Blog

I am just home at 10:20PM and tired, so this will be more of a briefing than a blog.

As I usually try, I spent the afternoon with 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. The traffic was light, but Hall Boulevard had closed again, and I spaced that until I was too close to try another route. I spend an extra ten minutes in a lovely industrial park again–I am beginning to recognize the buildings now. Susie was happy to see me; Anassa had put her in bed as Susie was tired and sad today. Susie managed to eat breakfast but soon fell asleep in her recliner in the shared living room. Anassa thought Susie would be more comfortable in her bed. Susie still looked sad and tired when I got there but was delighted to have a visitor.

We changed this around a bit so that Susie could see the TV in her room better and I could be closer to her. Anassa brought one of the coffee drinks I got for Susie. I poured it into a cup, and Susie liked it and drank half of it. I finished the other half, drinking from the bottle. We both could use some mocha coffee. We watched the fourth Indiana Jones movie, The Crystal Skull, and I liked it better this time. Susie stayed awake for the whole film. We paused it once, called Leta, Susie’s mother, and chatted for a while.

I started Elton John’s recorded live concert after the movie was completed and stayed until after 4:15. Susie loves this version. I kissed her goodbye once it was going, and Susie looked comfortable. She was also a bit happier, so the longish visit, the movie, the coffee drink, and now Elton John must have helped Susie find herself.

The pizza protectors we retain and then use for flying figures. My paladin of death is before the creature wearing a metal helmet and wielding a sword.

After I left Susie’s place, I headed to the Oak Hills McMenamins, and there I had soup, Lentil Curry, and an iced tea for dinner. It is on the way to Cory’s house, so it is an excellent place to get a quick bite before going to Cory’s to play Dungeons and Dragons, 5E, for the evening. After my quick lunch, I drove to Cory’s place and was just a few minutes early for 5:30 D&D. It was a busy game to 9PM with us role-playing arena combat and a fait accompli that means the next time we play, we will need to rescue one of our player characters! It was a good night of gaming, and my character, a paladin of death, nearly experienced death.

You can see the arena with us fighters up against a hulking creature.

I had cereal with milk (plus liberal coffee) for breakfast. I reheated some spicy Popeye chicken for lunch and had that with a pickle and potato salad (finishing both).

Well, I am getting exhausted. I will not retrace starting the morning (I was awake too early), the Zoom meetings (just one), and getting ready–it was the same as most days.

Sorry for the brief blog! Thanks for reading!

Saturday has left me sad. Susie was upset when I went on Saturday at 2ish; this breaks my heart. I know that, for Susie, it will fade quickly, and she will be fine. With her short-term memory issues and a nap, she will be fine again in less than an hour, not remembering the emotions. But I remember, and it hurts, and it is hard to start again and do yet another day, but I must remember for both of us. This is a journey, यात्रा, and I must accept that and keep it sacred. In Christain terms, I am in the wilderness for forty days–I must remember my faith. It ain’t easy.

But I push on and find the strength to keep going. Routine, like writing this blog, is my best defense, as the resting and distracting things like board games. I read emails, the news, and dress. I find comfort in the familiar.

I rose on Saturday morning feeling a bit better. I have the AC back on, and that clears the house of pollen (I replace the filters often). It is the weekend, my team has completed all data conversions, and even the updates are flowing–we are just monitoring and being available. To that end, I am still attending the morning Zoom calls (I begged off the evening calls) all weekend. I started writing the blog (I decided to let Friday’s story wait to be written on Saturday). The meeting is short, and I drink liberal coffee from my French Press and eat the remains of the tamales for breakfast (a poor choice as I am feeling slightly off after that). I also edit the 500-word horror story I have been working on for a week. I do not find time for my radio project. I am looking at a short visit to Michigan around the weekend of 10Sept2023 as my sister is getting married that weekend. I will have to make everything refundable as Susie might need me then–I can plan nothing in advance while on my journey.

