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We are in a slow, areal (new word for me) flood, and the waters around the house are rising. The water in the corner of the backyard is three inches deep this Sunday morning; I am writing this blog on Sunday morning. I am working for the shoe company on Sunday and watching the rain from my in-home office. It rained overnight and by the morning, was about 2.25 inches, with more coming. Yes, November is damp in the Greater Portland Area in the Pacific Northwest.

Returning to yesterday, I started on Saturday by waking at 7:30 to be ready for my first meeting at 8:05. I had enough time to make coffee and an NYC bagel (thanks, Joyce and Smiths-Kramers). The sky was blue, and we were drying out from a windstorm and rain that blew hard all night. Most of my trees are now just empty sticks pointing at the clouds.

It is Mom Wild’s (Barb) birthday. I managed to reach here while doing some crafting with my sister and then at dinner. Happy birthday, Mom! — Actually, her birthday is the 3Dec2023. I always am too early as I want the gift to get there.

I also reached Leta, Susie’s mom, who is bored and frustrated in The Willows in East Lansing. Leta is making some progress, but also some setbacks. She was happy to get a call on her cell (these calls connect to her hearing aids), and if you know Leta, please connect with her if you can.

Leta can be found at The Willows, 3500 Coolidge Road, Room 302A, East Lansing, MI 48823.

The morning was following along on email and Slack channels. I have no tasks, so I am primarily a tourist–I cannot change the outcome. I filled in for approvals occasionally, but nothing came up on Saturday.

So, in between steps, I did laundry and dishes and had a pear (thanks, Kathy and Martin) for a snack (remembering my A1C numbers). I showered and dressed and continued to follow the activities of the project by using my Nike laptop and my phone. At noon, I headed to a local Mexican place, Tapatio: Mexican Restaurant, and had a bowl of soup and a small beer (again, remembering my A1C numbers). I then returned in Air Volvo, in light rain, carried me back to the Volvo Cave and my home office. I discovered that Doctor Who special number 2 was released on Disney+, so I watched it.

This new special with the return of David Tennant was a bit more scary and had lots of running. It did feel a bit nostalgic, and the story seemed, at first, very shallow and repetitive, but it was a surprise, and I liked where they went. So good, I think.

Aside: Disney+ has taken over the distribution of Doctor Who in the USA.

I spent the afternoon online following along. I also planted a cedar tree that Susie and I got together and have been waiting in a bucket to plant. It was not looking too good, but I hope it will make it (currently, it is in the puddle that replaced the backyard’s far corner. The rain was light. My new coat did not appear and seems looping between trucks and sort facilities. I could speculate that the coat was pilfered, but I hope it appears soon.

Sadly, I am not sure I will keep the coat. I have to check the fit and whether it is what I want. It is hard to tell from the photos. This is the usual issue with buying clothing on the internet/Amazon. Then, trying to get it delivered adds more challenges.

I forgot that on Thursday, I stopped the leak in the shower handle by using plumbing tape. It is back to a minor drip, which, while not perfect, will do.

I warmed up some India-style chicken I made a few days ago for dinner while the 4:30 Zoom status meeting spun up. This is the end-of-shift meeting. When asked for an update, there was a kerfuffle when our lead answered truthfully we were waiting. This created some consternation, but soon, it was determined that everything was in progress.

I had some time to watch a How-to-Play video on Nucleum, a new board game that Richard has acquired. This one promised to be like Brass but kinder, with all the scoring options that have flooded newer Euro games. In the dark and damp, with the next storm starting (and later causing flooding), Air Volvo headed to Richard’s house in Portland. I was on time and found everyone already there. A three-person game: Richard, Kathleen, and me. I scored last but I was with twenty points of Richard. Kathleen nearly lapped us!

Aside: Players usually like a certain color. Richard is always red, Kathleen is blue, and I am usually yellow.

The game is a non-mean resource management and worker placement game. It also energizes buildings that look much like Brass’s trading system. The most exciting idea is that the track is the tile that lets you do an action. Thus, if you lay track, you have fewer options until you buy them.

Aside: a mean game is one where every move removes options and may interrupt other players’ plans. While mean games are not always welcomed, their play and style are excellent and can be a joy to play once you get used to the constraints. Thus games like mean games Brass and John Company can be quite enjoyable.

I was not completely thrilled with some of the scoring processes, but Kathleen told me you must direct your actions to update your technology track and score. Generally, like Concordia (a simpler game), the points are in building things, especially buildings. I see Kathleen’s point, and we all look forward to another game of Nucleum, a new favorite, and I will push to build. Despite being complex, the gameplay was smooth, and we had only a few dives into the manual.

