Author: alohawild

The remains of the migraine haunted me all Monday. My vision seemed to work, but my head still felt like it had a metal band wrapped around it. I was sloppy in my movements, not quite drunken-like, but I had to be careful to hold things as my balance would, based more on sight now, be less effective. I survived the day, ending exhausted and sleeping early and not waking until nearly 8 on Tuesday when I write this! Worse, I thought it was Wednesday and I had to pack! Not quite.

Let me recall Monday on this cloudy Tuesday morning…

Monday rose like some terrible patchwork golem, or like usual, with me thinking Monday would be better with a dose of Loony Tunes, Super Friends, and Thundar the Barbarian, or later Yu-Gi-Oh (“Trust the cards”). I wanted less pain and more cartoons! My Mondays feel like Saturday morning. I found the coffee I had assembled the night before waiting for me, the last of the locally roasted coffee from the 185th and TV corner veggie stand. I perform my usual updates to Quicken, read email, and continue with more doom-scrolling. President Trump seems to be randomly attacking anything to distract from the his setbacks in Ukraine (which did not end the day he took office), Tariffs (though he grabs headlines and then backs away, but the 10-30% remaining is beginning to bite consumers), his political opponents still rise against him (these people are not arrested, shot, or put in camps like he promised), Epstein, and now inventing redistricting as if we are on Jeopardy,”’ Which is Texas,’ for five more votes.”

Instead of focusing on this political mess, I wrote the blog of the previous day’s events, listened to Kink.FM, and caught up on my email. With my illness on Sunday, the blog was short, and I do not want to include spoilers in my description of Dungeons & Dragons play, which also kept it short.

Lunch was some good kielbasa links from Market of Choice that I boiled (it was too hot to grill), and I had them with reheated baked beans and steamed carrots from the day before. I ate the kielbasa with mustard. It was simple and good. Two of the links (more hot dog-sized than rings you often see) ended up in the fridge as leftovers.

Laundry and dishes were done. I tried to do some housework, but yesterday’s headache left me tired, and my thinking was disorganized. I answered some emails about the church refresh. Dondrea and I also covered some travel items.

I tried to rest, but instead of reading, I got to the finish of my current book, The House at Devil’s Neck: A Locked-Room Mystery (Joseph Spector Series), but held that off for another day. The author places a page warning you that the solution is on the next page. The book even includes footnotes when details are mentioned, helping you recheck anything you missed. This is my fourth Tom Mead book, and I recommend them. I have never solved them, but I got close some last time.

Once it was near 4:45, I headed out. Returned to get my Pathfinder version one book, and then my phone. I pulled out, and there was a box at the house. I pulled in and got the box.

It was like Christmas. This was a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB of memory, included in a kit that had everything needed to get it up and running, along with a matching monitor. It comes with a mouse, and the usual bare machine is instead enclosed in a keyboard. I opened the boxes to ensure everything was intact, and then reboarded Air VW the Gray and headed towards Portland.

I stopped by the US Bank ATM to get some cash for the trip and to pay for pizza. The traffic through Beaverton was thick and gooey like unbaked cupcakes (in my best Frank Drummond voice) and seemed to glue itself to your car like an ICE agent. I was able to break free on Highway 26 without being deported, and while there were sticky patches, especially around the Bill of Rights, there always were with police-like actions, I managed to arrive on time at Sean’s house.

I played an evil but lawful blasting wizard in this game, just out of school. My two relatively friendly rogues had joined me when we managed to lose a valuable scroll, and our characters are trying to acquire a replacement, hopefully two. We had learned that a lost ancient graveyard might be connected to acquiring replacements and headed that way.

I brought some figures and my graveyard setup, which is often suitable for a first play. This was a new campaign, using Pathfinder rules version 1. What I would call 3.5E, which the revision is based on. Lucky Sean is an expert on these rules, as I have juggled in my mind the five versions I know in my head. I looked up my spells in the book while we set up. In this version’s first level is weak and is more of a survival process.

We grabbed some pizza before the first battle. Thanks, Sean!

We found the location and soon discovered orcs had been looting (though much reduced as the place is clearly stuffed with undead and bad news), and we made short work of them. But before that, one of our rogues stumbled into a zombie that almost killed them. The half-elf no longer took risks after that (one hit point). We then broke into a tomb, I being evil, I thought it best that we retrieve the loot before the next orcs took it (I had written the orc mark on our handiwork).

