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Remembering that 111 years ago, the RMS Titanic left its last port call in Ireland (my late Grandma Wild being a few weeks old) and headed out into a calm sea. The coal strike has made a mess of the usual tidy schedule with the Titanic’s sister still in Europe. The plan is that they should pass in the Atlantic with the big three, Olympic (1911), Titanic (1912), and Britannic (1914), to cover the passage with one ocean liner in port and two out. Instead, Titanic is on the seas ahead of its sister, both headed to New York. It is cold, and to take advantage of the earth’s curve, the course is north enough to be in the ice, making it even colder and riskier. Usually, the track is full of ships, but the coal strike has reduced the count of liners. The Titanic is alone except for a few slower liners that its Radio Operator, Wilde (no relation), hears on its radio in Morse code.

It is before the stabilizers and the ship rocks. The passengers rent rugs to keep warm and sit on the cold chairs watching the sea, trying to avoid sea sickness by watching the horizon. On Titanic, the promenade deck is glassed in and not freezing–a new improvement that will soon be added to the Olympic and is already incorporated in the larger Brittanic. The ship is about five days from New York, rushing at about 26 mph (43 km/h). The passengers and crew are getting used to this new ship, the largest in the world in service.

Returning to our narrative, Tuesday’s morning started as usual, a rush to get to work by 8AM for the first meeting in Clubhouse, our non-WHQ building, for the project. I was up at 6AM and started assembling breakfast before doing my exercises and stretches–doing the whole set today. I managed to reheat the sausage from the weekend without drying them out in the microwave and have the last cold hard-boiled egg with a banana for breakfast. I complete this with coffee. I pour the coffee only to learn I forgot to turn on the hot water. Cold will not do, and sadly the ruined attempt is washed away. Redo! Breakfast is started without coffee.

I read emails and texts and consume the news from Slack channels. Coffee, another try, creation is successful, and a cup is drunk. Then, the race begins as I leap into the shower and rush through the start-of-the-day process. This includes using Utterly Smooth 20% Urea (cow pee) cream on hands and toes to delay or prevent nerve loss; strongly recommended by my cancer team (!?) and seems to have worked. I assume the Urea removes some reactive material that can cause nerve damage.

Air Volvo takes me into the wet morning with light flooding. The traffic is a bit heavy for Tuesday, with Air Volvo having to wait twice for some lights. But my arrival is within ten minutes of 8AM, and I begin the two hours of meetings on time. There are some crises of the moment, and I help bring a bit of order to Tuesday’s chaos, but I do get so turned around that I report the results of one release to the other release’s status meeting. I am forgiven, and everyone admits they are getting lost too. Three tests are running together with two nearly simultaneous tests. It is easy to forget which meeting you are in when you get updates for multiple events in multiple work tracks.

The most strange thing is that one track appears to be running for about two weeks and will soon be two weeks behind–a fantastic planning failure you don’t see often. The track is re-planning its dates now, as you can imagine. Doctor Who technology may be needed!

On technology, we had a failure-over of production. The systems are in the cloud, and there was a failure. Details cannot be discussed here, but I felt like Murphy of Murphy’s Law had joined the project.

I headed out before lunch to see Susie at Susie’s 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 rain had stopped, and blue was showing (something we seldom see in April in the Pacific Northwest). Beaverton’s Finest was out on Highway 26 and 217 to celebrate the improvement by generating new revenue for Beaverton’s Traffic Court. I assume a grumpy motorcycle cop was on 26 giving tickets out in the Oregon mist, and a police car was operating on 217 somehow finding something to ticket people for in heavy construction (I assume it is using your phone–what I was nailed before last year). I managed to reach Susie without police action.

Susie was in her chair in the living room, a shared space, with the evening staff looking a bit more relaxed today–everyone looked happy. The usual day folks are seeing relatives. Susie was delighted to see me and was pleased to call her mother, Leta. We chatted with Leta on my iPhone using FaceTime so everyone could see each other. I still use a mask at work and in the facility to keep everyone safe.

