Blog

There are no status calls this weekend, the first time in about a month. I woke at about 8ish and snuggled in my bed until nearly 9AM. I had written the blog at Wildwood Taphouse the night before, so I was not rushed.

I found my horror story while on my Apple, “Three Steps,” for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival in Portland. This is the micro-story contest, and you are limited to 500 words for a story that aligns with the cosmic horror that Lovecraft defined in the early 1900s (I agree with Mariah that many writers should write as if they had these limits–many writers pad their writing). When doing these micro-stories, I select words that carry the story forward without, which is funny for Lovecraft stories, repeating descriptive words–I have only space for a word or two. Punctuation is helpful as it does not count towards the limit. I use the first person as that cuts out structures that use many words to direct the story. I love to work on these!

After it took a while, I finished my current editing. I dress and pick up a few times and consign some to be taken, someday, to Goodwill. I board Air Volvo, and the traffic is light to the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. Anassa, the weekend day nursing aide, updates me when I arrive. Anassa tells me that Susie suffered from confusion this Saturday morning. Susie did not know where she was and asked if she could leave and only ate 1/2 of her breakfast. Anassa had not seen, according to Anassa’s story, Susie this lost.

Susie was happy to see me; she was napping in her recliner in the shared living room. Leta, Susie’s mother, called, and we used iPhone with FaceTime. This brought Susie more focus. Seeing her mother and a short chat, Leta had a concert to attend and was rushed, which seemed to ground Susie in the now.

While overcast, the morning was starting to warm. I got a coat for Susie while Anassa, happy to see Susie remembering again, popped Susie into a wheelchair, and we headed to Metzger Park next door. The familiarity of the park and seeing folks walking and enjoying the outdoors seemed to wake Susie up more.

Max, the dog at the hummingbird house (who believes Michael is for chewing) ball was lost in the park after I threw it too hard; the dog was happy when Susie and I made a cross-country trip to get his ball and throw it back to him. He did not give it back.

Evan, who beat me to the hummingbird house, joined us for a park tour when getting Max his ball. Susie was getting cold and pointed to keep going, and we headed out of the park and headed to the now-blooming magnolia tree on a nearby street. The sun still had not burned the clouds away, so we returned to the hummingbird house’s warmth.

Susie decided to watch a movie in her room, and Anassa set her up in Susie’s rocking chair with a new pillow that seemed to work better. I tried to find Kung-fu Panda, but my Max access seems to have expired (?!), so we went for something easier to find, Disney’s original Sleeping Beauty 1959 animated film. Susie sang all the songs and even talked to the characters on the screen. Susie was back with us (she was better this Sunday morning–I just checked in).

Susie was yawning and looking relaxed now. Susie had managed only thirty minutes in the rocking chair. She looked at me and said, “Terrible,” I queried a few things until we agreed that her butt hurt and she had enough rocking. Anassa moved Susie to her bed, and Susie looked comfortable.

Evan had left 1/2 through the Disney film, and I left with Susie happy and back after the movie finished. Susie was OK with me going today. I headed to Portland and Rogue Taphouse and arrived soon as the traffic was light (the other drivers seemed to be all over the roads, so I was very attentive flying Air Volvo). I had to park a block away as we were there after 2PM, and the area was filling up. I walked by a woodworking place that looked like a DIY called IdeaWorks. While I do not need to add woodworking to my hobbies, this still looked interesting. Resist!

I opened a tab at the 1/2 empty Rogue bar; usually, the place is packed for good weather. I got the special, a huge Ruben with fries, and a beer, Deadguy Ale, and set up the board game Concordia for two players on the large Mediterranean Sea map, the basic setup. This is my favorite game, and I got to go last and start with my best movie, getting a cloth and a brick city on the first play. Soon, I acquired, at a significant cost, the personality cards for Metal/Tools and Farmers. Now I am set for my usual play. Evan is trying to build over my cities and providences as this strategy works if he gets his colonists out, but he has no additional ones. I managed to slip away and build on the edges–my usual trick. I select one-time-use Forum items (we are playing with the Forum add-on) as I remember to burn the one-time use to get a substantial one-time benefit. Ultimately, I built fast and furious, ended the game early, and finished with a significant lead. The Farmer card, building in 11 of 12 providences, and getting all but one colonist out paid me well (and getting the seven points for ending the game).

