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I remember reading all those tax documents, and they said that until 59 1/2, you get this penalty and that cost. When I first learned the details of 401K and IRA retirement plans, I thought it would be forever before I reached that milestone. Now I am only six months away, and I was blessed to work for Nike (NKE) with its outstanding stock run up over my twenty-six years career, and thus my account balances are good (not great, but I am below the 8x by salary at 60 as the markets have been tough on 401Ks for a year).

My birthday morning had me trying not to rush, sleeping in until 7:30ish, and passing on going to church (which would require me to start at 6AM to make that work). The blog was nearly 2,000 words which took a few hours to write, as you can imagine, dear reader. While doing that, I had an NYC bagel for breakfast with cream cheese (chives flavor) and some capers with liberal coffee, Equal Exchange brand, made in my French Press. I tried to not rush my Birthday, as often happens; the day disappears too fast if I rush.

After dressing, I loaded the cargo bay in Air Volvo with my Dungeons and Dragons stuff and my Apple laptop. I headed towards Susie’s place, but seeing the time was close to lunch, I stopped at McDonald’s and ordered Dad’s favorite, missing him on my 59th birthday, and had a two cheeseburger meal with fries and a shake, Dad’s usual order. I then drove directly 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 and Michelle Nixon (owner of Allegiance Senior Care LLC) were waiting for me. They had a cake, balloon, and other items to celebrate my birthday and even sang Happy Birthday to me. Unexpected and very kind. Anassa, the weekend nursing aide, was there too and sang along. Next, Anassa moved Susie to her rocking chair in her room, and I pulled up the chair next to her.

As it was my birthday, I picked the movie. I went to Disney+ and selected Ratatouille, the Pixar/Disney movie about a rat that can cook. A mostly forgotten animated film (it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature) that suggests it is about a rat learning to cook, but instead is actually about learning to set aside your preconceived notion and privilege to recognize talent and pushing through to discover a better future for everyone. In this story, the sad, bad guy, played with anger by Peter O’Tool, loses everything to find a better and happier future by abandoning privilege. It is fun and about food and cooking (giving even a few lessons on kitchen etiquette). Still, the animated film is also a modern-day fable about discrimination’s cost and its resultant talent loss. The music, no singing, is wonderful, and the credits go on forever, allowing for the best credit music I have ever heard. Recommended.

Anassa moved Susie (she was complaining that her butt hurt after sitting so long) onto the bed, and Susie was comfortable now. I sat next to her in a chair while we listened to music from the Broadway Musical Moulin Rouge!

Cake in bed. We had a few slices of my chocolate on chocolate cake.

I stayed with Susie until I started to fall asleep in the chair (I could have soundly slept in the chair, but Susie always notices me not moving and then asks–loudly–if I am alright). Susie was unhappy and told me she “hates it when I leave,” but she relented and let me head out at about 4PM. I did cry a bit in the car on the way toward Dungeons and Dragons.

Louis is back for the evening (he and Jennifer were visiting family last week).

I stopped by Oak Hills Pub and had a Ruby Beer for my birthday and some cheeseburger sliders (still thinking of Dad). I read some news on my laptop, checked my phone for any events at work (none), and watched a Shut-Up-and-Sit-Down video on Brass (a board game I have, but they were reviewing the new version that I don’t have and is out of print). While the beer did not make me less sleepy, the break helped me escape the sadness and depression. I did not want to do anything anymore and wanted to just find a blanket to pull up and sleep the world away–depression turns everything you like into gray and unwanted work. Even knowing what it is, does not help you, and it is tough to break out.

Nothing like the near death of your 5th-level paladin character to break you out of depression! We had a combat-centric game that night. A running battle first in a city with endless bad guys (Matt V having an excellent rolled map that allowed the battle to run through a city for nearly fifteen rounds of combat–just roll it to the next area while rolling up the previous areas) was our first challenge. Next, we negotiated with pirates and agreed to take them on to our ship (the pirate agreeing it was “our” ship), avoiding another battle (Matt V, our DM, gave us inspiration for avoiding the battle). Finally, we found ourselves (our characters, but it can be immersive, so it does feel like you are actually doing this–not pushing figures on a board) in a ship-to-ship action. There I, my paladin character, took a critical hit while trying to rescue another character and spent some time being closer to my god, Death, as I was dying for a while (I play a lawful good paladin of Death–an unusual choice). My dying form was recovered and healed. I jumped right back in with a whole nine hit points–being a paladin of Death, I am never afraid of dying–it is part of the job.