Susie was watching her favorite show, M.A.S.H., and it was about season 7–some of the show’s best shows, I think; fewer jokes and slapstick and more story. Leta and I discussed lunch and whether Oregon has the strawberry salad, a favorite, now at Panera Bread. This bored Susie, and soon she was sleeping or watching M.A.S.H.

Susie knew I was there for a short visit and I had a crisis of the moment at the shoe company, so she let me go with a kiss. We both miss each other at night. It is always hard to leave.

I stopped at Panera Bread and followed along on my iPhone for work issues. I did get my Poppie Chicken Strawberry Salad, yay. I ate it fast while reading emails and news items–I like to stay connected.

Aside: That morning, I discovered that Susie had more than $700 bills still to be paid and paid them. Later I remembered that I had paid $110 already; oh my. A $110 credit will likely be consumed as we have not yet reached our out-of-pocket maximum. We usually get that in May (Susie’s room cost is not included in that maximum as it is not covered at all by insurance).

I returned to work with my back complaining and a headache. I stayed until 4ish and saw the rain was gone, and temperatures rose to near 60F (15.5C). I arrived without issue in Air Volvo at the Volvo Cave and then rested. I needed the pain to stop and my head to clear. Within an hour, I was better.

I painted the wooden radio box for the radio project. The result, a second coat, was not an improvement. So I will sand this and try something else. I bought some recommended items to refinish the radio that I think will do better, but I need to sand the failed finish first to make this work.

I reheated the spaghetti with sweet Italian sausage and vodka sauce for dinner. Next, I watch YouTube videos from Battleship New Jersey comparing Bismarck and the Iowa class guns. It was an interesting lecture. The curator, who does the videos, highly recommended a book, and I ordered it, Battleship Bismarck, for my birthday (it is a limited printing at the Naval Institute Press).

After this, I started on the blog and drank too much tea (I made pot), and now I am bouncing in my chair. But it is nice to be smiling and writing. There have been too many tears this spring for me. So learning more about ships, writing, and working on things with my hands is good.

I have found the LEDs from my model building kits. These were selected to look like overhead lights and will be perfect, I think, for the radio face plate light. I have programmed the standard pin, 13, to turn on when the microcontroller starts. I like visual cues to tell me what is happening, and controlling the light by the microcontroller, instead of wiring it into the power, lets me know that the program has started. The original use was a lighting kit for my model of the Nautilus. I built my own circuits and used some of the parts to make my own look.

I plan to do a bit more work on the radio tonight.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

On April 10, 1912 (my late Grandma Lee was only three weeks old), the RMS Titanic left for its first trans-Atlantic crossing 111 years ago. The crossing was delayed, and many crossings had been canceled–there was a coal strike. On its first official voyage, the Titanic was loaded with coal scavenged from shipments for other ships–White Star Line was going to get its new ship out there. The coal bunker fire in the forward coal bunker was ignored. When the huge, then the largest ship ever to sail, pulled out, the pressure wave drew another liner into the Titanic, nearly bringing the Titanic’s first trip to a sudden halt, but the errant liner was recovered. The passengers, unaware that the fourth funnel was mostly for ventilation, were shocked when a man looked over the funnel (there was a platform in the funnel and stairs to enjoy the view and well smoke. The passengers thought someone had fallen into the funnel. No. Now late, the RMS Titanic left on its last and only crossing. Everyone was a bit unnerved by the events (and a fire still burning in the forward coal bunker).

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures today.

The morning started with me waking to my alarm and then getting started at 7:30–going slow. Yesterday I had done the pancake breakfast cooking (with many folks), and my legs were stiff and my back uncomfortable this morning. I took my first status meeting at 8 and then one every half hour for a few hours. During this time, I was drinking liberal coffee made in my French Press. Breakfast was a banana and yogurt. The meetings continued, but as few issues touched our team, I was not paying that much attention. I did react to one crisis of the moment.

