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Tuesdays are back-to-the-office days, meaning waking at 6:30 and rushing out the door by 7:30 to make the 8AM status meeting. I woke before my alarm and then rewoke when it went off, and I said, “And that is what it is for,” when I discovered I had fallen asleep sitting up in bed! I am still dragging and only felt better after sucking down my emergency inhaler as I drove home at 4PM. I was a walking asthma attack all day.

Breakfast was rushed with two scones I made a few days ago (kept in ant-proof containers) with liberal coffee. I read my emails and Slack updates and reviewed the news. Next, I popped into the shower, managed to be out of the house (dressed and shaved), and boarded Air Volvo with my Nike computer. The summer has no traffic other than folks trying to cross the roads; I am careful. Today the auto-braking in the insanely good Volvo safety systems fired twice. Folks are slamming the brakes in light traffic without warning–but no paint was lost today, as Air Volvo stopped.

Work was the usual series of status meetings that ran all morning, and I am now getting half a dozen design documents to read and approve each day. Today I did review with the developer, after approving his design, a better parallel process on SAP ABAP systems that is more resistant (we have been using it for twenty years on Nike’s legendary systems). His code was thoughtfully designed but could not handle a constrained system–Michael G once said I should write a How-to book. We will take another shot at the code when the next improvement appears. I would hate to retest it again this late in the game. Next time!

After giving coding lessons and approving changes in meetings and then in Technical Design documents, it was time to get more coffee. I had carried the rest of the coffee from home in a thermal cup–all gone; I got a free refill from our baristas on the first floor (Starbucks coffee, of course)–Leadership buys coffee for anyone before 10AM. Yes, we are a caffeinated bunch!

I started back on my new project, but soon it was time to head out. It was slightly overcast; it was a sticky 70F (21C) day in Oregon. I boarded Air Volvo and was soon delivered, without issue, to Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Susie was just finishing breakfast, and Jennifer, the weekday nurse aide, produced a blanket for Susie. I then took Susie out to Metzger Park in her wheelchair. The yellow jackets, for the most part, left us alone.

The park was full of people, and only one bench, the shady one in the redwoods and cedars, was open. Once seated, Susie and I called Leta and Barb, Susie’s mother and sister, respectively, on my iPhone. We used FaceTime and finally connected to a three-way call. Leta looked better; the bruises on her face are fading–she fell a few days ago. We had a friendly chat.

I had to return to work, so it was a short visit, and I quickly had Susie back at the hummingbird house. I was also getting tired. I kissed Susie goodbye while Jennifer took Susie back to her recliner in the living room.

I next stopped at Happy Panada and had Orange Chicken for lunch. I used to eat here often with friends. I was thinking of them while I had lots of tea to help me wake up.

After lunch, I returned to the office and worked on various status meetings and items until I headed out at the end of my shift at 4PM. Air Volvo managed to be almost on autopilot to get home. I then rested for a while. Reading and napping.

I got up, defrosted some chicken, and made Tagine-style chicken for four–I will save it for later dinners. I make it with potatoes and carrots instead of rice. I never put enough salt in it. With high blood pressure, I have no habit of using salt. I add the preserved lemon and olives with Tagine spice (lots of it) to get that Tagine flavor.

I ate dinner while watching YouTube videos from Battleship New Jersey and on the wreck of USS Lexington CV-2 (aka Lady Lex, the Queen of Flat Tops). After that, I started on this blog.

Thanks for reading!

Susie, if she was here, would tell you it looks like the kitchen blew up. I will clean up tonight. I miss her.

This evening I feel all the accumulated exhaustion from the week off, working the weekend, and starting another week of data conversions. It has been hard to push through today. I got an iced tea with my dinner in the bar of The Old Spaghetti Factory. Wine or beer would have put me out. I was having dinner there as it is close to the Men’s Warehouse. I had stopped by the Men’s Warehouse store for them to redo my measurements on the alteration for the three suits; just the coats needed to be done again. Lenny, a 40-something gal, and their tailor, another thirty-something gal, retook the measurements. The suits should be ready next week.

At the pasta place, I sat at the bar and watched Brazil crush Panama’s women’s team, 4-0, in the World Cup while eating my spaghetti and meatballs. I cheered on Pananma to make at least one goal–nope. The strong teams are moving forward; no surprises this time.

