fun to read.

Today, I started a bit before 7ish. Unfortunately, I did not sleep well as I was keyed up by worry, and just laying around all evening did not wear me out. We had a celebration meeting and 8 that overlapped my doctor call set for 8:20. As usual, the doc was 40 minutes late.

He believes I will be OK and told me to tell Susie the same; he is our doctor, and I often attend Susie’s appointments. He knows she would be unhappy with me ill. So he is ordering more tests and believes we can work out what is happening. But, again, he thinks it is asthma-related.

Work was more Zoom meetings and quite a few surprises today. We have left the data conversions and are now setting up all the fixes and tests for the next data conversion in late August and September. I have many emails on finding and test results and corrections today instead of endless status meetings. I was covering architectural issues and some coding issues–nice to be back to real issues.

I also slipped out for lunch to BJ’s Brewhouse. There I had spaghetti and meatballs with a salad. I got to-go ribs for Susie and for dinner tonight. Everyone was back into masks, and there was a note that masks were required again. I could sit at the bar, and so I did.

Danny, a pony-tailed blond, was the bartender, and I thank her for the efforts. “It is a privilege to eat here,” I said. I believe that just getting to eat in a bar in a pandemic is more than I could hope for. I told her that I had heard that it was hard. She told me she has customers going off on her, and some even dropped food on her shoes because she did not clear their table fast enough. Again, I thank her and the manager for their work.

Work continued with more findings and more questions for me to answer. I also took a break as I get tired sometimes. I stopped about 4ish.

I finished the Fresh Brewed Murder today. Again, very light fair compared to the dark crime I usually read. I would recommend it for a pool, flight, or just something to relax with. The second book should be out in a few months.

I am tired again. I think I will stop there. Sorry I had to skip Monday.

 

This weekend swirled around my near heat stroke issues on Friday. Any exposure to 80F+ seemed to wear me out. So I had to stay inside in AC all weekend. I only went outside here and there.

Saturday started with me catching up on my blog for Friday and just getting going. However, I did finish the old 1930s movie The Black Cat in the morning. This is a bizarre movie that, when made, was at the limits of technology and art. The goofs and acting are very odd. The staging, too, is so strange you are not sure what you are watching.

Going into more detail, the movie hints at forced marriages and violent murders and has an amazing Satanic ceremony complete with organ music. The service is in Latin! I did find a site that translates the words–it is all grammar school lines spoken by Karloff that makes them sound sinister. Before the Satanic rights, Lugosi and Karloff play chess to decided if the nice couple that ended up at the evil cult headquarters will be allowed to live. Finally, Boris Karloff is partially skinned alive by Bela Lugosi at the end of the movie to pay for all his misdeeds! All you see are shadows and Karloff’s hands straining against the chains. Events follow, and Bele Lugosi says, “It is the red button,” that causes the evil headquarters to be destroyed with Boris and Bele still inside (it is a black and white movie). Thus the idea of a big red button is born! Of course, the nice couple escape.

The movie was a hit and was banned, again from my reading, all over the world. It is also the first time that Karloff and Lugosi worked together.

Evan contacted me, and we arranged to have lunch and play a few board games at the taphouse The 649 in Beaverton. I had soup and a taco and iced tea. Unfortunately, the heat was still a problem for me, and the AC at the Mexican place was not working well.

We moved over to the well AC’d The 649. This is a taproom we have used before. They are game-friendly in the afternoon–they are not that busy. So we grab a table inside and play a game and have a few drinks and usually some munchy.

Today we went with Vindication designed here in the Portland greater area. I know the designer. We have not had it out for a few months. I forgot how fast it plays.

The game is based on the idea that you are a wretched person thrown overboard and swims to an island where a companion finds you. You now are trying to vindicate yourself by exploring this magical island and gaining honor. You and other players, also playing wretched persons, are trying to gain honor. Your abilities allow you to invest in strength, knowledge, and insight. You can combine these to make wisdom, for example. You use the abilities to hire more companions. You then can activate them to gain their abilities and special powers. Or maybe you can find the tower where artifacts are available to give you use their powers. There are monsters to defeat that may slay your companions until you have the conviction to keep them alive. There are many choices. You may also move your potential to influence to use those resources. The game is about making choices on a random set of options.