I had a long break from Zoom meetings at this time. I did the lighter side of my exercises and stretches as I was still stiff. I showered, dressed, put the dirty laundry in the washer, and then checked back in again. There were a few more crises of the moment, but nothing that was not quickly handled. I boarded Air Volvo and headed out.

It has rained 2.3″ of rain so far in April versus usually less than 1″. As a result, the light flooding was back, and my backyard was slowly filling into a pond. The roads are filling, and the puddles are huge, with Air Volvo kicking some water ten feet in the air. We have rain for the next few days–it is damp.

The trip to Susie’s was without event, and folks, apparently scared by the flooding, passed on driving today. Thusly, very light traffic in Beaverton today. While I saw no police, fire trucks and ambulances showed up every ten minutes of driving. Soon I arrived at Susie’s at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

Susie was in her chair, and the evening folks were running things today (Jeniffer, the usual live-in nurse aide, was traveling) and asked us if they could help. I demurred and let Susie stay in the living room (where the action was), and there we called Leta, Susie’s mother. We chatted on my iPhone using FaceTime for twenty minutes or so. Susie was feeling better and was fascinated by the chaos, as things ran a little differently today than most Mondays.

Susie was sad to have me leave, “I miss you.” She gets lonely in the evening (I do, too, some days), but let me go with a kiss. My trip back was a bit wetter as the rain and the, puddles and flooding were more. My emotions were a bit mixed up, so I stopped by Salt & Staw and got an ice cream cone. That brightened my spirits, and the rain, the sadness, and the light seemed all a bit better (it is gray with shades of gray with hints of moss green fading to gray).

I finished my cone while driving, and just after I had finished it, a car was poking into my lane on TV highway (five lanes main drag from Beaverton to Hillsboro), and I slowed and then stopped, not wanting Air Volvo to have an insurance claim. The driver of the wayward car then decided to cross and forced another car to stop to let them cross. The driver of the other vehicle that was forced to stop then rolled down his window, and while we could not hear each other, it was clear we both were amazed and suffering from WTF, and then we drove on.

Air Volvo landed without issue at the Volvo Cave. The mail contained medical bills. One explained the charges (which I had asked for) on a bill I received last week that had no explanation (I just don’t blindly pay ’em), and the others were the usual stuff. My rule is to pay them when I get them by a manual check. There must be paper records for everything. So I wrote the checks, entered them into Quicken (my account software), and walked the bills (paid) to the mailbox. I also downloaded the latest transactions from every transactional account (including credit cards and investment accounts) and noted the correct category for the spending transfers and income. I need good records for the IRS and social agencies I might need to deal with and for myself. I need to know how long the money will last, and Quicken gives me a consolidated picture of all funds and expenses.

I read more emails, texts, and Slack messages to follow along at work. Everything was going OK. I rested as my back had not enjoyed the chairs today. I read more Elric (Michael Moorcock’s new book on his 1960s character Elric seems to fit my memory of the older stories–excellent) and stopped about 4PM. I rested some more and made Clam Chowder from a can for dinner. I then worked on my radio project and started to finish the replacement radio face with the digital LCD insert. I am trying to work out how to replace the nobs. The old holes are too small and deep for my previous approach of sliding new switches in slightly enlarged holes. I cut some wood to place the buttons and nobs, but I don’t think that will work. I am thinking of replacing the holes with a wooden board with excellent brass screws holding it on. I could cover the basswood with veneer. It might look nice. More to come.

I then decided to stop any more work as I was tired and just head to Wildwood and have a beer, chat with folks (JR bought me more beer), and write the blog.

And that is what I did on Monday night.

Thanks for reading.

 

I find that I cannot add on any more than what I do. It is impossible to create a time debt and somehow, like Doctor Who, pay it back by making timey-wimey things work. Instead, you can fail at multiple items, possibly your health, and have a worse outcome. This is what happens to me now. To do something, I have to give up something. It is, unfortunately, a zero-sum game for me at this time.

