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Sunday started with me resisting the 7:30AM alarm, and I lollygagged in bed until 8AM. I ordered a locally-made bagel-like product with Nov Lox to allow me to order smear for my NYC bagels. The product was good and delivered to the house. I consumed this with liberal coffee I made in my French Press.

I tried to write the blog for Saturday this morning but kept getting distracted. I kept working on my 500-word horror piece–just one more read-through and a few fixes, I kept telling myself. Time flies. Soon I have to rush.

My Apple panics. The hard drive (2T of expensive fast storage that came with the system back in 2020) seems to be faulting. The Apple TimeCapsle locks up, and it cannot locate the usual backup–time for me to panic! I hard shut down and rebooted the machine. Everything returns to normal (except the internal mic, which is still dead). A replacement Apple with 1T (I have only used 1/2 T) and a new M2 processor cost about $3,000; an upgrade to 14″ and other improvements cost $3,600. The warranty is good until April next year for my still working, I think it is still working, Apple–so I will wait a bit longer.

Finally, I finished a decent recap of Saturday, cleaned up, dressed, and boarded Air Volvo. Traffic was light on Sunday to Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie was just finishing lunch when I got there before 1PM. I had stopped by McDonald’s to get chicken parts for a quick lunch–I think I needed an antidote for that–never again.

Susie was happy to see me and seemed alert and happy today. She was ready to head out to the park. It was sunny in the high 70s (25C) (the morning clouds burned off). The park was full of kiddie birthday parties and folks playing volleyball and kiddie soccer. Everyone was happy, and burgers and hot dogs were being prepared. A nearly perfect day for this, and the nasty yellow jackets are not out yet, so food is safe, still, outside.

We called Leta on the shady bench near the cedars and redwoods. Leta, Susie’s mother, was happy to hear from us, and we chatted on my iPhone using FaceTime to see each other. Susie was much more present today and reacted to events in the park and Leta on the phone. Susie and I were both comfortable and enjoyed watching the folks for a while.

I moved Susie to the porch and called Barb, Susie’s sister, and we talked about Barb’s upcoming visit. I thought she was coming on the 14th, but she will be in on the 13th afternoon. I will make some minor changes to enable that. Barb will be getting a rental car and staying in the spare room in the house. I took time off, but Nike started another testing cycle simultaneously, so I might be needed.

After Barb rang off, we retired to Susie’s bedroom. Anassa, the weekend nursing aide, got Susie comfy in Susie’s bed. I put on Disney+, and we found Cinderella, the old animated movie, to watch with the singing mice and the Fairy Godmother singing “Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo.” Susie was singing along and was feeling better, I think. Next, we played 1970s rock from Alexa (called “Echo” on our account) until 4PM–me nearing falling dead asleep.

I kissed Susie goodbye and headed out. Louis, the evening nurse aide, would check in on Susie and make dinner soon. On the way to Cory’s house, I stopped at McMenamins Oak Hills Brewpub and had my usual before Dungeons and Dragons quick dinner, soup, and an iced tea. Today, it was beef chili. Good. I did edit my 500-word horror story a few times there–almost perfect!

We played Dungeons and Dragons 5E at Cory’s house, where I play a 7th-level Paladin. We are coming to the end of the first storyline, and that means some desperate battles. We had a lot of folks down in the battles–As a paladin, I can heal and deliver lots of damage. I am also in plate armor and hard to hit, which is good in these battles. I was able to block some hits for my character and the elf warrior character that is my comrade-in-arms. Critical hits were flying tonight, and the damage was heavy. Still, it was fun, and we all had the spotlight here and there.

Here is the gaming table. We don’t usually use hexes for Dungeons and Dragons, but the map looks right. The wooden ship I built for us to use as a space jammer–I used transparent masts and sales to make it easier to use on a gaming table. Yes, we turned one of our characters into a giant ape. The pencil represents a ram we added ad hoc to the ship–it is held on with modeling clay.

After that, I returned to the Volvo Cave and wrote this blog. It is late. Thanks for reading.