We had time for the smaller game, Furnace, and to use the new gears I found online for upgrades. I liked them better than the cardboard upgrade versions. Evan managed to beat me by more than ten, a crushing. I could not get my factories to run well.

I paid the bill and headed out. Air Volvo, now hot as the sun was out, was undisturbed. I am unsure if I could park on the streets in this SE area at night! I believe there is a parking garage nearby that I would have to use at night.

Evan, Richard, Kathleen, and I met next in Richard’s basement. Kathleen asked for easy games, so we started with the car racing board game Heat. A new Kickstarter game, and I managed to lead in my racing car, both races until I blew up my engine and ran too hot. It’s a great fun game; I recommend it once you get it. It uses the deck-building mechanic, and you need to slow down for curves (trust me) and not overheat (yes, I know) your engine, simulated by heat cards in your deck to run your car. I might have to buy this one. We did two races.

Next, the request was for Wingspan. Four-person Wingspan is almost a different game than two-person, my usual play, and I missed the early point raising bird cards. I also missed two end-of-round scoring (playing the hard scoring recommended for the add-ons). We were using Europe and Asia add-on that improves this game. Evan was happy to see me in the last place after ninety minutes of play (fast for a four-person game); Richard had a massive score that Kathleen could not catch this time. Kathleen is the expert knowing all the fantastic birds and combinations after hundreds of hours of play online and on physical games. Richard was thrilled to win this time.

I headed home and witnessed more crazy extra-legal driving on the bridges. A car behind me revved its engine and passed me. I was then shocked when Air Volvo had to stop on the bridge. The exact vehicle stalled at the top of the bridge, causing a nasty halt for a long row of cars. The hazard lights turned on, and Air Volvo passed the locked-up lane of cars and cleared. Next, we passed a couple of sets of cars on the shoulder–once off the bridge–that apparently smashed while trying to do an unplanned changing of lanes. Flashing lights were starting everywhere. Air Volvo swiftly and with great care headed into the tunnel finding slow-moving cars, some I recognized as cars I saw on the bridge–nobody was going fast anymore!

I managed to arrive at the Volvo Cave without any more adventures. I opened a can of chili, added cheese, and microwaved. That was a late dinner to go with my pills.

I managed to get to bed at about midnight and had some trouble sleeping. There was a lot on my mind.

Today started with me going to work on a Friday for the first time since February 2022. After the pandemic, Nike decided to have us work Tuesday-Thursday; thus, today was the first Friday I worked. We had to work our shifts on Friday. It felt strange as about 1/2 the folks were still working from home on Friday.

I started at 6:30 and rushed to be in the office by 7:30 for my first defect meeting. I was a few minutes late, but I was clean and dressed. I decided to wear T-shirts this week as the temperatures were 80F+ (27C) in the forecast. We had low clouds, which were not in the forecast, making it 65F (18C) until the later afternoon.

My boss Brad came to work and stayed the morning writing emails and doing other preparation for this six-week sabbatical starting today. It was good to see him so happy and relaxed. I am tasked to ask Rajani any questions and approve access, which Brad usually does. We will miss Brad, but it is great for him to have the summer for his break!

We had the staff meeting, and I helped with a few crises of the moment and approved some designs and even bug fix approvals to production, something l have now done in years. We learned there were no food trucks today, so lunch was where you find it. I already made coffee and found stale donuts and mystery vegan pudding in the frig for breakfast–I think it best to find my own lunch!

I headed out 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. Susie was awake and feeling better today. Jennifer, the nursing aide for the weekday, said Susie had eaten well and seemed back to her usual self. As it was cold outside, we agreed to stay inside today.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and opened a T-shirt from Barb, Susie’s sister who is visiting next Friday, that had Susie’s fav sayings like “Too soon, baboon,” and “See you later, alligator.” Excellent.