Thus for me to make pancakes this morning at church for Easter meant I had to give something up–I was hoping otherwise, but it became true again. So I am now writing a blog for two days. These extra-long blogs seldom get fully read by my readers (I understand), but I will push through anyway so that at least today and yesterday are accounted for.

Starting Saturday, I slept in a bit and had a gorgeous, unbusy morning, as I had written the Friday blog on Friday and did not need to rush on Saturday morning (the Friday blog was one of the shorter ones). I even managed to make the last connections on the main board for my radio build–nothing says super-geek more than wearing the delicate perfume of solder in the morning. This includes a full Arduino microcontroller (a special version with soldering connections instead of headers for jumpers from Sparkfun but licensed as an actual blue-colored Arduino Pro 3.3V model–the finest Italian design) but is still lower-ish powered version. My design includes a 1Amp hour LiPo battery charged by an older model ‘B’ USB cable. I was excited to finish the last bit of this Saturday morning (but later, I learned I needed to add two 10K pull-down resisters–so two more things, and then I will be done with the main board).

I also packed up my copy of Windspan–I had purchased from Meeple Source some more wooden food recourse bits (for the European add-on that needs some more for some of its new mechanics). Last night, late, I glued together the wooden laser-cut replacement birdfeeder dice roller as mine was beginning to become tattered. I also packed a new collection (plus the European) for the Easter Bunny. I also finally broke down and bought the painted wooded first-player marker. The Easter Bunny proved with one too.

I also bought another dice roller from Esty that needs to be assembled and painted. It is a bit nicer but made from thicker particle board. I have used this before, and it must be primed and sealed, at least primed. I will build this one and compare it to the one from Meeple Source. I hope it fits in the box. I did not assemble that one last night as it will require more time.

Returning to the narrative on Saturday, I made breakfast of hard-boiled eggs and breakfast sausages. I baked a package of maple sausages for 45 minutes at 325F and boiled five eggs. I had a few for breakfast and packed the rest in glassware for later (thanks Glenda and Gene, for the glassware). Then, I finally headed 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. I had showered, dressed, packed all the Easter Bunny items and my computer, just in case, and headed out in Air Volvo. Another damp but without flooding drive, and folks were still a bit stressed and driving poorly–Attention is required. First, I stopped by Corwin’s new place; he did not respond to calls or texts, so the Easter Bunny left a few items for him to discover later on Corwin’s place’s porch (he was thrilled with the Bunny’s choices).

I arrived with items for Susie without issue at about 11. The folks at the facility had broken up Susie’s balloons and decorated the hummingbird house with floating eggs, chicks, and bunnies–excellent. Susie got tulips and a Nike lunchpail as her new Easter basket (to be opened on Easter). Susie loved the flowers.

Anassa moved Susie to her rocking chair in her room, and we watched an old-ish Marvel movie, Captain Marvel. I think it is one of the best. Susie liked it. We stopped the movie to chat with her mother, Leta, on my iPhone via FaceTime. Leta was still without a stove (the fix is next week) but was having a good day. We finished the movie, and Susie looked tired; I kissed her goodbye and headed out.

I reached Portland in a mess of traffic, but I found Rogue’s Taphouse in SE without issue (except for taking an extra thirty minutes). Evan had beat me there, and I was happy to see enough light to play board games. I got a Deadguy Ale and Rockfish Fish & Chips–wonderful (and I was hungry). I brought the board game Scythe.

Evan looking silly.

Scythe is a 4X  and a Kickstarter game with all the premium materials and bright colors you expect when something is created via Social Media. It was one of the first Kickstarter games I bought, and I have painted all the figures (including the mechs and all the expansions except for AirShips). I have the most bling version I have seen of this game.

The game is set in the 1920s but in a steampunk world of SciFi where Tesla (not the car company) invented a new form of power that enabled huge machines and airships, and avoid the calamity of World War 1 and thus all the Imperialist powers still exist as minor kingdoms. The play is to explore, expand, and exploit with a light touch on the exterminate. It is one of my favorites, but I have been playing all these newer (for me) games, and Scythe has sat on the shelf.

