Author: alohawild

Today Oregon unlocks. All restrictions are lifted for Covid-19. Our county, Washington, is at 61% vaccination for the total population. Oregon is about 62% and staying there so far. There are no numbers on the Delta variant here.

I am of mixed emotions as I feel that many people will still fall victim to Covid-19. But, the state had decided to return to work. So, I pray that this will work.

Today was a chaotic mess. I started about 7ish and was dressed and ready for my first meeting at 7:30AM. I just had status meetings, but I had to bail as Susie has a check-up with her skin cancer doctor. One of the wounds was healing strangely, and we wanted it checked.

So we got there, and I went in with Susie. The issue was minor and is scar tissue.

But, since we are there, the doctor did an exam, and Susie had three biopsies today on the left side of her face. She is in light pain, which is easily handled by Tylenol. I was back to work in time for a class over lunch. I ordered Happy Panda again as I had not time to get lunch. Susie had her fav of chicken cashew.

Back to Zoom meetings and endless emails and messages on Slack. It has been some time since I had a real computer emergency. A problem showed up that was a problem that hit the critical path. We were on a call until 6:30PM on how to fix it. The systems we use are on different patch levels, preventing important settings for warehouses (plants, for SAP folks) from moving between systems. The problem was finally solved late this evening after we all worked out a solution. We were happy to see that some of the settings were correct, and all we had to do was activate and resend them.

I think I brought some value by explaining some options.

I then was running late. I then went online and ordered Dominos. After two calls, and being more than an hour late, and the pizza only being warm (but still good), the pizza arrived. I am unhappy, but there is a pandemic on still, so I will just let it go. I did give them a bad survey as the only punishment.

My fifty-pound note with Alan Turning arrived today–I bought one on eBay with the official flyer from the Bank of England. It is amazing to see his face on UK currency next to the Queen’s. Alan Turning’s ability to imagine and implement huge electrical device that computed was what later allowed for the creation of the first computers after World War 2. “This is only a foretaste of what is to come and only the shadow of what is going to be,” is printed on the 50-pound note below his picture and signature.

249 people in the USA died from Covid-19 today.

I picked A Tribute to the All Nations for Alan today!

Today we had only 90s in the Greater Portland Area. Unfortunately, the heat dome moved east, and eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, and Idaho are now struggling with 100+ temperatures. Also, Nike stock was burning up too and flying to new levels. My 401K is showing an 8.4% return. This even after I was forced, because of my age, into safer investments. Such a scorching day.

I started work at 7ish and managed to slip in a shower and be bright and shiny for the first three hours of status meetings at 8AM. The project is still running on a 7/24 schedule with stops and starts as we have trouble identify resources. The data conversions are running better this time, and we are dropping days of runtime out of the conversion. This causes some chaos as tasks are unexpectedly moved to well now.

I had to stop today and take Corwin to the Oregon Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), where he got his car driving permit. He had to pass the test. We celebrated by having Corwin take over Air Volvo in the parking lot. He did make one turn too sharp and bump a curb. He managed it.

I had one more meeting once we got home. The 4:30 status meeting is also the handover of the project to China and India. We are still struggling to follow the sun with support for the project.

I made tacos, it being Taco Tuesday, for dinner. I used the crunchy shells and the seasoning in the packet. I baked the shells with the cheese and meat in the shells. I browned some ground beef (85%). They are good with some lettuce. Susie liked them.

According to reports, 294 people in the USA died from Covid-19 today. Reports continue to state all these deaths are unvaccinated folks.

I found a song I did not know for lent: Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days. This is Methodist Hymnal #269.

It is like a bad joke, and if you thought yesterday was hot, you would love the 112F we enjoyed today. I went out this early afternoon at 111F and watered the roses, my neighbors struggling garden, and put sprinklers on the lawn. Mostly to stop the lawn from turning brown. The heat was harsh.