The game is a resource management game with engine building possible. It plays fast and is made to look beautiful.

I lost the first game by seven points. That was anyone’s game. In the second game, Evan had terrible lock slaying monsters and lost his only companion twice. I have had this happen to me too. Evan lost by much more. The game end condition was hit early, too, meaning Evan had no time to recoup the losses.

My general approach is to get many companions so that I get their ability and special power. I usually find a combination that works much like an engine in a Euro game by having many. I then seek to Vindicate my character by using monastery location to exchange the attribute knowledge to improve my character by moving potential to influence. I also try to improve my speed. These give me a chance to win. When I fail at two of these, Evan usually crushes me.

I still like the game, and it plays fast. I think it plays better with more than 2+ players as if both players play well, the two-person game is always +/- 7 or so points apart. That is just chance. I have ordered the new add-ons on Kickstarter for the game. They will show in six months or so (depending on the messy supply chain that is now China).

We returned home after the game and a drink and a pretzel at The 649.

From there, we loaded up Susie with Evan in Air Volvo and drove through the McDonald’s at Cedar Hill Crossing Mall. The drive-thru had palm trees!

We then went to Powel’s books, picked up my book on order, and got a few books for Susie.

Outside of the books store, someone made a chalk painting.

After that, we headed home, and Evan went home.

I stayed up and watched Gunpowder Milkshake on Netflicks. This is a cable movie that is an amazing action film. It is so bad it is good. Karen Gillian just can’t convince you that she is taking any of this seriously. The camera work, the set work, and the actions are great. The acting is odd. I liked it, but you have no idea why the story bounces around so much. It steals from Clint Eastwood westerns and John Wick without even a wink. But Karen Gillian and the rest of the crew just can’t seem to decide to be serious or a comedy. It needed to be more serious, but still, it is not terrible.

I finished the laundry up this Sunday morning by drying the last load from last night. I decided that I was not going to sit in a hot church. I had trouble with the heat above 75 yesterday.

I spent the morning watching yet-another-silly-movie. I put on The Old Dark House, another 1930s horror film. This, too, was another group of travelers trapped, in this case by a bad storm, in a house full of trouble. This time an insane would-be drunk and another insane brother that wants to burn the house down. Boris Karloff is in the background a bit and not the main bad guy. He uses a high voice, and if you did not read the credits, you would know it was him! The movie shows him in a different light; he is also given some of the best lines and plays a frightened butler-like character. It is a strange movie and even manages a happy ending. Can’t recommend it.

I had chores to do. I committed insecticide on the ants after getting a mix of products from True Value Hardware. The store was packed, and only about 1/3 of the folks were masked. I was not happy being so close to so many folks. The check-out line still is socially distanced.

I picked up KFC for lunch and dinner. We have Dungeons and Dragons at 5:30, so I needed to get lunch and dinner handled.

Susie spent the day watching the Olympics. I also slipped out and stopped by the Hobby store, Tammy’s Hobbies, to get some glue in Beaverton. I then picked up some basic groceries like milk and eggs.

I read for a bit and then headed out for a game at Corry’s house.

We are playing an adventure in Hell using our War Machine. If you remember, from a few weeks ago, I had pictures of the model I built for the game. We had that model out again.

The designers of the adventure in Hell, it is a purchased adventure, seemed to stack a quest on top of another quest and then another. It is truly hellish trying to figure out something. Our DM Matt also buys all the premium add-ons, so we will try to use all the toys. So we will continue on the multilevel quests.

I am back home and rushing to finish this blog. I even started it before it in the afternoon.

Sorry if I left too many typos.

One last item, one of my roses has rebloomed. This rose has my favorite round structure for an English Rose.

Thanks for reading.

