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I am running late after playing board games a little later than usual 8ish end-time. Andrew, Z, and I got through 3/4 of a board game of Brass: Lancashire. This is a great game and ranks in the top twenty of all games on Board Game Geek’s site. Z and I had just finished the epoch when Andrew could join us. I had to do a teach for him, but being a fast learner and willing to just try those out–we soon were playing fast and having a good time. We ran out of time by about thirty minutes to finish. With three players, you start missing things and using each other’s resources. It is known as a mean game, meaning that every action reduces the options of the next player. We played competitively and enjoyed the game. Recommended. I like this version better than the better-loved Brass: Birmingham (with beer!).

I had dinner before heading to First United Methodist Church to meet Dondrea and Z to play games while the choir and band practiced at the Shake Shack and had a bacon-avocado-enhanced cheeseburger with excellent fries and a large Diet Coke. It was wonderful, if you don’t mind, a plain fried burger and a tiny bun.

I managed to do some writing while eating. I started revising my Dungeons and Dragons adventure we are playing on Friday. I included an additional encounter to the text in my revisions. I might publish this one–we will see if we can add art and maps to it. I wrote some of the framework for the encounter and began to design the monster that is the main challenge for the encounter. It has felt great to once again be writing from pure imagination but still inside a scaffolding of rules. I love writing adventures for D&D and for The Call of Cthulhu Role Play Game.

Work today, which I will only barely mention, was filled with the usual and the obvious today. I did four hours of Zoom meetings starting at 8AM. It was a work from the office, and I did get to sit in front of the large windows watching the rain while some folks talked about various issues I was not involved with. Today was wet, with the Oregon mist changing to rain a few times. It was cold, 55F (13C) being the temperature at 4PM.

Lunch was a salad at Chipotle’s with carnitas. I reread the rules for Brass: Lancashire while eating. I had lunch after leaving Susie after a short visit at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. This is called the hummingbird house.

I left work after 11, and Air Volvo negotiated the wet roads without issue. The puddles are still small (I believe the lack of rain for weeks has us still working through the deficit–no big pools yet). Susie was in her recliner when I arrived. Jennifer, the weekday nursing aide, moved Susie to her wheelchair, and we then visited the Social Activity room to avoid bothering others. We were not going to the windy porch with the sideways rain!

Susie was a bit confused as this is not our usual program, but soon, we had Leta on the iPhone using FaceTime to see each other. We talked briefly about Leta’s bird feeder (full of birds) and some disquieting signs of pests in Leta’s house–she will likely call pest control folks. Susie was happy to chat and seemed more awake today, and her speech was clear. After ringing off, we called Zerida, now in Texas, and did another FaceTime call. Zerida was happy to see Susie; we had a friendly, short chat with her.

I was working today, so it was a short visit with Susie, and I could see the look “That’s all?” on her face. Today, she kept a brave face, and I only saw a moment when she was distressed. I kissed her goodbye and headed back into the cold wet.

SEC is the name of the big project I am on. You can see the nice large windows.

I was up at 6AM with my alarm. I made breakfast, cottage cheese, and canned peaches again. I put salt and paprika on the cottage cheese. I then read emails, Slack messages, and the news to prepare for my day. My trip in Air Volvo, while finding a school bus again to slow me, was uneventful, and I was there at 8AM to start the first two hours of Zoom meetings.

 

Tuesday is a work from the office, so I started at 6AM, which came too early this morning. I had read until after 11PM, and I had written some of the Dungeons and Dragons adventure text I was working on before bed and could not sleep. I work a few times at night as pain in my hands and shoulder woke me to the point where I got some painkillers–just sucks and is new. This is the other shoulder. Ugh! Morning came with me, unprepared to face it.

Rising or maybe crawling, I found my robe and padded to the kitchen to make breakfast. I opened a can of peaches (in their own juices) and unloaded about 1/2 a can with minimal juices. I matched this with cottage cheese (small curds) with some sea salt and smoked paprika. When I take my pills, I will save the other half as a snack later tonight.

