Author: alohawild

I did feel that the seasons and the world are changing this week. It is the beginning of the end of the pandemic and the start of reconnecting.

Susie had her appointment with Zerida today. She was ready and left with her driver at 9ish.

The morning started with a challenge. Susie woke me at 5ish, and I had some caregiving. Susie is better now, but I lost an hour of sleep. This made 7ish a difficult start. I had tried to get an hour of sleep, but it did not improve things.

My first status meetings were at 8AM, so I was able to get dressed in time and rally Susie. I had many crises of the moment today—typical on a Monday; leftovers from the previous week.

My two groups are starting to see their work come together and bear fruit. It has been four or more years for some of us. I nearly cry in relief in the status meetings when the reports are that the software and systems are beginning to gel.

I am exhausted by the afternoon from a Monday with a hard start.

About 4:30ish, I agree with Corwin to make dinner and rest a bit more. I like to lay down and read to change gears.

I cook orecchiette pasta with vodka sauce (from a jar). I bake some Johnson’s sweat Italian sausage to about half cooked. I carefully slice the hot sausage into 1/2 slices and finish them in a frypan. I brown them good, almost too good. I spoon the sausage into the sauce and then pour it over the drained pasta (I finished it a bit early, so I rinsed the pasta in cold water to stop the cooking–otherwise, it will turn to glue-mass). That was dinner, and it was not bad.

Johnson’s sausage is not too spicy for Susie. Olympia Provisions sausage is too sharp for her.

Today was Monday, and it is a bit of nervous gaming for me. I have some off-the-cuff adventures to offer today online for our Roll20 Dungeons and Dragon campaign. Another change. I managed to get the adventure started with polite railroading of the players into reading a book that sort of curses their characters. A cheap plot element. They had to role play traveling to the fictional city of Bard’s Gate to learn a cure for their affliction. They manage to find some of the story and a path forward.

They are ambushed by three dark fey vampires. They defeat them and capture one. They learn more of their challenge from the vampire, and they cut a deal to stop the attacks if they bring the adventure to a conclusion that they and the vampire’s mistress will find profitable.

The adventurers reached the complex where the mysterious curse can be lifted, and there we will start next Monday again. Matt will be leaving us after that as he is restarting in-person play for Dungeons and Dragons 5E–He has three groups. Some of us are one group. We agreed, seeing that in-person gaming is possible, that we will suspend online gaming for a bit after Memorial Day. Bill is the only remote guy, but he plays local games in Minnesota and has a new plane to fly. He will be fine for now.

Another change. Today was a day of changes and moving forward into the future. It felt good.

Yesterday I took this photo of a manhole cover. In Oregon, they have the image of a fish on them to remind you not to pour crap into our sewers and rainwater systems.

369 people in the USA died of Covid-19 today.

I selected It Is Well With My Soul. I like singing it in Methodist Church. There seems to be something about the hymn that wakes up everyone, and it always sounds great.

I managed to sleep into 9ish and got a night’s sleep.

Evan, staying overnight to have an easy drive to a pickleball tournament, was up also. So we watched more Games of Thrones, finishing Season 2. I then got dressed, and we went on a quest for breakfast.

Apparently and unsurprisingly, the lovely sunny day, so wrong in wet and rainy Oregon, had the young and hungry mobbing Tom’s Pancake house. People were dressed for a Sunday in California in tight and smallish outfits. Everyone looked like they had merged with various summer songs from LA.

I was in a black t-shirt with a physics pun about how people matter, literally. This with old blue pants and my wool Indiana Jones hat made me look like I was off my meds in this weather.

Evan found Yelp suggested Batter Up (eye rolls, please) near old Beaverton. It was perfect, and I had a nice Monte Cristo while sitting outside and drink hot coffee (Nobody sat near us). Evan had a lemon blueberry waffle that he loved with a smoothy. The building has the equivalent to little trucks built in it, and you buy Mexican, or coffee, or, in our case, breakfast food in a shared dining space. All of which would make more sense in a post-Covid-19 world. We ate on tables outside. Quest fulfilled.

We then continued our traveling and visited the Beaverton Powell’s Books. Evan found some more cheap copies of the books for Game of Thrones. I managed to resist this time as I read SciFi on my Kindle. There were no new history or computer or math books I must buy today.