The morning started in the 80s for me, about 7ish. My status meetings started at 7:30 now. Various meetings are now overlapping, and so meetings are moving earlier and earlier. Many of the folks are in India.

I had just a few crises of the moment putting in a vendor patch (OSS notes to those who speak SAP). I was listening to status meetings and checking emails, and reading Slack posts for hours. Nobody needed me by 10ish, so I took my first break then.

It was already 100! I ordered lunch delivered, not wishing to drive for lunch or have a ham and cheese. I ordered a gyro from Gyro House. It was delivered and was perfect.

More status meetings and then online self-paced mandatory training about how to better communicate with various cultures worldwide. I have to 19th to complete the training. I did two modules (not understanding that the first module is not actually the first one–alphabetically listed) and passed the introduction. I have four or five more to go.

You do a self-assessment, and my rating all but said America IT old guy. Direct. Risk-taking. Egalitarian. Task drive.

Dungeons and Dragons canceled today as Cory was having some AC issues (as are many) today. Unfortunately, our AC could not get below 76F inside today once it got the burning 110+ today. We expect an easy to live with 96F high on Tuesday.

Mariah contacted me, and we, the only folks crazy enough to go out, met at the Woodfired Pizza place. We had pizza, getting one for Susie to go and bring back extra for Corwin from my all meat pizza and beers. We talked about various items. We agreed to maybe play an in-house Dungeons and Dragons 5E game on Tuesday in the Fall. This is old school with figures and pen and paper. We both complained that we are behind our hobbies, which is getting us down a bit.

Most of the staff that served you at Woodfired Pizza were not wearing masks. Folks still wore masks when coming and leaving their tables. It still felt safe. They were totally slammed as I suspect they thought Monday would be a light day. Instead, everyone wanted someone else to cook and to enjoy their AC.

I will get back to painting the figures and then maybe some kitbashing to build a hell war machine. I ordered some plastic sheets, random pieces, and some wheel kits.

I have some lighting and sound kits for an Ecto-1 that I have never built. I have an American Tank in the correct scale (1/52), and an out-of-scale Potemkin, which I think will work. Plus even more lights. I have few more items to bash together for my first war machine.

I will try to get to that soon. If it works out, I have a spare Addams family house model and Cutty Sark that might be next or a Soviet battlecruiser (yes the made one).

Dreaming of having time to work on this…Hell War Machines…(evil laughter)

Today 137 people in the USA died from Covid-19.

You don’t get singing organist’s videos that are this good, Child of Blessing, Child of Promise. This is Methodist Hymnal #611.

It was 111F today here at the Volvo Cave. I watered the roses again in the afternoon and ran the sprinkler for the grass for a bit. It was fun, as always, to pull the sprinkler around the lawn and get soaked. I usually was dried in a few minutes!

This evening we visit Cory’s house, and their AC was overwhelmed, and it was 80-something in their house. We still played 5E Dungeons and Dragons in the heat. It is the second time we have met in 14 months and the first time all of us could make it. Everyone is two weeks out from vaccination. It was great to get the whole group together.

We are playing the campaign DESCENT INTO AVERNUS, and we are now driving Hell Machines in the burning desert of Hell. I play a gnome who is a tinkerer wizard. I was not expecting to be rebuilding hell devices and driving them, but what the well, you know. So Matt has all the Mad Max-like 28MM-scale 3D hell models, so we did our first battle. We took out the crew on the larger truck and now have a bigger one to drive. It is just fun and insane. Again, I was not expecting a cross of Mad Max-like and 5E version of Hell. The warm temps helped us to be more immersive. It was fun.

My gnome drove the hell machine. Imagine a wizardly house gnome status driving a semi! It was a bit ridiculous. Apparently, my character built miniature controls and a tiny seat to run the tank-Mad-Max-Hell-Machine. So not your usual dungeon exploring from Indiana Jones or Lara Croft tradition! We ended the session paying Charon-like creatures to barge us across the river Styx.