I moved this meal to the home office, skipping exercises after all the pain last night, and started my day by reading emails, Slack channel updates, and then the news on the internet. I do this to be prepared for my day while eating. Next, at 7AM, I hopped into the shower, washed, dressed, collected my Nike laptop, and boarded Air Volvo. I am still using Utterly Smooth 20% Urea for my hands and feet, and I am still not showing much if any, nerve damage from chemo or diabetes. My oncologist and my oncology pharmacy told me to use it. I ordered some more that arrived yesterday and use it once a day after dressing. Urea means cow pee.

One school bus must have started early as I was stuck behind for a short time–the school buses often turn off into secondary roads to collect more children. I was still early when returning to the Swift building on the Nike WHQ campus. My day, which I will not recount here, was full of the usual and the obvious.

I found a break and headed to see Susie around 11AM. I arrived as she finished a late breakfast at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. It was still damp outside, and a slight cold wind, so we only went as far as the porch today, and Susie had a blanket. We reached Leta, Susie’s mother, on FaceTime (Barb, Susie’s sister, was still at work, and we missed her today). Leta was still at a late lunch with friends, and they were happy to see Susie on FaceTime. Leta and Susie chatted for a while, but today was a workday for me, so it was a short visit. Soon, Susie was back inside, happy to be out of the breeze, and I left with a kiss and a promise to return on Wednesday.

I stopped by Panera Bread for an almond chicken salad sandwich and to read some Vindication Rules, a board game, while I ate. I wanted to learn how to play the Chronicles version. I did a complete read-through while I ate and tried to relax for a few minutes. I then drove back across Beaverton to the office at Nike WHQ.

The afternoon was also usual and obvious, and I will not cover it here. The project is in its last practice install before the actual install over the holidays (yes, another working Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year). We are still sorting out some sequencing and swatting a few bugs–again, no details here.

I wanted to get my shirts from the dry cleaners, so I left early and arrived–after getting my shirts (light starch) to wear with my suit for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival–at the Volvo Cave 4ish. I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. The meatballs were frozen, and the sauce was from a jar. I did this while also locating my figure painting stuff.

I wanted to paint a unique figure for Friday’s Dungeons and Dragons game: I have a sizeable Egyptian-style guy that would be perfect. I got the figure from the UK, Otherworlds, as part of a Kickstarter campaign to re-writing the old adventure, The Dark Tower: Accursed by Set, as a 5E new-style adventure. Otherworlds created figures to match the adventure. They were not cheap, and I ordered quite a few to match some of the unique creatures from the adventure. I played the original version in the 1980s and thought playing in a 5E game would be good. While I have the figures, I am still waiting for the actual adventure from Goodman Games.

I used epoxy clay to lay a tile pattern on the base and have the figure, now hand painted with a grey primer, drying and standing up. I have to mount bat wings on the figure, and I will likely drill pins for those to strengthen them. I usually now pin things to figures. They are for use and thus get bounced a bit and need to be strong. I also avoid cast figures as they are too fragile. It is sad to see a figure just break apart when used.

Once I had the basics for the figure done and dinner eaten, I sat down to write the blog.

The weather forecast has changed to a clear weekend. Let’s hope we get some nice Oregon-September weather on the weekend.

Thanks for reading!

It is a rainy, cold day, and the rain is becoming heavy tonight. We have certainly abruptly changed seasons! I am tired tonight after a margarita and Mexican food with Dondrea and Z, so this will be a short blog.

The day started with me waking a few times before rising with my alarm on my iPhone at 7AM. I found a banana to go with the liberal coffee I made my French Press. Thus victualed, I moved to the home office and began my work day. While consuming my recently prepared resources, I read emails, Slack channel updates, and the news on the internet. I needed to be ready for the 8AM status meeting, and I like to know what is happening before I start hours of Zoom meetings.

Also, I paid more of Susie’s medical bills, which total about $8,000 monthly. I still have enough money left without selling any stock. Nike slipped to $90 these last months with a downgrade today, so it is good to hold on to it a bit longer and hope the trend, as usual, reverses.

I updated Quicken with all this, keeping track of every dollar so I can manage this. I also started to send out my first Christmas stuff and got a new Advent Calendar for Susie (a musical one). I also ordered some gifts and cards for me to send out. Shipping was relatively high–like many things that have unexpectedly become more expensive.