The game board as we started into the ship-to-ship action. My figure is mixed in with those firing the ballista in front of our sailing-styled space jammer. I am guarding them against the pirate crew we added to the ship as per our agreement. I may be lawful good, but I am not lawful-stupid.

We did take a break from the non-stop combat to celebrate my birthday with brownies, with me blowing out a candle after everyone sang Happy Birthday to me. Excellent.

The night ended abruptly as we hit 9PM, our stopping time, with nobody ready for the action to stop. A good night of Dungeons and Dragons and the best cure for depression, like I said.

I returned home, the sadness returning a bit, but I went to bed early–I was tired. At first, I suddenly had trouble breathing; this happens when you focus on sleeping and suddenly can’t breathe. I just tried to be calm, and it went away.

I got up, had the next day off, and bought more pants and shirts from LL Bean. I must shorten the pants, but I like them and the shirts. My pandemic life had me only using two pairs of pants, one dress shirt, and one pair of Nike shoes. I am upgrading to multiple pants and shirts–leaving behind my days of wearing only t-shirts. It is something I decided to do for retirement (which I have put off, but the upgrade of clothing still is something I would like to do).

A bit later, I returned to bed; I went to sleep and managed to sleep the night through.

Thanks for reading.

The wreck of the RMS Titanic happened 111 years ago today. The ship had taken massive damage from striking an iceberg, and its single riveted steel plates took damage, until this time, unimaginable. Nobody believed a collision should open a 300-foot hole in the side of a ship. The ship was of the newest and safest design, but all the liners were running north to reach New York faster.

The ship and its water-tight compartments and the crew mainly were sacrificed to save those they could, about 650 souls, with the crew and passengers lost totaling over 1,500. The lights remained on a moonless night until the ship began to break apart after all but one collapsible boat had left the ship safely (one capsized with the 2nd Officer finding and organizing survivors, mostly crew members, to stand on the back of the boat until rescued).

While we should not focus on the terrors of that night, but when the lights went out as the stern raised out of the water, that was the last view of Titanc. The movies show something of the sinking, but it was pitch black, and the only view of the ship happened when something flashed. The only thing that could be seen of the wreck from the lifeboats was the ship’s shape against the stars once the lights went out.

Also, despite the excellent models in the movies, the ship broke up more like the Twin Towers on 9/11, with 1/3 of the ship’s middle pancaking and exploding from the compression pressures of the water-filled bow and the massive engines in the stern. The decks disintegrated and fell together, imploding. As the remaining parts of the wreck began to sink, the stern broke away from the sunk wreck and started to explode from the air and water pressure. Again, Titanic was wrecked more like a building collapsing than the solid structure you see in the movies.

Some lifeboats returned to rescue the freezing and drowning, but the below-freezing water claimed most in minutes. The historical record shows a few rescues from the sea and some folks impossibly surviving the night in the water and wreckage. The sea was covered in the wreckage as anything that could float was. The newspapers say that the Titanic’s bridge’s roof was seen floating in the water–the roof is not on the wreck.

The RMS Carpathia reached the area as the sun rose. The rescue ship crew was horrified not to find the ship and shocked to find only lifeboats and only the ones from the Titanic. The 600+ folks were brought on board, and everyone gave their clothing, food, and anything to help the survivors. The Unsinkable Molly Brown would organize a relief effort for the survivors, provide the ship and captain a silver cup, and have metals struck and given to the rescuers.

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Lastly, the area would be avoided for months as the wreckage field was massive. Recovery of the lost people would happen for months. The trade routes were moved south. The uniform of the Merchant Marine now has stripes to honor the crew that mostly sacrificed themselves to save those who could be saved. Radios are always on now, and enough lifeboats for everyone are mandated on all passenger ships.

Moving away from the sad history of the date and Tax Day, going backward, I returned home before midnight, having stopped at Popeye’s for some spicy chicken to get a late dinner and to start my Birthday with fried chicken, a very guilty pleasure. After that, I read some emails, looked at work Slack channel, and found I was still not needed, and went to bed and slept immediately, woke once, and then slept until after sunrise on my 59th Birthday.

Moving back, I spent the evening with Richard, Shawn, and Caroline at Richard’s house, playing board games I selected for my birthday and picking games I owned. Mara Nostrum: Empires (2016) is a game I usually play only at conversion and has moved to my retired stacks in the garage. It needs four to seven players to experience the game as imagined by the designer, which is a hard group to get together, and harder to find players for a 4X and messy game like Mara Nostrum.