I love areas that serve salads and bread. I was feeling too tired to cook. Mariah was busy, so she did not join me. With the meatballs and other food safely inside me, I drove home and started on laundry and dishes.

The ants, which I pay people to exterminate, filled the kitchen sink, and I then had to fight back the hoard with bleach spray; I had not cleaned the sink after making lunch. The dishwasher did not start last night, and I had to run that. Thus I read more WW2 Spy stuff in the next book of the series, Silesian Station, by David Downing. Recommended. I hate ants.

I finally started back on the blog and will cover a few items today.

This is Monday, so I do not work from the office on Mondays and Fridays. I rested until after 7AM and had scones I made a few nights ago with French Press-made liberal coffee. The scones are in an air-tight container.

The day was the usual status meeting. A significant break or missed requirement (depending on who you are) was discovered, and my colleagues enjoyed hours of meetings in that. I could clean up and dress between meetings and just follow along.

I had onions, celery, and other items to let me make a tuna fish salad bagel in the broiler today–an NYC bagel to boot (thanks, Joyce). I finished that and then rushed out (leaving a bonanza of tuna stuff for the ants), believing I would finish the dishes in the early evening. 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. There was light traffic.

It was cloudy, and some raindrops here and there. With a blanket, I headed outside with Susie. We stopped by another bench as it was not hot today and called Barb, Susie’s sister, and Leta, Susie’s mother, on FaceTime. Leta connected for the third time. While chatting, a yellow jacket wasp came, and then another. I could not get them to leave, so we rolled across the grass to escape, but they followed us for over 100 feet. They finally left us alone, and we headed back. I spoke to the park manager and shared our experience. The nest is a hazard (according to the manager), and the manager will search for it–a child could unknowingly stand on the nest and get seriously stung. We have crossed over the part of summer to when the yellow jackets are aggressive.

We returned to the hummingbird house, and Susie was comfortable in her bed while I worked. I put on the old Disney Alice in Wonderland animated movie, which neither of us remembered–it is not very good. I worked while that was happening and did one status call. I was sleepy now and did nod off once. I rallied after that and did one more design call. Susie was then watching M.A.S.H. and had a whole Ensure as a snack.

At 4:45 or so, I headed out with a kiss after rearranging Susie, so she was safe. Rosari, the night nursing aide, was making dinner, and she will check on Susie for me. From there, I drove in some traffic to the Men’s Warehouse, deciding that I could treat myself to dinner if I would do the refitting.

And that is all for today. Thanks for reading!

I have a headache, so I will not be re-reading; please forgive any misses from Grammarly improving the text or if I miss wording something. I often use a word that sounds the same.

Somedays, the hours just run away from you. Getting up late, after 8AM, made the morning disappear from me. I also wrote Saturday’s blog today after doing the first Zoom meeting. Rajani asked me to take the day off, Sunday, and enjoy the sun after working late on Saturday. But the Zoom meeting, too, seemed to drink the shallow waters of the morning until nothing remained. I did manage to do some work on the radio project with the hot glue gun. But I nearly burned myself by discovering that I best let everything cool down before I start back on the radio. The faceplate needs only to be glued in place now (and some wires cut and replaced with longer wires) to start the final assembly. It is always strange to reach the final steps.  You want it over, but also, you want to add just a few more touches here and there and not have the project ever end.

I dressed and headed out in Air Volvo. Paris Baguette was my target to get more tiramisu for Susie. I also found lunch at the Shake Shack and had a Smoked Shack Burger and fries. It burger was smallish and greasy but in a wonderful way for cheeseburgers; excellent. After getting lunch, having had to park in the reserve, I walked to the Bakery (the same one I used in NYC) and acquired two cup versions of tiramisu for Susie to take to the hummingbird house. Air Volvo then took highways 26 and then 217 to reach Susie, found 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 Sunday traffic was light.

Susie was happy to see me, and Jennifer, filling in for Anassa, who is the usual weekend nursing aide, popped Susie into the wheelchair. We just stayed on the porch today as it was already hot. There we made a three-way FaceTime call to Leta, Susie’s mother, and Barb, Susie’s sister, and us. Leta’s bruises from her fall have spread, pouring down her face, but she said she is fine. We also saw Caleb, Barb’s son, and had a nice chat. Next, the Smiths contacted us on another three-way call. Cat was calling in from NYC for a short while, and then we chatted with Michelle and David from their beach house on the Oregon Coast. Susie, while getting a bit sleepy from the warm air, was happy to have so many people to chat with.