I travel to see Susie by boarding Air Volvo. I nearly take the trip over Cooper Mountain, but I remember that construction might be there too, so I cross over Beaverton as usual. The traffic is light until I find that Hall Boulevard is closed again (ugh!), and I am forced into a significant backup in an industrial park that circles around the closure. Thus, after an additional ten minutes touring an industrial park (nicely filled with trees and green lawns) and building below three stories (we have strong building codes now, and the earthquake reinforcement for taller buildings is quite expensive–so most facilities are kept low and wide), I finally reach 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 did have to go in the wrong direction to get beyond the lock-up and U-turn to get back on track.

I make a stop before reaching Susie at Target. I picked up some Ensure with protein for her and another brand in her favorite flavor, Strawberry. I added some Frappuccino in bottles from Starbucks Company that she used to love. I also acquired two sets of flowers as the roses I cut and brought are fading. I deliver these, and Susie is delighted to get new drinks (she is worried about her weight loss), and flowers are always welcome.

Next, Anassa, the weekend day nurse aide, pops Susie into the wheelchair, and we head outside into the hot, warm Oregon weather. Butterflies are everywhere, yellow bright Oregon Swallowtails, with an occasional Monarch or smaller moth also zooming by to add more colors. I roll Susie down the street for a short direction and then through the tennis courts, missing the bumping crushed stone that now fills the parking area, and then back on to the paved trails through Metzger Park.

Many of the benches were in use, but we found one in the sun and enjoyed the warm sun. We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and chatted on my iPhone using FaceTime. Susie started to fall asleep in the warm sun, so I rang off, and we toured the park and left the way we came, the tennis courts. Next, Anassa set Susie up in her bed so we could watch a movie. We did the animated version of Aladdin (I like the newer one better as Jasmine becomes Sultan in that story, and I like Will Smith’s character). Evan appeared about 1/4 into the film and argued it was better than the new one). Susie enjoyed the movie but was unhappy when I left at 2ish (I delayed lunch until after our visit), as mentioned above.

Evan and I headed to Portland, and after some light traffic, we found a train again blocking our path. I drove to the end of 99N and took it back to SE (it is built over the industrial area and the train tracks) and was soon in a very busy Rogue Brewery. Richard was free this afternoon and joined us a bit later at Rogue. I got a beer and a BLT with avocado (very west coast) called a BLTA. Evan showed up after a while as the train and found parking (I parked two blocks away).

We played the board game Vindication adding in Loot and Pets for the first game (nobody used them, so we removed them in the second game). Evan managed to take the lead and keep it in the first game. I unthinkingly ended the game early while behind. While not a blow-out, Evan was more than seven points ahead of me.

I will not describe the game in detail. It is a Kickstarter game from 2018, and I was involved in the game design and recommend it as it is easy to play but is hard to master–my favorite type. It has a substantial discovery and map-building mechanic combined with resource management. It is not a brain burner and plays fast.

We had time for a second game, and in that one, I took the lead early, playing with more care (except at the end when Richard pointed out a mistake that I corrected). I managed to keep my lead. Evan unexpectedly ended the game and found himself in last place, with Richard almost catching me. It was a close game, with it being anyone’s game and Richard’s slow engine-building skills showing by his sudden point growth. He agreed with me later that getting companions instead of buying all the movement at once (for a sudden 10+ point scoring) might have been a better plan (you get some superpowers with some companions), might have worked better. It was nice to play a three-person game.

I paid the bill at Rogue and headed to Richard’s early (he said I could come early and invited Evan to a game tonight, but Evan demurred). Once there, we set up a new game (for me), Darwin’s Journey, a recent Kickstarter game I did not support but is by the same designer as a favorite, Grand Hotel Austria. I found Darwin’s Journey a smooth-running and intellectually easy-to-follow game. Unlike other games, there is a limited set of clean-up and between-turn mechanics (Weather Machine and Grand Hotel Austria are harder to play as they have complex between-turn processes), but those that exist are clear and can’t be missed or done wrong. It does use bonus titles that are competitively acquired that I don’t like, but it includes a worker improvement system that I like (meeples need to do more than just be markers). The price, under $50, makes it an easy recommendation. The upgraded Kickstarter versions are selling for $150, the usual buy-in price for the upgraded games.

