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I am writing this on Thursday (not Saturday as I wrote originally!?) morning as I was up late. Somehow, it is sunny with blue skies on a Thanksgiving in the greater Portland area! I slept in, so I am a bit late writing, but I have no plans for today until the late afternoon.

Starting backward, I reached the Volvo Cave at 12:20AM, already Thanksgiving, from the short drive from the local strip mall’s Doctor Feelgood pool house and dive bar. Corwin, who used to live with us, and Andrew (Corwin’s best friend) had decided to tie one on and were slamming through Hefeweizen-styled beers. We talked and drank for an hour plus change, and I had two lighter beers. I got a text from Corwin while I was in the newly released movie Napoleon, and I called him after the movie and was invited to the nearby Doctor Feelgood.

This is a 2:30 runtime show; even then, it seemed abbreviated. As a subject, Napoleon would fill three movies or more of the same length. The last book I read by the same title was four inches thick. This movie was a spectacle, and the characters necessary shallow, but I enjoyed it. I think only camera work or clothing will likely earn awards, as the acting, while excellent, never seems to be more than a distant mirror of these impossible-to-know historical figures. Recommended if you like action films and don’t mind being part of the battles where there is blood everywhere.

Before this, I microwaved the last of the Indian-style chicken I had made a few days ago. Still excellent. I had been reading more newly written Sherlock Holmes and resting. Lunch had not settled well, and I regretted finishing most of the Cashew Chicken. I also had my colon deciding it wanted attention, and that meant a few sudden visits. I was experiencing the cork and champaign issues I have had before. After losing 25cm of my larger colon, the last bit, I cannot always feel the need to go, and things can get backed up, and I find I pop the cork and then need to run back to the restroom and empty the rest. So, the early afternoon was a partial loss.

I also booked my flights, hotel, and car for my next trip: San Antonio (again) and then driving to New Orleans. It’s always fun to set something in place that you look forward to. My crazy plan is to fly to San Antonio on Friday, 19th January, First Class, with enough luggage for a week (two bags checked, I think), hang out with Zorida for the weekend (and get a haircut), see more of San Antonio, and then on Monday 22nd January drive eight hours or more to New Orleans. I will be staying there at Le Richelieu in the French Quarter (they don’t charge parking for the smallish SUV I am renting). On Sunday, 28th January, I will return the SUV to the New Orleans Airport and return to Portland via a connection in Dallas, but sadly, only one flight is First Class.

Aside: First Class charges nothing for two pieces of checked luggage and does not do any extra charges for seats. I ran the trip as a cheap flight and discovered $60 a piece of luggage charges (each way!) and $200 for a reasonable seat on the flights. Thus, $60x2x2 + $200 equals Michael flies First Class. F**k it!

I baked a pumpkin pie. Yes, Glenda, I use my usual methods for canned pumpkin. This is the same pie I make every year, and while I used Vietnamese cinnamon and did plane off the nutmeg from a well a nutmeg, it is mostly the same.

I will not repeat the story here, but making this pie from the recipe from a can of Eagle Brand Condense Milk is a tradition. I think this recipe is now only found on their website, and I reproduce it for you all. There is still time to make one!

I did laundry, dishes, and paperwork while following along at work until about 4PM. It was a quiet afternoon, as you can imagine. I met Scott for lunch, and we went to the Chinese restaurant that left me stuffed. We talked about work (plotting?) and caught up. Scott found me in the nearly empty Swift Building (every time I write “Swift,” I think of Taylor Swift songs), and we then traveled to lunch (all Nike food service was closed for the holiday).

Three others and I showed up at the building. Jatin came and sent him home as it was cold (weekend heating), and all he would be doing was using Zoom anyway. I should have spent the day working from home.

Changing back to the start of the day, I was up at 6:30AM, giving myself a 30-minute break today, and had a quick breakfast of bread and coffee–my homemade bread smeared with butter and low-sugar jelly. I doubted the wisdom of going to work today but popped into Air Volvo armed with my Nike Laptop and badge. I arrived after experiencing non-traffic and parked in the best parking place–there was nobody there, I was sure now. The doors were locked, and I had to use my badge, which did work. The desk staff was there but agreed this was crazy as they had almost no customers. I was alone in my area, and as I said, the heat was on the weekend, and the lights were out. If you did not move enough for the sensors, the lights would turn off; it’s always a bit disconcerting when you are suddenly in the dark again (so many IT jokes come to mind–but I will forego the usual cynicism). I did the change control Zoom meeting, the only formal meeting I made today. I missed the group stand-up while talking to one of the others in the building. We were talking about data explosions and archiving, and I lost track of time (again, so many jokes and more of the usual cynicism).