Next, We retired to Susie’s room and watched M.A.S.H. for a few hours. I did nod off a few times, as did Susie, I am sure. But it was good for both of us to slow down for a while. Some of the episodes I barely remember as we are in year three before the changes of characters. Today included the episode with the nutty General Steele, which first introduces Harry Morgan (later, Col. Potter) to the show.

At 5:15, waking up in the over-stuffed chair, I woke up, kissed Susie goodbye, and headed out after talking about the special dessert for Susie for tonight. Louis, the evening nursing aide (and Jennifer’s husband), wanted to clarify my expectations–Susie should get some tonight.

Air Volvo took me to El Senior’s to meet Dondrea and Z for dinner. We had a nice dinner planning our Opera adventure this coming Wednesday. We are going to catch the Philip Glass Akhnaten replay of the Met version at theaters. The Met reshows its best opera recording in the summer. Z and Dondrea have not seen this or any Met shows, so this should be fun. The lavish presentation matched the crazy repeating nature of the score and the use of singing ancient Egyptian words in some places. I am happy to see it again and share it with Dondrea and Z.

The food was good, and I had a large beer. We all decided on soups. It was a nice break for all of us. Dondrea had me explain Akhenaten’s history and how he potentially fits into the bible (not likely). I also covered a bit of Moses and the Twelve Ceasars. It was a nice time.

I returned after dinner to the Volvo Cave via Air Volvo. It was still bright outside, but I wanted to relax a bit more and read the book I picked up at Powell’s–a physical book. Zoo Station by David Downing started sad and slow, but now it is a boiling spy novel set in Hitler’s Berlin. Hard to put down, and I had to finish it to learn what happened to everyone and if the main character John Russel makes it all work. It is a Soho Crime novel, and those are usually good, and this one, after a sad start, manages to be great. Recommended. I will get the next ones on my Kindle I think.

After that, I finally started on this blog. Somehow Monday is tomorrow. I just had to sign back into work and approve another design document. The weekend, just one day for me, was very short.

Thanks for reading!

I am writing this on Sunday morning–my sister’s birthday. She is somewhere in Michigan catching fish to celebrate. Happy Birthday Linda!

Returning to Saturday morning, we will even move back into Friday. After I finished the Friday blog, I decided that I was feeling restless and went to the 10PM showing of the next Mission Impossible movie, number seven, and joined the chaos at Movies on TV. One girl was a perfect Barbie, including the high heels (I suspect her heel does not touch the floor). The late showing of the ramping down MI7 was attended by another family; otherwise, it was empty. The movie was a blast, and I was laughing at the over-the-top stunts and a plot that disappeared into the poof of amazing chase scenes and even more completely unneeded stunts–perfect. Tom Crusie’s character smashes a tiny Fiat into a wall after starting it and apologizes that sometimes it takes him a while to figure out a car–not sure that was in the script. Still, it was so unexpected it was hilarious. If you need to escape, and they do many times in the movie, this one is for you.

Air Volvo was ready to deliver me to the Volvo Cave at 1AM. I managed to sleep sometime before 2AM. That made Saturday morning a more challenging prospect. In the morning, I managed to ignore the shoe company, make an NYC bagel, and write the blog with my French Press delivering coffee. I tried to start on the radio project, noticing an issue and breaking the replacement plastic window out. I reglued it in place, and that ended that plan.

I boarded Air Volvo in the early afternoon and faced low traffic; hole installation had stopped for the weekend. I soon 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 just finishing breakfast, and we headed to the park to enjoy the day before it was hot again (another 90F+ day with no rain–32C). I took the paved trail that led through the tennis courts to skip the crushed stone that rattles Susie and can suddenly stop the wheelchair (the loose rock buries a front wheel and halts the forward motion). The park was busy with humans being walked by various-sized dogs. Small children were with their parents on the swings or other devices for child happiness. The butterflies were meeting in columns of light between the trees, doing spirals together, and then parting and dancing across the park: Definitely showing off.

We found my favorite shady bench and did a three-way call to Barb, Susie’s sister, and Leta, Susie’s mother, and us. Barb, oddly, could not see or hear Leta on the call (how do you do that?!), but everyone else was okay. Leta’s face is red and purple with bruises from her fall, and she is tired and resting more. We played a strange game of telephone with Barb as we repeated what Leta said, but it was a good call on FaceTime so we could see everyone.