I played and took the lead early, but my lack of focus on the bonus tiles set me back to third place, a distant third place. Shawn scored high for a first-time play. Richard scored a new high score lapping me twice! Still, I liked it and would play it again (warning, my second play is usually worse until I work out the rules). We played the newbie set-up; excellent, the game has that too.

After that, I headed home early and took the high-flying bridges and on-ramps I had never enjoyed in Portland. I arrived at the Volvo Cave without incident in Air Volvo. I stopped by Popeyes, got some chicken, paid too much for coleslaw ($4.99–more than a gallon of gas), and ate the chicken breast and sides while I rewatched episode three of Wednesday on Netflicks. I have to play it loud as my poor hearing misses some of the character Wednesday’s side comments. Paraphrasing: “I thought I was going out of my mind, and I am not enjoying it as much as I thought I would.” I still miss some, but I like it on the second take. Recommended.

After that, I went to bed but could not sleep, and instead read the rules to my newly purchased copy of Furnace. This is a lighter (and cheap at under $50) board game for 2-4 players that involves bidding and scheduling that I find quite appealing (and I am good at it). One of the few games I have beat Richard at.

I look forward to playing it in the future, and once I read the rules and looked at the components, I could sleep.

Aside: I play board games (and Role-playing games–RPG) not so much as to win; winning is always fun, but to play to understand the mechanics and flow of the games. The strategies are interesting to me. I get to forget everything for a few hours and immerse myself in an artificial world and see its wonders and incredible mechanics. I have had to get better at the competitive parts (especially the engine building) to understand more and explore the wonders.

Thank you for reading.

 

I ended Friday unexpectedly with calls from friends. I spoke to David and Michelle as they crossed the Coastal Mountain Range to their beach home–More repairs and work for the weekend for them. We talked about many things, but I read them my new 500-word horror story for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and Michelle thought it good. When you read a story aloud to a friendly audience, you get to hear the voice and structure of the story. I thought the story moved for 500 words, was coherent and maybe a bit scary, and contained some poem-like wording. It is a story of a nightmare chasing the writer and not focused on Lovecraftian mythology, but I hope it hints enough at it.

Next, I got a call from Subha; she is on sabbatical and headed to India soon. How do you get Raspberry Pi 4 with 4Gb? I have some spare (I always buy two in case I release the blue smoke in one), but it is impossible to find an 8Gb version. I also have an unused Raspberry Pi 3 2Gb. I checked all my usual sources, and Raspberry Pi 4’s are mostly sold out or being sold with a $100 premium (and one wonders if they actually have one). I put my spares aside and will get them to Subha.

After that, I went to bed and had trouble sleeping. I had some coffee with dinner, which kept me up.

Returning to the start of the day, my alarm woke me at 7, and with some effort, I joined the living on a work-from-home Friday. I assembled a breakfast of cereal with milk and coffee, liberal from the French Press. I consumed the news and breakfast, also enjoying emails from work and those from my own account. Next, I spent some time on Facebook to see what was happening there. At 8AM, my online Zoom meetings started and went on until about 10AM. There were no crises for us, so the morning was spent listening and reading. I canceled a meeting as there were no requests for the meeting, and then headed to the shower and started the laundry.

I made lunch after putting around the house for a bit. I reheated the tamales and had them for lunch. I boarded Air Volvo with the intent of stopping at Target near Susie’s to get some Ensure with protein (extra potent Ensure if you like) as suggested by doc. Hall Boulevard was closed! The detour took quite some time, and I now late forgot to get the Ensure. Susie was waiting for me in her room, and I set up shop in an overstuffed chair and a small table. I had my Nike and Apple laptops all running, and I put on the movie La La Land for Susie and me to watch while I worked. My remote office at the hummingbird house.

We called Susie’s mother, Leta, and chatted with her for a while. She is going after the fungus and bugs attacking her tomatoes! After that, I had a work call that Susie slept through. We returned to the movie. At 4ish, we headed outside to see Metzger Park before my 4PM meeting and shift change at the hummingbird house.

