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I rose late and started the blog in my PJs near 9. I had a banana and a cup of locally roasted coffee from Kenya. I updated Quicken and checked there. I wrote all morning with various distractions. The day was another California-like day with bright sunlight and few clouds. The heat is only in the low 80s (27C), but it strikes. It feels like Oregon has been moved to Northern California. The fires and smoke are in the Cascade Mountains and further east, and the winds carry the smoke to the north and east. Bend, Oregon, air quality was terrible on Wednesday, according to the Internet sites that track this.

I washed up, shaved, and so on just before noon. I headed to Walgreens to purchase more eyedrops, which is about $21 a bottle (I figure that is 75 cents a drop), with you supplying your phone number and losing your privacy. I then headed to the food carts in the back of the parking lot. My usual place was not open for lunch, so I talked to the gal at Mouthful Momo. I had their noodle soup and hot chai. It was excellent.

 

I had my laptop with me and tried to write some more of my Holmes and Watson story. I added a half page of text, but I still felt like I did not have the original’s style or cadence. When I was done with my food, the area was quiet, with other dinners appearing as I finished.

I decided to risk a walk just after lunch, and Air Volvo soon arrived at Reedville Creek Park. Despite the walk, lunch remained inside. It was warm. The park was testing its water system, and the black-topped section of the trail shaded by trees was cool and damp. The sunstruck part of the trail was hot and dry where I startled an owl with me, seeing it escape with its wide face and heavy body. I have seldom seen our local owls—they fly at night.

I made two loops, and my feet and back hurt. To change things up, I decided to walk in the opposite direction I usually follow. It is always strange how different things look when coming in the other direction, almost like a new world. I managed the third and then a difficult fourth loop.

I made a mistake. I saw a thistle flowering near the trail and bent over to take a photo. I lost sight of the horizon and lowered my head, bad. I managed to stand up and find where the ground and sky were without incident. I smiled as it would have been bad to fall into the now-photographed prickly plant and the ditch! I sat at a nearby bench and regathered my balance and my self-confidence, which had nearly been scattered into a bad moment with a thistle.

Aside: I suggested in a Facebook posting that the thistle is, while lovely, invasive (usually coming to Oregon as part of birdseed from other states). I had some dispute on that fact. I left it in place as it is a park, and the staff usually just mows them down.

I reversed back to my usual direction and walked the last loop. I stopped at a bench as it was a hard loop to finish for me. The water sprayer test now included the nearby sprinklers, and I quickly finished the last loop without being hosed down. Today’s park visit was more exciting than usual, with owls, sprinklers, thistle-doom, and cooled paths.

Air Volvo returned me to the house without incident. I rested and read. I rose and started working on my miniature electronic projects again. I am just trying to load the test programs on the hardware. I crash the hardware with a system panic (I have never had this before). I made an early dinner; I was dual-tasking. Dinner was couscous (burning the spices for the first batch and restarting–my multi-tasking was less successful) and a pan-fried pork chop with Morocco-style spices.

I could not load the simple test of blink (blink a light on and off as a basic test) as the device seemed quite dead now. Instead, I watched more of the newish movie Midway and enjoyed my couscous and slightly overcooked pork chop. Next, I packed Vindication, another board game, in the Air Volvo cargo hold, with six or more games already filling up the cargo area. While I was loading Air Volvo, Richard sent me a note that there were more planets for another game, Unsettled, but I have those. Richard and I will find some time in the future to play more of Unsettled, a space-themed cooperative game where you are trying to complete a life-saving mission before it is too late. The motto of the game: Try not to die! More to follow!

Andrew, Z, and I met at First United Methodist in Beaverton and played a board game while the praise band practiced. Z picked out Scythe to play, surprising me. I had brought the alternative cards for encounters, which are insanely unbalanced but fun–I seldom use them as they unbalance what is already a difficult game.

Scythe is an Amera-Trash (includes combat and land grabs with some engine building) and 4X game: eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. It is not a mean game (resources are not constrained) but can swing suddenly. I explained the game to Andrew while Z listened and thought I had covered enough to play.

Z got Z’s favorite (to my later regret) white-colored Poland-like faction with the ability to get two options on an encounter (much more powerful with the crazy encounter cards). I got the yellow step-based warriors: Khanites. Andrew got the red-colored Russ. Andrew understood well that money was also victory points, and soon was collecting it and ignoring Z and I. Z launched a well-planned attack on both Andrew and me and soon was leading. I pushed Z back. Andrew just quietly got more money. I was running up the star objectives and was hoping to soon stop the game and win, but we ran out of time as the Praise Band practice ended before we did.