On Saturday, we had to assemble two tables to play the game and have room for food and drinks (and we used the smaller board). We played the first game (Poland and Norway, white and blue, respectively) on opposite sides of the board. I efficiently combined Norse powers and resources and won by about six points- a close game. Evan was surprised when I finished the game with combat and managed a win.

We did not have much more time; I had a game with Richard at 6PM. So we reset, not having time to put away Scythe and get out another game, and finished about 3/4 of another game. Evan pulled that one out, and even if incomplete, it was clear he was ahead, as I had struggled with the efficiency of Poland (the same problem Evan had). Evan enjoyed Russia (red) for this game, while I took over his previous color. I beat Evan in some battles, and I think I might have pulled off a win while Evan recovered from the battle, but that is speculation. Evan was ahead when we ran out of time.

After paying the bill, putting away the game, loading up Air Volvo, and waving goodbye to Evan, I discovered I was running Air Volvo on fumes. Off to the nearest Shell. Even though it is the law that Oregon is a Full-Service state (like New Jersey), nobody was out, and everyone was filling their own cars. Thus I, not an attendant, refueled Air Volvo for the first time in years and the first time EVER in Oregon. I discovered that the diesel did not fit in the car (yikes), and then I completed the task without error. I could only put in $40 as that seemed the limit for this bizarre and slightly illegal process in Oregon.

Next, I had a car nearly rear-end me and throw a fit when a pedestrian decided to cross a white-lined crosswalk against the lights. You must stop even though you may doubt the sanity of the person trying to stop all the traffic, bodily. I actually spoke to the other driver and calmly pointed out that the person had started to walk, and that meant for us to stop by law; the driver then agreed and apologized for missing that. So, yes, in Portland, we calmly discuss the driving issues at stop lights.

Without giving further education lessons on driving, I reached Richard’s and Shawn (living now in Italy), and Caroline joined us. We learned how to play the board game Isle of Cats and played one game (I came in last).  This pattern-building game has a card system to create goals and turn order for play. While cute and cuddly, playing with various colored cats in shapes on your board and packing treasure in odd spots is not something I enjoy much. However, I might like it after a few more plays–I seldom like games on the first play.

Next, we tried a borrowed copy of Earth, something I had only heard about. This is a cross between the board games Arc Nova. Terraforming Mars, Wingspan, and some other pattern card games. In this board game, you are a Gaia spirit of an island that you build from cards using the currency of the game, dirt, to make it attractive to the goals of this play (randomly assigned). The game plays fast, and the goals are, I thought, hard to understand and written on cards (impossible to read from your seat), but I liked it as Shawn said it is not overly long like Arc Nova or Terraforming Mars. It reminded me more of Wingspan, which plays fast once you understand it. I scored last again, just a few points for third.

I drove home after the second game. The drive home was direct, and I took the rocket onramp, as I call it, to the bridge (the ramp is taller than the bridge and has two lanes changing to one). I was relieved there was no water on the ramp this time! Without incident or other educational items, I reached home.

I got the mail, discovered all the cool stuff I hoped would show in time for the Easter Bunny for Wingspan previously mentioned, and got to bed late.

Easter 2023

Sorry, this will be a two-day blog. I was up at 6AM and was happy to reheat the sausage and have some cold hard-boiled eggs I made yesterday for breakfast. I had some yogurt with them. Unfortunately, my back was out of sync with the rest of me, and I thought about stretching but ran out of time. So there was no time to do the blog, but I checked work (nothing I was needed for), email, and the Internet news.

Dressed in a sweater, dress shirt, and tie and carrying an apron and pancake flipper, Air Volvo took me to First United Methodist Church. I had loaded in the cargo hold two electric grills (I have collected two over the years of doing pancakes at the church) and Z’s Easter Bunny gifts from Meeple Source (the bits now loaded into plastic Easter Eggs).