When we finished, I drove Kathleen home; she is headed to Germany for her holiday and may or may not make the next game. So we made a point of chatting for a while and sharing Christmas wishes.

The flooding had not started, and the puddles were their usual size. I had no trouble on the bridges and reached home without issue in Air Volvo.

I went to bed after taking my meds and a few trisket crackers. You can’t take these meds on an empty stomach without nausea. I managed to sleep through the storm without waking.

Thanks for reading.

I decided to rest and go slow on a work-from-home Friday. I started the day at 7:30AM and had gone to bed a bit early for me, before 11, and actually slept instead of reading beyond midnight. I was woken by a nightmare and was shocked to see it was only 12:20ish. There was a wind advisory, and the rain and wind were loud. I could hear the gutters overflowing with the leaves stuffed in them. One of the possible updates for the house is screens or other anti-leaf technology, but for $60-100 a year, I can pay my neighbor or lawn service to clear them. So, while not cheap, it seems like a proper economy to still pay them to clear the gutters, and it gives me a chance to help folks who need pocket cash. The storm took down most of the leaves (my apple trees still holding onto some apples and leaves), so it should be time to get someone to clean up the gutters.

Aside: The previous gutters were held together with paint and the Mount St. Hellens ash that had created a cemented bottom. While I am not looking for another ash fall (I was not here for the last one), the ash was a form of fertilizer, and it strangely protected various items like my old gutters, and I suspect it is why the previous roof lasted way beyond its expected life.

I rose and found a pear for breakfast (thanks, Kathy and Martin) with liberal coffee, Equal Exchange procured from the local dispensary, and walked, with a bit of the pain returning (f**k), to the office. At the risk of repeating this every working day, I read emails, Slack channel updates, and some news to prepare me for my day. I then attended the Zoom status calls until about 10. After that, trying not to sound like a boilerplate, I showered, dressed, and got ready for my day.

Lunch was an adventure. I defrosted, using running water, chicken thighs, boneless and skinless, and made a cream and tomato curry from the 666 Curries cookbook. I used a locally made garam masala and fresh ground cardamom instead of pods. This made it spicy, and my lips, I think, went a bit numb. Maybe less next time. Still, it was good with reheated naan. I made enough of the chicken for a few reheatings. I will see if the spices settle over time.

I did a few more meetings, and with the project being installed this weekend, there were the usual last-minute fixes. I tried to help get the important stuff done without violating any audit requirements–a delicate balancing act in IT. It was quiet by 4PM, but I stayed online until bed. Just watched Slack and work emails on my iPhone.

I did leave the house and took Air Volvo to get dinner–I was not going to make dinner after all the cooking for lunch. I got the spicy chicken sandwich from Popeyes (another reason my A1C is high again). I continued to watch.

I started closing my Quicken books for my finances for November. This means reading every transaction I have recorded and checking my balances. I hosed up the checking account balance and adjusted it to get it back. One of the transfers is wrong, referencing the wrong account or repeated, but I am not going to spend that much time to find –these are my books, and I can live with it. I spent hours trying to find it last week. If I spot the issue later, I can easily find and remove the manual adjustment. I have to wait two weeks for statements and so on to close November and put it in a binder–I have paper everything for the IRS all in binders (they like paper).

Aside: The squirrels and birds are happy to have water-soaked apples still hanging on the tree.

I checked myChart, and my results are there and my doctor has reviewed them. My lab results, except for my A1C (no surprise there), are good. I must return to the “nuts and twigs” diet and start walking again to lower the A1C. That leaves the brain scan for 2023 medical things (so many jokes) on 14Dec2024 to ensure that hearing loss is not caused by some other factor (unlikely).

I decided to take the evening off. I decided to try The Witcher on Netflix, and I remember being ambivalent about the cable show when it first came out (based on a video), but it is pretty good, and the jokes are good. I will continue re-watching and then hit the new season.

I went to sleep a bit early. The travel, the holidays, grief, and the dark gray skies have seemed to accumulate to make me tired. Time to rest, but just for a little while! There is so much to do and see!

Thanks for reading! Grammarly has likely got a new update as it is shredding and fixing–not a good combination. I think I have undone all the damage. Let’s hope they get it working better soon.