Despite the chaotic nature of the board game, throwing together empires against each other, Risk-like, and insane combat rules. The game structures the chaos in a fantastic leader-lead process that covers all those strange rules about the order of play and priority. The leader of trade, culture, and military runs that part of the game–fantastic. The game is unbalanced; when one empire does not expand, another fills, takes the resources, and often wins. There are four paths to victory, and the game ends when one empire fulfills one objective.

Richard, playing Rome, and Shawn, playing Greece, formed an unbreakable alliance and made Caroline and me mostly bystanders and victims of this plan. This made our gaming less fun, but if you step into a 4X game, that can happen, it is the nature of the games. While Mara Nostrum will return to the garage, I still like to play with it in large, aggressive groups: 4X to the max. As the Emperor said, “Use your aggressive feelings.”

We then turned away from 4X and moved to semi-cooperative with a hidden movement game, still playing the basic training version, Mind MGMT. I played the recruiter, and it was my job to recruit agents while the other players tried to find and capture me. I went with a no-strategy strategy and moved in straight lines around the edge of the playing service (The recruiter gets a dry-erase copy of the board they keep hidden). This worked as my players, knowing them, overthought my possible moves and bounced all over the board. I did have to pull the rip cord early and jump as the players’ starting location for searching was right on top of me! Unexpected.

I did get captured, but I managed to run for twelve moves, which, while short of winning, was good, I thought. My plan worked, and I spent five turns without the other players knowing where the recruiter was. It was fun to give the Kickstarter and colorful Mind MGMT game a spin–hidden movement-styled games being a favorite for me. I hope to play my copy someday and play the campaign game (it adds superpowers to players–the losing side gets the new power to balance the game, and then you play a rematch).

Before this, I was with Evan at Rogue’s Taphouse in NE Portland. There I had fish and chips and played a game of Concordia, another favorite board game–but I was crushed by Evan in the game. Evan collected the Mars cards and ended the game and thus creating an unreachable score for me. He played his best–a good win for him. Next time!

Here is the picture of one of my worst losses in Concordia; I was not quite lapped by Evan.

My sister, soon-to-be brother-in-law, and Mom Wild sent me a gift card to Guardian Games in Portland. We stopped by to get it. Unfortunately, Air Volvo was parked near a wall, and every alarm went off as I tried to parallel park it next to the wall. I can usually get it on the first try, but the alarms unnerved me. No paint was lost, despite doubts from Air Volvo’s safety equipment.

We had time for another game, I still watching my phone and Slack channel and emails at work, and we played my updated Wingspan now with European and Asian birds and a wooden bird feeder (the paper one was showing its use). This is a fast game for two. I had two bird cards with the new blue powers and a little engine for putting food on cards (worth one point each at the game’s end). Evan and I split the turn goals with a matching score of sixteen. The high-point birds, and food on cards, let me carry the game by six points–about one bird card. Our usual close game for two.

Before traveling to Portland in low traffic, Evan and I met at 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. We spent some hours with Susie watching a movie, Frozen 2, as it was still cold, windy, and cloudy in Tigard. I arrived about 11:20 with two sets of flowers, to Susie’s delight; all the flowers had faded from Easter. Anassa was happy to replace the dying flowers with one set on the shared dinner table and one in Susie’s room.

Anassa moved Susie to her rocking chair, and Susie was happy to just hang out and watch something from Disney. We stopped the movie on Disney+ to call Leta, her mother, and they had a friendly chat on my iPhone using FaceTime to see each other. Susie’s sister, Barb, was at Leta’s to look into placing a new deck on Leta’s house. The old porch has been removed to remove the raccoon and rodent entrances to the house, and Leta is looking forward to sitting on a deck in the summer. Barb and Susie chatted briefly, too.

We completed the movie after that, and Susie was sad but understanding and let me leave. I had trouble not crying as Susie gets lonely when I am not there and misses me. I come every day.

Before this, I was up and worked a bit on my radio project. I managed to mount the light in the face plate, a LED for a ship model with that yellowish old-school lighting look, and even temporarily mount the parts in the wooden box. I then tested and fitted the insides, and while it looks a bit like a mess, it is not that bad. Sadly, I had a cut-out problem from a weak soldering and did that work again for the radio (!) break-out board. The problem stopped. It looks nice, and I am only about 1/2 done.

I will have the face plate on straight for the final build!

Yes, the huge magnets for the speakers are a bit close to the microcontroller, hum. But we are far away from the radio–it should be OK.