There are no status calls this weekend, the first time in about a month. I woke at about 8ish and snuggled in my bed until nearly 9AM. I had written the blog at Wildwood Taphouse the night before, so I was not rushed.

I found my horror story while on my Apple, “Three Steps,” for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland. This is the micro-story contest, and you are limited to 500 words for a story that aligns with the cosmic horror that Lovecraft defined in the early 1900s (I agree with Mariah that many writers should write as if they had these limits–many writers pad their writing). When doing these micro-stories, I select words that carry the story forward without, which is funny for Lovecraft stories, repeating descriptive words–I have only space for a word or two. Punctuation is helpful as it does not count towards the limit. I use the first person as that cuts out structures that use many words to direct the story. I love to work on these!

After it took a while, I finished my current editing. I dress and pick up a few times and consign some to be taken, someday, to Goodwill. I board Air Volvo, and the traffic is light to the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Anassa, the weekend day nursing aide, updates me when I arrive. Anassa tells me that Susie suffered from confusion this Saturday morning. Susie did not know where she was and asked if she could leave and only ate 1/2 of her breakfast. Anassa had not seen, according to Anassa’s story, Susie this lost.

Susie was happy to see me; she was napping in her recliner in the shared living room. Leta, Susie’s mother, called, and we used iPhone with FaceTime. This brought Susie more focus. Seeing her mother and a short chat, Leta had a concert to attend and was rushed, which seemed to ground Susie in the now.

While overcast, the morning was starting to warm. I got a coat for Susie while Anassa, happy to see Susie remembering again, popped Susie into a wheelchair, and we headed to Metzger Park next door. The familiarity of the park and seeing folks walking and enjoying the outdoors seemed to wake Susie up more.

Max, the dog at the hummingbird house (who believes Michael is for chewing) ball was lost in the park after I threw it too hard; the dog was happy when Susie and I made a cross-country trip to get his ball and throw it back to him. He did not give it back.

Evan, who beat me to the hummingbird house, joined us for a park tour when getting Max his ball. Susie was getting cold and pointed to keep going, and we headed out of the park and headed to the now-blooming magnolia tree on a nearby street. The sun still had not burned the clouds away, so we returned to the hummingbird house’s warmth.

Susie decided to watch a movie in her room, and Anassa set her up in Susie’s rocking chair with a new pillow that seemed to work better. I tried to find Kung-fu Panda, but my Max access seems to have expired (?!), so we went for something easier to find, Disney’s original Sleeping Beauty 1959 animated film. Susie sang all the songs and even talked to the characters on the screen. Susie was back with us (she was better this Sunday morning–I just checked in).

Susie was yawning and looking relaxed now. Susie had managed only thirty minutes in the rocking chair. She looked at me and said, “Terrible,” I queried a few things until we agreed that her butt hurt and she had enough rocking. Anassa moved Susie to her bed, and Susie looked comfortable.

Evan had left 1/2 through the Disney film, and I left with Susie happy and back after the movie finished. Susie was OK with me going today. I headed to Portland and Rogue Taphouse and arrived soon as the traffic was light (the other drivers seemed to be all over the roads, so I was very attentive flying Air Volvo). I had to park a block away as we were there after 2PM, and the area was filling up. I walked by a woodworking place that looked like a DIY called IdeaWorks. While I do not need to add woodworking to my hobbies, this still looked interesting. Resist!

I opened a tab at the 1/2 empty Rogue bar; usually, the place is packed for good weather. I got the special, a huge Ruben with fries, and a beer, Deadguy Ale, and set up the board game Concordia for two players on the large Mediterranean Sea map, the basic setup. This is my favorite game, and I got to go last and start with my best movie, getting a cloth and a brick city on the first play. Soon, I acquired, at a significant cost, the personality cards for Metal/Tools and Farmers. Now I am set for my usual play. Evan is trying to build over my cities and providences as this strategy works if he gets his colonists out, but he has no additional ones. I managed to slip away and build on the edges–my usual trick. I select one-time-use Forum items (we are playing with the Forum add-on) as I remember to burn the one-time use to get a substantial one-time benefit. Ultimately, I built fast and furious, ended the game early, and finished with a significant lead. The Farmer card, building in 11 of 12 providences, and getting all but one colonist out paid me well (and getting the seven points for ending the game).