I then helped where possible, mostly working with Z to make pancakes. I did help heat the sausage and served up the first breakfast at 9AM. Mostly things went OK with Z learning not to touch the hot grill with fingers (no real damage) and one overly zealous person restricting sausages to two to a customer (causing a dispute).

I had to leave as the time reached 10AM to see Susie. I walked out, changed back into my sweater, and boarded Air Volvo (I had told the church folks I could start but could not finish). I quickly crossed Beaverton to Tigard and was at Susie’s. While it was Easter, the cold rain and the likelihood of poor parking decided the matter for Susie, so no church.

When we don’t do church, I stay longer with Susie (as she is usually not worn out by the transfers and all the people at church–it tires her out for two days). If I take her, she will be sleepy and worn out when done. So instead, we moved to Susie’s room to watch some shows.

We opened Susie’s Nike lunchpail Easter Basket, and the other was another stuffed animal bunny (a Reeces Cup bunny with some chocolates), and some peeps that Susie always gets on Easter. She loved the new bunny and held on to it for a while just looking at it. We put the Nike lunchpail on a shelf.

Anassa moved Susie to her Rocking Chair (I held the chair to keep Susie safe during the transfer), and then we watched some shows on Susie’s TV. We have arranged for her to have all the same cable as I have here at the house (which does not get watched much here). I found Poker Face, a new show on Peacock that we like. It is a remaking of old shows like Rockford Files, and Colombo set now in modern times but with a 1970s vibe. Susie nodded off for a while, but we watched a second episode set on car racing that got Susie’s attention.

I headed for lunch while Susie got lunch from Anassa, the weekend nursing aide, at the table in hummingbird house. I headed to Red Robin for Easter lunch, and Natale was my bartender who was happy to see me and asked about my wife. I felt unwell today and had a larger salad and Diet Coke. The nausea was getting worse, but I am an old friend of nausea from chemotherapy and could easily withstand it and even eat. I enjoyed talking a bit with Natale and then returned.

I ignored nausea and, without throwing up, felt better later. Susie was tired (even hanging out with me makes her tired), and we moved her to her bed, put on M.A.S.H., and spent until about 4PM watching together. I also did a few things, including bidding on a Civil War Cotton Bond (it went for $300+, so I passed) on eBay on my Apple. Susie was sorry to see me leave, “I miss you.” But Susie agreed it was time for me to get home. I left Susie looking sad but already falling asleep in her blankets.

I returned home and made spaghetti with Vodka sauce (from a jar) with browned mild Italian-styled sausage. I was not in the mood for more ham and the usual Easter dinner. I was exhausted, and it was harder to do than I had planned.

I found another Science show on cable, Atom, on quantum mechanics. I found there are some excellent shows there. I ate a few bowls of dinner and then packed the rest away.

Finally, I got to the blog, taking two hours to write it.

Thanks for reading. Sorry, it is nearly 2500 words!

Covering the interesting parts of today, I am at Big’s Chicken, recommended by a friend, and I had an expensive chicken dinner–it was OK, but I must have missed the good stuff. Next time.

Good Friday service is tonight, so I am in Beaverton until 7PM. I put on a dress shirt, no tie, and a sweater to make this work.

Before this, I was at Susie’s place, the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard), at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie told me, at 4ish, that she did not want me to leave, so I agreed to stay a few more minutes after putting on Season 4 of M.A.S.H. for her (this is when BJ enters the show). I waited and watched the first twenty minutes of the show and then left with a kiss and a promise to return at 11ish on Saturday. Susie wants to watch a movie in her room on Saturday.

Next, I stopped by Target to get some Easter items and shopping for Susie. Jennifer gave me a list of things Susie needs (lotion, wash stuff, nail polish remover, and so on). I also found some Easter items for her and others. But, there were only three checkers, and the line took twenty minutes to reach a checker. Ugh! Then a huge truck parked me in, but at least the driver said, “I will be right there, and sorry there were no larger spots.” I will grant that Target parking spots seem non-standard (small), and he was at least polite while I waited for him to give me access to Air Volvo. But, f**k, talk about privileged people, yikes! The police drove by, but I decided not to wave them down; the nice policeperson from Tigard did not need this!