Aside: As a model or an electronic project that is large or long-running starts to finish, the most challenging part is not to break something already done. This is very true with plastic masts on ship models. My first complex build, HMS Dreadnought in 350-scale, had me replacing the masts multiple times, and the model now has masts I built from scratch after destroying the originals. In addition, wooden sailing ship models must be built in the correct sequence to reach the ties for the rigging (you just don’t have a tiny crew to help you grab and tie down the ropes).

In the morning, I started slowly and discovered the ants were back. So, I have opened a new offensive with more ant baits. These ants are from different paths and should soon fade away. I will put some more baits outside. I prefer less drastic chemicals, but I have been unable to stop them except with baits (they contain boric acid, a very light poison used on ants and cockroaches with minimal environmental damage).

I wrote Friday’s blog on Friday night, so I was not rushed.

I dressed, loaded the car with many board games, and started my day with a poppy seed bagel from NYC (my supply was frozen while fresh and reheated well). After that, I had liberal coffee, drinking the whole of my French Press while working on my radio and bills. I try to pay bills and download the current transactions every day–it does not pay to put this off.

Thanks for reading.

It was the end of the RMS Titanic 111 years ago. The SS California is stuck in the ice. The seas are perfectly calm, and you can see for miles in the crow’s nest on the foremast of the Titanic. It is bitterly cold, with the salty sea being colder than freezing. RMS Titanic is still alone. The coal strike has reduced the number of ships out today. RMS Olympic, the sister ship of Titanic, has left and is headed to New York just about a day behind Titanic. She will be known as Old Reliable, survived a collision with a warship (thus giving her and the Titanic the unsinkable label), sinks a U-boat in World War 1 by raming, tows a torpedoed battleship, and survives a torpedo attack (the dud broke her double hull–installed after the disaster and the damage was found in her post-war refit), and is finally scrapped after being the choice for movie stars and the wealthy to cross the Atlantic until the Queen Mary arrives. I have a piece of Olympic in my collection from a first-class stateroom.

The RMS Republic sank only three years ago after a collision in the fog. The radio was able to call for help, and the lifeboats from other liners were able to help. Most passengers and crew were saved (except those lost to the collision). The new radio was declared the savior for the passengers, and all important ships now carried the Marconi wireless. The great risk to liners was considered to be fire and collisions. The Titanic and other early liners all used electric lights to avoid open flames. The water-tight door system, having been proved in the Olympic when it was rammed, removed the last chance of all known casualties. Stricken ships in this new modern world could always call for help.

The night was moonless and pitch black 111 years ago in the northern Atlantic. The field of icebergs, reported by the SS California, was known. The Titanic wireless had demanded that the nearby SS California stop using its radio as it was jamming the Titanic’s signal. The wireless in California was then taken offline. The iceberg, the first one spotted, was hit as the ship tried to spin around it. The single hull was punctured for about 300 feet, causing unsurvivable damage. This was late on the 14th, and it took until the 15th, past midnight, to determine that RMS Titanic was doomed.

A CQD and later SOS were sent; California, the only nearby liner, did not know about the stricken ship. Instead, ships that were too far away to help in time rushed anyway. Olympic was a day away, but she rushed full speed to her sistership. RMS Carpathia rushed through the ice and hurried to the rescue, but it was too late for most, but Carpathia was able to get the lifeboat survivors aboard and safe as the sea turned choppy. This includes the Unsinkable Molly Brown. The end of Titanic started 111 years ago today, alone in the Northern Atlantic surrounded by ice.

For me, today started, as usual, for Fridays, working from home. When I woke, I was relieved that none of the breathing issues reoccurred, and I felt better. I slept into 7:30ish and then found my way to breakfast, an NYC bagel with cream cheese (I still have a few frozen, thanks, Joyce), and drank all the liberal coffee made in my French Press. The project has two data conversions and testing running this weekend; ugh! I spent the whole morning in various status and information-sharing Zoom meetings. I read status, emails, and Slack channel updates all morning–keeping informed.

I made a taco salad out of leftover taco meat (reheated in the microwave), some shells I baked, and salad items (lettuce, chopped carrots, celery, olives, and sour cream. I ate this while watching a few shows on YouTube from some fav channels (Battleship New Jersey, Ship Happens, The Discriminating Gamer, and Cody Carlson P.h.D.).

I next boarded Air Volvo after loading the cargo hold with my Apple and Nike laptop and Grand Hotel Austria board game. Air Volvo delivered me 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. The traffic was a bit heavy near 217, and Hall Boulevard as Hall was reduced to one lane for construction. But I arrived without issue.

