Author: alohawild

This evening I am surprised to report that I actually won a board game, a deck-building game, at Richard’s in Portland. I am often invited to join in an evening game, but my goal is to understand and play. In essence, avoiding mistakes and trying to enjoy the ride. I am often coming in the last place as I am not a very good Euro or Engine builder like my friends in Portland. So again, it is hard some nights to not win and worse to be in the last place. But I can still say the experience is worth it.

Tonight Dominion: Intrigue hit the table and I had played it once before, but I mix it up with other games with cards and deck building. So it took me a few hands before I got the mechanics down. You can do one action, usually playing a card, and buy one card for each hand of five cards. You then can get cards that, when played, will give you more actions or let you bring more cards into your hand to use on this turn. You need to balance buying cards to help you play more cards and have more money while adding to your stack cards that do nothing but give you end-game points. Mostly, that is the only way to win.

I managed to get the mechanics down and I added enough action cards to give me more actions (thus more cards to play to do more things) and more money. About 3/4 through the game, I started buying victory points cards. Finally, I had enough money most turns to buy the more expensive cards. I bought the last set of large count victory point cards and ended the game. I won by only one point!

Before we played Dominion: Intrigue, we played my first game of KanBan EV. I had been watching videos on how to play this mind-bending complex game over the last two days. In this game, you are a new employee or intern at an electric vehicle plant (EV), you need to get designs to build new enhancements for various car models. The designs allow you to add a car to your garage to test your enhancements or implement a type of enhancement. But to test the enhancement, you will need the parts which are in the warehouse. So you will have to go there to get them. And to get the car to test your enhancement, you need to get a car from research and/or create the enhancement (now that you have the parts) there. You are successful once your enhancement is attached to a car that matches the enhancements (there are many different kinds of cars) and thus now tested and worth many victory points. But to get the car, someone has to manufacture one. So someone (you or another player) will have to get some cars made in the plant. Parts are also needed to do that! Making cars gives you victory points too.

KanBan EV is a worker placement and resource management game. But, it has a twist. Sandra is also in the plant represented by an extra-large meeple with a clipboard. She will evaluate the employees (you and your fellow players) on how well you are trained in each area of the plant. If you are the least formally trained player and have not worked hard in the plant to succeed in this specific area, you will disappoint Sandra and lose victory points.

This is not the normal Euro game process and makes the game much more interesting. You need to do all you can to complete tasks by ordering resources and efficiently generating victory points, but also you need to avoid falling afoul of Sandra’s disapproving eye!

I was in the last place when the game ended. Sandra docked me a pile of points almost every round at first. So my score was zero for a while. It appears that the training and the vast benefits it grants were something I missed out on.

In my defense, I thought the videos showed that education options were more optional. Instead, you need to follow the flow of the factory AND do the education steps to be certified.

Also, there are staff meetings, no really, and there you present your work so far by putting speaking bubbles (really!) on goals representing you presenting your success to Sandra. More victory points. These I managed to score in the first meeting. I had not collected enough speaking bubbles (really!) to present at the end-of-game.

I will have to play it more and focus more on education and not have Sandra docking me repeatedly. I also need to better understand the relationships of the design-car-enhancement flow in the game.

Sandra’s wraith is reduced by having extra shifts available to you or having built enough in the area that Sandra assumes you are trained. I managed to fail at both. Next time Sandra you will be proud of me!

On my way home, I drove through Portland. I saw a block party at Safeways (?!) and a line (not socially distanced) to get into a bar. Strange to see everyone without masks and not being careful.

Before I left for Portland, I took Susie to Black Widow; this movie is the newest Marvel film. I will say it was entertaining but not great. Susie complained she could not understand anything in the movie. We still liked it. I wait for others to see it–No Spoilers here.

I was up early as I had status meetings in the morning for data conversions, and I followed along for a few hours to ensure that I was not needed.

It is already beyond midnight; I will stop there.

I started about 7ish and worked the morning and then watched along as the software was moved into place that we need to do the data conversions at the shoe company. I was not needed for most of this, but I watched and followed along in case I was needed.