We had time for the smaller game, Furnace, and to use the new gears I found online for upgrades. I liked them better than the cardboard upgrade versions. Evan managed to beat me by more than ten, a crushing. I could not get my factories to run well.

I paid the bill and headed out. Air Volvo, now hot as the sun was out, was undisturbed. I am unsure if I could park on the streets in this SE area at night! I believe there is a parking garage nearby that I would have to use at night.

Evan, Richard, Kathleen, and I met next in Richard’s basement. Kathleen asked for easy games, so we started with the car racing board game Heat. A new Kickstarter game, and I managed to lead in my racing car, both races until I blew up my engine and ran too hot. It’s a great fun game; I recommend it once you get it. It uses the deck-building mechanic, and you need to slow down for curves (trust me) and not overheat (yes, I know) your engine, simulated by heat cards in your deck to run your car. I might have to buy this one. We did two races.

Next, the request was for Wingspan. Four-person Wingspan is almost a different game than two-person, my usual play, and I missed the early point raising bird cards. I also missed two end-of-round scoring (playing the hard scoring recommended for the add-ons). We were using Europe and Asia add-on that improves this game. Evan was happy to see me in the last place after ninety minutes of play (fast for a four-person game); Richard had a massive score that Kathleen could not catch this time. Kathleen is the expert knowing all the fantastic birds and combinations after hundreds of hours of play online and on physical games. Richard was thrilled to win this time.

I headed home and witnessed more crazy extra-legal driving on the bridges. A car behind me revved its engine and passed me. I was then shocked when Air Volvo had to stop on the bridge. The exact vehicle stalled at the top of the bridge, causing a nasty halt for a long row of cars. The hazard lights turned on, and Air Volvo passed the locked-up lane of cars and cleared. Next, we passed a couple of sets of cars on the shoulder–once off the bridge–that apparently smashed while trying to do an unplanned changing of lanes. Flashing lights were starting everywhere. Air Volvo swiftly and with great care headed into the tunnel finding slow-moving cars, some I recognized as cars I saw on the bridge–nobody was going fast anymore!

I managed to arrive at the Volvo Cave without any more adventures. I opened a can of chili, added cheese, and microwaved. That was a late dinner to go with my pills.

I managed to get to bed at about midnight and had some trouble sleeping. There was a lot on my mind.

Today started with me going to work on a Friday for the first time since February 2022. After the pandemic, Nike decided to have us work Tuesday-Thursday; thus, today was the first Friday I worked. We had to work our shifts on Friday. It felt strange as about 1/2 the folks were still working from home on Friday.

I started at 6:30 and rushed to be in the office by 7:30 for my first defect meeting. I was a few minutes late, but I was clean and dressed. I decided to wear T-shirts this week as the temperatures were 80F+ (27C) in the forecast. We had low clouds, which were not in the forecast, making it 65F (18C) until the later afternoon.

My boss Brad came to work and stayed the morning writing emails and doing other preparation for this six-week sabbatical starting today. It was good to see him so happy and relaxed. I am tasked to ask Rajani any questions and approve access, which Brad usually does. We will miss Brad, but it is great for him to have the summer for his break!

We had the staff meeting, and I helped with a few crises of the moment and approved some designs and even bug fix approvals to production, something l have now done in years. We learned there were no food trucks today, so lunch was where you find it. I already made coffee and found stale donuts and mystery vegan pudding in the frig for breakfast–I think it best to find my own lunch!

I headed out to see Susie at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie was awake and feeling better today. Jennifer, the nursing aide for the weekday, said Susie had eaten well and seemed back to her usual self. As it was cold outside, we agreed to stay inside today.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and opened a T-shirt from Barb, Susie’s sister who is visiting next Friday, that had Susie’s fav sayings like “Too soon, baboon,” and “See you later, alligator.” Excellent.

