Author: alohawild

Labor Day is Monday. So today is counted by many, including Nike, as the end of summer. This is the last week that has Nike, even when working from home, close at noon, giving most the afternoon to enjoy.  I have been heading into Portland to have lunch and play a game at Mox Boarding House each Friday. So today was my last day to do this for 2020.

Before I headed out, I started this morning at 6ish in a rush. I had a 6:35AM meeting! I had four hours of Zoom meeting discussing how Nike’s new software should work. I had trouble sleeping last night, so I was working on only four hours of sleep! The first thing I did was make coffee. Mexican fair-trade and non-GMO and organic whole bean coffee makes an excellent cup of liberal board-crossing coffee.

The frustration also returned as agreements forged this week in hours and hours of meetings were again broken. These problems are put off until after Labor Day.

So getting to Mox around noon, I met the folks who know me now and expect me now. I sat down in the same place in the bar and set-up one of the most challenging games I have to play, Pax Pamir. This is also one of the most elegant looking games. Pax Parmir recreates The Great Game into a board game where you represent a local warlord in the region made up of modern Afghanistan and Iran but set in the 1890s. It plays poorly with two players, but it has an automata player that creates a particular opponent that represents an idea, not a single warlord that can make it suitable for two players. It is hard to fight an idea, and the game mechanic makes this still real. And the board for this board game is not a traditional paper board, but instead is a small rug with a map of the area.

Evan did not know the game–he met me today at Mox, and I have played only a few times. I set-up the automata and for a three-person start, but we played just two of us as a learning game. I won, but that was mostly to stop the game as Russia, my faction, was too far ahead as Evan was just learning. Again, it is a weak game with two players, and a faction can have a run-away. Evan’s play should have been to abandon the Afgan faction and join Russia, which was running-away, forcing a reduction of payment to me being the only supporter of Russia. Yes, you can change sides! So if one side is winning, everyone switches to that faction and starting buy gifts and adding supporters of that faction to your court to get your cut. Yes, it is a tricky game as you want victory points, not necessarily a winning faction. Evan tried to play some more winning combinations instead. I forced the Dominance Check by buying that card and, as the only supporter for the apparent domination of Russia (yellow in the picture), I got the maximum points. The game ends after the fourth Dominance Check or when a player is ahead by four or more points–I was.

Again, faction management, dominance, and influence peddling are not everyday gaming concepts, so we look forward to another game now that Evan has more of a handle on the game. We will play the automata or get more players (hard in a Covid-19 emergency). Evan wants to play again. That has been my feeling about this game. It is challenging but fascinating–the journey is exciting and a challenge.

I had a headache but ordered dessert at Mox (wonderful dessert there) and coffee (hoping chocolate and coffee would help–it worked), and we got out Scythe.

It was a hard gaming day for Evan. I also won in Scythe, earning 48 to his 47 final coin count. We played new factions this time, we have been playing a lot of two-person Scythe these months, and I gave Evan the war-monger set-up to try, Saxony with the Militant mat (black color). I picked the Nordic faction (blue color) with a randomly selected Patriotic mat. Evan slammed into me over and over, and I recovered and kept building but at one point when I misplayed and got a severe spanking, I nearly conceded. I continued to play through the process and gather more and more coins–the usual play for Nordic. Saxony ended the game, as I have seen often, by a double attack into me after I earned my fifth star by winning combat on Saxony. This is the Scythe punching-bag move. After you are attacked, you sandbag and lose that battle, and know that your opponent has used up all his/her power, you make a double attack and crush them and ending the game. Often, Saxony still loses as combat, while earning stars seldom brings other advantages, and that was true in this game, but it was very close and was anyone’s game.

I received a packaged for Scythe from the manufacture, Stonemaier, after I drove home from Mox, Evan, and I leaving Mox after the last game. Including the new rule book (which has typos in the Scythe Automata section and they will be sending me a replacement soon) and I did miss a minor rule (miss playing Will who always knows everything on Sycthe), but as we played consistently, it would have not changed the outcome of the game. It is nice to have an indexed full set of rules finally for Scythe!

The package from Stonemaier also had a back-up set of miniatures for airships and Fenris items for Scythe. I like to have a spare set when I paint miniatures so that the game remains whole while I work on the items. Now I do!

I started the color painting on the Scythe items today.

Tonight I started to wheeze, banshees screaming in my chest, and getting dizzy. I stopped, took some aspirin and Benadryl, and rested for a bit. I am feeling much better now after a few hours and no screaming banshees. Lack of sleep and asthma exposed to unrelenting Pacific Northwest tree pollen is the usual cause. So I will sleep even more, a two-hour nap today, and should be better soon.