As I was busy all morning, I warmed up the goulash that I made a few days ago on the stove. As usual, it was a bit better a few days later reheated. Then, I made Susie a plate of crackers with different cheeses, nuts, and crackers. Something different, and she was up late today, and so breakfast just did not make sense.

We went to the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove for dinner. We picked up Mariah on the way. We wanted to sit outside, drink beer, listen to music, and eat dinner. No masks now. We went in without masks, and most folks were maskless. It was kind of weird. The music was rock.

Also, Richard in Portland has called together players this Saturday to play another game that I do not know: KanBan EV. This game is another second edition Kickstarter premium version of a successful game. This version has high marks and has you assume the role of a new employee at an electric car company. You are also chased by your manager to get knowledgable, or else be punished–so corporate! I have just watched the videos, and it is a very complex game. I will try not to come in last!

Susie fell in the kitchen. She is not supposed to be in the kitchen as her walker does not work well in our galley kitchen. There are sharp edges too. Susie, being the ice skater, fell without injury. I managed to get her back up. I was very frustrated that she was walking in the kitchen–she left her walker and was walking without a cane.

I will stop there as it has been a crazy day.

I will skip the normal work summary. Nothing broke today at work that I cover, and thus it was a slow day without much to do but read email and listen to status meetings. I did have my review, and I did Ok.

Lunch was at Wendy’s nearby. I ate inside. Again, trying to get over the fear and experience how lunch is done now. The staff had masks on, and folks generally wore masks. They are no longer required, according to a note on the door.

I watched the trains while I ate. We have a train line that runs along the main road. It is not freight or passengers. It is lumber and cut trees. Today I watched blacken trees, cut from last year’s big fires, go by. I was surprised to see them. Salvage logging usually does not produce good lumber, but these cut trees looked like only the bark was burned. It was a reminder of how bad last year’s fire season really was.

Later, Susie and I took Air Volvo to McDonald’s. Susie had her fav of a Happy Meal with apples, and she is now adding a hot apple pie. I had Bob Wild’s fav; I always think of him when I order it, the cheap two cheeseburger meal.

I headed to Portland this evening to play board games with Richard and folks. The drive took more than an hour in Air Volvo. I counted five disabled cars, one crash (five cars lengths in front of me), and two ambulances running light with everyone diving out of the way. The trip to Portland from home has been longer with the worst traffic, but that was one of the worst trips for me in a few years.

We played a game I have never done before, Dwellings of Eldervale. This is a worker placement game with a bit of 4x violence worked in (the link sends you to a definition of 4X). It has spells and a fantasy setting. You try to build dwellings, defeat monsters, and defeat your opponents in combat. I went for massive combat. I was able to win many battles and build a few houses. There are also special abilities cards that I did not focus on; it was my first play, and engine building requires a better handle on the rules. Once I understood the gameplay, I became feared as my faction was good at combat, and I spent my resources summoning my super fighter and dragon.

It is a lovely-looking game, and the monsters have stands that growl or hiss or other sounds. The monsters are huge 3D figures about four inches tall and dipped in stain to look more 3D. They look great with just that simple coloring!

The game that Richard owns is the top full-bling version from a Kickstarter. It has very nice trays for everything with lids and instructions on putting it away in a special extra-large box. Dwellings of Eldervale was fun to play and required you to make difficult decisions, the best kind of game. The spell cards are random and can be devastating. The ability cards are necessary to win and to create the engines to get resources to acquire more. Combat was fast and easy to understand and reminded me of the Bloodrage board game, but a bit better. The track for powers is also important, but I was just starting to understand it.

I look forward to playing the game again and learning how to build an engine. I was just a few points ahead of the lowest scoring player and just a few points behind second place. Richard smoked us.

I will stop there as I am rushed as it is late, and I want to sleep a bit better tonight. Thanks for reading my shorter blog.

I was so tired going to bed last night that I nearly took Wednesday off. But, there is a data conversion going on, and even if I tried to do that, I would still be on-call and would follow along on email and Slack messages. I often log on again late to check that nothing has happened between 5-9ish when I make dinner, relax a bit, and then write this blog. Which can be work or relaxing depending on how pressed I feel about writing something interesting or bright. Today I have a few stories, so I feel better about writing.