Moving back, I slept well and was surprised by yet-another-Northern-California-like day in the Greater Portland Area. Sorry for the rest of the world, but Global Warming is making our winters less gray. We will miss you, Pacific Island nations, but at least we can rake our leaves when they are dry and crunchy now (oops, cynicism got in).

Thank you for reading, and for the locals, enjoy the first dry Thanksgiving weekend in memory!

I am enjoying the changing of laptops today. I can’t quite get the keys in the correct order or the right one. My Nike laptop and Apple are just a little different, and when I work on the Nike laptop all day, the Apple becomes a trial of backspaces and everything switching to capitals as I miss the shift and hit the shift lock instead. Tonight, after playing a game with Z at the church, the rains returned in the pure dark–no moon and indeed no stars. We were blessed with blue skies and leaves drying out for two days.

At Nike, I saw an army of ten men with leaf blowers forcing a wall of dried leaves into long walls to be sucked up by a vacuum truck. Getting rid of the leaves is life and death here. We need the rains and their resultant water to flow. We cannot have everything blocked by masses of leaves. We remove them and compost them. Otherwise, we face flooded homes and roads, deeply flooded.

Returning to the start of the day, I started after 6AM when my alarm went off. I had worked on yesterday’s blog beyond 11PM and woke to prove hydration a few times. I also am suffering with my arm hurting when I try to reach with it, and my left heel is sore, possibly ruining my trip to look at historical ships (not a buying trip) in San Diego (while I love nautical things, I get seasick easily). Dondrea has recommended Arnica gel, and that has helped some. I will not change my plans, but I might have to use more Ubers than I thought.

I rose and found the kitchen and the last banana, and I cut a slice of my baked bread (no-kneed bread from the NYT recipe) and covered it with butter and some low-sugar jelly. I made almost the last of the NYC Zabar’s grind (thanks, Smiths-Krammers) and carried the coffee and my breakfast to the office.

I did the usual reading of emails and Slack channel updates. Nothing was critical, so I went to my Apple, read the news and my emails. I downloaded the transactions from Quicken, but I have made a hash of the transfer to US Bank, so I need to spend some time rebalancing, finding the mistake, and catching up on the transactions.

I showered, dressed, and boarded Air Volvo, limping on my left side, and put my Nike laptop on the co-pilot seat (it is not heavy enough to trip the airbag–there is a display for that on a Volvo; you can tell the Volvo that the weight is packages and not a person and thereby turning off the airbag). I arrived at a near-empty parking lot and parked in the front. Nobody from my team other than my boss was in today.

With nobody in my area, I just did my Zoom calls sitting at my usual desk. I had to read and approve a few items. I also got clearance from my boss, Brad, to take another trip for the last full week of January. I blocked my calendar, updated other’s calendars that I would be out then, and put in for the time off. I saw that my official Paid Time Off (PTO) totals were three days higher now. The first correction has been done.

I contacted Grace United Methodist Church and now have the 18th of May reserved in Michigan for Susie’s Celebration.

I called Leta in the afternoon, and she was happy to answer, not from the hospital but from The Willows in Lansing for physical therapy. Leta was glad that one of the folks built a special splint for her hand to help reduce the swelling and help the nerves get back to working as expected.

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

I reached lunchtime and headed out of the buildings on an excellent, dry fall day like you would see in Northern California but not in the Pacific Northwest. Twenty years ago, we would not see the sun except for a few days in January for six months, but not now. Before, we would have hard freezes and black ice on the parking lots, with folks falling when getting out of their vehicles and getting hurt- yes, really. We are not seeing that now.

I have been meaning to try Frank’s Noodle House, so I drive a short distance and walk in. It is sit down, and I order a plate of noodles, which I got. It’s not the best thing for a diabetic! It was good, and I would say the handmade noodles were chewy and good, but not again. I will look for Pho or Korean instead. I like the broth and smaller noodles better.