We still had time to kill, so we drove to Hillsboro and stopped by Blood and Rune gaming story. I talked to the owner for a bit, and there was just a few new items, none that interested me. I bought a discounted adventure that I will read for some ideas for Dungeons and Dragons. We walked a block–I wanted to walk as I felt stiff. Use it or lose it!

Evan went off to his pickleball games, and I had chores to do. I started the laundry and then did the prep work for Dungeons and Dragons. We completed the big campaign book last week, The Mad Mage Maze. I have purchased some additional material, The Candlekeep Mysteries, for Roll20. The last three adventures will work for the current play. I made a few updates and added some artwork available from earlier versions of Dungeons Dragons. I believe I can thread the stand-alone adventure into the current story. No spoilers.

I went off to Safeway, and I purchased a pile of groceries, including premade bourbon marinated kabobs, wearing a mask indoors. I had to pick up some cleaning supplies, which, combined with the meat, sent the cost up. I was still surprised at the register.

I went to the pharmacy and picked up some more meds I was running out of. I was coughing without stopping from the pollen. The pharmacist, knowing my health issues, recommended Zyrtec, the cheaper RiteAid brand. One pill, and in a few hours, I was feeling better. I will hope it works, but I am a bit sleepy. That may be caused by other things; I will see what Monday brings when I take it in the morning.

I broiled the kabobs, and that worked out. I bought some artisan bread, and that went well with the slightly charred beef. The marinate caused the beef to blacken a bit. It was a success.

We watched more Game of Thrones as Susie likes the show. Corwin has to remind me who is who and why this is happening. I never read the books, and sometimes the scene changes are breathtakingly sudden. I like the show a bit better, into the start of Season 3.

I continued on with the laundry and will finish it before I head to bed.

289 people in the USA died today of Covid-19.

Amen/We Shall Overcome was the best of the options I saw. I like this version to remember all we have lost and how far we have come.

 

Working backward, we just watched some more Game of Thrones Season 2. I have to admit I thought the storylines and pacing were not as good as I had hoped. I could not stop watching as the siege hit, and the story was out of the control of the people in the show. Events overwhelm them all. I think I liked it.

Before and before sunset Susie and I drove to McDonald’s and got an inexpensive and simple dinner. We drove over to a local park and watch the folks walk and run and play soccer while we ate our dinner with the new direction; there almost no masks. People looked happy, but I could see that nobody was approaching people they did not know.

I saw that more of my roses are flowering. More rose pictures.

We were home about 1:30PM, and the trip seemed shorter this time from Lincoln City. We had less traffic, and we know the way back.

Just before headed back, we stopped by a beach and walk and enjoyed the Pacific. We did not see any whales. Mariah slipped out at 6ish and drove to Depoe Bay and saw lots of whales. They like the low morning tide. We did see one tidal pool, but I was not prepared to get into that water. It is cold, and the wind was blowing freezing.

We met at the Pig in a Blanket for breakfast in Lincoln City after checking out. We had to wait a long time for a table, but Mariah just got back from Depoe Bay when we got called. Breakfast for me was second-breakfast and Swedish Pancakes. I had a small breakfast of biscuit and gravy. My medications are unpleasant if I do not eat after taking them.

499 people in the USA died from the virus today.

Thine Be the Glory seemed to fit with the crashing waves.

We left the house in Air Volvo at 7:45ish for Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast. Corwin had an appointment in the parking garage for the Chinook Winds Casino. Siletz Tribe put on a Moderna party at the Casino. There are now many places to get the vaccine, but when Corwin signed up, there were few, and so we ended headed to a nice weekend at the coast.

We got to the coast about 9:30ish, follow a familiar route I have not used since Michael Geissner got married. I had not realized it had been that many years.

We had breakfast at McDonald’s with Susie enjoying an apple fritter, a fav, while Corwin and I had a more normal McDonald’s standard breakfast fare.

We then drove the Casino, and the still organizing people managed to get us through the process. Corwin had his first shot, and we will return on 11June2021 at the Casino for his second.

We parked at The End park and beach, and Corwin and I walked the wonderful low tide beach. I found a few shells. Susie stayed warm in the car; it was windy and cold (56F).