Work started at 7ish after I awoke to my alarm at 6, checked email and my meeting schedule, and saw I could rest another hour. Instead, I fell asleep and had a non-restful dream.

I dreamed that I was at some strange airport in Europe to collect Susie and other folks to get home. I was walking all over the airport trying to find everyone and then trying to find my flight. I was dreamed there were trains and subways that I had to take. Somewhere on some platform, I would find Susie and then find the flight. I needed to be on time as I needed to be at Nike to do a data conversion the next day. Not a happy dream! I was more tired when I awoke five to 7.

Tired, I started reading email and slack channels. I managed to read everything and get dressed and shiny and clean by the 8AM first status meeting. I had only an hour of status meetings.

I was now fatigued, and seeing that I was free for two hours, I rested and slept for about 90 minutes. It worked. I awoke ready. That was an improvement.

I had a new vendor patch to put in (SAP note to those who speak SAP). I then put it in but included it under the wrong general change (Change Request to those who speak SAP). There is no undo button. I manually copied the entries from one change to another, something one never wishes to do but now required. It requires hand keying and coping with all the details of a change one line at a time. It was only four lines, so I was able to quickly correct my mistake. I ran the checks, and I got it right. Even twenty-plus years of SAP applying SAP notes (patches to the non-SAP folks), you can still screw up if you are not very careful. The joke in IT nowadays is that the Intern made a mistake–No, the expert did this one.

With Covid-19 unlock, I am trying to practice lunch. It is still emotionally difficult for me to drive Air Volvo and eat lunch sit-down. After getting gas for Air Volvo and paying more than I have in a long time, I went to the nearby Round Table Pizza. They have tables to eat at, but beer and the salad bar are still not available. I tried to order a personal-sized pizza, King Arthur’s Pizza; I doubt that King Arthur did eat pizza, but it looked good, and I am not there to debate their scholarship. I added a side caesar salad and a diet Pepsi. My order created great confusion. Apparently, the incantation, sticking with the theme, was something Merlin only knew, and they could not figure out how to use the cash register to have me pay for the “lunch special.” I believe the manager, all masked and without name tags, found the correct spell to get me my lunch at the lunch price. They even used a hand calculator! Apparently, I was the first or one of the only recent customers to order at the counter. Having helped with a training moment, I was cheered. I was helping to end the stupid parts of the pandemic by just showing up.

It made them happy and excited to have a customer. My pizza and salad were good.

I then read my email on my laptop. I had re-upped my membership to the US Naval Institue, loving their books and the huge discount I get as a member. I also get their newsletter. Today, a congressional report on the China Navy and its threat to the USA was published in the newsletter with a link to the published report. I skimmed the report while eating my pizza and salad and refreshed my knowledge of the People’s Republic’s Navy. My more conservative friends believe the China Navy is a threat. I read the report and enjoyed the information–the facts are great. The comments using words like antiquated and starter-aircraft carrier were more with my viewpoint. I was impressed with the number of nuclear attack submarines in use by the People’s Navy. The largest part of the PRC navy is frigates. Like Iran and other would-be actors in conflicts with the USA, that fits with my expectation; many missiles on many different small ships are the best hope in a modern battle with a more powerful foe. While looking modern and strangely styled like existing USA warships, the PRC ships show very little electronic mounted (the report had excellent color photos of the PRC ships). USA ships are covered in a mass of devices. The report highlighted the need for modern ships to meet the threat. Still, it interestingly suggested re-architecting (the word used in the congressional report) the force structure not centered on nuclear aircraft carriers. I found it all interesting as it reminds me of other books I have read about the building of the WW1 and WW2 navies. There are choices and debates on the choices.