Today has been a strange day with me working from home for some of it, with my first Zoom meeting being at 7:30, then lunch at Nike WHQ, and then a doctor’s appointment, followed by a two and change hour wait for getting labs. So, it was a strange day. I had a urine test, so I could not pee for two hours, a difficult thing for a diabetic. Finally, done after 5PM with the lab closed, they did the blood and urine test. I thanked the folks for working late and reboarded Air Volvo. I then drove the short distance to Cedar Hills Pub, a McMenamins, ordered a Spanish Coffee (telling the bartender she could now play with fire, which she loved), ordered fries and the humus plate from the happy hour menu, and was ready to have a drink, eat, relax, and write this blog.

The phone rang, and I recognized the voice, “Yes, I can come back and have the other test done.” I asked the bartender to hold on to my drink and food, and I would be right back. I got back into Air Volvo and drove quickly to the lab. I did have an issue at a multi-way stop when nobody wanted to go, and then everyone went, but I managed to escape without any paint loss. It was dark and wet, and I could not see who had a stop sign, but one side, which I knew had no stop sign, was stopping (!?), so we all were a bit confused. The big Mercedes SUV (large enough to moor) with its lighted symbol in its grill started hopping forward, as did my Volvo, but I hit the gas and cut in front, violating maritime law by not blowing my horn. I was tired of bunny hopping. I reached the lab without issue and soon had two bandages on my arm.

I returned with no extra hopping or maritime violations, and the bartender brought me my drink and food on my return to my seat at the bar. It was all good. I continued to write and drink, trying not to focus on today’s wasted time.

Returning to the start of the day, I was up at 6AM thinking I should just roll over. I had slept better but still woke at 5AM, the former 6AM before the time change. I slept just before my iPhone alarm returned me from Morpheus’s Realm. I found my slipper and robe, located the kitchen, and made coffee. I had a pear (thanks, Martin and Kathy, for the lovely fruit) and coffee to start my day. As usual, I read emails and Slack channel updates from work and read some of the news. I was ready for the 7:30 Zoom meeting, crossing the Earth from India to Oregon to Germany for a demo of some work being done for us by the vendor related to the new work I have started.

I am always happy to see software improve and technology move forward. While this may be some of the most boring and obscure technology, I was fascinated by how much it has changed and improved since the last time I tried to use it. I was excited and happy and could see future uses for the same stuff.

I missed many of my status meetings as this meeting ran over, but for such a boring and obscure topic, we all were asking questions and listening. Excellent. I did do one status/process meeting this morning. Next, I popped in the shower and so on, dressed, and was ready to leave by 11ish. I had lunch with Scott on campus.

I was wearing my new shoes, Zoom Air, and the pain was mostly gone. I am still having trouble with my gait returning to normal, and this makes my legs tire, but after Air Volvo got me to the Nike WHQ NYC garage, it was a lovely walk in the rain on the bricked-lined trails. I love the campus in the winter rains. The newish statue of Eliud Kipchoge looked great in the rain–like he was running.

I met Scott, he was early, at Serena Williams Building, and we hit the salad bar and found a table–we try to eat healthy when we meet. We talked about the project and travel plans. It was good to catch up.

Next, I drove to the Cedar Hills strip mall and had tea at the tea store. At 2PM, I was back in Air Volvo and attending, by call-in, a Zoom process meeting. It finished early, which was good as it overlapped my doctor’s appointment.

Doc was happy to see me but saddened by learning of Susie’s passing. I know he knows that a patient by her name has passed, but until he sees me and I say it, the context suddenly sharpens for him, and it hurts. He knows who she is now and is deeply saddened. I recount her passing in her sleep, and I can see he is visibly relieved to know that. He has me get labs and leaves me to schedule a new appointment. He hurries away, not to show his feelings.

The lab, as I have recounted, had me wait for two hours. That takes us a full cycle. I did order on Amazon a new coat, the same model and size as my current one. After more than fifteen years, my Carhartt coat is finally falling apart and tearing open. Time to retire it. I did that on my phone while waiting for my tests to be offered.

Well, that seems to be today. I did get an email, “Come to Lisbon,” I nearly did as it cost less than my next trip. So many places to see. Nice to have my passport back.

Addition: Spoke to Leta today, and she was a bit unhappy as her coverage is running out; I understand. Been there! The appeal is in place now and she should be OK for a while. It is hard not to let this BS get to you, I know, but I am hopeful she will get some more help and pull thru. We are pulling for you Leta!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was not a very interesting day; maybe that was the best part. It is time to be a little boring.

