Author: alohawild

Today I tried to focus on my Hell War Machine model after getting started. I managed to get quite a lot done until I discovered I had glued a wheel axial with some CA glue that somehow ran from the parts I was working on. I had to break open the model and repair the wheel. I put the model away for the day. It was frustrating to lose a day’s work. I generally stop when I make a mistake. Usually, that means I am rushing or tired.

I managed to not glue myself to the model or glue my fingers together!

The morning started with a Memorial Service for a family friend in Michigan. Susie watched the Zoom service, which was well done, and Zoom and the music worked very well. It shows how much we have learned and how comfortable the pastor was with the media. He managed to talk into a laptop recording the service on Zoom and to also hold the attention of the live folks in pews at the church. The speakers also, while often looking at the congregation, managed to be clear and expressive. I was impressed; it was a moving service even on Zoom in Oregon.

I moved to another room and used my Nike computer for status meetings at Nike for the data conversions. The data conversions are going well and are days ahead of plan. I did my timesheet and checked my email. This all while Susie watched the memorial service on my Apple computer.

The service was at 8ish, and we were dressed in time and could use the camera. Susie had about twenty minutes to get ready for her spa appointment with Zeriada. She managed to have some Eggo Waffles with peanut butter and coffee before her driver picked her up.

I continued with my model after Susie headed out and then left for lunch, taking Air Volvo. I drove to The Streets of Tanasbourne Mall looking for something I used to do for lunch. This mall is outdoors walking. Walking outside on a sunny day, I stopped by Ma-Now for Thai food. I have not been there for a long time–when we moved to a different office building Ma-Now was too far for lunch. I had a massaman curry and a Thai iced tea. There were few people there. My waiter told me they are still not getting that many customers, but there is more and more each day. Yes, one-day-at-time for everyone, I think as we start the beginning of the end of the pandemic, I hope.

I also went into REI, looked at a t-shirt ($29), and decided that it was a bit much. About half the people had masks on in the store. The staff was still masked.

Most people outside did not wear masks at Tanabourne. However, everyone still kept social distancing. Masks were carried and put on when entering stores.

I returned and managed to break my model. I then watched more of Season 6 of Game of Thrones. I am liking this season and have trouble not binge-watching. I finally understand why the show was so well received. The story, acting, and camera work is much improved in seasons 5 and 6.

I was contacted by Richard, but he could not get enough folks for a surprise Monday night game. Online Dungeons and Dragons using Roll20 canceled today; folks are still traveling for a holiday.

I instead made dinner. I made a German-style stew-goulash. I put veggies in it (taters and carrots). It takes a few hours to make, and as I had no games tonight, I made the goulash while doing laundry and watching more Game of Thrones. It has been a while since I cooked dinner from scratch, and it was good and fun.

More laundry and maybe Game of Thrones tonight.

Happy Holidays!

I slept poorly and finally slept sometime after 3ish. Susie was up a few times last night. This is twice in a row, so I am building a large deficit in sleep. Usually, I have to repay that illness or just sleeping early and well someday. Maybe tonight!

I logged into work at least every few hours and kept my phone ready all day. I am on call for the data conversions running through the holidays.

The morning of 8ish was started with a killer leg cramp. This is not a way to started July 4th with your own internal fireworks! But I managed to walk it off.

We managed to get going and make church. Not our regular church, but Aloha United Methodist, a few minutes away. They opened for services, and today was communion Sunday. Our friends, the Revs Anne and Wayne Weld-Martins, help the church and run communion. It was strange not to sing at church, and sitting in chairs separated was also new to me. Aloha Methodist always used chairs, so their sanctuary easily aligned to the new social distancing model.

Rev Anne gave the sermon about immigration and independence, and it was worth, I think, finding on YouTube and watching. We all were wearing masks.

We took Air Volvo and went to BJ’s Brewhouse for a post-church lunch like a normal pre-Covid-19 Sunday. We had a nice lunch and a good time just hanging out.

After dropping off the Revs., we got home and took a nap. Susie slept until 6:30PM.

I started back on my Hell War Machine kitbashing project. I finally got the front of the war machine done and have decided on a look. Unfortunately, I lost track of time, and it was near 7ish. I also watched some Game of Thrones while working on the kitbashing.

I ordered Mexican food for dinner delivered. It was delivered just as it was getting dark.

My neighbors are doing their firework party. The lights are off, and the street and sky are full of various legal and illegal explosions. Chris, who lives next door, has water running and buckets ready. He also watered his lawn, where most of the fire might land.