It was 64F (17.78C), sunny, and had no rain (yes, we get rain when sunny), and the wind in Tigard was non-existent (there was a cold wind in Beaverton). Perfect. Ana, the nursing aide today, helped get Susie in her wheelchair and dressed in a coat and a blanket–it is so easy to get cold when just sitting. We then headed out into Metzger Park, next to the hummingbird house.

The park was busy with kids with families, folks walking dogs, and just visitors like us. We pulled up by a bench in the sun, enjoyed the warm, almost hot sun, and called Leta, Susie’s mother. Susie and Leta were delighted to chat outside. The sun made it comfy, and all the kids running around was nice. The bugs, primarily bees, were out, and I saw a hummingbird zip by. The park manager was also out, and he stopped by to chat; he was pleased with the crowd, and you could see he was proud of how excellent the park was. He got the new crushed gravel in the parking lots, and the grass was mowed. It looked amazing.

We have a redwood in the park that loses its needles for the winter, a particular tree that the park manager was happy to point out to us. I was concerned it looked dead, but he said it was a favorite and would soon look fabulous.

We soon finished chatting with Leta and the park official, and Susie wanted more travel in the park. Obviously, she was not cold. So I pushed her through the rest of the park, up the streets, and back to the hummingbird house. The little daisies were out, the daffodils were bright, and various trees were still flowering. But, again, Susie was looking everywhere–last time, everything was wet and tired; Spring was full running today in the sun.

We returned to Susie’s room in the hummingbird house, and Ana got Susie safe in her bed. I sat in the chair beside her and followed along at work while Susie watched M.A.S.H. on her TV. At 4PM, I stopped following along at work (I also read the rules of Grand Hotel Austria again as I might play it on Saturday night for my birthday) and started on Susie’s fingernails. I had new supplies, and it could quickly remove the old chipped paint. I soon had all her nails stripped of pain and used a nail file to remove rough edges. I painted the nails again and carefully removed any overpainting. We let that dry (almost a whole M.A.S.H. episode), and I put on a clear topcoat. Susie was excited to have her painted nails back. Later, I found Ana had started on this for the other gals, and she was surprised I did the nails for Susie, “just once in a while,” I said. It was not nearing 5PM, and time for me to head out.

I left with a kiss, and Susie needed a nap.

After more traffic, I arrived at BJ’s Brewhouse and had a Porkchop. There I wrote the blog. I had Jill as my waiter today. The food was perfect.

Here is Mister Lincoln tea rose enjoying the day–a few months from a flower. Notice how large the canes are–it was just a stick last year!

Thanks for reading.

Covering essential items tonight, I saw Susie in the afternoon and stayed with her for a whole M.A.S.H. episode. Susie was in her recliner in the shared living space, watching M.A.S.H. on the large screen. Susie resides at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and they chatted for fifteen minutes. Susie was tired today, and I had some issues with her mouth; I had to wipe it for her. They cleaned her mouth after breakfast (I asked), but it needed more work. Susie was looking tired and a bit sad, so I decided to risk staying longer. I watched work issues on my iPhone (I have an app on the iPhone for the shoe company Slack channels where all the updates happen) the whole time and even replied to a few items. But time was running out, so I kissed Susie goodbye and then asked Ana, the nurse aide for today, to get Susie some water. It is good for the nurse aides to ask Susie something right as I leave so she is distracted–it stops the tears (for either of us).

The next important item was my Physical Therapy with Michael. I was there for a lunchtime (noon) appointment. We changed a few exercises to make them harder and dropped one that did not help. Michael showed me how to do the new ones, and then he watched me do them. I will do them again on Friday.

While Bethany Therapeutics Associates no longer requires a mask, I still wore my N95, and Michael put one on. While I believe they are safe, I woke to a cough today (allergies, I think), and I can’t afford to get sick from colds or flu–who will check in on Susie?

After the PT that lasted until 12:45 or so, I headed to Bethany Public House and had my usual bowl of chili and a Diet Coke. After that, as described before, I headed to see Susie. Again, the driving was nuts, with folks making dangerous lane changes and mangling traffic merges to the point of me having to drive on the shoulder and braking instead of accelerating. Yikes! I managed to not scrape the paint on Air Volvo.

This evening we did Theology Pub with the topic being Woke. I pretended to read my copy of The 1619 Project during the discussion. We all agreed you need to be nice to people, and there are some limited cases where maybe folks overreached. However, many of us thought that the complaints rang untrue, and it was good to be woke and try to make folks better: “Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” For those readers who think woke is terrible, I am unapologetically liberal.