We ended after all the dead we disturbed were promoted to undead, after we noticed a button to open the deeper vault. Yikes! Next time, we will try not to be recruited for permanent guard duty!

My drive was hard as I was tired. I arrived and had to boot the Raspberry Pi 5, and it was lovely. I let it update for twenty minutes. It is a fantastic amount of power for $220 (that includes the keyboard, mouse, monitor, and tiny SD card it uses for storage).

I set up the coffee, ignored the clean dishes, and soon was reading and then sleeping. I did not wake, but once, the whole night, and startled awake at 8!

Thanks for reading.

I rose on Sunday and had a typical morning, belying the event to come. I had coffee and made toast and lots of orange marmalade as I was at the bottom of the jar. Truth be told, I could have done another run from that jar. I had only crackers for dinner, having made a nice lunch the day before, but I wasn’t concerned. It was going to be another close-to-100-day. I skipped the sweater vest later and just wore pants, a dress shirt, and a tie.

I wrote the blog for much of the morning and chatted with Deborah while I drank fresh ground locally roasted coffee. I tried to ignore the headline-stealing attempts from the current administration. It is clear that it is a form of control, clearly ineffective, to get anything other than inflation, the impact of tariffs on the economy, or unsavory news about Epstein in the headlines, especially on right-wing social media platforms and Fox News. I would read some of it, take a deep drink of my coffee, and know that Justice and Compassion will win. But that day seems far away.

I completed my morning, dressed, posted the blog, traveled in Air VW the Gray, and I soon was at First United Methodist Church in Beaverton with my posters and some flyers for my Sunday School class, the New Members Class, that starts on the Sundays in September. I showed the posters, gave away a few flyers, and ushered.

I developed the first one in about a year, a migraine with my vision full of sparkles, and then I was partially blinded. F**k! The heat? The lack of food? Time changes? Stress of doing a class? Allergies? Something tripped it. I was able to function, but it was hard going.

The air is hot and of medium quality. It is hard for me to do even that. It could just be the air and heat made me unwell.

I managed to return home and made lunch. I was getting worse and starting to show signs of confusion. I reheated the chili, ate it, and it helped. I rested. I was restless and couldn’t get comfortable, but I finally fell asleep. The house AC was even cold (the trees keep the sun off the roof). My head still felt like there was a band wrapped around it, but the vision issues were gone, and the pain was related to moving rather than pounding.

I watered the flowers and cut more roses for Niki, Matt’s wife. I like to bring fresh roses. I have plenty.

I took Air VW the Gray to M@’s house to play our twenty-year+ group for more of the Infinite Staircase from the makers of D&D. This is a book and various materials, not all from the same companies, for a premade Dungeons & Dragons campaign, with it trying to breach, to various levels of success, the change from the previous version to the so-called 2024 version and create a gaming environment to start playing at first level and reach mid-level, 13 or so. We have advanced to 5th for this game. The material is varied, and while often offering a site-based adventure or dungeon crawl, our group, which is not set for combat and destruction, stole the last item without bloodshed. We again went tonight with our usual indirect approach.

After the game, I talked to Mackers and Scott about some of my learnings at HOPE_16 and my frustrations with Quantum Computing and how it seems so unfinished to me. There are no practical examples I have found so far. I am interested in factoring numbers, part of the existing encryption protocols, and also linked to the NP-Complete problem, the Golden Ticket, and will be looking at attacks on the process. I see no meaningful way yet to use, even if one exists, a Quantum Computer to solve these math problems.

After that chat, I headed home, and while the headache was less, I soon stumbled my way into my bed and slept only to rise to take my pills. The coffee was not prepared, and the dishes were left for Monday.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

I finished the day at home after safely driving back from Portland in the Air VW the Gray. I had to take the high bridge, which I never like, but I am always impressed that the on-ramp is higher than the bridge deck. No stalled cars or other hazards, with light traffic, making it an easy return to Beaverton.

I did the dishes after making lunch. There was enough stuff to run the dishwasher. I plugged in the EV to charge, having avoided it during the hot weather. The local electrical grid was stressed by the AC use; I could see some blinking of power with the AC, dishwasher, and charging. I waited until the evening, when usage is at its lowest.

Aside: The EV uses less power than the laundry and far less than the stove. EVs will not cause the grid to collapse, despite claims in the right-leaning media, but if your power company is using Coal to create power, you might as well enjoy a gas car. Here in the Pacific Northwest, our electrical power is from hydro, wind, and solar, with some natural gas plants to balance the system. Any carbon is covered by plantings and the usual green credits. Oregon has no nuclear plants as it was realized years ago that earthquakes and tsunamis do not go well with nuclear systems!