We finished the usual tour and returned to Susie’s room. I found the movie Bohemian Rhapsody on the cable, and Susie sang along for this Queen biopic. We spent the next two hours watching the story of Freddy Mercury and the band, with Evan showing at the movie’s finish. Susie had an Ensure while we watched the show. Once the film was completed, I promised to return soon after grabbing a fast lunch. Evan and I did a sub sandwich and then dropped off a copy of 2600 for Dondrea (signed by me on page 57). We returned soon to the hummingbird house, and Susie was having lunch. Evan headed out, and I stayed with Susie for ninety minutes watching M.A.S.H. I had to return to the home office by 4PM to start my shift.

I was just on time with traffic returning and running slow. I logged into my shoe company laptop and started an hour of status meetings, plus a bonus Zoom meeting, as there was a crisis of the moment. I spent the evening following along and monitoring the current crises. I reheated the jambalaya from a few days ago for dinner. Later, being a bit bored, I made scones from a box (cranberry and orange), King Arthur Flour brand–recommended. I watched an episode of The Avengers (1966) after seeing a fan work on Mrs. Peele (Diana Riggs). Returning to the shift, I stayed until 1AM to update folks on the crises I watched.

I finally slept after 3AM, making Sunday morning harder.

Thanks for reading!

I am having dinner at the GVB alone; Mariah could not join me this Friday night. I spent most of the afternoon with Susie. We watched the Disney animated movie Moana while I was logged into work, reviewing documents and designs and helping with a few crises of the moment. The emoji of the team today was the animated facepalm. I could not finish the last status meeting as I was becoming impatient with folks on the project–best to log out before I say something. It is good to have a beer and dinner–prime rib is the special on Friday–sinfully good.

Susie was sad when I left, near tears, but she understood I would be back and kissed me goodbye, three times and held my hand. I set the TV in her room to M.A.S.H., the second season; she likes the earlier seasons, and they are not often on the reruns on regular TV. We use Hulu for this.

Susie was weighed today and is still only 68 pounds. Her weight is stable, but it is still not improving. I will get more desserts!

Right after I arrived, we managed to head out to Metzger Park next door. The park manager was out and had a chainsaw. He thought I could use a haircut, but I good naturally demurred. Next, the manager got on the tractor and cleared the logs from the fallen trees. It is hot and dry this summer and not time to have stacks of dried wood in the light forest of the park!

We found our favorite bench in the shade with redwoods, cedars, and butterflies. We did a three-way call to connect to Leta, Susie’s mother, Barb, her sister, and us on FaceTime and could see and hear each other. Leta, sporting new bruises, had fallen in her garage, and, according to her, it looked worse than it was. Barb was less convinced. Susie was delighted to have a call with all of them and to see them. Barb had mostly recovered from her trip back to Michigan from here. She did, she said, sleep until noon today–but looked awake. We connected with Barb while she was grocery shopping. We talked for ten minutes, and everyone was happy to reconnect today.

Before this, I was at the house doing my usual work-from-home Friday. I slept in, finally getting started at 7AM, and then made breakfast–an NYC bagel with a veggie smear (thanks, Joyce), yogurt (plus fruit and Organic), and liberal coffee made in my French Press. I was online reading stuff and getting ready for the hours of status meetings. After managing to listen and send updates to my team for any issues identified for us (just one minor thing which unfortunately did cause a faceplant emoji from the team), I found time to shower and dress. Next, I hosted an hour session with the software architects and engineers on how Nike is redesigning its processes and the impact that would have on our systems (existing and future). No details can go here, of course. I reheated some jambalaya I made the day before for lunch while I did the session–I used an Avatar instead of a live camera image.

My boss sent me my official bonus. It was the expected amount and is over 20% of my annual pay–a good year at Nike. I also ran the numbers for my retirement, with the results suggesting I should retire soon. The numbers show we will be OK. For various economic reasons (and tax reasons), I will be putting this off for a while.

I packed up the computers, my Nike and my Apple, and boarded Air Volvo. I headed to 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 traffic was light, and I had no issues or police entanglements.

And that takes me full circle. The person doing the local writer’s anthology has not returned my emails. Looks like my Howard story has no home. I have not heard any new complaints or compliments on my 2600 AI story.

Thanks for reading.