My plans and those of Z were uncompleted. Z’s last move was an encounter that earned 9 money. Pushing ten coins above me. Andrew had accumulated forty coins and would have been hard to beat had my plans completed. Next time. Z danced and smiled with her crushing of me. Andrew looked happy and enjoyed the 4X-style Scythe board game.

We said our goodbyes, and soon, Air Volvo had me home. There, I worked out how to force the XIAO to download an update (you have to hold down some tiny buttons) and soon had it running blink again. I then reloaded the troublesome code, and it crashed hard again with a panic. Yes, the code is wrong, but I could not find an online solution. More to follow. It is test code that, well, was unsuccessful.

I did some laundry and read more of the story of a family moving to Casablanca from the UK. The story is tiresome as things never improve, but I will push through and hope for a happy resolution. I shower and soon sleep, remembering to put in the eye grease before I sleep. I wake at 2ish with the house cold now and climb under the covers. I have turned off the AC/heat as it is not too hot. Our temperatures now have a desert-like shift, with the early morning in the 50s (10C) and the late afternoon in the 80s (27C).

Some updates on roses:

My bourbon rose, Souvenir du Président Lincoln, is reblooming.

The English rose, Wedgwood, is a climber and as tall as my fence.

And the tea rose that came with the house and is likely older than me is continuously blooming. The flowers slightly smaller from the heat of the late summer.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

As usual for these past couple of days, I rose late, around 8. I usually start the blog just before 9, as I read emails and news (mostly political) and update my finances in Quicken. I was done with the blog until after 11. My writing is slower as I try to be more correct and leave out Dryer’s words. I am an agent of change (retired IT software designer) and, thus, a student forever. I work to improve at things that matter to me; writing matters to me (spelling does not). Grammar is a tool, and I try to use it properly to make my words and meanings better for the reader.

Lunch, after finally publishing the blog and hearing the lawn service clean up my lawn (while parched, the lawn and gardens look fabulous), is more chicken over more rice. It is just OK. I leave the dishes for later. I collect Susie’s purses (she had a bag full of older unused ones), check them for missed items (a few movie stubs and other small items), and combine them with some blankets. One blanket I had forgotten goes back to before I knew Susie and college. It makes me cry as the image is quite powerful and echoes Susie’s passing–I will spare the reader the details of Susie’s death. I take all of it, adding some more stuffed animals and a coat I missed last time to GoodWill.

But before GoodWill, I head to Reedville Creek Park. The pizza and carbohydrates from yesterday’s dinner with Dondrea and Z in Portland’s Pearl District weigh against my mind (I could not resist that pun). My face is a bit puffy from all the salt, and Dondrea and I pledged not to look at the scale for a few days. Dondrea texted me that she had already gone for a long run. I needed to match her with at least a long walk.

I made five loops, I think, for a total of 4,000 steps for the day (I might need a FitBit or to dust off the Apple Watch that Nike’s SEC program gave us to report this better), with each loop being 725 steps or so. I saw only a few folks on the track, and as it was past lunchtime, the park was nearly empty. Despite the salt, carbs, and some stiffness, I was feeling better today, more like myself, who walked 10K steps in Casablanca. I am on week nine of the brain surgery that removed the slow-growing tumor. I was told it would be slow to work back to normal, and it is. This would have been my back-to-work week had I not been laid off.

I was a bit worn out from the emotions of another trip to GoodWill and the walking. After Air Volvo returned me to the Volvo Cave, I read and napped. The Volvo is running well and seems to enjoy the new oil and sparkplugs (and the $43 oil cap and O-ring that caused the exhaust/mix issue). I have not scheduled regular servicing (it is getting close to 70K); I have done 1/4 of that now. I may pick a non-Volvo place (cheaper) to do tires and brakes in the fall.