Air Volvo returned me to Swift, and I parked in the front again. More folks have exited for the holidays, and it is getting quiet. I talked to my boss a few times about issues with data access, copying, and APIs; nothing I can share here. I return to my desk, alone in our area, and work for hours on getting the 2024 team vacation tracker ready. It is a tedious task to rebuild a calendar for 2024, but it has to be done, and I want to put my PTO in it, so I recreated the new calendar for 2024; it took hours of manual work. I did not mind refreshing my Excel skills on the more recent version, and it took me a while to remember and find all the new icons. All good.

I was done with that in the late afternoon and left a nearly empty Swift building, at 4ish. I headed to Beaverton and Shack Burger place. It was light traffic, and I soon found the strip mall was not yet busy. And I quickly found a parking spot. I had the avocado and bacon cheeseburger with fries and a small Diet Coke. It was terrific, and the burger was not that large. The fries were well-cooked and not oily. Excellent.

I reread the rules of the board game Ottoman Sunset while eating, looking for a way to improve my last play. I think I needed to use more resources to force back the invaders. This is a solo game with you playing a simulation of the Ottoman Empire (and the Young Turks) in 1914-1918–just survive the events of history to win. I was unsuccessful the first time I played it, and I need to play more aggressively from what I can fathom.

After food, Air Volvo took me in light traffic to First United Methodist Church in Beaverton, near the fountain and library, to meet Dondrea and Z. Z was free to play some games tonight. I was early and took a nap in Air Volvo, but soon Z and Dondrea showed up, and Z and I agreed on the board game Concordia, my all-time favorite game (thank you, Will, for teaching it to me so many years ago). As Z did not remember the game that well, we played the basic rules on the original board of the Roman Empire. In the game, each player is a Roman family trying to build the most efficient trading house. The players pay for resources and money to build new trading houses. Extra staff is represented by cards, and you can buy those for resources. The staff will generate money and resources and build trading houses. The game is played with each player playing a card, representing a staff member, and doing the simple actions the card allows. But the strategy is complicated, and the sequencing is mind-blowing.

Easy to play, simple, fast turns, and a challenge to sequence your actions to be efficient and fit with your purchased cards. The cards determine the scoring at the end. Z liked it again once she got into the game’s groove and scared me, but I managed to pull ahead by just ten points. A close game.

After the one game, it was a shorter night for choir practice tonight, we were done, and soon, the choir broke up. We also wished each other a lovely Thanksgiving, and I took Air Volvo back to the Volvo Cave. The rains returned as I drove back and would start to get heavy tonight. My lawn service works on Tuesday and all the leaves were gone–I am sure they enjoyed the dry leaves this time. That seldom happens, but maybe it is the new normal.

Well, that takes me full circle. Thanks for reading, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Today started with Leta having an issue with her swollen hand and iPhone. Instead of scrolling past my number, she tapped it (something we all have done) and called me at her time at 8AM. I woke at 5AM and saw that it was Leta. It was not someone wanting to sell me a warranty for my car or explain the Medicare plans they offer, but instead, it was Leta. I suspected she would apologize as it was an accident (if it had been Barb, her daughter, that early, I would have panicked). Leta was sorry to wake me, but I was happy she was using her phone. She was up at 8AM and feeling well enough to accidently call me. A good day. We both remembered Susie’s birthday, the 61st and had wet eyes as we talked. Soon, Leta rang off with more apologies, and I rolled over.

My alarm nearly launched me out of my bed. I had fallen asleep without remembering falling asleep, and my alarm brought me roughly back from Morpheus’s Realm. I was going to roll over and take another thirty minutes, but I suspected I would be busy; instead, I reached for my slippers and began my day. It was still dark. I found the kitchen and saw that the bread had risen (it was having an easier time than me), and after my first Zoom meetings, I would have to finish it. It was a work-from-home day. Nike will end work-from-home on Mondays starting 8 Jan 2024, as the direction is for everyone to work from the office four days a week. And while that may sound annoying, Nike shuts down in the summer for one week in August (with those who cannot do that getting a free week at a different time) worldwide, and the dates are already announced to help everyone plan their brake. This is given without reducing our Paid Time Off (PTO), which is unheard of in American companies.

I found a bagel (thanks, Smiths+Krammers and Joyce) and a banana with NYC Zabar coffee (thanks, Smiths+Krammers). Toasted and covered with cream cheese, the bagel and other items joined me in the office to start my day. Already, I was being looked for. I reviewed another last-minute fix for the software installation next month. More followed, and my colleagues and I were busy reviewing items and attending Zoom calls on status and process.