This a reminder that the rules only apply when they convenience the privileged.

Before this, I traveled from the house to Susie’s place without incident but in heavy traffic. However, I did witness some insane lane changes and interesting charging of intersections (those without cameras). I avoided unplanned contacts, and Air Volvo landed safely at the hummingbird house.

Susie was first in her chair, and we called her mother from the living room. They had a nice chat. Leta has a new issue; her hearing aid is no longer automatically switching to her phone. We managed and had a fun chat for twenty minutes or so. While Susie was talking to Leta, Jennifer gave me the shopping list for Susie (I used that for the aforementioned purchases at Target).

Jennifer then moved Susie to her room and bed, and I sat in a chair and connected to work. I followed along all afternoon and read about various crises of the moment. Our team was dealing with messy data from the sources, causing our processing to fail. Susie was happy to have me work in her room, but the screen on my laptops was too bright, and I had to turn them away from her so she could rest.

At about 3:30, I stopped and set up Susie so she could watch M.A.S.H. I watch with her for a while.

Moving back to the morning, starting even after 7AM, was hard. I am tired all day–I could close my eyes and sleep tired. The crushing sadness of yesterday has left me, at least. I am still sad and can cry easily, but I feel it has faded today.

Breakfast was liberal coffee, not too much coffee (literally not being too liberal with the ground coffee), yogurt, and a banana.

Next, I enjoyed hours of Zoom meetings on status and then had some ad hoc emergency Zoom meetings, unusual for a Friday. I was discussing how a program works and the issues we are facing while I was making Jambalaya for lunch. I had two bowls (no seafood is my style for this, just sausage, but cut length-wise, sliced into strips, and then into cubes), and put the rest away in the glassware from Glenda and Gene (thanks again).

After lunch, I headed over to Susie, as I said above.

So, sorry if the story today is not quite linear.

 

 

 

I spent a few moments before writing, getting the trash and the recycling out. I always think of Glenda (Susie’s Aunt) and her strong demands to do recycling. She inspired me to keep at it as she would tell you it costs you nothing to do the right thing. Glenda was here about a year ago to help find a solution for Susie. Glenda and I found the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. I miss Glenda and all her help, and I hope she will return soon to see the tulips and the trees again–It is time for the wet trip to the tulip fields!

Talking about friends and family, I had dinner with Mariah at Von Eberts in the Pearl District in Portland. We talked about a favorite topic, money, and 401K. We had the best wings (rumors are that the chickens lined up to be selected) with excellent beer products. I have their Volatile Substance, an IPA-style beer that has gone mad. I had a good darker beer to finish my wings (just six wings with celery). Von EBerts uses Toast to order by scanning the barcode at your table (we were at my favorite #13 with the best views of the screens) and then ordering and finally paying in the application on your phone. You can order from the bartender if you must.

We did not stay after dinner, and I headed to Powell’s (I was unwilling to return to the terrible traffic on wet Thursdays). There I found two discounted books, a college textbook that I did not use (we had a harder one) at Central Michigan University, and an 1800s text of the story of the Holy Grail (I thought it a good thing to get during Holy Week). Starbucks was closed (!), and so I stopped at the Southern-style joint, Screen Door, and had coffee with their version of pecan pie. The coffee and pie was a perfect ending, and I read a few bits of both books. Again, it seemed right to read an older copy of the textbook, Algorithms, and start the story of the Holy Grail on Mundy Thursday, drinking coffee and eating pie.

Aside: As I crossed the street in Portland, one clearly marked for crossing (double white lines), a white SUV charged the intersection and barely missed me. They called out, “Look next time,” which did not get a reaction from me. It would seem a fitting story for my end if I was crushed to death on the street in front of Powell’s City of Books in Portland in the rain while heading for dinner in the Pearl District. But they stopped.

A few of Powell’s from Air Volvo.