I contacted Jack and asked if he could do an ad hoc moment and head to the movie theater down the street: Regal’s Movies on TV. Soon, we caught the last cheap playing of a movie (cheap being $9 each with free popcorn for Regal members on Tuesday). I picked Twisters, and Jack, being a voice actor and radio guy, enjoys the previews and commercials (and I have taken a second look at them through his eyes and now watch how they are put together and executed). The movie, with no high-paid names, was cleverly written, and all the actors helped suspend disbelief and become the people in the story. Entertaining and a fantasy set in Oklahoma, skipping politics and the usual divisions, and a hymn to the US Great Plains’ people suffering from weather change and economic constraints. I would watch it again and again. Recommended.

After the movie, Jack and I headed to our respective homes, and soon, I was chopping veggies for a salad with tuna for dinner. I was resisting anything else as I had enough calories on Monday. Matt V suggested the tuna packets instead of cans; they are perfect. I opened the tuna envelope into a bowl and scooped out the tuna (the water or oil I tossed). I discovered that my copy of the movie Midway (2019) was now corrected on my Apple, and I started watching that movie. While I know the story better than the writers, the special effects are incredible. To see USN’s Enterprise CV-6 and IJN’s Yamato in full color and crashing through the Pacific is worth the price of the movie. The explosions on the carriers are rather dramatic but not necessarily wrong. I have the story of the USS Lexington CV-2, which is lost in the movie on my shelf, signed by the author who jumped off the burning ship and published during the war. The movie is long, and I did not finish it before my salad was done. I will watch it over the next few days.

The day disappeared, and the sun was down, and it was dark in the house. While it is obvious that the days are getting shorter, it shocked me that I missed the sunset (sunset is still late at 8:49). I spent the rest of the evening preparing to work on my electronic project by trying to load the libraries and other software to run the XIAO round display.

XIAO is a useful miniaturization of the already small Arduino microcontrollers from China. I am using them as they were the example in a build I am copying and enhancing to make a miniature diving bell and hopefully a submarine for an aquarium or a small pond/pool. The round display was not part of the original plan, but it comes with so many useful extensions that it might be great to use.

The install to get a working compile took until 10ish. The directions were not updated and did not include adding a graphic library to my Arduino IDE software. The Arduino IDE has been in active development for years and is the software I use to create C/C++ code for my microcontrollers; and has been revised to handle all the strange hardware variations that are now part of the greater Arduino family, including XIAO. I discovered that missing in the direction was that the special one-off library is not needed as now the code is in the regular library (and that the one-off does not support my hardware). I also needed to include a real-time clock library, which I missed in the instructions as it said it was optional (not really optional). I have yet to run the hardware test sketch (‘sketch’ is what programs are called by the IDE) on the XIAO as I need to solder pins to the tiny controller to plug it into the XIAO round expansion board or disassemble my breadboard version to use it in the pins.

With success I was more tired than usual at 10 and showered and read for a while. I slept with the house at 75F and the back door open. I woke after midnight, cold now, and rose to get some eye grease and proof of hydration executed. I returned to bed, with covers now, and slept.

Thanks for reading.

I was surprised to wake at 8, as I usually wake with the sunrise and then roll over, but rise at 7. This time, I woke late. I went to bed late two days in a row—I needed the sleep. I found the kitchen after I put on my slippers–it had not moved. I found a banana and made locally roasted and ground coffee from Kenya that I had purchased in Hillsboro. I read the news, mostly political, and downloaded my transactions for my accounts. My AMEX is still getting used here and there; I am trying to change everything to my Alaska Air Miles card to insulate my bank card and earn the miles. I watch everything involving money with care.

Every account is protected with two-factor authentication, meaning a hacker/thief would require my user ID, password, and email or phone control to gain access to my assets. While there is some exciting phishing stuff now that is easy to slip into, the two-factor process halts all as it requires me to read the code to them (or physically have my phone or access to my email account at Apple), and that is not happening. And, as I learned a few times, there are source-of-fund requirements to move money, and hackers would find it difficult to move the money (as I have learned) without calls to various institutions and providing letters, bank statements, and other reassuring documents. I am as safe as I can make it.

I write the blog, and it takes a while to cover a busy Sunday. I am not done until late morning. I clean up and dress. I slice up some chicken breasts I grilled yesterday, add rice and teriyaki sauce, and microwave them. That is my lunch, and I cannot finish it. I located the quilt made from Susie’s t-shirts, addressed it to Leta (Susie’s mother), and took it to the post office. I also tried on some size 40 paints, and they fit better than my current 42 pants. I bought them years ago, and my weight was out of control, and they were too small. I kept them with the hope that I would get this under control. It has been a long time, but now they are usable. I put them in Air Volvo with the other package. There was a short line at the post office, and soon, the quilt was headed to Michigan. The dry cleaners will have the pants shortened (I purchased them unfinished) by Monday.