I slipped to the kitchen, pulled out the dough, pushed it around, and wrapped it. Fifteen minutes later, I set it on towels for the final rise. Now a bit floured and cornmeal-covered, I headed to the shower. I dressed and returned to more crises of the moment remotely on my Nike-owned and managed laptop. It sends a note often that something has recorded the laptop’s location–excellent. I also called Leta (but I forgot to call Grace UMC about Susie’s party optimistically planned on 18 May 2024 in Michigan), and we talked about how she is feeling and plans for her to move to a physical therapy facility. I had to suddenly ring off as another approval was pending for me. After I finished that task and with the boards clear for a moment, I headed to the kitchen.

Previously, I heated the oven with the smaller 5.5-quart Dutch oven inside. I pulled out the hot pan and popped the risen dough into the hot cast pot. Time to bake bread. I had put more salt than I wanted into the bread and was worried. An hour later, with the lid off after the first thirty minutes, the bread was done and crunchy. While I could taste the extra salt, the bread was still good. Next time, I will be more careful.

I reheated the pasta and chicken breast I made two days ago in the microwave. I could have saved 1/2 for another day, but I reheated all of it. Again, I will be more conservative next time. It was good. I watched some more videos while eating. Ocean Liner Designs is an excellent YouTube channel about everything about ocean liners, focusing on those that sank and famous ones (often the same thing). An hour-long show on HMHS Britannic, which was lost in 1916, was fascinating. I remember when the first information started being found about the nearly forgotten liner, the largest sunken ocean liner wreck ever. I remember reading somewhere that divers described it as one of the best dives, as the decompression is done in clear, warm waters over the wreck. You get to float above the wreck–the light reaches it in the clear water–as you slowly decompress and study it the whole time.

After that, most of my meetings were canceled for the holiday week–thus, the panicked morning to get things approved and moved. It was quiet. I tried some bread; it was slightly salty, as I said, but it was still excellent.

I rested a bit as I was tired from the disturbed sleep, and I must admit that between meetings, I was crying and, at one point, just sobbing with my head in my hands. It is a sad day, and I miss my wife. As a distraction, I read some excellent writing from Lyndsay Faye, who has taken up writing Sherlock Holmes stories and produced The Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes. I laughed at some of the inside jokes and the antics of Holmes retold by Watson, of course. The copyrights have been released, and all Sherlock stories are now in the public domain. Faye was writing in 2017 before the whole canon moved to the public domain, and she kept to the 1897 stories, which were in the public domain then. So far, I enjoyed it, and it helped me laugh today. Recommended.

I have a newly annotated early version (and cheaper) of the canon Sherlock Holmes as I want to try to write a story with Holmes and Watson. I need to read more of the stories and then try to adapt Watson’s narration style. I have read many other versions of Holmes, with Holmes and Watson vs. Cthulhu and Holmes studying in India and Tibet being some favorites. I want to write a story; maybe Holmes and Watson had a hush-hush adventure in New Orleans. More to come.

Work went on with me reading and checking in. A quiet day. I called Sedgwick today, and they said two days were approved but not the third day. They had no reason why the third day of family leave was not authorized (the day Susie passed). They will get back to me. I will contact HR and ask, once we resolve this remaining issue (putting aside why they told me a different story when they called me last time), to return the missing days of PTO. Endless is the paperwork of death.

I still have not heard back from Susie’s IRA. I sent in the forms. I will have to call them soon.

I sent a note to Grace UMC but have not heard from them. I forgot to call them while they were open. Their office closes at 1PM EST (three hours’ time difference).

I sent a rosemary tree with a star and lights to the hummingbird house from Jackson and Perkins. Rosemary was the herb for memory, according to the ancient Greeks. It is a gift to remember Susie and to help folks to remember.

I got some address corrections for the Fruit Cakes I send out soon.

I lighted a candle for Susie today. I use the whiskey-scented candle. Susie would like that.

Mariah texted me, millennials don’t call you, about dinner at BJ’s. We met at 7ish. Eric was there–our usual waiter and we all remembered one of Susie’s last birthdays outside of hospitals and facilities was there. Mariah ordered wine and my favorite red beer, but we almost ordered a Southern Comfort Manhattan with two cherries on the rocks, Susie’s drink. We both had the two-bone porkchop with the sweat sauce and veggies. I had a baked potato with butter and sour cream and a salad.