We enjoyed the warm sunny June weather, not the usual in Oregon in June. I found our favorite shady bench and was surprised to meet Joan and Bud Goldhammer, who were also in the park. We had a friendly chat. Susie enjoyed the warm air, even in the shade, and watched the butterflies and the kids enjoying their first Friday without school.

I managed to get us back in time for my 4:30 status meeting. We then finished La La Land, and I kissed Susie goodbye. Dinner was at the Cheese Cake Factory, having the hibachi steak and taking cheesecake and a coffee to go. My waiter, Jenifer, was excellent.

I returned home and did dishes, finished the laundry, and rested a bit (food coma). I then got some calls, as I described at the start.

It was a good day, and I tried to keep the stress down and increase my rest.

Thanks for reading.

 

The news from the ocean was grim, the submersible imploded, and the wreck was found a short distance from their goal: the bow of the RMS Titanic. Sad.

Yesterday, after I finished the blog, I wrote my 500-word horror story for the 2023 H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. I learned last year that Gwen, the judge and one of the event’s directors, wants a story that makes her shutter and connects to  H.P. Lovecraft’s horror writings. This year I wrote a story that made me look over my shoulder, see things that were not there, and made it hard to sleep. I wrote about a dream that still scares me. I managed to sleep, finally. I hope it will work for Gwen (I won two years ago).

I started the morning at 8, sleeping in a bit; I had a breakfast of yogurt and some liberal coffee made in my French press. I put my work computer in the cargo hold, boarded Air Volvo, and then 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.

Jennifer had Susie dressed and ready when I arrived in morning rush traffic across Beaverton. I then used the moving belt (humans don’t come with handles) and lifted Susie into the co-pilot seat in Air Volvo. I put the wheelchair in the back. Before I left, I had unloaded all the games from the cargo area and some from the back seats to make room for the wheelchair.

We made the voyage of Highway 217 (under construction), which was slow to 26, with Beaverton’s Finest patrolling, moving at extra-legal quick speeds. We arrived at the Legacy Clinic building, and I unloaded Susie and rolled her into her wheelchair to get her blood drawn. We need to recheck Susie’s liver function after a month without her statin, hoping for an improvement.

It took two tries to get the sample, with Susie tolerating the first fruitless attempt. The second try was on a heated hand and a tiny needle. It worked and filled the tube. Done, without too much extra pain, we were happy to leave.

The Krispy Kreme Donut place is next door, and Susie and I agree we should consider that. A quick call to Jennifer, the nursing aide at the hummingbird house, confirms that donuts are allowed. We take the sidewalks to get next door and discover a Willy Wonka-like world of donuts. We get a coffee to share (I get ice and another cup to cool the coffee), and Susie sips this with great care as we watch the donuts get made. We get a dozen to share with the hummingbird house and get a hat.

I drop Susie off to Jennifer after retracing our steps back to the hummingbird house. My second lift did not go as well; I hit my head on the door frame but landed Susie well enough. I left with a kiss as Jennifer promised Susie some apple fritter (Susie’s fav from Krispy Kreme) for breakfast.

Air Volvo took me to Swift on Nike WHQ, our new building, in August, and I walked through the building and took some photos. I sent the pictures to my teammates, many of whom joined Nike during the pandemic and have never worked from Nike WHQ. I did months of meetings years ago in the building and liked the place.

 

I then parked my car in The Park, the first parking garage at Nike WHQ, and took the stairs from level 4. There are seven! I walked across campus to the Williams building and had a working lunch (salad bar) with Scott. We have met every week for years. We often design software together.

It was hot, and I walked the distance of the WHQ to The Park and climbed four sets of stairs. I am no longer using the lifts–time to get better. I am tired, and between the lifts, wheelchair lifts and reassembling, the long walks, and stairs, I have had quite a good workout today.

I drive back to our old building, Clubhouse, and I notice how worn and out of alignment with the norm this building is. I never liked it and will be glad to see it no more after August.

I spend a few more hours at the building, catching up and doing a few more meetings. I am tired and will head out at 3ish to the Volvo Cave. I arrive at Air Volvo without incident, rest until 4:30PM, and take the last status meeting from my home office.