I found Air Volvo, parked underground and dry for $7,  and took all my treasures home, and while it was wet, local flooding was back (Air Volvo throwing puddles off the street in waves taller than the vehicle); I managed to return home without incident.

My upgrades for the Lisboa board game arrived in the mail today (cool metal coins to replace the paper coins and the Queen card variant representing the historic removal of the minister by the queen in Lisboa). More fun!

I also received the final information from a new solo role-playing game (RPG), Lampblack RPG. I liked the comic books I received from the Kickstarter, and unlike many Kickstarter projects, they quickly completed fulfillment of their previous projects. I ordered some extra copies and will get that soon, I expect–I have the print-and-play version delivered today. So nice!

Before all of this, I visited Susie at the hummingbird house. I brought my laptop and set up shop in Susie’s room while she rested. I logged on to work and followed along for a few hours. I was not there until nearly 2 as I had lunch at Nike WHQ and a meeting that I called into at 1PM. Susie was delighted to have me just hang out with her. We called Leta, her mother, and they talked for a while. Leta is still without a working stove but has a plumber scheduled next week to make the corrections to her gas line. They chatted on my iPhone using FaceTime to see each other.

Leta had sent Susie a pile of balloons for Easter. It is huge!

Susie was sleeping when I was heading to Portland, but I woke her to say goodbye. She was OK with me leaving but wanted to know when she would see me on Friday. I will be there sometime around 1 and might hang out again. I use my iPhone for a connection.

Aside: Nike strongly suggests we access to the Nike network through our phones (part of the Nike infrastructure) instead of using unknown connections. My Ziply Fly network at the Volvo Cave is secure, and I use that at home, but I use my phone when traveling. Also, I find the phone usually provides faster and cleaner connections.

Before this, I had lunch with Scott at the WHQ for Nike. Serena Williams (a building at Nike) has a nice cafeteria with an excellent salad bar. Scott and I both try to eat better, and this is perfect. We talked about Nike stuff (nothing to share here) and caught up–we try to meet every week at the WHQ.

After saying goodbye to Scott, I stopped in Mia Hamm (yes, another building) and used a chair there in the closed cafeteria (it should reopen soon as the buildings around are completing their remodeling–rumors are that we will move to one spring 2024) which resembles a library reading area now. I called my 1PM, and my colleagues, all newish hires in the pandemic, loved it when I used my phone to show them the nice area. It is a gorgeous area with a balcony for the sit-down restaurant, The Tarheel, upstairs (opening soon).

Obviously, I drove to campus before this, parked in the New York City Garage (yes, more fun names), and walked the wooded paths across the WHQ campus. I, on purpose, park in NYC as it means a fifteen-minute walk (the LA garage is closer). The walk is so lovely it is hard to describe. Nike Campus is an amazing place.

Moving backward to the morning, I was in the office before 8PM and did hours of Zoom calls on status. I requested updates on various tickets and tried to be helpful. We are headed to 7/24 on Wednesday with folks on shifts. I will cover the 8-4PM PDT shift and start approving items again, as we will be slightly shallow. We are excited to start the final testing for the July release and ramping up the Dec release testing too.

On a more personal note, I found myself profoundly sad and near tears much of the day. I am tired, and my emotions are too close to the surface. I was happy to get out to dinner and do something fun, which helped the sadness fade. I will have to return to my doctor if this continues. Depression is a side effect of surviving cancer. It is also a hazard for caregivers. I will get help if it worsens.

I started at 6AM and did do my basic stretching and exercises. It seemed that 6AM came just a few minutes after I slept. I will try to get some extra sleep this weekend, which will help with the sadness (hopefully).

I did make liberal coffee this morning, making it extra light as we liberals have been winning a lot now–don’t want to overdo the liberal, you know. I had a banana and yogurt with that.

I found the school buses on my way in, which delayed me a bit.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Holy Week. Enjoy Passover. And I hope the evening meals for Ramadan are going great. Indeed,  a very holy week.