Dinner was cold pizza leftovers. Not exciting, but the frig is filling with left-overs so time to eat leftovers.

The USA stock market continued to experience gravity and cratered a bit today. It did recover a bit in the afternoon, but still, the fall in tech stocks was harsh. I read, as I am hoping I am wrong, that bad times are coming, that the change in the market is driven by a belief that inflation is returning. Bonds yields are climbing, meaning that Bonds are running counter to the traditional wisdom that treasuries are purchased when the market falls. That is not happening, meaning inflation fears are driving the market. I am watching and hoping my fears of out-of-control inflation is the product of my imagination. I am changing nothing in my 401K at this time.

Like yesterday, about another thousand people in the USA died from the virus today.

Today I decided on a nice hymn I do not know, Higher Ground. It is a old hymn but not in the Methodist Hymnal.

 

 

Today started early at 6ish. We had an all Nike Zoom call with the CEO, and his direct reports at 7AM local Portland time. The layoffs and re-orgs will continue. Management is happy with the new leadership and plans. I have nothing to say about laying off my fellow employees during a Covid-19 emergency.

I then had hours and hours of meetings and trying to help get something moving. It was a hard push to lunch. I ordered Mexican, and it was delivered hot and on-time from Victorico’s Mexican Food (Tanasborne) by GrubHub.

I was very frustrated yesterday, and I wrote some directive notes to people today. I was happy to see my boss and other appreciative of my efforts to try to bring some conclusions to complex issues. We had yet-another-meeting at 4PM that when to 5:30, but we finally closed off the problems. An update was sent at 8ish, and I agreed to it about 9ish.

Nobody was ready to make dinner, and I was running late. I got pizza from Papa Murphy’s Take and Bake Pizza. We got a stuff Chicago, my fav, a New York for Susie, and Evan was here and got a veggie pizza.

As we all know, what goes must come down. The USA stock market remembering that it is September, crashed a bit today–a form of gravity finally working. Tesla is down 20% in the last three days. Other tech leaders are also taking losses. Option chains are exploding, and shorting is widespread. Even gold is down. I am just watching.

I began painting my Scythe items now that I have the bases masked. It takes three coats to mask the bases. I finished the last coat between meetings when I had a meeting finish a few minutes early.

Today the reports show about one-thousand people in the USA lost their battle against the infection today.

I did not know this one: Baba Yetu – Stellenbosch University Choir. Baba Yetu (Our Lord) is the Lord’s Prayer sung in Swahili and was originally a theme song for a video game.

Today started a bit later as I was tired this morning.

Work was Zoom meetings. We had some process breaks and design hiccups that left me frustrated.

I am not happy with the clarifications I received from leadership, but I do like to be paid, so I will try to make it work.

The highlight of the morning was, of course, lunch. I managed to try Subway. I know it is not glamorous, but I wanted a tuna fish sub sandwich with lots of veggies after the frustration. I had it delivered, and it was perfect–well for Subway.

I had a short break and then more and more meetings. Tonight I was back online at 8PM, dealing with more frustration; the Nike laptop failed to update emails for a few hours.

During one of the meetings this late afternoon, a very long presentation on the process and decision processes, I cut up the locally grown heritage tomatoes and onions. I then cut up pork boneless ribs to made goulash using the tasty recipe in my German cookbook. I then baked the fingerling potatoes, also locally grown heritage, to go with it. During the meeting–between cooking–I did ask some questions. I needed to get dinner started as it takes more than an hour of cooking, but I had to pay attention too.

Aside: Luckily, I had no questions directed to me while I was cutting up the onions in the meeting. I was a crying wreck from the way too fresh onions!

Migraine headache migration happened today. The morning put the headache on the left side. It then moved to the right for the afternoon. Aspirin, coffee, and water have softened the pain. I suspect Friday is the cure for the headaches.

As you can read, today was lots of meetings and emails and trying to fix problems.

Susie was up a bit later today and just got to riding her bike. We both agree she needs to ride it twice a day. She is riding it at least once a day.

I put the AC back on today as it broke over 90F again and will be hot for the week and the holiday.

I started the painting of the Scythe board game items from the secret content of the Fenris add-on. I plan to finish them up this weekend. I was going to wait for the spare set I ordered, but it is not likely I will play Fenris this weekend, so I will paint them now.

I have been reading the rules for WW2 Deluxe: European Theater. I plan to try it this long weekend, solo. I discovered the designer, Jon Compton, is one of the designers of military wargames for the USA military. I am reading a new book on wargames and he is mentioned. I was in the Kickstarter for the update of his WW2 game and I like the rules already.