I am planning a trip to San Antonio on 19 Jan 2024 (in pencil) and then drive to New Orleans. Cheap flights are less than $500, and First Class is nearly $1600. I need to add a rental car (often the most expensive item) and pick a hotel downtown in New Orleans. I will revisit Zorida for the weekend and then head out. Once ensconced in a nice hotel in New Orleans, I plan to write and see the scary sites and maybe find that vampire bar I have heard about–you need a password. Exciting!

I will not be your host, but dear reader, if you want to overlap that week in New Orleans and meet me for beignets or something else, you are welcome. Mariah might come for a long weekend, and my sister Linda might be there too. But it is still in pencil, for now. It is not an invitation to my vacation, but if you want to overlap me and hook up a few times, you are welcome.

After dinner (we both missing Susie in the third seat for dinner), we headed our separate ways. Air Volvo, it now raining, got me home without incident, and then I started to write.

Thanks for reading.

Today started at 6AM, too early, and I started the blog early. Saturday’s blog is always long, 1,600+ words this time. So I started up and made coffee and drank too much of it. I was bouncing around after that— I need to stick to two cups!

I had yogurt, banana, and NYC coffee (thanks, Smiths+Krammers) for breakfast in the home office while I wrote and wrote some more. I watched the sunrise and remembered my father’s words a few years before he died, “There are so many sunrises left for me; I get up for them now.” I am not ready to get up every morning to see the sunrise, but I will someday.

The weather is wonky again. We are back to being in Northern California instead of the Pacific Northwest–the rains stopped in November (which seldom happens), and we had a partially cloudy day with sun breaks. The streets dried out! We have dry leaves in the street–oh my!

I finished the blog just in time to get ready for church. I showered, shaved, and so on to be prepared to dress. My gray suit today with a ruby vest and a Mandelbrot tie. I added the pocket watch and chain that so impressed everyone–it is cheap but looks the part. Black plain leather shoes and a black homburg hat finish the look.

I arrived a few minutes before service in Air Volvo, amazed to be driving on dry streets. Church, First United Methodist Church of Beaverton, was the usual service, and I, not thinking, got even more coffee. I sat in my familiar space, missing Susie next to me. Jean and Orville Nilsen, also gone ahead, are gone and used to sit behind us. I can almost hear the cloud of witnesses when I sit down to say good morning, and though we went ahead of you, we are happy to see you here today with us. My voice cracks unexpectedly on a few hymns as the words bring Susie’s passing back into focus. But, I manage only wet eyes.

Today, I noticed that the Pride Flag on our church that I replace often looks faded and worn. That has never happened before. Someone usually takes them by now. How nice that we might have to retire our first Pride Flag. I called out in our joys and concern at this moment.

Pastor Ken did an unusual, he said experimental sermon. He stated that he believes God created the Sabbath and sleep as gifts. God, the one shared by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, had set aside one day out of seven to rest and also created sleep to give us a release. We need to respect the Sabbath, but we need to accept sleep too. It is too easy to not respect that we need to sleep to be our best selves and to connect to the vision God has for us. That faith and rest allow us to lose the fear and night terrors brought by the arrows of the day. Pastor Ken was clear that he is not asking us to do yet-another-thing–actively manage sleep and rest–but to find what we already know, we need the rest that God created for us.

After church, I had, yes, more coffee, but I avoided the cookies, at least. Christmas cookies! Next, Air Volvo took me to Sherry’s and had lunch with the Rev. Anne and Dr.Rev. Wayne Weld-Martin. We had a pleasant lunch, and I ordered a too-large club sandwich. It mainly was bread with bacon somewhere with a hint of generic deli turkey and lettuce, but it was still strangely appealing. We did a little Thanksgiving planning as I am joining them for dinner on Thursday at 4PM.

We headed out, and Anne noted my tie, Mandelbrot, and asked me about it. The tie is a simple creation of the basic algorithm described by Mandelbrot that became popular when I was in college but decorated with colors for various values. The algorithm is repeated with the results from the previous and included in the next iteration, including imaginary numbers. The effect is a strange pattern produced by the imaginary numbers and repeating process. It has, I am now just remembering, no predictable pattern and is called Fractal. The same technique is used to create sort of random items, like tree branches, for computer graphics. Fractals are marvelous shortcuts for generating graphical backgrounds that look natural.

I said goodbye to the Weld-Martins until Thursday. Air Volvo got me home, and I returned to more ordinary clothing, read, and fell dead asleep for part of the afternoon. I managed to get started again and put away just a few items in the garage just to say I got something started.