The morning was a blur of Zoom meetings, with me slipping out after 9AM to shower quickly and be ready for more Zoom appointments. I saw my afternoon had two hours of solid Zoom meetings–my usual work from Susie’s room at the hummingbird house was not workable. I had lunch at home, cooking a premade frozen chicken fried rice from Trader Joe’s on the stove with some buttered bread (white bread and rice are a poor combination for me–all carbohydrates–I have found I enjoy bread and butter again). I had never had it before, and it was OK. After that, I boarded Air Volvo, the Oregon mist getting more like rain, and crossed Beaverton to reach Susie at her place at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. The puddles were still small, and I had no issues other than the unexpected lane closures from The City of Beaverton installing new holes before the winter rains makes this impracticable.

Susie was happy to see me. Michelle Nixon, the owner of Allegiance, was delivering supplies from Costco, and I helped to carry some in. Surprising Susie as she did not see me come in from the garage. I explained the change of plans (I could not stay), and Susie (finishing a snack for lunch) and I retreated to the porch. There, we talked for a bit and then called Leta, Susie’s mother, and Barb, Susie’s sister, on my iPhone using FaceTime to form a three-way video call. Barb was doing garden work at Leta’s and soon rang off. Leta stayed on, and Susie and she chatted for about fifteen minutes. Time flies! Soon, I returned Susie to the warm hummingbird house, and Jennifer, the weekday nurse, took over, and Susie was headed to a nap.

Instead of getting a nap, I boarded Air Volvo and retraced my path across Beaverton, noting that the puddles were unchanged–still small. I managed to return to the Volvo Cave and my home office to experience hours of more Zoom status and alignment meetings.

While between meetings, I learned that a COVID-19 booster was available and signed up to participate in this version of COVID-19 prevention on Saturday morning at Rite Aide. I let Michelle Nixon know I was planning to get my shot–the hummingbird house will determine if they want to do that.

After hours of meetings, including a surprisingly interesting presentation on properly creating a software change request ticket, this is proof again that a well-prepared and enthusiastic speaker can make something as interesting as soap bubbles worth experiencing. After that and one more status meeting, I was done with my shift.

Once again, I crossed Beaverton, in real rain now, to Si Señor Family Mexican Restaurant and met Dondrea and Z there. Z had tacos. Soup for Dondrea. I had the Chilli Verde with flour tortillas. We also had a meat and cheese appetizer that was wonderful, that you rolled up in tortillas. Z was sleepy when we finished, and Dondrea and I finished with coffee (decaf for Dondrea).

It was a nice meal, and Dondrea and I talked about liberal politics and if the folks in Washington would stop the up-coming government end-of-funding (1Oct2023). I shared my poem for my Dungeons and Dragons adventure I am playing Friday night and a design for an encounter in the complex. Z liked the idea, and Dondrea, not a D&D player, thought it interesting–what she understood. Soon, we all getting sleepy, so it was time to go.

I crossed, once again, Beaverton and passed a three-car wreck on TV Highway. People seem to have, again, forgotten to drive with some care on wet roads. I observed that the puddles still were not noticeable. Dondrea and Z arrived home safe.

I read briefly and fell deeply asleep, but I woke at 8ish. I arose more like Bela Lugosi, joined the night, and began my work. I need a cape. I wrote the blog while playing a long playlist on YouTube (ignoring the commercial breaks). I have some D&D writing to do yet.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

It was still Sunday night when I started this blog. Sunday is the day when I have to write two blogs.  I thought I should start a little early.

I am outside at the food cart pod(s) by City Hall in Beaverton. I am outside, having just had a dessert crepe and drinking a beer–definitely a Beaverton thing. Today, the high was 60F (16C), and we never saw any blue in the sky. The Oregon mist has been all day with an occasional rain to test our resolve. We wear coats and hats and pretend it is customary to stand in the rain, talk, and order dinner to eat outside. The rains start about now in our part of the Pacific Northwest, and there will be a fewer and fewer clear days. In November, the clear days will disappear and only visit a few times until May or June (or July). Our climate has changed these last five years, and it is hard to predict when the rains will end. Last year, it was in May, and we had our first excellent June.

I was with Susie at the hummingbird house before coming here and having Jambalaya from a cart and a local beer with it. There she had just been set in bed when I arrived in Air Volvo at Susie’s place at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie said she did not want to watch a movie, so we did M.A.S.H., season six. It is pretty good, and I do not remember it that well. Susie did not start to sleep until 3ish. I tried to be quiet. I had a call for work at 4:05 and managed to do that while Susie slept through it.