Soon it was time for me to return to work, and I left Susie with a kiss. I could see on her face that she wanted me to stay, and she accepted my promise to return on Saturday. No tears today, but it was close (for either of us). I reached work without issue, stopping by Burger King for a decent cheeseburger and lousy onion rings. I listened to Oregon Public Broadcasting while eating. The discussion was about the support for farmers in drought conditions. According to the report, Oregon is unique in the USA; we produce over 200 different types of farmed crops. Farmers can pick drought-resistant alternative crops, but farming, like many places in the country, is now a complex process with hard choices, with droughts happening more often.

I returned to work and did various status meetings and even a design review (like the good old days). Our Senior Director, Jim, texted me dinner was provided. Brad had left by then, and already I was getting texts from Jim. Excellent Indian food was supplied in large trays for dinner. I ate that for dinner while I finished my last status meeting for the week at 4:35.

After that, I headed home in Air Volvo, and the traffic was light, and I was soon at the Volvo Cave. The clouds had burned off, and the AC in Air Volvo took a while to get me comfortable–it was very bright and now very hot.

I spent a short time at home. I signed up for the new board game Evolution of Ideas by Vital Lacerda on Kickstarter and then sent a note to Richard, my PDX gaming guru, and he reminded me that this is not my favorite type of game. I just good not resist the FUMO. He thought it funny as we discussed how we would resist another brain-burning game from Lacerda. He said we could work on how to play together. While getting texts, I could hear Richard laughing in my mind.

Next, I had some popcorn while I watched ShipHappens on YouTube. They are rebuilding a WW2 ship, and it is interesting.

After that, I headed to WildWood Taphouse, had a beer with JR, and chatted for a while. After JR left, I finished the blog, writing for a few hours.

Thank you, JR, for the beer. Thank you for reading!

 

 

Today the hardest item was to learn that Susie is down to 69 pounds and was not interested in eating today. Ask Susie, and she will not remember breakfast (or the lack of it). We have added Ensure and upgraded to Ensure Plus Protean, and Susie is still losing weight. Michelle Nixon and her staff at the hummingbird house need a working care plan for Susie, which may mean moving to hospice or end-of-life care for Susie–just options now. Barb, Susie’s sister, is coming next week, and Susie may bounce back. Also, Susie got better and graduated from hospice care last time. It is not unusual to see this. A new set of medical folks focused only on comfort and care often brings someone back from the edge–it is the nature of these things.

It is a lot for me to deal with, as you can imagine, dear reader. And while it is best not to indulge in beer and food as a solution, I might try some to help here at BJ’s Brewhouse with my usual waiter Eric. I did change my order and went with the chicken. Someone else ordered it, and it looked so good. Eric and I agreed to go that way tonight. I listen to experts (unlike many people) and find their advice often the best.

Warning, liberal statements: BJ’s Brewhouse has changed some staff. The gal from Philly is no longer here, and the assistant manager has left. The bar staff is the previous waiters for the bar, a couple. But Eric is still here (and Mo on other days), and the food is still good. The bar, while you won’t get rich in Oregon, with a high minimum ($14.20) wage (plus tips), a good crowd, and high-end items on the menu, will make it worth your time. Now if I were in Idaho, the food would suck, and the service would be terrible as the wage today is $3.35 (with tips). The entree would be $5 less (from what I can see on the menus on the Internet). If you believe that folks making $3.30 an hour are who should bring you food (remember, the wage covers the cooks and most of the staff), then you are braver than me.

Aside: A tipped minimum wage is $7.25 an hour nationally, with the employer having to make up the difference. Thus, in Idaho and other states with low payments, the worker must do multiple tables to reach the minimum. So when you are at a pancake place in one of these low-wage states, please tip the poor staff, even when they are so rushed they can barely talk to you. They have to work to break breakneck speeds to crack their nut.

Returning to the narrative, I started the morning tired, and I woke before 6AM and rested until 7AM, skipping breakfast (and my pills in error). I cleaned up and dressed. Next, I boarded Air Volvo and rushed to work. Traffic (school is out) was light, and I was early. I did my first Zoom meeting, found some breakfast and coffee (Starbucks tasting of capitalism), and continued my day. My boss brought me a crisis of the moment, and I had to work on that issue until lunch. There were other crises of the moment that I explained (a miss on data conversions) and continued to identify the absence of testing as new tickets (software bug fix requests) showed that integration had never been run end-to-end until go-live, ugh!