Soon it was time for me to return to work, and I left Susie with a kiss. I could see on her face that she wanted me to stay, and she accepted my promise to return on Saturday. No tears today, but it was close (for either of us). I reached work without issue, stopping by Burger King for a decent cheeseburger and lousy onion rings. I listened to Oregon Public Broadcasting while eating. The discussion was about the support for farmers in drought conditions. According to the report, Oregon is unique in the USA; we produce over 200 different types of farmed crops. Farmers can pick drought-resistant alternative crops, but farming, like many places in the country, is now a complex process with hard choices, with droughts happening more often.

I returned to work and did various status meetings and even a design review (like the good old days). Our Senior Director, Jim, texted me dinner was provided. Brad had left by then, and already I was getting texts from Jim. Excellent Indian food was supplied in large trays for dinner. I ate that for dinner while I finished my last status meeting for the week at 4:35.

After that, I headed home in Air Volvo, and the traffic was light, and I was soon at the Volvo Cave. The clouds had burned off, and the AC in Air Volvo took a while to get me comfortable–it was very bright and now very hot.

I spent a short time at home. I signed up for the new board game Evolution of Ideas by Vital Lacerda on Kickstarter and then sent a note to Richard, my PDX gaming guru, and he reminded me that this is not my favorite type of game. I just good not resist the FUMO. He thought it funny as we discussed how we would resist another brain-burning game from Lacerda. He said we could work on how to play together. While getting texts, I could hear Richard laughing in my mind.

Next, I had some popcorn while I watched ShipHappens on YouTube. They are rebuilding a WW2 ship, and it is interesting.

After that, I headed to WildWood Taphouse, had a beer with JR, and chatted for a while. After JR left, I finished the blog, writing for a few hours.

Thank you, JR, for the beer. Thank you for reading!

 

 

Today the hardest item was to learn that Susie is down to 69 pounds and was not interested in eating today. Ask Susie, and she will not remember breakfast (or the lack of it). We have added Ensure and upgraded to Ensure Plus Protean, and Susie is still losing weight. Michelle Nixon and her staff at the hummingbird house need a working care plan for Susie, which may mean moving to hospice or end-of-life care for Susie–just options now. Barb, Susie’s sister, is coming next week, and Susie may bounce back. Also, Susie got better and graduated from hospice care last time. It is not unusual to see this. A new set of medical folks focused only on comfort and care often brings someone back from the edge–it is the nature of these things.

It is a lot for me to deal with, as you can imagine, dear reader. And while it is best not to indulge in beer and food as a solution, I might try some to help here at BJ’s Brewhouse with my usual waiter Eric. I did change my order and went with the chicken. Someone else ordered it, and it looked so good. Eric and I agreed to go that way tonight. I listen to experts (unlike many people) and find their advice often the best.

Warning, liberal statements: BJ’s Brewhouse has changed some staff. The gal from Philly is no longer here, and the assistant manager has left. The bar staff is the previous waiters for the bar, a couple. But Eric is still here (and Mo on other days), and the food is still good. The bar, while you won’t get rich in Oregon, with a high minimum ($14.20) wage (plus tips), a good crowd, and high-end items on the menu, will make it worth your time. Now if I were in Idaho, the food would suck, and the service would be terrible as the wage today is $3.35 (with tips). The entree would be $5 less (from what I can see on the menus on the Internet). If you believe that folks making $3.30 an hour are who should bring you food (remember, the wage covers the cooks and most of the staff), then you are braver than me.

Aside: A tipped minimum wage is $7.25 an hour nationally, with the employer having to make up the difference. Thus, in Idaho and other states with low payments, the worker must do multiple tables to reach the minimum. So when you are at a pancake place in one of these low-wage states, please tip the poor staff, even when they are so rushed they can barely talk to you. They have to work to break breakneck speeds to crack their nut.