I read and had some crackers and soon was nodding off. I put on my PJs and crawled into bed after putting the last of the laundry away. I woke at 12:30, 3, and 6. This is a pattern I’ve been experiencing most nights. I just roll over.

Before this, I arrived early at Richard’s house with instructions to play upstairs, and I learned that Richard needed a new AC system and was looking at investing in a green system, including replacing an aging water heater with a tankless version. Still, the impact on the walls and ceiling, due to re-piping, forced him to replace them like-for-like. AC replacement usually means replacing the furnace to ensure everything matches. Yikes!

It was not too hot in the house, in the 70s, and we played a board game, Merchant Cove, with four people, with me trying to be the Captain again. I scored last, taking on too much corruption, but only a few points behind Kathleen. I had taken on too much corruption, and that cost me 49 points. I was leading for a moment, and on my last turn, I managed to pour in the points.

Merchant Cove is a lovely asymmetric Euro-style game where each player takes on a unique role and plays a different game. I was playing a simple fishing game. Chris was raising dragons. Kathleen was diving for treasures under the sea. Richard was running a bar and inn. I like the game, but I have only learned one version so far.

Chris and I, after the game, talked about my HOPE_16 conference and talked about hacking. I described some of the best presentations I saw (LLM flaws, ATM hacking, and phone hacking devices), but then had a coughing attack from the hot air and some bad air, I suspect. Richard followed along.

It was a good evening, though the coughing was hard to stop. Water and inhailer got it under control. Yikes!

Before heading to Richard’s, I stayed home and inside as the temperature reached 103°F (40°C); glaciers on Mount Hood look smaller. I found a pork chop I had frozen a few months ago and decided it was time to cook it. I used water dripping in a pan to defrost it.

I found the last of the carrots, peeled them, and sliced them into coins. I steamed them. A can of baked beans was opened and heated. I did not want to run the oven, but the pork chop was too thick to cook in a pan. I baked it for fifteen minutes until it was finished; I checked it with an electronic food thermometer.

I recently watched the Nova science show on the findings of graves in the floor of Notre Dame in Paris. They also discovered the broken remains of a screen that used to stand around the altar area (using less precise words). I did not know that before the Counter-Reformation, a screen was around the altar area and the celebration of the Eucharist was kept private to the local clergy (again using less precise words). Most screens were demolished, and in Notre Dame’s case, the broken remains were buried with the body of a cleric who paid for the changes. Fascinating, as I had forgotten the Counter-Reformation included the elimination of many medieval traditions in the Roman Catholic mass. The broken screen bits are being scanned, and there is hope to someday have a virtual version of the screen created. Without the fire, this would remain lost, which is one positive aspect. It was a wonderful documentary.

I ate my pork chop, beans, and carrots, and also enjoyed the leftover beans and carrots stored in glassware (thanks, Glenda and Gene). I ate while watching the show.

Before this, I drove to the framing store and picked up my posters from the New Member Class I am teaching in September. It was hot, and I just grabbed them and drove home. I printed twenty flyers for Sunday on my printer. The EV was already down to 40% and I did charge it for a bit to get it back to 49% for the trip to Portland and back. It is about 10% there and back to Richard’s house, but I would like to have some extra charge for the AC and emergencies.

Before this, I wrote the blog and talked with Deborah. We also talked when I drove here and there. I also did the church email on the refresh and continue to help that move forward. I did Dungeons & Dragons paperwork and sent out a short summary of the treasure found in the last play.

It was a busy day, and I am headed to Michigan on Thursday. I woke around 7:30 after rolling over a few times.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

It is hot on Friday, and it is expected to get even hotter on Saturday, 100°F+. A tough weekend for Hood-to-Coast runners! The air is thick with pollen, and my nose, eyes, and ears (though only one has hearing now) are all bothered. I rise early, still confused about what time zone I am in, and get coffee that I assembled the night before.

Today I was meeting Kathleen in Portland for a writing session. Yes, we would both just write on our devices and talk about our stories. We would try out Lucky Labrador on Hawthorn, with me there early to avoid traffic. I don’t mind a few beers and peanuts, and I loaded some solo board games into the cargo hold of Air VW the Gray to play if I get tired of writing.