I stopped working on the model building when I made a couple mistakes. That is when you are tired or distracted that you make mistakes. When I make three I stop. I have a lot of cutting and I will wait until I am more awake before I do that!

Susie has a Zoom meeting funeral for a family friend in Michigan at 8AM. So need to sleep soon. If the explosions will just stop.

 

I spent much of the day scratch building and kit-bashing a hell war machine for 28mm figures. I have finished the base and started on some of the outsides. I will make more progress tomorrow and Monday. I have cut up a Sherman tank and a battleship model for some of the decorative bits. This took me all day, so the blog is a bit short.

We did go out to an afternoon movie. We watched at the local Regal theater Cruella before it leaves the theaters. We managed to make the afternoon cheap showing and enjoyed popcorn, Raisinets, and a soft drink (diet) to share. It was still fun the second time.

I had lunch before this and brought Susie back some baklava from Gyro House. I had the lamb kebobs as I was tired and hungry from yesterday’s late-night gaming. I had skipped dinner as I had a large lunch and had only a chocolate shake and fries for a snack. The folks were happy to see me and asked if I would be back to the indoor dining. Yes, I will.

I made ham and cheese sandwiches after we had stuffed ourselves with popcorn for the movie.

Susie found a Harry Potter festival on TV after the movie and watch that while I cut and clued and sawed away most of the evening.

I was on call all day and up at 8ish to make the 8:30 status meeting. I have been following along, and so far, I am not needed. This makes the holiday a working holiday for me.

I did slip in two more episodes in Season Six for Game of Thrones. I am more interested again. They story seems to be moving again. I was surprised by the end of Season Five with the murder of one of the main characters. I am interested to see what happens now.

Lastly, fireworks are not banned here in this tiny part of Oregon and the explosion have started. We have less than last year, they asked people to be careful and responsible. Yes, sort of an interesting request for folks using illegal fireworks, but it is Oregon. So far, it looks like folks are being responsible.

Working from this late morning, we decided at 10PM-ish to play the new game Space Race. I had watched a few short videos, so I had a general idea of how to play, but we discovered that the game is not easy to learn. Unfortunately, this game iconography is hard to read and understand. We learned a bit later that you turn over the player card, and there is a key to the iconography. Worse, each player’s process or flow card is not provided in the game, which you see in most games, creating dives into the rule book. However, new player mats are being done as a DIY addition that includes this flow and helps organize the players’ cards. This will likely make learning and playing the game more intuitive.

After struggling with the Space Race’s flow and getting the process moving, the last four rounds played better. In the project part of the game, we began to understand towards the end. The iconography is lines of blue and white, and this makes mistakes very easy to make. One is tempted to photo-shop the project to make the white sections hashed or something to make them clear. Also, the meeples cover the colors, so it is hard to see what happens in a project. But, again, this might play better now that we know the game.

Overall, as we reached the end, the game began to flow and go very fast. However, there are concerns that the seven turns may not be enough as you have so few cards at the start of the game. Also, we thought projects in a three-person game were tough to finish, and in more player games, it might feel completely different.

Generally, we think we like the game. It would be a filler game as we think it will fly when you have it down. Due to the slow build at the start and Space Race having only seven turns, the game may feel a bit random and not provide for thoughtful engine building. Thusly, we think it would be a fast and fun game between those brain-crushing engine games.

Kathleen, finding how to build an engine even in a game she does not know, crushed Richard and me in Space Race.

As I usually predict, I was last in our four-person run of a basic Terraforming Mars board game. Richard has the big box version with all the 3-D tiles that add much to the look and feel of the game. Terraforming Mars is the fourth-best game, according to Board Game Geek’s website. It has endless add-ons and extensions. Even or basic game had a few promo and preview items.

The basic game plays well as there are no extra steps, so the turn flow is quick and clear to understand. Not diving into the rules book or suddenly running some sub-system in turn. Instead, just getting cards, taking actions to improve your resourcing and options, or improving mars and closing in on the end-game condition, mars terraformed. An enjoyable three-person game that took us three hours.

I was ahead on the track for much of the game and still, as usual, scored the least. I was very busy improving mars and building up my money. Richard reminded me of what I forgot. Planting forest next to your cities is how you get lots of points. I also forgot to score an award; my other players did not forget. I should have focused on plants.

I also never get the engines going. I need to learn them better in this game. Kathleen scored huge on running microbes and animals. Richard was also scoring with bears and others engines. I still enjoyed the play and will remember the plants and awards next game.