Today would have been my return to work day after my brain surgery. This is the 9th Monday since my brain surgery to remove the tumor. It is also the 13th Monday since being laid off by Nike, Inc. It seems a long time ago that I was in the ICU recovering from the surgery, and even further away, I was in Michigan with John Nilsen for another celebration of life for Susie. But it has only been eight weeks, and the layoff was just ninety days ago–so strange.

Returning to the story, I head to Big River Coffee and spend a few hours reading the Annotated Sherlock Holmes (the older and cheaper version) and marking interesting text with Post-It arrows. While I read and learn, I daydream of certain plot lines and puzzles for my own Holmes and Watson stories. To elaborate, after learning that Holmes and Watson had moved into the public domain, I started a new direction in short stories with a modern Artificial Intelligence story with Holmes and Watson. So far, I have only 1300+ words.

Before expanding my story, I felt I needed to get more familiar with the setting and the cadence of Holmes’ and Watson’s speech and writing (both characters write and tell stories in the original). I am in the first story, following the chronological order and not the usual order of following the original publication process: “The Adventure of the Gloria Scott” (1893). This short story shows Doyle’s skill in putting together a good Sherlock story with a cipher for a young Holmes to solve and other tricks of what hackers would call social engineering. An excellent one to start my learning and align with the original–I recommend it.

After a few hours of reading, thinking, and daydreaming (and a side task researching American Clipper ship model building after the clippers are mentioned quite a few times as the story is set in 1845, the heyday of clippers), I also learned that the story, as told by Holmes, is set in 1845, not 1855 which Holmes uses, as that would not fit the facts in the story—this is covered in quite some detail in the annotation. The story was told in 1887 in Sherlock and Watson’s timeline, and it may be a perfect time for my stories. I leave about 3:30 as my head is full of ideas.

Aside: Clippers were replaced by the last of the sailing ships, the windjammers. Windjammers were metal monster sailing ships (forcing or jamming the wind). The famous and only surviving clipper, Cutty Sark, is a transitional ship from clippers and windjammers with its metal, cement, and wood construction. In turn, the windjammers, who appeared as steam also appear, were soon forced out of service once steamships with the new technology stabilized. However, they were fast and huge and are what most folks think of when thinking of a sailing or tall ship now. A few later-built windjammers survive in Germany as museum ships. The wreck on Oregon beach, Peter Iredale, is a windjammer.

I return home and read for a while, changing to a dress shirt and my green sweater vest for dinner with Dondrea and Z in Portland. Then, some of my XIAO additional microcontroller parts arrive. This round watch-like display for XIAO includes a traditional LiPo plug battery connection, a clock battery, and various useful items, including an off/on switch. I like it. The rest of my orders just left China (I had to translate the trace into English). I will return to this project soon.

I headed to Dondrea’s house, facing only moderate traffic. I was slightly early, and we chatted for a while. Next, we boarded Air Volvo, and Dondrea, from the co-pilot/first-class seat, gave me directions to use the back roads for half of the trip. Z was napping in biz-class one row back. We arrived without issues in the Pearl District in Portland and parked in the Whole Foods garage. We headed to Powell’s and explored. I always check out the cookbook section and find one I like, but I do not like enough to invest in it; books are more of an investment at these prices. And climbed to the third floor and found the Artificial Intelligence section. There are new AI books,  and are priced at over $70; I did not find any that a good free online course would not cover the same material. I see that the AI deep learning has a lot of books now (same comment).

We reassembled and headed to dinner. But where? Our defaults were Deschutes Brewery or Screen Door. We walked up the streets and soon found over priced places were closed on Monday. We found The Star Portland and agreed on Pizza. We got a table and soon were waiting. Monday is not a great day to try out a food joint and the service was painfully slow.

We finally got our first appetizer, three meatballs. Dondrea raved about them, and we all loved them. The sauce was not overly sweet, and the meat was properly spiced and mixed—which was good, as the pizza we ordered had meatballs! Next, we got, again after a long wait, cheezy bread, a wonderful dill-based ranch, and more excellent tomato sauces served with it. That all but disappeared into us as now we were hungry.