 

I took Friday off, and Susie was ready about 12:30ish to on me for lunch. So I decided, forgetting it is 95F+, that we were going to Portland for lunch and shopping.

I had started the morning by sleeping into 8ish, logging into Nike, putting on my out-of-office, and doing my timesheet. I found the kitchen a wreck, and so did all the dishes and had breakfast. I then scanned in some documents and sent them to the New York Times reporter. I will not put much about that here. As has a few other historians, the reporter has found one of my late relatives very interesting.

I drove Air Volvo through a surprisingly congested Beaverton and hit more slow traffic on 26 to get to Portland. I have been trapped in the Friday post-lunch traffic jams before.

We made it to the Broadway Grill, but parking was hard. Finally, I managed to find a spot only two blocks away near a church and some homes not yet turned into businesses or rents. Susie walked about halfway, and I pushed her, sitting on her walker the rest of the way.

 

The folks at the grill were friendly, and we soon had two cold beers. Mine was Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride Red, and Susie had raspberry wheat. I ordered the Italian Grinder, and Susie had a ham and pineapple small pizza. Our drinks came fast, but there was a long wait for food. Again, I suspect they, like all food joints, are having trouble getting cooks and staff.

I pushed Susie back to the car. It was hot, and I found it a difficult task.

I then drove Air Volvo to Cargo, a strange store with an altar to RGB’s memory and other Portland-Weird items. They also sell some nice imports from Asia. The shirts often work for Susie. Susie was a bit overwhelmed by the store and walked a short distance and then just sat in her walker. She has been here a few times.

I saw the light as very shinny. Every muscle hurt. It was painful to move. I had rolled Susie to the Cargo and helped her get up the stairs. The AC in Cargo helped, but I was not feeling well.

I bought a little wind chime and then used the elevator to leave. Unfortunately, a train came and was between us and the car. I waited ten minutes sitting on a hot jersey barrier near the tracks. I then managed to reach the car, hot inside now, drive Air Volvo to the store, get Susie in, and head home.

At home, I went to bed with the AC on and was ill the rest of the night. However, I am feeling better this morning. But I know you have to just wait it out and stay cool and not move a lot.

I did oversleep this morning, but I had trouble sleeping and had only, even oversleeping, only four hours of sleep. It was a hard start. It made the hours of status and alignment meetings this morning very difficult. It is hard to not lose your focus when you are tired.

I slipped out and got another picture of Mister Lincoln in full bloom.

I had no crises, and then Susie startled me, I walked into the dark hallway with this owl flying at me. It was Susie in her Owl shirt. I took her to lunch, and we went to Sonics. I wanted my fav and my father’s and mother’s fav, a coney island with onions and cheese. Yes, they have a one-pound long dog. Susie had her usual plain cheeseburger.

We took Air Volvo home. No warning messages. I have scheduled a Spa visit to the Mothership today for Air Volvo in mid-August. I will go without a car. Like everywhere, the staffing and resources are not available–I would have to wait until September to get a loaner car! They will get me an Uber to get me home, and then I will be using Uber and like services for a few days.

After a few more hours of Zoom meetings and I was done for the week. I took Friday off this week too. The CEO gave folks Fridays off in July, but our project cannot afford the loss, so it is still running to some degree on Friday. I have no tasks this Friday; I will take the day.

I got a call from Dan Gray from the church. The pride flag is gone again. Oddly, a red plastic bag for holding a safety item was clipped in the place of the flag. Art? A bike chain is also locked onto the post that holds the flag. It is not connected to anything. I feel that someone was upset that the flag was missing and put what they could in its place to say they wanted it back. A square red flag is a storm warning.

I put the red bag folded below the flag, allowing it to be reclaimed. I put on my replacement pride flag on the old pole. The pole is old; it waved my USA flag through the pandemic until my flag ripped in the wind. I have a metal pole and a new flag now. I tested that the pole was still strong enough by waving the flag. I resisted singing Le Miserable, Just One More Day.