Today the stock market ignored the rule that September is always down and rocketed straight up.

Sorry, this is short today.

The reports are that another eleven-hundred people in the USA fell to the virus today.

Today I went back to hymns and picked one I like to sing, Crown Him with many crowns. This is Methodist Hymnal #327.

Yes, one-hundred seventy days of lockdown and still going.

The morning started again at 6ish with a quick spin through email as I had my first meeting at 7ish on Zoom. I continued in meetings on Zoom all morning. I then applied a patch, after getting special security access to apply it myself, all through lunch. I worked non-stop from about 6ish to 1ish. I then took a break and read for a while. I stopped a couple times to answer emails and text. I had a meeting from 5PM to 6ish.

I was not feeling that well; the pollen and pressure change from some weather fronts making me uncomfortable.

Lunch was a new selection, a bento box, from Mr. Bento Teriyaki. I decided to go with the old favorite: chicken teriyaki, shrimp tempura, potstickers, and rice. I also ordered some spring rolls and miso soup. It was expensive after being delivered. I will skip the soup and spring rolls–too much food.

The last meeting was a bit chaotic as I got a phone call on the house line and then a person looking for Corwin at the front door. I do not usually get all of this and a Zoom meeting at the same time.

Susie is a bit better. I think the trip to the Gorge and back with dinner in Portland cheered Susie. Susie was up at noon today, and she seems more aware of what is going on.

(Susie riding her exercise bike)

I was tired and not ready to make dinner. I did get a case of local veggies yesterday, but I not willing to cook again. Dinner out was not that appealing. So I drove to Taco Bell and got us a little dinner and brought it back. That worked out.

I finished a set of books today, Shades of Magic series by V. E. Schwab. It made me laugh as the characters say and do outrageous things in the fantasy books three of them, but I would have trouble recommending them. I found the characters, not that sympathetic. There is a lot of throat slitting. So try one before you commit to the series. Warning, once you start, you may not be able to stop.

I found out that Andrea Camilleri has two more crime-mystery novels to be published after his death. So I have one of those next. Also, the Naval Institute Press has published a new book on Wargame design that I have started, The Craft of War-gaming.

This is a three day weekend, and I have two more sets of Scythe items to paint from the campaign game. As these are part of the hidden content for the Fenris campaign, there will be no photos. No spoilers here!

Aside: Many newer board games have a campaign content that is hidden in cool boxes until a certain events call in the content, often thematic models that fit the game. Scythe has a hidden content system in the Fenris add-on. We, the crazy Scythe players, loved to buy another set of cool things to do with one of the best board games.

The stock market went up like crazy again. Nike stock is at a new high, again. I am just accepting all the good numbers.

More than eleven-hundred people in the USA died from the virus today. It appears that the death rate declined by 10% a week for the last month.

I stayed with Portland music as we seem to be in the news so much, just one hymn in a set of songs.

I started today about 6ish and dived into hours and hours of Zoom meetings. More designs were reconsidered, and we have some of the classic discovery of an idea by others that we presented months ago. Credit gets re-assigned—so typical frustrating day at work.

I did the laundry while I enjoyed the Zoom meetings. I also received the grocery order and got Susie off to Zerida for her Monday hair-nail-face-toes treatments.

I also enjoyed paying for all those stocks I sold. I sent a payment to the IRS today. I actually have an account with the IRS. It is the best way to know if they have your payments and return.

So it was a stressful and meeting enriched morning. I put in an order for lunch for a lamb gyro from Gyro House. I had a meeting even through lunchtime with a few directors, including my boss. I did not first notice that they got my note on my lunch. They miss me!

I used to order a Turkish Coffee and write on my Apple while I waited for my food at a table for one. They knew me, and I would take a baklava home for Susie. “It was for Susie,” I would tell them. They would just smile.

I had a few more meetings and emails and crises of the moment for Monday at home working.

This video could be us at Nike today. We keep jumping out of a plane: The Penguins Take Flight Scene

For dinner, I made Italian sausage, locally made from Olympian Provision, with sauce from a jar and pasta. It was good. I slice up the sausage and fry it until it is browned and then drain it and put that sausage in the sauce. I managed to pour out the water from the pasta without incident (I burned myself a few weeks ago doing that). I had more than one serving…

Susie got a flu shot today and is not feeling that well. That was my experience with the flu shot. I was extra tired the next day–Susie is already slowed down.

It is reported that more than five-hundred twenty people in the USA today died from the virus.

I went with something Portland for the music: This is Me. It is not a hymn, but I liked it in the movie.