I invested the morning in writing the blog, replying, and writing various church paperwork on the refresh I am working on, and updating my finances in Quicken. I had moved money to my checking account to be invested in US Treasury Bills (short-term instruments, 17 weeks, Aug 25th auction, about 4.something% state-tax-free interest). I am tempted to invest in 20-year US Treasury Bonds amid concerns about an impending interest-rate cut. The US bonds are unlikely to be this delightful in the foreseeable future, but this money is intended for my expenses. So tempting — paying almost 5% of state-tax-free interest and will likely appreciate in market value when the rates are cut.

Cake and eat it too, like moment. No cake, but breakfast is just some biscuits with my favorite spread, Orange Marmalade.

I shower and all that. I wear my new pants, and they fit well, being slightly longer, which means I can now pull them up further. I failed to start the laundry, and it is too late to fit in the two hours needed to run the small Friday load. My laundry days are Monday and Friday, with Monday getting sheets and towels. This is a habit from the days during the pandemic when Monday and Friday were still work-from-home days.

I also read more quantum computer stuff and still am quite confused how one will actually do anything useful, but I am still learning and skilling-up.

I collect my Einstein poster that I have had since college and never framed. I have carried with me since the 1980s, and now it will find a wall. I collect the MoMA poster of Starry Starry Night that I had shipped from NYC. I have two informational posters for my class that I loaded with all of this into Air VW the Gray.

It is an investment to frame Einstein and Starry Starry Night at the frame store. Mounting the educational posters is not cheap, but they will be more useful that way. The framed items will take a week or more, but the items for my class will be ready this weekend. I return to the house, it is already hot out, water the roses and trees, and have a bowl of reheated chili for lunch.

Traffic is messy, not what I expected, but later learned that OMSI was an organizing site for the Hood-to-Coast Run. Lucky Labrador was not open when I arrived at its opening time, 2PM. It is too hot to wait, and instead, I visit Guardian Games Portland and discover that they have the Flip 7-card game for $10. I get a copy. It is a fun and quick game. There was nothing else that got my attention.

I returned to Lucky’s, and it was open and blissfully AC’d. I ordered a beer and peanuts. I wrote another church email this time, specifically for the Civil Rights trip in November in the American South. I read more news, doom scrolling for us liberals. As I start editing my novel, I find many wooden phrases and outright mistakes. I use Grammarly to help, but it often changes content instead of fixing something. I mostly use it as a suggestion tool to see what it wants to change. I usually take a word or two that I hand change, but reject the general updates. It is seldom helpful in its complete form. Deborah reminds me, when I talked to her later, that this is the process of moving from draft to final form. Still, I am disheartened by the mistakes.

Kathleen joins me after a long day at work, and we chatted before getting to writing. It was loud, as the place was full of people, many playing collectable card games. Most of the tables are in use.

Kathleen puts on noise-canceling headphones, while I ignore the noise (with my hearing loss, it is easier to ignore). I continue to use Scrivener to write my story, and I read through the previous work, fixing and updating my character lists in the tool. I am having trouble remembering them. I began aligning the text with the correct names and incorporating some later writing. Kathleen draws a map of her fantasy world, and we are both writing fantasy. We continue for an hour or so.

I stumbled upon Rimsky-Korsakoffee House while searching for a dessert place. We had sandwiches for dinner, but a sweet dessert seemed right after writing, and maybe it will be quieter, and we can write there. We pack up, I pay the bill, and we take Air VW the Gray for the short trip in the hot early evening in Portland. I manage to parallel park the EV without effort, forgetting how much smaller it is than my previous cars. The place is packed, loud (if not louder than Lucky’s), dark, and the tables are small. It is not a place for writing. We have excellent desserts, and I remember it is cash only, and I have only $25, and Kathleen happens to have an emergency $20, so we can pay (I would have had to find an ATM otherwise). My tea and ginger cake were excellent. Kathleen had a Sunday and a hot chocolate.

We will search for other dessert places and venues that are friendly to writing but also offer food and drinks. We were both happy to get somewhere without writing. We both headed home, traffic was sane, and though I did cross the tall bridge and the huge on-ramp, I arrived intact. I had a car that stalled out after the tunnel in the midlane, causing a sudden brake and a traffic mess. I managed to not hit anyone or be rear-ended. Yikes!