It was raining and cold, and Susie would rather stay inside and be comfortable today. I sat with her in her room all afternoon to keep her company. I wrote more for my Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) adventure and got Susie an Ensure to drink. A quiet, good day.

Before this, I was home writing a blog and following along at work. I reheated some tacos for breakfast and later had a cinnamon roll as a late snack. I heated some baked beans and made a cold ham and cheese sandwich for lunch. I woke at 8ish, just in time for the 8:30 status call at work.

I have written more D&D, including a poem to help the players. I have a perfect one from an old adventure from the 1980s that I copy from.

Well, that is about all the exciting stuff. Thanks for reading.

I am writing this on Sunday for Saturday and attended an 8:30 meeting as the big project at work enters another 7/24 timeline. I am mainly showing signs of allergies and still seem to be tired all the time. I am fighting against it and can push through it and have a typical day.

So, starting in reverse, here is the narrative for Saturday…

I got to bed before midnight and went to sleep almost when my head hit my pillow. Dreams happened, all forgotten but not dark, and I did awaken a few times. I rolled over and slept the night. My usual 7 1/2 hours, at best.

Moving backward, I reheated a few tacos for a snack with my pills. I did not want another carbohydrate festival as that seems to be unsettled with the metformin I take. The tacos were better.

I was later than expected, leaving Richard’s just after tenish. Air Volvo flew Kathleen home without incident but then hit a huge traffic snarl on the flight back to the Volvo Cave at the Highway 26  tunnel. Air Volvo went on at 5 mph for thirty minutes until we traveled the few miles to reach the five-car pile-up and closed lane. Why the other drivers piled into the closed lane, a warning on big electronic signs told us miles ahead that the lane was a no-go, is a mystery to me. Luckily, I had decided to use the restroom at Richard’s before getting in the Air Volvo; otherwise, there could have been another accident best left undescribed.

Moving backward, I met Kathleen and Chris (a new gammer for our Saturday night group) at Richard’s basement in Portland for more board games: Our usual gaming night. We played two games of Suburbia with Richard and me looking at the first player marker and a way to light and improve it. Before our first game, I had played this a few times before (always losing). Chris and Kathleen listened with care to Richard’s teach, and Kathleen probed for extra winning conditions and other surprises; it seemed a simple scoring game. The game took about ninety minutes, including the teaching and some clarifications, and Chris ran away with the game, with Richard not even approaching his score. Kathleen left me at the bottom, my usual location, with me leading the score for the first 3/4 of the game (also typical for me). We decided to play again, and this time, Richard secured a win with surprisingly interlocked scoring goals (they are assigned randomly), with me just ahead of Kathleen (luck) and Chris unable to catch Richard.

Suburbia is an older tableau-building game with a simple economic model. You buy hexes and then add them to your part of a greater city, your tableau, and these additions may increase (or decrease) your income and reputation and also increase for other players. For example, building an airport in the game will help you and anyone else with an airport. A few years ago, I printed Richard, on my old 3D resin printer, a bunch of markers and painted them. These help us find these interactions and significantly improve the game. We all agreed that we would play again and would like Richard to start adding in the expansions–he has quite a few.

Aside: Evan asked if there were other games with random end-of-game triggers, and Suburbia is one. This game ends when a tile that says it is the last round is pulled. This tile is mixed into the final fifteen cool ‘C’ tiles.

Before the rather relaxing game night with Richard, Chris, and Kathleen, I was in Portland at Rogue Ales Pub in SE with Evan. There, we played two games of the board game Vindication (a game I have described often here and will avoid repeating myself). The first game was a tie, and I won the tie-breaker. Evan ran a plan to buy over and over Traits. I thus had a free hand for the rest of the board, and even with him getting 5-7 points and some superpower every other round, I still tied his score and won. I won the next game. When playing a two-person game with a board game that can play up to five, a little luck and some good plays can create the condition that crushes the other player. I had that in the second game. I also play this game more than Evan, so I know how to change my strategy to fit the board–especially with two players. So, the second game, while fun for me, should not count against Evan. It’s just dumb luck.

We played chess while getting a 1/2-price appetizer for happy hour (?!). Rogue was mainly empty instead of the usual mix of tourists. The weather and the October Festivals all over the area had impacted their tourist count.