My fairy lights started today. I had hung more of them yesterday. They looked lovely.

I reheated the Indian-style chicken I made a few days ago. I heated one piece of naan (flat bread) to go with it. I started rewatching the Sherlock episodes from the BBC show; I forgot how good the show was. I have all the seasons on my Apple. I watched while making my dinner and eating. I also made bread dough to rise, the no-knead loaf I like, and will finish it about lunchtime on Monday. This is the NYT recipe. I add more salt and a cup of grains to give it a more earthy taste–a mix from King Arthur Flour. This time I also added more water as the flour seemed to drink more water (I keep my bread flour in the frig to stop the ants from finding it).

Once I had the bread started (18 hours to rise), I finished dinner, put off finishing the Sherlock episode for another day, and returned to my office to write this blog.

For those wondering, I have Thanksgiving at 4PM with Anne and Wayne, as I said, and then a 6AM flight to San Diego, arrive there before 9AM, a room for two days at the US Grant Hotel, and will be back on Sunday morning on the 7AM flight back to Portland. All my flights are First Class (I finally burned some miles–seat 2A) and direct. I have Dungeons and Dragons at M@’s at 5:30 that same Sunday. I might fit going to church in there.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

I was up at 1:30 in the morning writing the Friday blog. I was still unhappy about the work issue, woke up, and could not sleep, so I got up and wrote the blog, and by 3AM, I was sleepy again. I was up before 8AM and was stuffed up, and I found my inhaler for asthma and soon felt better.

I started slowly dragging a little and breakfasted an NYC bagel (thank you, Smiths+Kramers and Joyce) with a banana and a cup of Zabar’s blend from NYC (thanks, Smiths+Kramers). I had cream cheese from my grocery shopping. I started washing my sheets and hung up the laundry from yesterday. I also put away clean dishes from the dishwasher and reloaded it with the few dirty dishes from the past few days. While all mundane tasks, their completion made me feel better and started to feel better–more awake.

I started back on my task for the morning. I continued clearing Susie’s paper blog on ice skating judging. I must have recycled 50 pounds of paper, including copies of the judging manuals, going back almost ten years. I found items on Susie’s skating that I retained. I returned all this to a chest we bought in our first weeks in the new house from Pier One housewares store (now gone). I also cleared a box that has been around the house for years. Back in 2012, before Susie’s depression and memory issues began, Susie paid all the bills, did all the laundry, and even worked a job selling fine women’s clothing. To my surprise, the box contained these records. I was able to recycle most of it. I will have to destroy some as they have current account numbers. I carried out various items that should not be in the dining room to the garage (a project in the future), and for the first time in a long while, the room was ready to be used again.

I dragged the Pier One chest from the wall (it came with a metal frame that holds it up off the ground and makes it easier to use), pulled out the chess table, and put it in the center of the room. I dusted off the chess table, retrieved my chess machine and its shiny wooden board, and set up the chess set. I had lost a vital cable! I found it on the table where I last played chess on the machines. Instead of using the King computer for my Millennium Exclusive Chess Computer – Emanuel Lasker Edition chess set (to celebrate the 150th birthday of the German campaign) or the Link, I could attach the new computer to the existing board and pieces. Holding my breath, it all worked together. The new computer is modern and uses a Raspberry Pi single-board computer, the more recent, faster version.

I had to play, and while I expected to be stomped, I had to know if everything worked and how it played. It played with three seconds of thinking time (default settings) and reminded me of flawless human play, unlike my old King. Excellent. I played against the Shredder 13.5 engine (I don’t know what that means), but my old nemesis, Stockfish, is also available. I am pleased with my insanely expensive chess set.

Aside: Modern chess has explored the opening and created the concept of a Line, a set of correct play, the Main Line. These are published in books that are inches thick with dense type. I have an older copy that does not have the typos of the newer versions (yes, you need the right edition–sort of reminds you of magic tombs). The new computer programs use this information to open and react to an opening. The computer has also been programmed with many insights discovered by exhaustive artificial intelligence (AI) chess studies. The machines are telling humans how to program machines. The results are incredible insightful play from the computers. Stockfish is one of the chess engines created from the fusion of human programming and AI insights. It is nearly impossible to beat.