Aside: Being aware of your message and how it impacts your audience is an important skill. Everyone needs to practice audience awareness and get good at it. Or, in simple terms, rude delivery ruins a good message.

The morning was challenging; my head and lungs seemed disconnected when I woke–disconcerting. Wheezing and coughing through the start of the morning–I thought I was headed to a 911 call as my breathing was short and fast. It was harder to breathe out, which is my usual issue with an asthma attack. I changed to work-from-home as I was not sure what was wrong. I slowly improved–inhalers were used! My lungs and head started to work after various blowing and coughing cleared the passages, and the inhalers removed the inflammation. By 9ish, I was fine. Ugh!

The book I am reading has not been as good as I hoped, the newest Elric book by Michael Moorcock, as the last story seems to have pages upon pages of internal dialogue that just does nothing for me (I just skimmed it). I loved the first 2/3 of the book. So a mixed bag, I think. But, if you like Michael Moorcock, this one will fit the bill (even having to skim a few pages towards the end).

Another aside: Messages that conflict with people’s beliefs are poorly received. To expect the message to not spark a negative reaction is naive. Usually, the response is, unfortunately, a personal attack (often reflecting or deflecting the true issue).

I made dinner from the freezer today. I found some bacon-wrapped pork tenderloins and green beans in the freezer. I fried two tenderloins in butter in a hot metal pan and then baked them in the same pan at 350F for twenty minutes (a tiny bit overdone). I cooked the green beans in the microwave and then wilt them in butter on the stove with a bit of garlic powder, Chinese-style pepper, and a dash of onion powder. They were good. I also microwaved two small potatoes and ate them with butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper. It was a great dinner. I watched the next episode of The Mandalorian while eating. While I like the show, it is a bit chaotic this year.

Thank you for reading.

Working backward, I am back at the house late, 9:15ish, after meeting Z and Dondrea at the church. Z and I played the board game Concordia using the Corcisa map (good for two players) while Dondrea and other choir folks practiced and prepared for upcoming worship services. While remembering we had played this before, Z took a while to remember how to play and was still a bit inefficient in her play. The final score showed this. We started a second game, and she was already climbing into the lead when we had to stop.

Concordia, not the new Venus version, but the original is a favorite of mine. This is a resource management and worker placement game with limited player interaction. The turn play is simple, play a card and do what it says. The strategy is challenging and requires careful execution over multiple turns. Purchasing more cards allows for more options, often improved options per turn, and increases your score at the end of the game. I love thinking three or four turns ahead and grabbing that great city or card before someone snatches it away.

I own the Salsa add-on and quite a few add-on boards. We play with Forum, but not with salt. The game theme is ancient Rome, and you are running a trading network for a family. You can get points for having trading posts, having them in areas (all using the Roman names), and owning specialist cards to help you build farms, for example. No battles. Just get resources, build, and hire help (buying cards). Simple to learn–but deep.

Before this, I had a fantastic stew at Top Burmese for an early dinner. The gals (one as a bartender and another as a host) were chatty as it was early–they were also lovely. We discussed Artificial Intelligence as they tried out CharGPT and wondered what this meant. I have done some AI stuff and covered what I knew and had done before. It was a fun chat–but they started to get busy, and, the gals being stunning, every table seemed to want to take their time ordering. So I finished my recommended dinner from the bartender, named Soul, paid, and headed out.

Right after I ordered, Dondrea called me about having dinner together–too late. Next time!

Before this, I left work after 4PM and drove across heavy traffic in Beaverton. I was working on various crises of the moment. So many cleared this evening–excellent.

Moving further back, I stopped by 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. Before I arrived, I called ahead and said I would be late. I went to Jimmy John’s and got a sub. I was feeling off, but the food brought me back. I was then able to spend some time with Susie. Susie was delighted to see me and was in her recliner in the living room, watching M.A.S.H. We called Leta, Susie’s mother, on my iPhone. Leta has her new stove installed, and the plumber charged her only $50. Leta now has a new stove, and the plumber took the old stove away. Leta received a $59 refund for installation, meaning she was ahead by $9!

Soon it was time for me to go, and Susie, not too sad, let me go with a kiss.

The rest of my day was a blur of working and rushing to work. I fit in the basic exercises and stretches at 6:15. I slept well, but 6AM came too soon.

Sorry for the brief story, but I am tired now.

Thanks for reading!