Evan had a good start as black (I had never played him before, and I was out of practice). So, I built a more conservative pawn wall and then interlocked it with knights and the queen. I could see flaws that Magnus would have wept over, but I learned that Evan did not see them (sigh of relief). Evan crashed into my pawns at their strongest place, and soon, I had three passed pawns! I had an opening to do an insane dance-of-death with my queen, and I crashed the piece into the corner (the worst place for a queen) and gobbled up a bishop and a pawn before having to exchange. Instead (and Magnus would have approved), I should have pushed on relentlessly, exchanged out most pieces for better pawn structure, and won by walking pawns to the queens–but this was more exciting. Later, in the endgame, I flubbed and lost a rook–something I know I should watch, but I could just walk a pawn to get a queen and got busy finishing the game. It was an excellent reminder to stay with the basics. Evan had not played for years and played well.

Before heading to Portland, I was at Susie’s place at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. I got there early, and Susie and I headed out into the colder Oregon autumn weather. It is always a surprise how abrupt the season change here. We were in the 80s last week, and now it was overcast with highs of 66F (19C). Anassa, the weekend nursing aide, helped Susie get into a coat over a sweatshirt. We went into Metzger Park, and I was slightly chilled without a coat. I checked the weather radar, and we had no rain or Oregon mist for an hour. I found a dry bench.

We were watching folks, now in light jackets, ignoring (as we do in Oregon) that it is cold and soon to be wet and just enjoying the outdoors. Kids were on bikes and other wheeled items. Parents followed, pushing even younger progeny in diminutive carriages. It was a typical fall day, on the first day of fall, and nobody wanted to mention that it was sunny and hot yesterday.

Using FaceTime, we called Leta and Barb (Susie’s mother and sister, respectively) on my cell phone to form a three-way video call. Everyone was happy to connect up and surprised to see us in overcast skies, cold, and Susie in a coat. Leta talked about her birds at her bird feeder and bath and pointed out that the squirrels were being naughty while not getting into her feeder. Barb was out eating freshly made donuts–it is showing fall in Michigan, too.

After this call, Susie decided she was cold enough, and we headed back to the hummingbird house. There, with Evan, who showed up while we were in the park, we tried Peacock Network’s new show, The Continental, a new John Wick story set in the past before John. It was terrible, and I had to buy an extension of my Peacock account to see this trash. Ugh! Evan is slightly hopeful that the next episode will improve, but I am unsure. The lines and the background match the good stuff from the John Wick world, but the writing and organization are not very good. The usual violence and super and magical gun fights are there, but even those seem less as we have so little attachment to the characters. Susie nodded off often and was falling out of her wheelchair for the show.

Anassa got Susie safe in bed, and Susie struggled to stay awake. Susie became visibly upset when we went to leave and said, “No!’ At the same time, I could see her tired and sleepy. “I need you,” was what she said, and it broke my heart. I knew she would fall asleep again even if I stayed another ten minutes and then wake later, not knowing what happened. I asked her to let me go, and she said, “OK.” I got a goodbye kiss and promised to be back on Sunday afternoon. I asked Anassa to check on her after setting up the crash pad and gate and putting on M.A.S.H. for Susie. Anassa planned to move Susie to the living room and keep talking to her to keep her company. I called back later and spoke to Susie on the phone, and she was OK and still watching M.A.S.H. Apparently, Susie slept the afternoon away. I learned that Louis, the afternoon and dinner nursing aide, made Susie’s favorite for dinner: meat (Salisbury Steak) with mashed potatoes and gravy. Remember, Susie has to have everything in a blender. So mashed with gravy is always good, and Salisbury Steak still tastes good even when chopped up. So, despite the drama, Susie had a good day–all I could ask for.

Before taking Air Volvo without incident to Susie’s place, I was home writing a 2200-word blog. Friday was busy, but I also felt the need to write. I woke, well rested and wide awake at 6AM (?!), and then wrote through the morning. I had leftover meatballs and bananas for breakfast with liberal coffee. I also made a few changes in my Dungeons and Dragon adventure I am playing with Corwin on Friday (Kathleen may also join us in Guardian Games or somewhere else in Portland).

And that takes us to the end (or beginning) or Saturday. Thanks for reading.