I took another pasta jar, ran through the dishwasher, scrubbed off the wet labels, dried it, and added a hanging loop and a new lid containing fairy lights, a solar panel, and a battery. I also found my hanging hooks in the garage and used these to hang the new fairy light mason jar and two others I had made recently on the deck’s roofing beams (part of the deck is covered, so you can enjoy the rain without getting wet). Every early night, the deck is now lighted by jars of fairy lights. I love the look.

Satisfied I had done the right thing by buying a new tech level, I showered to remove the dust covering me and was ready to start my day out of the house. Evan dropped by while I was playing with the chess computer. I was trying other features. I have not had time to read the manual. Evan, who had apparently never seen the chess set before, got to see how it played–I backed off the checkmate and reran the ending for him.

We headed for Sushi Zen in the nearby strip mall and enjoyed the track Sushi for lunch. Evan ate his fast and was waiting for me. I find sushi exotic and eat it slowly. I never grew up with it, and I had it the first time at a work lunch in 1997 while working for Nike as an AS/400 Synon programmer. Sushi is something I continue to learn and explore.

I like to wait for my food to come to me in track places. I have one plate at a time unless a favorite appears. I let the smoked eel go to the gals beside me, who only had a few plates. The smoked eel is a good choice if you only have a few. The braver gal loved it, but the other would not eat a “snake.” I thought they both were right. I had green tea with sushi and enjoyed the experience. There was no more eel, so I had octopus proving again that we should let them live–fish-flavored rubber bands.

Finally, I paid the bill, and we headed to The 649. Natallia was bartending, and I had a beer and set up the Concordia, my favorite board game. Evan had a drink. We played a new board; I have plenty of Concordia boards, and we used the alternative wine and cloth mix card purchasing board. Evan started off strange but then flew through the game, impressing me with his knowledge of the game and its mechanics, and soon was ahead in building trading posts. I focused on getting colonists out. Evan bought many cards as he mixed his trading posts with cloth and wine, thus aligning with the alternative card purchasing board. Evan won by over twenty points by ending the game by building the last trading post before I could catch him. My colonist strategy was not enough to slide past him. I also bought specialist and Mars cards, but that was not enough. Evan had purchased the more usual cards, but they multiplied his count of cities and providence, which pushed his score way up, my usual plan.

I had another smaller-sized beer, and we reset Concordia with another smaller board (best for two players). I found my strategy needed to change on the small board and instead build wine trading posts (I prefer food and metal as they fit my usual colonist strategy). I covered the board with trading posts and did get all mine out. Evan got seven points for building his last trading post, but I got to play one turn and got all mine out, too. I had bought the more mundane cards, and on the small board, I had managed to spread out, and this was enough to win by about fifteen points.

I was coughing and suddenly unwell. I paid the bill and left Evan, finishing dinner. I got home and took my inhaler, and soon everything was fine again. I drove in the dark; after the time change, it was getting dark at 4PM. Traffic, for a Saturday, was stop and go, and I was a few minutes late after an hour’s drive that was twenty minutes before. There was some local flooding as the puddles were deep, and water flew up on the highway when folks hit them. I reached Richard’s without incident.

Shawn, Richard, and I played Voidfall, which I have described before. The board game was set up ahead of time by Richard (to save time), and I had a new faction with Dreadnoughts that looked much like the bad guys in various SciFi and Marvel movies. Strangely, I found myself less militant than my fellow players–something I have done in the last two games. I lost again, last place, but my best score so far–I keep increasing. I still like the game, but the wait between turns for the other players to find the perfect play is hard. I could play chess on my phone and Voidfall at the same time. I will try to attack more and get more agenda cards to knock my score into the two-hundreds next time. Instead of being bored, I watched the other plays and tried to guess what was happening. So, it’s all good.

Richard is looking for a brighter “burning candle” LED for his buildings. I gave him a build of a single LED using a coin cell. I will look for a brighter solution for him.

Air Volvo took me on what I call the space shuttle ramp onto the bridge, but there were no scary puddles on the bridge (five stories in the air). I arrived in Beaverton without incident, and then Air Volvo splashed through Beaverton, which had puddles on the main roads. The rain, the dark, and the puddles seemed to suppress the extra-legal driving and unexpected lane changes common on our streets. Air Volvo was intact when we arrived at the Volvo Cave.

I read almost to the end of my book, nearly falling asleep as the murder was unmasked, and this time I missed it. It was so obvious. I could not reach the end of the book as I was nodding off. I slept until waking to f**king early this morning on Sunday. But at least I could write a long blog and enjoy the sunrise.

Thanks for reading.