Then, the deep-dish pizza appears. It is an amazing pie, and most of it disappeared inside of us. Dondrea and I regret every delicious bite, but we cannot stop. Dondrea is thinking about a five-mile run to remove the impact of pizza. I cannot imagine what I will have to do. It is the first pizza for me in months. Only two slices make it to a box.

Despite the slowness caused by the understaffing, the food was wonderful and recommended. Don’t come on an off-night (like Monday) and expect fast service, but the wait is worth it. We enjoyed it and soon headed out, later than we expected. We found the car in the parking garage, and I paid $8 for parking (!?). Air Volvo dropped Donrea and Z off at their house, and I arrived at the Volvo Cave without issue.

I did the accumulating dishes, read more, showered, climbed into bed, read even more, nodded off, woke after midnight, padded to the kitchen, found my eye grease, and slept well until waking late on Tuesday.

Thanks for reading!

 

Sunday began with me rising early. I had gone to bed late, and the early morning was not welcome. I woke at sunrise, rolled over, and started my Sunday just after 7. I grabbed my slippers and then padded to the kitchen. It was a gray morning with thunder rumbling from the south. There was no smoke, and the air smelled of ozone and storms.

I finished the excellent peaches from a jar that I purchased from a local farm when Linda and I stopped by the farm for a break on our way to the coast. I broke open the jar last week; I had to poke holes in the top as it was so tightly sealed–impressive. The peaches were fresh-tasting and firm.

I enjoyed the peaches with locally roasted and ground coffee from Kenya made in my French Press. I wrote while consuming this small feast. I was time-boxed, I ignored distractions, and I remained focused. I was finished just after 9.

My weight has lowered to 235, which was a surprise. I thought I was looking thinner, and my pants were barely holding on with new holes drilled in my belt. As Dondrea has warned me, the pounds do not come off with beer and drinks. I have started using Big River Coffee instead of the tap houses for writing. Sunday was busy, and I could not fit in a walk, but I managed over 2,000 steps.

I cleaned up and dressed for church in black dress shoes, my nearly not-fitting LL Bean usual pants, grey-blue dress shirt, pride tie, and a blue sweater vest. This was literally topped off with my summer hat. I remembered the large envelope with the letters and checks for over $40K in giving, remembering Dan McLean and Susie. I boarded Air Volvo, which was still dry as the storms somehow missed the house. Beaverton was damp, and lightning was flashing in the sky. I arrived early.

I found myself welcoming various visitors as I stood at the entrance of the sanctuary. We had at least two couples and a few people I did not know. I handed them bulletins, welcomed them, and pointed them to the pews (I would seat them if the service was ongoing), and I saw Dondrea spot them and talk to them, too. Excellent. Since the pandemic, First United Methodist of Beaverton seldom has greeters. I have also noted that most older members come late or at the last minute. We are not an early church!

The pastor, Ken, was begging for some coffee, which finally arrived just before the service began. The previous Sunday’s crisis of having no filters continued into this Sunday. The missing critical item was apparently acquired, but this delayed the production of “Methodist Mud.” Later, I saw that the current pulpit had no secret shelf for water (or coffee), and Ken had to set the coffee on the angled surface. There were no mishaps. We will have to put a cup holder in the pulpit!

With the countdown for Internet access, the service started with Crystal playing on the organ. The songs we sang were familiar, and the Praise Band (there is no choir in the summer) played familiar songs and had us clapping with the music. Later, the folks strongly sang, “It’s Me, It’s Me, O Lord.”

Now, with coffee, Pastor Ken discussed some events at the church, including another church family and denomination moving in with us (our service will be at 11 to accommodate the other church). He then moved to his sermon, still exploring the book of James with us, reaching the later part of the fourth chapter. This one says it is a sin to say I will do such and such to be successful, but instead, try to find what the Lord wants you to do and then do that. Ken had the congregation say out loud that we arrange our lives to serve God (my words). Ken also points out that James demands that we remember the poor in all things we do.

Aside: I checked the Greek and thought James 4:13 was translated too plainly. I would have gone with something like this (Dondrea suggested the snake oil salesman): “You plan a year to head to various cities to win renown as a snake oil salesman.” James yells a bit louder than our polite words in our translations.