From there, I took Susie to the Movie. The Rock stars in the new Disney movie: River Cruise. Emily Blunt manages to help Rock all but re-make a mummy or Raiders of the Lost Ark movie but Amazon River-based story set in 1916. It was entertaining, and its villain is WWI son of the Kaiser with his own U-boat! The movie stalls when too focused on The Rock and is then revived by Emily Blunt’s character.

We tried Century Theater for the first time in more than 15 months! Some of the staff was masked. But, all were friendly and happy to help. I left my phone in the theater, and they brought it to me.

Back to the movie, Susie liked it. She thought it was fun and it had some old gags in it. The terrible jokes always said on Disney’s boring River Cruise become a running joke throughout the whole movie. Even some lame special effects are demonstrated by The Rock at the start of the movie on his tourist cruise that starts the movie. I was laughing through much of the movie. Recommended as good entertainment.

We finished the night with a late fast-food fest from McDonald’s.

It is already late. I will stop there.

Working backward, I started to read Fresh Brewed Murder by a local author and set in a coffee cart in Portland. So far, it is adorable, but I expect it to hit Portland Weird any moment as the murder is somewhere after page 21, where I am now. I like it, and it reminds me of other West Coast writers. The words and story could be Seattle or in foggy San Francisco, but it is set on a rainy July day in Rose City.

I started to read after coming home with Susie in Air Volvo from the Golden Valley Brewery, where I had a steak salad. Mariah matched me and shared a 1/2 Wine Wednesday Bottle of a Malbec from Argentina. Susie had a ham and cheese that was as good as one can make a ham and cheese.

But, before getting home after dinner, Air Volvo signaled a low tire; yes, it monitors pressure on all the tires. I asked Air Volvo to recheck (using the touch screen to recheck), and it discovered the tires are fine. However, temperature changes can trick Air Volvo into a false read–I remember the previous Volvo getting the same warning on a cold day and me soaking wet putting air in the tires. I will be eyeing the tires and will have them checked when Air Volvo visits the Mother Ship in August. I always have my vehicles served and detailed in August, right after Nike bonus checks come out. My cars always seem to detect the bonus, and service lights come on, or they stop running. The cars can smell the bonus.

Dinner was nice, and Susie and I were the only ones with masks on getting into the restaurant. We were sitting outside, so there is no real risk.

The shoe company’s last meeting for me today was an all-employee Zoom meeting with thousands of folks listening to the CEO and some of the other folks that run Nike. Their focus was, as you can guess, the Olympics. So it was mostly a cheering meeting for our last earning (95% improvement!) and for the Olympics, which was nice, but we just re-org’d, and we are all trying to understand the changes.

Before this was more alignment meetings, and I took a short break.

Lunch was lamb kebobs at Gyro House and then a quick trip to Barnes and Nobles for an electronic magazine and another book on New Orleans. I am still considering a trip there, but air-flights are expensive (first class for Susie). Barnes and Nobles still do not have my fav wargaming mags. I asked, and they said the UK mags are just starting to come back. Maybe next month.

While at Gyro House I did get a few more paragraphs done of Howard’s Unlock story. I also corrected some wooden and confused writing. It is always relaxing to tell a story about Howard even if just to myself. I hope to find some time to spend a few hours advancing the story more. I also still have to edit some of his stories. Editing and reworking are never done!

The morning was Zoom meetings. I was trying to write a few slides on some architecture I am suggesting while listening to status and alignment meetings in the morning. I try to help and give some advice and follow along. However, I hate it when I get a question that I missed, and I have to ask them to repeat it. I don’t want to be that guy. I pay attention.

The morning started at 6:45ish as I wanted to get going.

Mister Lincoln flowered again. I love these red roses!

I had a meeting, unexpected, at 9:30 so I am late now writing this.

Later tonight, Emmeline Duncan, the author of Fresh Brewed Murder, tweeted me back after I tweeted that I liked the book so far. She was happy to learn I bought it at Powell’s. She signed it on Saturday! I am following her now and joined her newsletter. It is so exciting to read a murder mystery from a local writer that tweets back!

Getting late so I will stop there.