I have some old ship models I have never built, and Matt suggested I might be able to kit-bash a cool Hell ship. So I looked, and I have a Cutter Sark I have not finished for years, and I also have the battleship Potemkin model from Russia that looks very retro. Together they might make an amazing Hell ship. We will see.

I started the day early. I had a status meeting at 8 and a meeting with a reporter about family history at 9. The skeletons in the family closet need a bit of airing again. I then rested a bit.

I headed to BJ’s Brewpub for lunch by myself. I got an order of ribs, full rack, to-go for Susie’s lunch and later dinner.

It was burning hot, and it is hotter on Monday.

Susie and I went to Fast and the Furious 9 (F9) tonight at the local theater, Regal’s Moves on TV. The manager knows me, her predecessor used to live two houses down from me, and she was surprised that in 104+ heat, they were not busy. In Oregon, movie houses usually are packed on hot days. F9 was out this week and fulfilled all my car crashing chase scene dreams. I did not even know I needed this fix! Vin Diesel movies are like that; you did not even know you were missing it until you see it and know you needed this.

F9 even brought back some lost players and new family members. However, a few times, the chase events were clearly computer animation and SciFi, and I thought that broke some of the gritty feeling of the movie. It was a few times just more James Bond than Fast and Furious. I liked F8 better, but it started in Cuba; it was gritty in many places, so who can’t love that. You do not know you need this movie, but with all that went wrong in the last few years, maybe an insane movie like F9 is what we all need. Recommended with lots of popcorn and maybe a soft drink, kid-sized.

What we also needed was AC at Mazatlan Aloha today. So I called ahead, and they said their AC was not working well, but they were open. So I decided if they are open, then we spend our money there for dinner. Besides, they have good margaritas. So we left from there to the movie. There was an F9 movie every 30 minutes today until 9pm!

Before this, I ran the car on max AC while Susie got ready and then got her in the car with temperatures still 103F. I then drive 5 mins. Finally, I rolled her on her walker into the Mexican place. The food was great, and they were happy to see us.

My meeting with a reporter was canceled tonight. That is rescheduled to Sunday morning. They have questions about one of the skeletons in the family closet. It comes up once in a while. It is wrong to talk about some of the worst of the USA in the 1920s in this blog. The reporter is world-renowned, and I suspect he will reveal some more truth that folks will not want to learn, but the truth will come. I just wish our family was the good guys.

Returning to my story, I should mention that everyone was wearing masks when not seated in the restaurant or at the theater. So we Oregonians can read and know that Delta and Delta Plus variants are out there and that 1/3 of people are not vaccinated. We know that the vaccines make us safer but not immune, and we can still catch and spread it even vaccinated. Delta will kill people must faster. So most of us are sticking with masks. We are very polite; killing unvaccinated people is so not us.

It was hot today. I went out and watered the roses twice. I saw the north wall garden that my new neighbors put in was fading fast. I watered it too. I also rang their bell and told them I watered their plants for them (I would prefer they water their own plants–but I can’t let tomatoes plants just wither).

I also heard that Michigan had tornadoes and that both moms are OK. It was wet and stormy. I don’t miss Michigan insane storms–I still have nightmares of being trapped outside when the wind drops and everything is scary, and then the winds start to screams.

This morning, we had a lazy day while I checked in with the shoe company all day. They did not need me today. So I just am following along and checking that I am not needed. We are in a data conversion that is 7/24.

I started at the blessed late hour of 10 this morning. I managed to sleep most of the night.

I watched some Game of Thrones this morning, I missed an episode, and the story is advanced a few weeks. However, I like it again as the story seems more logical. I am now at season 5, episode 6. I had poached eggs on toast for breakfast, a fav. I had a 1/2 ham and cheese for lunch. Susie had waffles with peanut butter and then chicken noodle soup for lunch.

Susie watched Hocus Pocus and Bednobs and Broomsticks this afternoon on Disney+.

I tried to make it a nice day. I just remade the bed, clean, cool sheets for hot weather.