I took Air Volvo home after church, wondering what President Biden’s decision to leave the race and support his vice president for the race would mean. For me, I plan to make lots of chicken. But first, I saw the 185th Market and stopped. When I remember, I buy my fruit and veggies from these folks. I get some excellent Wala Wala onions (meaning I might have to get some onion rings at Burgerville soon), veggies, and fruit. I saw radishes, bought some, and later carved little faces in them (the red skin and white flesh make the eyes and mouths stand out without effort) and took them to Dungeons and Dragons that night. In one game years ago, I carved screaming damned souls’ faces in the radishes for the salad to eat while in an adventure in a version of Hell. Scott requested tomatoes and other veggies in a more interesting salad–I made it Hellish.

I changed from my church clothing and dressed in comfortable clothing; the storms were over, and now it was humid and hot.  I split two pounds of chicken breasts without failure or bleeding (sharpening the knives a week ago has brought many benefits) and soaked them in teriyaki sauce and white wine. I light the grill later. At about 2ish, I cook them on the hot grill. There is just a little sticking that goes away as the heat works to char the connections to the grill. I have a temperature probe and check and ensure everything is done. I also cook too much rice and nearly ruin it with too little water. Somehow I reversed the one cup of rice to two cup of water–I blame the heat. I was able to salvage the rice, and while more than I would want (rice is not good for diabetics), it was good.

I put some more teriyaki sauce and white wine in a non-stick pan, sliced hot chicken, and stir-fried it with the sauce. That was served over rice and was an excellent lunch. I packed the rest of the chicken and most of the rice in glass containers (thanks, Glenda and Gene) and put them in the frig for later meals.

My back was complaining, and my cell was not in my pocket, so all the cooking steps were not counted, but I suspect I did another 1,000 steps of cooking, slicing, and packing. I rested to get my back happy and read. I nodded off, rose, and made a cup of tea to wake up. I boarded Air Volvo with my happy radishes and a late birthday gift for Matt V.

Matt V makes burgers for dinner while we play Dungeons and Dragons 5.0E. I found a small paper identification wheel for Egypt’s ancient Gods and Goddesses at the Portland Art Museum, which was made in Egypt but in English. I wrapped it and gave it as a late birthday gift. Matt V liked it. I try to find unique and usual gaming items for Matt.

The game has us returning to space jamming Dungeons and Dragons, and crossing various universes. Details cannot be covered, but I did use up most of my spell slots and stayed more in the background, blasting from a distance and letting the combat characters deliver much of the punch this time. As a good cleric of light, I can cast the famous D&D fireball spell. We were tossing lots of them.

Being paranoid, we planned our final battle with care and managed to finish it without losing anyone. It was an interesting set of encounters with all of Matt’s props and figures; thanks, Matt.

After that, we finished the adventure, and I headed home. Corwin had a package and found some of the chicken at the house, where he made a few sandwiches. I brought him more chicken and his master key for his truck, which was still at the house. We chatted for a bit, and after 11, I headed home and soon was asleep.

Thanks for reading

Going backward, Air Volvo arrived at the Volvo Cave just before midnight from Portland. I played my usual gaming night at Richard’s house on Saturday. We played Great Western Trail: New Zealand (2023), a recent implementation of the original game now with sheep and set in New Zealand with many improvements. It is considered the best version by many. It is rated the 78th best strategy game on BoardGameGeek’s website, and I recommend it for skilled gamers with a cost of about $60; there are no expensive add-ons, deluxe versions, or part improvements. It comes complete at this price. It does have a large footprint and complex iconography. I like the game (even coming in last against Chris–just above my score–Kathleen–who fought for first place–and Richard–who won) and enjoy playing git. Someday, I will learn enough and put it together to be a threat.

Ross Island in the Greater Portland Area had a serious fire, and tires and old equipment burned. The press speculated that the old tires may have spontaneously caught fire (this is unlikely). The skies were filled with black smoke as Air Volvo took me to Portland from home. Traffic was light.

Great Western Trail: New Zealand is a Euro game with many subsystems and rules. There is some player interaction and limited player interaction. Scoring is done, and it is complex, too, at the end of the game. I knew I was at the bottom, but Kathleen was unsure if she got Richard. There is deck building (your sheep) with limited opportunities to thin your deck (that I wish I had paid to do more often). I would suggest playing with someone who can teach the game to see if you like all the rules and complexity (much of it just flows and is logical).