I make dinner, jambalaya, without seafood, and watch the first episodes again of the show Wednesday. It makes me laugh, and I really like it.

Where did you learn those moves? My uncle taught me he was in Tibet for seven years in a monastery. Was he a monk? No, a prisoner.

Yes, the lines that Wednesday gets are fun. I wish I had written them.

After that, I did the dishes, pour a glass of Kalua, and started on the blog.

Thank you for reading.

 

Today is the summer solstice, and the sun is now just setting at 9PM, and this will stay after 9 for some time before the days start to feel like they are shortening. Pumpkin season is still far away! I woke with my alarm again, and I felt tired all day. It has been coffee and tea to keep going this morning and this afternoon. Dinner was reheated tamales from the tamales lady at Wildwood Taphouse–she sells them out of her truck on some Tuesdays. They are spicy and delicious. I ate them while watching the finish of The Rings of Power series (my third time watching it), and I genuinely love the last two episodes, and they make up for all the sloppy storytelling at the start. I am hopeful for the next series, but it will not likely surface until Spring 2024.

I rested for a bit, tired; even my boss commented on how tired I looked today. So I took the evening off and just relaxed. I am writing this as the sun sets on the longest day and the shortest night starts.

Today I took the stairs all day (the first time in some time) at our Nike building, Clubhouse, and we learned today that we are leaving it for Nike WHQ, just down the road, and leaving soon, August. We will be in the old Rogue building, now called Swift, and remodeled, a purchased building now included in the berm that surrounds Nike WHQ. We will be about two blocks from what I would call the campus. It will be good to walk by the lake again and eat in the cafes.

I also got my review, which was good, and I was disappointed with my new title, Principle Software Engineer. I will miss the Architect part of my previous titles as it better described what I do, but the pay is the same as are the benefits and a quick scan on the internet, and yes, my pay matches this title. I will have to get used to it.

Susie was talkative today when I arrived 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. She was hard to understand, but we tried. Susie agreed to a visit to the park, and Jennifer (the weekday nursing aide) got Susie in her wheelchair, and we headed out to find a sunny bench in Metzger Park. It was about 80F (27C) with a light cooling wind–sitting in the sun was comfortable. The recent rains seemed to restore the trees and flowers. Cottonwood bunches were drifting through the air. The butterflies, yellow Oregon swallowtails, fluttered here and there in the sun, seemingly to warm themselves in the hot summer rays. A small dog rushed after a ball that the dog’s human threw. The dog would bring the ball back and, if ignored, would bark and jump to get the human’s attention. Small kids were in the park. Beaverton Schools closed for the summer today, so the kids were still saying goodbye to their teachers and friends for the summer. I remember it was always a sad day for me. Once I rode a large bike (a three and later a five-speed), I could at least reach the nearby kids and sometimes some of the more distant ones on good weather days, and that made things better, but the last day was always a strange day.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, from the bench, but Leta was at a church meeting, so it was a short call. Soon I needed to return to work and get some lunch, so I took Susie through the rest of the park, and then we traveled on the streets. The homeless couple living in their car was not there today–I hope they are OK. The guy with the ducks in his van (!) was also not there.

I soon left with a kiss with plans made on Thursday morning to take Susie for a blood draw in the morning to check her liver function. The labs were catawampus last time, and we hope to drop the statin drug will get Susie back to normal.

Susie is also losing weight, and I have another message for the doc on that. We will get a new weight soon and hope things are stable. Otherwise, that is a new issue.

Lunch was at our old stomping grounds, Happy Panda. I used to eat with Michelle and Michael there, and I missed them while I had a quick lunch by myself. The food was exactly the same

To finish, recalling the early morning, I had yogurt and a banana with my coffee–Liberal and French Press–for breakfast. I ate the banana while taking Air Volvo to work. I was suddenly nauseous again and hoped it was a result of my pills and the banana would help; it did. It was usual to read emails and Slack messages after rising at 6AM, shower and dressing 7:00-7:30, and out the door to reach the office before 8AM.

Thank you for reading. Enjoy the short night, and Thursday is only a few seconds shorter, so enjoy the week of long days and short nights!