Returning to the narrative, I started the morning tired, and I woke before 6AM and rested until 7AM, skipping breakfast (and my pills in error). I cleaned up and dressed. Next, I boarded Air Volvo and rushed to work. Traffic (school is out) was light, and I was early. I did my first Zoom meeting, found some breakfast and coffee (Starbucks tasting of capitalism), and continued my day. My boss brought me a crisis of the moment, and I had to work on that issue until lunch. There were other crises of the moment that I explained (a miss on data conversions) and continued to identify the absence of testing as new tickets (software bug fix requests) showed that integration had never been run end-to-end until go-live, ugh!

I was distracted by my task, but soon I had jambalaya for lunch from one of the trucks provided for us. Excellent. I sat with the master data governance engineering team, the central team I support, and had a biz director join us, Scott R. It was nice to see him–we go back to the beginning of Nike’s use of the software SAP.

After lunch and hanging out with our team and Scott, I saw Susie at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. I arrived without issue or much traffic and woke Susie in her recliner in the shared living room. Susie wanted to see the park, so Jennifer moved Susie to her wheelchair, and we headed out into Metzger Park. The smoke has stayed to the East (with the Columbia Gorge blowing most of the smoke away), and the warm temperature (nearing 90F or 34C) was comfortable in the shade.

Susie seemed to wake up and feel better once we got to the park. She watched the people and dogs with interest (lots of dogs with most on leashes). Susie chatted with Leta, and we saw the butterflies spinning in circles again. Soon, I needed to head back to work, so I took Susie back to hummingbird house and then kissed her goodbye with a promise to return on Friday.

Work included more crisis of the moment and discussion of standard approaches to error recovery. Nothing to cover here (boring). I did the last status meeting at 4:35 and listened to more tickets of avoidable failures (thinking: f**king test the integrations!), wisely making no comment about the obvious.

My trip home was fast, and soon I was headed to BJ’s to have a meal and try to find my calm. While I did poorly on calm, the food and booze were excellent.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

Just a short story today, as it was a typical work day. I started by waking with my alarm at 6AM and then sleeping in until 6:30. I rushed to be in the office at 7:30 for my first meeting. So no breakfast or even liberal coffee, and Air Volvo left a few minutes late, but the traffic was light (school is out), and I was in my first meeting without being late.

After the meeting, the status of defects meeting for the following software install (in late December), I found coffee (with cream) and a muffin and fruit for breakfast. The project provided breakfast and lunch today.

My lunch today was a spicy chicken burrito from a food truck. This time you had to supply a meal ticket from the front desk to get lunch for free lunch. The burrito was excellent and made my mouth burn. I had lunch with the BASIS team (the platform team for SAP software).

I found myself free as there were no issues for our team and left to see Susie at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Again, the traffic was light, and I was soon there. Air Volvo’s instruments said it was 104F which is wrong (40C, it is over by ten degrees when the Volvo sits in the sun), but it was very uncomfortable until the AC cooled the interior of passenger spaces.

Susie has lost more weight, down to 69 pounds, and this is concerning as we have taken action to increase her calories. But Susie is not in pain and feels safe at the hummingbird house, and I visit every day. Susie had trouble staying awake with me today, but she did better when seated in a wheelchair and staying on the porch, which with not too bad with the warm breeze at 90F (32C). We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and chatted there. Susie started to show signs of the hot air putting her to sleep (I, too, was feeling relaxed!). I went back into the AC with Suse and kissed Susie goodbye; Susie was headed to a nap. Air Volvo, hot again, took me back to the office without incident and little traffic.

Work was not exciting, which is a good thing when installing software. I did some research and talked to some folks about my new work. Soon, it was past 4:00, and I was tired, so I headed home to Air Volvo. Everything was fine at the Volvo Cave (I had set the AC to 85F to save money and not to waste power), and it was still comfortable in the high 70s. I microwaved yesterday’s dinner and overate BBQ chicken with couscous. I finished the science show Order and Disorder, which covered Information Theory, and covered Alan Turing’s contribution to science–the definition of a computer and computability.

I ate my dinner and then took a nap, I was feeling weak, and breathing was difficult. Then I saw the sky–grey from smoke, and I checked: lousy air. I had not checked, and being outside in this stuff is not good for me. I rested for a while and then wrote this blog.

Be safe. Thanks for reading!