To get to all of the games, I had a pleasant ride into Portland today. Just a few stops and starts on highway 26. The Oregon-styled driving has returned to slow and meaningless braking. The aggressive and poor driving I saw a few months ago is mostly gone. However, traffic is still moving faster, likely from reduced cars on the road.

I drove Susie in Air Volvo to McDonald’s; the crows have already started their next painting o Air Volvo. Susie got her fav Happy Meal. I got a shake and fries for dinner. I had a large lunch, and I did not want to be sleepy for driving and gaming at Richard’s.

Before this, I started work at home and mostly Zoom meetings at 8:30. These were a few status meetings, and I saw that some of the checks I made after blogging last night were being worked on. I am mostly monitoring and fill in when I can.

I stepped out and drove Air Volvo to Beaverton. I stopped by Tammy’s Hobbies to pick up some fine metal screens I think I can use for my kit-bashing hell war machine I am building. More on that when I get started.

I stopped by Batter-up in Beaverton and was happy to see the customers masking; the cooks and servers were not masked.  Batter-up is where you can get waffles with chicken and other good breakfast-style food. I had a Monte Cristo and fries that weighed me down all afternoon. It was delicious. Interestingly, I was the only white, old guy there besides the cook. The clientele is scantily clad; it is a bit warm on Friday (85+), tattooed, and not white. Beaverton certainly has changed! All masked except when eating.

Writing on Friday with games most Friday nights will be hard to do on Friday. So I think we make have to declare Friday the weekend too.

I will stop there as I am already so late.

The words “heat dome” enter the same list of horrors that have haunted us in the Pacific Northwest like Murder Hornets, Covid-19, Smoke, and the other unprecedented, how we hate that word, disasters that have hit us the last two years.

Today, It is cool and overcast, our usual weather in June.

I started at 6:45ish, and I had hours and hours of Zoom calls. The project is entering the holiday weekend; Nike is closed on Friday and Monday, with us working the holiday and weekend. So we will run 7/24 through another holiday.

I have been running late for the past few days, and thus I am running out of everything. I slipped out at 10:30 to Safeway to buy groceries. It is strange to see the unmasked people working there. All the social distancing signs are gone. About 1/3 of the folks do not have masks on. Most Safeway folks did not wear masks. Some still sported them. The customers were mostly masked, with again 1/3 not masked. Everyone kept social distancing, a habit, I think.

I am not sure I can not wear a mask and shop. Also, what I read about the Delta and Delta Plus Covid-19 variants has me washing my hands and keeping on my mask.

I then went to the car wash. They let me run it through twice. The crows managed to repaint the car. I still had to go out with a wet towel and wipe up some crow paint from the windshield! Air Volvo looks nice again. Damn crows!

I returned and put the groceries away. I had a frozen Indian styled lunch that I microwaved. Unfortunately, it was not that good.

I received a survey from the Methodist local conference in the mail, an online survey. The District Supervisor (DS) has picked a fight with our church and has started the process to shut down Beaverton First United Methodist Church. The task force that reviews the church to determine if we have a future sent the survey. Unfortunately, it is slanted against us. It took me all lunch to finish it. I listed the main issue for my church to be the local and General Conference and that I believed that the DS was at fault. I am sure my response will be ignored, but at least I tried.

I had some more meetings, including a future planning meeting with my boss and a director from the biz side of Nike. But, I cannot include the details here. I can say that the software we wrote over the years, in Java using SAP tooling, is an embarrassment of riches and an incredible good user experience.

I finished with the last status meeting at 4:30 on Zoom with 70+ people, as usual.

I managed to change gears and made pork chops from Schwann’s. I dried them and sprinkled them with Herbs de Provance and fried them to just brown on top of the stove. I finished them in a hot oven for ten minutes. I followed this by making Famous Dave’s Corn Bread muffins from a box. I also threw in a handful of frozen corn in the cornbread to add that southern feel of actual corn in the muffins. Next, I microwaved green beans, also from Schwann’s, and then heated and wilted the beans in butter in the same pan I cooked the chops in. I added some salt to the beans and butter. Susie liked it all.

The roses survived the heat. They are now in the summer mode for the remaining blooms, about 1/2 sized now. They still surprise my neighbors with how pretty my flowers keep.

Today it was reported that 315 people in the USA died from the virus.

I could not think of a better hymn for today: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. I picked a German version.