Stopped next to the Hotel, and the rooms were not ready. We headed to Pigs in a Blanket and had more lunch. The food was nice, and service was welcomed.

We then drove around a bit as we had time to kill. We made it to some antique place and the Candy Store. I picked up a bottle of homemade veggies in a bottle that was very pretty. Corwin found antique-ish chess set for a friend’s birthday. Popcorn, fudge, and taffy were also acquired.

After that, we got our rooms and waited for Mariah to show. Just a short rest. When Mariah arrived, we opened a bottle of wine and had a few Pringles with the wine. We then headed to the Casino. I was tired from the drive and so kept to one glass of wine and only Diet drinks at the Casino.

We had a few drinks and then the hotel called. Mariah’s dog was barking. Mariah and I headed back and then moved Ramon to our room. We suspect there is another dog in another room barking. We let the hotel know we had checked everything out and moved the dog. They were delighted that we took the problem seriously and that we had moved the dog. We had no more calls.

We found Susie and Corwin, and I was disappointed that we were not wealthy. Apparently, this casino is excellent at removing your wealth. We looked for dinner.

After many false steps, including a really nice looking fish and chips joint that told us they cannot promise that they did not fry the chicken wings in the same oil as the fish–we were pleased they told us that, we ended up at Autobahn 101.

This a German place, and I did order 1/2 liter of German Beer and Jagerschnitzel. Susie had a sausage, and Mariah and Corwin had a nice dinner too. Corwin had a liter.

Susie bought a glass and Cowin got a t-shirt.

I am now fatigued, but it was not a had Friday.

Another 733 people died today from Covid-19 in the USA.

Susie is sleeping so I will pass on the music tonight.

As often happens on a day before taking time off, the day has just blown by. I have not packed or written my blog, and it is 10PM already. So much some of my plans. I will just make due.

I started the morning about 7ish after getting up at 6ish and finding I had no meetings until 8AM. I read emails and found my way in the morning. All the work was running on the tracks, unusual, and planning was starting on the next round of system building and testing for the big project. A strange time of chaos and restarting.

I often listened today and tried to give some direction; much fell on deaf ears, but I suspect when I am out on Friday, all the words will suddenly trip questions, and I suspect I will be on calls on my day off. But just maybe those can wait until Monday. I noticed my Friday meetings were light. I am not missing much for being on leave for Friday.

Lunch was booked over, I made a cold ham and cheese sandwich, and many meetings were double and sometimes tripled booked. I picked the meetings I think I could provide the most input. I avoid leadership meetings open discussion meetings–I will leave that with no comment.

The afternoon was much of the same. I did have a couple exploration meetings where a team is trying to understand how Nike translates prices and costs into US dollars. This quest continues as we are now moving to the next group of people who can cover these processes for the shoe company purchasing. Maybe not some most folks would find interesting, but how money works in a multi-national company is an excellent thing to know. For those who need a reminder: Other People’s Money.

I took a break and then was back online at work a few times more. I suspect most folks at work are already in weekend mode.

I have almost finished Maisie Dobbs book 16. It has the right mix of darkness and storytelling that I love from these books. Recommended. I will finish the book today. Yes, I read it, pushing through as I love these stories in just a few days.

Dinner was Schwann’s Chicken Cordon Blu (frozen); I made pasta and then fried it with butter and a bit of bacon to go with it. I also peeled some aging carrots from the frig and steamed them almost to mushiness (I started them too soon).

I served Susie as I was starting on the Zoom church meeting, Theology Pub. A meeting, previously held in a pub, about church topics and often theology. We were talking about leadership and how to be servant leaders. We often dwelled on our leaders, national and church, failure to lead and to inspire.

We did think that leaders create the fruits often of people doing things and discovering things about themselves that they were not prepared to do. And they liked it.

Our final thought was that we, the First United Methodist Church leaders, may want to lead by inviting other group leaders to share with us their experience. We can learn from them. That might help us manage up to our Methodist leadership.

I have yet to pack, clean up the kitchen and put a few extras in the Air Volvo we might need. We will be spending the night on the coast on Friday.

My Pink Moss rose is now opening up, and the scent is strong. It is planted just outside of my bedroom window. This is an old-style rose.

762 people died in the USA today from Covid-19, including fourteen from Oregon.

I went with That Old Time Religion thinking it sort of fit today.