I was distracted by my task, but soon I had jambalaya for lunch from one of the trucks provided for us. Excellent. I sat with the master data governance engineering team, the central team I support, and had a biz director join us, Scott R. It was nice to see him–we go back to the beginning of Nike’s use of the software SAP.

After lunch and hanging out with our team and Scott, I saw 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. I arrived without issue or much traffic and woke Susie in her recliner in the shared living room. Susie wanted to see the park, so Jennifer moved Susie to her wheelchair, and we headed out into Metzger Park. The smoke has stayed to the East (with the Columbia Gorge blowing most of the smoke away), and the warm temperature (nearing 90F or 34C) was comfortable in the shade.

Susie seemed to wake up and feel better once we got to the park. She watched the people and dogs with interest (lots of dogs with most on leashes). Susie chatted with Leta, and we saw the butterflies spinning in circles again. Soon, I needed to head back to work, so I took Susie back to hummingbird house and then kissed her goodbye with a promise to return on Friday.

Work included more crisis of the moment and discussion of standard approaches to error recovery. Nothing to cover here (boring). I did the last status meeting at 4:35 and listened to more tickets of avoidable failures (thinking: f**king test the integrations!), wisely making no comment about the obvious.

My trip home was fast, and soon I was headed to BJ’s to have a meal and try to find my calm. While I did poorly on calm, the food and booze were excellent.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

Just a short story today, as it was a typical work day. I started by waking with my alarm at 6AM and then sleeping in until 6:30. I rushed to be in the office at 7:30 for my first meeting. So no breakfast or even liberal coffee, and Air Volvo left a few minutes late, but the traffic was light (school is out), and I was in my first meeting without being late.

After the meeting, the status of defects meeting for the following software install (in late December), I found coffee (with cream) and a muffin and fruit for breakfast. The project provided breakfast and lunch today.

My lunch today was a spicy chicken burrito from a food truck. This time you had to supply a meal ticket from the front desk to get lunch for free lunch. The burrito was excellent and made my mouth burn. I had lunch with the BASIS team (the platform team for SAP software).

I found myself free as there were no issues for our team and left 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. Again, the traffic was light, and I was soon there. Air Volvo’s instruments said it was 104F which is wrong (40C, it is over by ten degrees when the Volvo sits in the sun), but it was very uncomfortable until the AC cooled the interior of passenger spaces.

Susie has lost more weight, down to 69 pounds, and this is concerning as we have taken action to increase her calories. But Susie is not in pain and feels safe at the hummingbird house, and I visit every day. Susie had trouble staying awake with me today, but she did better when seated in a wheelchair and staying on the porch, which with not too bad with the warm breeze at 90F (32C). We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and chatted there. Susie started to show signs of the hot air putting her to sleep (I, too, was feeling relaxed!). I went back into the AC with Suse and kissed Susie goodbye; Susie was headed to a nap. Air Volvo, hot again, took me back to the office without incident and little traffic.

Work was not exciting, which is a good thing when installing software. I did some research and talked to some folks about my new work. Soon, it was past 4:00, and I was tired, so I headed home to Air Volvo. Everything was fine at the Volvo Cave (I had set the AC to 85F to save money and not to waste power), and it was still comfortable in the high 70s. I microwaved yesterday’s dinner and overate BBQ chicken with couscous. I finished the science show Order and Disorder, which covered Information Theory, and covered Alan Turing’s contribution to science–the definition of a computer and computability.

I ate my dinner and then took a nap, I was feeling weak, and breathing was difficult. Then I saw the sky–grey from smoke, and I checked: lousy air. I had not checked, and being outside in this stuff is not good for me. I rested for a while and then wrote this blog.

Be safe. Thanks for reading!

 

The night/morning of the holiday was filled with events. Without any discussion or planning, my colon decided to empty every few hours. My sleep was interrupted, but I did avoid any early releases and managed to clean up (my supply of precious commodity–tp–is reduced) and return to an exhausted sleep. I repeated this adventure at least five times. The last event, at 6:30AM, was more jet-powered, and luckily, I had already started the shower and could easily clean up. Breakfast was an NYC bagel eaten untoasted in the Air Volvo on the way to work at Nike’s building (not on WHQ) Clubhouse. With hopes that my colon was done with a different kind of zoom meeting that I usually do!