Going back to earlier on Saturday, I finished the blog before 11 and was soon dressed and ready to get outside. I could smell pine and smoke, and because of my allergies and asthma, I was greatly impacted by bad air, so I was not going to do any walking. I did the usual chores of getting gas at the reduced it-is-after-summer-hikes of $4.19 a gallon (remember there is no sales tax, and there is no additional charge for full-service in Oregon) and getting the car washed (I pay a monthly pass and wash Air Volvo often twice a week). I took a bag of small stuffed animals that Glenda had collected into a bag some years ago when she came out to help me with Susie, yes, that long ago and took the items (including the Intel bunny suit guy, which is a collector’s item–I saw one in the Computer Museum in San Jose California) to Goodwill and gave them away.

I saw I was near the newly renovated Taco Bell and the newish Dollar Store (formally an unneeded Walgreens within a mile of another Walgreens and across from Fred Meyers). Instead of finding an office supply store or heading to Fred Meyers (owned by Krogers for those in the Eastern USA), I tried the Dollar Store—I am retired. I found the Post-it arrow markers, some good pens, and a mailer for all under $5. I saw a man with two boxes of Crunch and Munch as I walked in (I have not thought of that stuff in years), and there were many low-priced household and food snack items. I shall return now that my time is my own and I am living using my investments for the future. A buck an item (or so) is a good price.

Next, I tried going into the rebuilt Taco Bell. If you brought cash, someone would come off the cooking line and take your order. Otherwise, there are touchscreens with full-color pictures of food for you to order from. I ordered a few items as Taco Bell had new spicy chicken items. There was no human interaction as I typed in my name and supplied my Alaska Air Miles Visa for payment.

As I waited for my order, I thought this felt like a fast-food place on a spaceship in a sci-fi setting. All we needed was to get rid of the windows and some low G-moves in the food line. As per the strange queuing process of American fast food, in-house guests wait for the orders from the drive-through. They called out “Michelle” and then corrected the name to “Michael,” which got a laugh from me and the gal who left the line to pack and deliver the bag of Taco Bell goodies. I was asked, surprisingly, with all the technologies, if I had a drink and what size. I replied and was handed a cup. I did my own drink (!?).

The chicken crunchy taco was good and spicy. I am not sure I could make one that good, but it was excellent. The rest of my food was less than good. The cheese was industrial-style and might have been shown a picture of a cow. It was dripping out of the hot food. But the sour cream and the guacamole were good with each in little containers, making me think of SciFi again in low Gs. I ordered a regular crunchy taco supreme and it was the same why-would-you-make-this-so-bad flavor and “meat.”  It is still just as bad as before.

The dining area was remade to be uncolorful, and the chairs were hard with uncomfortable metal backs. Previously, the area was a mix of tables and chairs, uncomfortable still, but it matched the decor with bright colors on the walls and tables, plus many LA-like images that conveyed a message of welcome and that Taco Bell was hip. Now the message is, why not take that to go? I thought Doctor Who or a remake of The Fifth Element movie could use the same setting for a Taco Bell on a distant space station in the far future. Just use them as is–there is no need to add any SciFi updates. Just cover the windows or green screen them to a view of Saturn or like image.

After this, I headed to Big River Coffee, got an Americo with a shot of caramel syrup, and worked on my next writing project. I have the Annotated Sherlock Holmes by William Baring-Gould, which you can find in used bookstores. It has two large volumes for just a few bucks (my copy from Powell’s was the seventeenth reprinting of the 1968 work). There is a newer work, but it runs as high as over $100 for the two or three-volume set. I took Post-it arrows and marked each interesting section of Mr. Baring-Gould’s book.

I have started a short story about Holmes and Watson waking up to current times as an AI-generated chatbot like ChatGPT. I have some ideas, but I want to get the words and sentence structure close to the original, so I am reading and doing homework. I hope to send the completed story to 2600 Magazine as a follow-up to my previous story published about AI and the Turing Test. I was at this until about 3ish.

I returned home, rested a bit, and then made an early dinner of a grilled cheese sandwich (with cheese that came from a more natural process) and some canned peaches (also from a farm I visited). I headed out to Richard’s house at 5.

At the start of my day, I rose about 7 and started on the blog. I had toast with jam and some canned peaches with my locally roasted and ground coffee from Kenya in my French Press. I had four cups (I had to add water for the last cup). It was a strongly caffeinated day!

Thanks for reading.