The day started at 6:15, with me waking from a now-forgotten vivid dream. As usual, I woke at 5AM (the pre-time change was 6AM) as my body seemed to be on daylight-saving time forever. No matter. I started and found the kitchen, still in the same place, but I am never sure about it, at 6ish. I just made coffee knowing that Nike was serving breakfast and lunch this week, as we are continuing to test the new software–food provided for the testing folks and the support (us). I took my pills, hoping to get to breakfast at Nike before any nausea started (I did avoid that). I read the email from work and my own, read status updates in Slack channels, and read some news. Thus, fortified with information, I was prepared to start my day. First, I showered, shaved, and so on to enable me to dress. I used both Arnica for pain relief in my left heel and Utterly Smooth to reduce/avoid nerve loss in my hands and feet. I completed my preparation by wearing my worn Nike’s.

I boarded Air Volvo in the cold morning, frost on the grass and roof but not on Air Volvo; I headed to Nike WHQ’s Swift building. I arrived there without issue. The roads and sidewalks were only lightly sprinkled with leaves. I took the elevator as my walking was quite unsteady with my heel pain.

Work started with Zoom status meetings until 10AM, and then a few more discussions followed. Lunch, a southwest-style grilled chicken salad, was served, and I read some news at my desk while eating it. In the afternoon, my walking was much worse, and my lack of balance was causing my back to hurt, making walking awkward and tiring. I was sleepy after lunch and walked around the building–I was exhausted by the short walk from the pain, and the limping. Ugh!

Swift was cold and getting colder. Tickets are open to fix this. Let’s hope it improves!

I decided I had enough of pain and cold and told my boss I was headed to the Beaverton Employee Store (BES) to replace my Jordon Air Force Ones (AF1) with a worn-away heel. I would also work from home on Thursday, as I have a 7:30AM meeting and an afternoon doctor’s appointment. Brad, my boss, agreed.

I headed out the door, entered Air Volvo, and drove directly to the BES. There, I found the usual AF1 shoes and tried them on. The padding was better, and the heel, of course, was not worn down. Much of the pain was gone. Brad had mentioned that he recently got some shoes, so I went to the extra-light running shoes and picked out an old favorite, Zoom Air, and found an electric blue (my name for the color) that fit well, and there was almost no pain. Excellent.

I purchased them at the employee discount and then carried out my purchases to a bench outside. I removed the old, worn shoes, put on the Zoom Air shoes, and then walked back into the store’s regular entrance. I stuffed the old shoes in regrind and walked back to Air Volvo, almost dancing as the shoes felt better. The Zoom Air bounces back and makes you want to run; perfect!

Aside: Air and Zoom Air are different cushioning systems.

With happy feet, I ran to the office; I returned to the Volvo Cave. I got the post, junk, and found a package. A box of pears without a card; I tried one, and they are excellent. Thanks to you who sent them!

I finished the day with one more Zoom status meeting. The teams produce work plans every quarter in a scramble over two days for the next quarter. This is then voted on, and anyone can stop it and ask for changes, but once accepted, everyone agrees to run the plan for the quarter. It is a great process and produces a detailed plan and support from the folks doing the work. They, after all, helped create the plan and even voted it in. This new plan was accepted today with a highly positive vote. I was a tourist this time as our team is assigned 100% on a project, so we have no work to plan outside the project. Still, it was fun to be part of it and to feel all that positive energy.

After that, I rested for a bit and then got up and ate reheated pasta with ground beef I made a few days ago while watching a newish movie. Twenty-five years ago, the SciFi show Babalyon 5 ended. This year, they made an animated movie that revisits the middle of the Babalyon 5 storyline from the TV show–just a few bucks to purchase. A few voices are new actors as a few could not participate, and many, sadly, passed away. The animation is not great; the cartoon look resembles the Warner Brothers Batman series.

While the movie at first dragged, it found (often like the original show) its groove about 1/3 way into the story, and suddenly, the jokes and humor of the old show reappeared. The gallows humor is especially great. I was laughing non-stop after the 1/2 point. But, dear reader, I loved the show and know the characters well, so if you are a fan, watch it; otherwise, maybe not.

I am tired; the pain has worn me down. I wrote the blog early so I could read or nap tonight. Thanks for reading!

 

The day started with me waking with my alarm at 6:15. I had slept poorly and woke a few times, and as usual, around five, I finally fell into a deep sleep to be blasted awake after six. I was thinking about starting my day and realized I had fallen asleep sitting up. It was going to be a hard day!