I arrived home and did the laundry, dishes, and assembled the coffee. I tried to read more on factoring algorithms and downloaded a file of the first million known prime numbers. I learned that the hardest factoring is semi-primes, which are large integer numbers that are the product of only two prime numbers (remembering we already have lists of millions of primes that take only a single lookup to check against). I am already envisioning a Python program to solve factoring. I also began reading about newer technologies that utilize elliptical curves and factoring combination, following the discovery that factoring could be broken (the NSA appears to have knowingly recommended a breakable standard, to the disgust of the computer community).

Back to the laundry, I finished my shirts and pants, and let the rest finish while I went to bed. I read for a while, finding my Kindle device to let my phone charge (and the Kindle is kinder to my eyes). I was soon sleepy and forgot my dreams, but I woke often.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

I spent the last part of my night reading Python code simulating quantum particles. The simulation uses matrices to describe the particles, which I remember is the basis for the equations we use to understand quantum forces. I have only the basic classical high-school level physics. I made no progress on how to use this to create a program using just quantum functions to factor numbers. But I will continue to explore. I am already thinking of building some parallel processing programs to handle some small-scale numbers. My head is full of words and pictures, but no understanding. I find it best to just swim mentally in the sea of information until I start to see the patterns. It is how I play board games (which means I seldom win), design computer systems (which often run for years and decades), and write stories.  I often proceed, as in board games, using my limited understanding to explore further. I watch and learn. So I am diving in. I need the physics understanding, the math for the physics, and the number theory to get far. Lots of things to pour into my head. Love it (though it is daunting to realize how much I need to skill-up).

I did finish Deborah’s day with a call. We enjoy starting and finishing our days together.

Before this, I watched some more of the show Wednesday, getting two more episodes done. I also slipped over to some of Sandman, but I don’t like the new season and will not likely be back (it also was covering death, and that hits too close to home). Returning to the Addams, I find the changes to the show enjoyable for the second season. I miss Wednesday writing her novel, but I enjoy getting updates on her character. I find I cannot predict the show, and I like that. Recommended.

I made dinner before watching some shows. I mainly opened cans and fried ground beef to make chili. At Market of Choice, I found a large can of Muir Glen Organic Chili Starter (non-GMO to go all green), which you then add meat and beans to, and it works well. Checking the label, it is mostly tomatoes with spices (with the dehydrated onion, onion powder, and garlic powder for those with allergies). I watched the movie, for the nth time, Dungeons & Dragons, while cooking. The chili was good with the mixed beans and some white beans, and the just-browned meat. I ate it while watching Wednesday Addams work her next case. I would add sliced and cooked celery, maybe some corn, and if it were a heat-tolerant customer, some Hatch chilis. Still, it was excellent and quick, and I will acquire more cans and store some beans for the next time I want some chili.

I did have some wine while cooking, a nice, cheap French wine (see below).

I planned to freeze the mass of chili, but alas, I have no bags. I had missed out on my trip to Market of Choice. I went there after 3 in Air VW the Gray and enjoyed shopping, having changed my mind about trying Costco. A woman who works in wine and beer at the grocery store, which has a nice selection, asked me if she could help me. I was eyeing Château Greysac (it was my first Medoc), but the $44 price had me putting the bottle back, with care. We discussed the ridiculous prices of wine, and she pointed out a $20 bottle that I took home. I thanked her, but she tried not to show her disappointment that I had acquired more wine. Just enough for the week, a bottle. I like my wine cheap enough that I can add it to the sauce without wincing.

I found some meats in the case that worked for me, some chicken and beef. I picked up a few premium items, planning to cook for myself over the next week since I am in Oregon. I got my favorite frozen pizza, Screamin’ Sicilian. I remembered some cleaning supplies. Ice cream, an unusual choice for me, was a far cheaper option when I ate it from a small tub at home instead of getting a cone at Salt & Straw. It was locally made by Umpqua Dairy, which was the least expensive.

Before this, I was out finding lunch at The Lake Oswego Grill and sat at the bar. Adam was my bartender, and he was at PF Chang’s before, so we remembered each other. I had the steak salad and a beer. It was not cheap, but it was a wonderful salad, possibly the best steak salad I have had for flavor. However, the beef was tough.

I picked up my pants from the cleaners, and they are shortened and ready to wear. New from Lands End. My pants are showing wear; it was time to get some new ones.

My Stary Stary Night poster arrived from MoMA. It was only $9 for shipping, with no tax, and came in a protective tube. I ordered it after seeing it in their shop.

Before all of that, I rose around 7 and wrote the blog, updated my transactions in Quicken, and wrote the blog for Wednesday.

Thanks for reading.