I ordered two new books from the Navy Institute yesterday, one on the history of the USA creating the nuclear strike force, Winning Armageddon (what a title!), and another on the creation of the great WW1 British fleet, Genesis of the Grand Fleet. It is interesting to me how today echos the past all too clearly. That is actually why the second book was written, to explain the decisions of how the first great modern fleet was created to the current generation of naval thinkers. Or, in my case, an interested computer architect. Always there is something to learn from reading today’s thoughts and reflecting on thoughts of more than 100 years ago and folks thinking the unthinkable sixty years ago.

I returned via Air Volvo to home and had more status meetings. I slipped away for an hour to rest and read my newest read. I am betting the reader will not be shocked that it is Naval History. The famous writer of historical fiction, the Hornblower series, excited young people with dreams of fighting sail for years; C.S. Forrester wrote in 1929 a biography of Lord Nelson, my fav historical figure. I found the first edition for just $12 before the pandemic at Powell’s, and I then lost it in the house. I found it under the bed last week. I forgot how much I liked C.S. Forrester and his approach to Nelson is to only state what we have evidence for. I like this, and it would have been refreshing back in 1929. I can see his writing style and demand to be evidence-based in the later books I have read. I am enjoying the story and Nelson’s disgust for Americans and Frenchmen. The book assumes you already know Nelson’s story and are reading this book for more details. It is cheap and interesting to me, I have lost count of the Nelson and Trafalgar books I have read, but I am not sure I can recommend it. I can recommend if you have the pandemic blues and need a story to get lost in, C.S. Forrester’s Hornblower series is worth it (the first book is $3.10 on Kindle).

After finishing the last status meeting at about 5PM-ish, I made dinner. Schwann’s provisioned it all. First, I defrosted their bone-in pork chops, fried them in a pan after I sprinkled them with salt and Chinese Five Spice. I finished them in the oven for 35 minutes. Next, I made Schwann’s mashed potatoes in a pan. I also microwaved their green beans and then cooked them in a saucepan with just butter and salt; I like them cooked very hot. It was well-received even with the Asain flavors. After reading about Nelson, I could not use French spices!

My last rose to bloom this summer is Mister Lincoln. It was just a stick I ordered from Heritage Roses just before the pandemic. It has flowered once. Today it has two buds on new growth. I think the extreme heat killed off the bugs and slugs that I believe were eating it. The new growth, formed as the heat-dome started (114F one day), shows no holes or brown spots from aphids. I am looking forward to seeing the bloom in a few weeks. Mister Lincoln is a hybrid tea rose and breath-taking. This is my second time trying to grow it. It forms long canes–not really a bush.

244 people in the USA died today from the virus. None are reported to be vaccinated.

I randomly turned to Go Down Moses in the Methodist Hymnal. I found this new version.

I started at 6ish and then saw that I had no meetings until 8AM, so I went back to sleep until 7ish. Then, I started back and read my email and replied on a few items. I managed to have breakfast and chat via Slack with my colleagues in India. I managed to be dressed and ready for the first status meeting at 8:30 and then passed thru another three-plus hours of status and alignment meetings. A typical Monday-Tuesday day after a holiday. I finished before noon and then drove Air Volvo to Burger King. I had a whopper with slightly better fries. I brought Corwin a double bacon burger. He had a Zoom meeting, too, so I brought back lunch.

Susie started the late morning. I rested a bit. I was dizzy and was having trouble with my ears being plugged from allergies. I got up to help Susie when she called; I rushed getting up and nearly fell over. I got some things to help, and that has gone away (details best skipped).

I then ran some chores that I needed to do. I dropped Corwin off to replace his phone. I did the banking and pharmacies things. Schwann’s truck was by and purchased more goodies. I managed to make the last status meeting and had to comment about some of the data conversions. Busy day!

I was going to cook some Schwann’s pork chops and veggies, but then I heard something say to me, “Margarita.” So off to the local Mexican place. Susie was happy to get outside. Mazatlan Aloha was perfect.

Nike stock broke $160 today. My 401K is showing more than a 10% return annualized.

202 people in the USA died from Covid-19. None of the people we lost today are reported to be vaccinated.

I picked a fav that I can sing, and I remember singing it loud at many churches–it requires little skill to get the basic it rights: It Is Well With My Soul.