The building was open, and coffee and breakfast were now available. My colleagues doing the 6AM starting shift were unhappy as coffee and food were unavailable until 8AM. I was fortified with coffee and food and relieved that my colon was done with its unannounced antics, and I could do a few more usual Zoom meetings. It was a dull day, perfect for go-live on a holiday, and the main issue was the discovery, as often happens, that the converted data does not look like the test data, and maybe some of the integration should have been tested end-to-end before putting it in production. But, hell, we now know what works and what does not, and the fixes are flying in fast. As we say, the data is always better in production to test our software! The stuff that our group is responsible for seems to work as it was carefully tested, tested end-to-end in quality (not production), and tested with real conversion data. It also went live two weeks ago.

Our developer leads from our partner visited, and we discussed one program fixed thirty-seven times since going live six months ago. He said the program was sexy. He explained, “How else can you describe a program everyone has their hands on”! He pulled that statement off without smiling. We were all but falling down laughing. For a dollar, I offered to show the source code to folks. More laughing. Yes, we are going a bit silly–but it was funny. It is not broken code, but sexy.

Our senior director was relieved to see we were silly and bored. I learned that others have been a bit silly–This install is extremely important, and we are all happy that it is not crashing (yet).

Lunch, skipping other work details, was from the supplied lunch trucks. I had the spicy reindeer sausage with grilled onions deciding my colon needs to be taught who is boss. Take that!

After that, I headed off to see Susie with clear skies on July 4th (which never happens here), hot and dry. Susie was awake and waiting for me. I picked up on the way in a July 4th bouquet of flowers for Susie, a card, and more flowers for Jennifer, the usual weekday nursing aide, for Jennifer’s birthday. Anassa, the weekend nursing aide covering the holiday, too, put Susie in a wheelchair, and we visited on the cool porch. We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and talked to her on my iPhone using FaceTime to see each other. Susie was awake and happy to just visit for a while.

Aside: I found Susie’s Harry Potter Trivia cards when cleaning the house and brought them to her. We tried out a few. They are hard.

I soon had to return to silly and boring at the office and kissed Susie goodbye after getting her back in the main room 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 soon, in no traffic, was back at the office.

By 3:30PM, I was falling asleep from lunch and the lack of sleep, and I said goodbye. Often it is the third day, tomorrow, when the fertilizer hits the fan on these huge installs–so best to get some rest now. The senior director visited and suggested folks head out to rest. He, too, is waiting for day three.

I reached home without incident and found my nicely made bed and AC keeping the house 75F (24C) slept until 6:15. Evan called me to play games at a bar, but I demurred and went back to sleep. I woke up and decided to broil some BBQ chicken.

Defrosted some chicken thighs (skinless and boneless–which is not a good choice for BBQ, but I had that). I boiled the chicken after defrosting it in the microwave to cook it. I then salted and peppered it on a rack over a cookie sheet covered with foil, baked the chicken at 350F for ten minutes, brushed on some BBQ from a bottle, and baked some more. I then turned the thighs over, painted them with more BBQ, and broiled them for five minutes. A bit dry (bones and skin were needed), but still good.

I made couscous with Indian spices (Garam Masala), almond slices, dried cranberries, raisins, and chopped dates (no pit). Cook until browning in butter–hot! Stir in couscous into hot butter, seasoning, and toast–turn off the heat. Add 1 1/2 cups of the water from the chicken boiling to finish; be careful, as it boils on contact. I made frozen beans in a glass dish in the microwave, adding butter, almond slices, and garlic powder and covering it with plastic wrap.

A great dinner. I watched Order and Disorder science show, costing me $1,99 to rent while eating. I finished the first half. I will watch the second hour on Wednesday (if I make it back from work). I started A Capital 4th on PBS but needed to write the blog, so I stopped. Mom Wild called; she was watching and remembering the year we, Bob and Barb, plus Linda Wild, did the Capital 4th on the West lawn in Washington, DC. Leta was there too. A great memory and a reason for anyone to do July 4th in Washington, DC.

Happy 4th! Thanks for reading!