I found the kitchen, now sort of awake; it was still in the same place. There, I made liberal coffee and an NYC bagel (thanks, Joyce and Smiths-Krammers) with cream cheese. I took this to the office and read emails from my accounts and Nike’s, enjoyed Slack messages, and was generally informed for my day. I took my meds–not forgetting. I showered, shaved, and all of that to be ready for work. Dressed, I collected my Nike laptop, coat, hat, and scarf (a Manchester United one from when ManU was served by Nike). Air Volvo managed to get to Nike WHQ without incident, and the number of school buses was limited to a few. The army of leaf blowers was building piles, so I drove around the empilers. 

I parked and took the elevators. My left heel was still hurting, and now my leg was tired of the limping, too. I found that breakfast was still being served, and I had a croissant and some bacon, second breakfast–so hobbit, while I did my first three hours of meetings. I then discussed some issues, and I cannot discuss this here, but I was dissatisfied.

I called Leta from work, and she was just finishing dinner. She looked better and was unhappy with a few things at The Willows. It was all a good sign, and nothing seemed worse and a few things better. Leta is working on ways to return home by getting some devices to help her put on socks and pull up her pants with just one hand. Leta is trying to get better and return to her home. Excellent.

I had lunch, again supplied by the project, and it was pretty good: Chicken teriyaki, pot stickers, steamed bok choy, plus rice. I read news and articles to get my head back into the game. I did a few hours of more meetings. I also saw a truck light up over the long line of leaves made by the leaf blowers and started to vacuum up the leaves. Fall here is about leaf control.

Mariah sent me a text with the promise that Von Ebert had changed its way and returned to chicken wings that are so good the chickens volunteer. I, at first, could not believe that Von Eberts in the Pearl District in Portland had repented after servicing cheaper products and was now offering the heavenly smoked large wings again. Mariah reassured me that Von Eberts had mended their ways. Always willing to forgive, I agreed to return to Pearl District and sample the fowl products.

Why yes, the blessedly good wings are back, and the beer is the same with me enjoying their Volatile Substance IPA. We talked about writing my travels and some future traveling plans. Mariah will hook up with a graphic designer she knows to make the posters for Susie’s Celebration. Mariah may meet me in New Orleans at the end of January. I plan to start my book there by using this blog as the basis. I may include some extracts of Susie’s writings to let her words tell some of her story. I will do that while enjoying New Orleans.

We headed out early, having had an early dinner, and I got to try out the wide shoulder of Highway 26 when cars suddenly stopped. Instead of slamming the brakes, I pulled Air Volvo’s wheel hard and into the wide shoulder and escaped scratching any paint.

After that, there were no more events, and I was soon home. In the mail was my passport card, which is only usable in the USA and Mexico. I got my new passport a few days ago. The rest of the mail was junk. A package did appear, and it contained another Gearing Class US Destroyer model 1/700 scale (small) and a dry dock modeled after the Navy drydock in Boston. I will use this and the other model and extra parts to build a model of DD-840, my dad’s destroyer USS Glennon, in the late 1950s version before the Gearing destroyers were rebuilt for extended life in the Cold War.

I have been laughing and enjoying the new Sherlock Holmes novel, The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, by Lyndsay Faye. The story “Memoranda Upon the Gaskell Blackmailing Dilemma” has Holmes telling the story of the case that delayed him in the cannon Baskerville case. He makes comments on how great a man Watson is but criticizes the romantic description Watson writes. It is fun to read, “he has written of women shaped like women (surely unsurprising)” and other complaints. Lyndsay Faye purports to tell the stories between the cannon stories and tells convincing stories with a bit more modern language but still sounds like the famous detective from Doyle. I will return to the cannon soon to compare, but I am enjoying it (Faye’s Holmes has more humor than I remember in Doyle’s, and I like it). I make take a spin at a Holmes story.

Aside: the 1980s Steampunk version of Call of Cthulhu role playing game (RPG), Cthulhu by Gaslight, had a horror-based Holmes story. I reworked the story ten years ago and played in a Spy version of Savage Worlds RPG. I loved rewriting the adventure to work for Savage Worlds and to make some improvements. I even built a little model of Stonehedge for the big finish: Moriarty, now a powerful sorcerer summoning the Lovecraftian forces to ruins. I might have to write another story or adventure with Holmes and Watson!

I am cold tonight, and the pain is in my back, too. I also have a doctor’s appointment, previously planned, on Thursday. The MRI scan of my head is on 14 Dec to see if there is any cause for my sudden loss of hearing. I am trying to fit the medical expenses into this year for tax efficiency.

I just keep going! Thanks for reading.