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The morning started too early, at 6AM, and me waking up five minutes before my alarm. I managed to stay awake and avoided the shock of being re-awoken (not good). It is a work-from-office day (is that WFO instead of WFH), so I was in the kitchen getting the water hot for coffee and my NYC bagel out to defrost. Next, I got on the floor in the living room with blaring music and did my twenty-five minutes of stretches and exercises. Once completed and dragging myself off the floor in the living room, I made coffee, toasted my bagel (after defrosting a bit in the microwave), covered it in cream cheese, and got out the cottage cheese and the remaining peaches from yesterday in a can. I put pepper and just a pinch of sea salt on the cottage cheese, poured liberal (not something served in the House of Representatives, I am sure), and took breakfast to my in-home office. There I read email, text, and slack messages for the shoe company, read my own email and caught up on the news on CNN, BBC, and New York Times. My usual Tuesday-Thursday info packing before I dress.

Time, as usual, runs out, and I am in the shower (Alexa blaring Don Mclean hits at my request) and, next, getting dressed. I use Utterly Smooth 20% Urea (cow pee) every day to fight neuropathy caused by chemotherapy impacting my toes and hands. I believe it works to cancel the metallic poisons of the nerves just below the skin; chemotherapy uses the metals to kill fast-growing cells. I have also heard that ice baths work for hands and feet, but check with your oncologists–they will know what is suitable for your treatments.

I am out the door and at work before 8AM and then enjoy 2 and 1/2 hours of Zoom meetings sitting in a conference room. I get to talk to some of my colleagues, and Jatin has returned, and I get to shake his hand. So being in the office is not too bad. Also, our VP provides coffee and baked goods as a welcome-back treat. So not a bad start to WFO.

Soon I am out the door, I arrive at the hummingbird house a bit early, after 11, and Susie is still eating her breakfast. She slept poorly and was up late. But soon, she is done, and I take her to the social activity room and call her mother, Leta, to chat. They have a friendly chat, but I forget to take a picture for today. However, I did get a photo of her flower.

Susie is better today and even talks a bit; she is still hard to understand, but she is trying. She also feeds herself today. All good. But, soon, my thirty minutes are up, and it is time for me to go. I am time-blocked today. Susie is a bit sad, but Jennifer comes in and distracts Susie and Susie is happy to wave goodbye.

I went to Bethany to have Physical Therapy with me, arriving on time. Michael is my PT guy, and we go over my status; he then adds more exercises to help me bend over and lift Susie. I get to bend over against the wall lifting 3 and 5-pound weights. Susie is 98 pounds, and the exercise is about properly positioning my back to lift Susie, not strength. I also do my usual stuff, and they (Leo comes to help Michael) add more, as usual, and now I have a leg kick exercise with a rubberband on my legs to provide tension.

I am done about 1ish and head, slightly tired, to Bethany Public House to have a bowl of chili and diet coke at the bar. The bartender remembers me and asks me, “you want the chili?” “Yes, a bowl,” I say with a smile. After that, lunch is excellent and fast. I managed to get back to the shoe company by 2 and start back on a few crises of the moment.

My team, the master data engineering team, managed to dispose efficiently of the latest crises of the moment, and I headed home after 4:30 and logged back on after Air Volvo delivered me at the Volvo Cave without incident. So I sent out another challenge for Wednesday morning and headed out.

BJ’s Brewhouse is my dinner for tonight; Mariah was busy, so I am on my own. My usual waiter, Eric, suggested the small pizza for 1/2 price (Happy Hour) when I said I was thinking of pizza. I have that with a house salad. Of course, their red beer is my favorite, and I have one. I also have coffee and dessert.

I did write the blog while doing this. Thanks for reading.

The day started a bit better as I slept the whole night until five minutes before my alarm. Then, I got out the iPhone, looked up my meetings, saw I could slide in 30 more minutes, and reset the alarm. Of course, I got up before the alarm, but it felt better. It is Monday and a work-from-home day, so there is no rushing. I got the hot water started and then made breakfast.

I got out one of my dwindling supplies of NYC bagels from the freezer, dropped it in the microwave for twenty seconds, then cut it in half and toasted. I got out the cottage cheese (small curd only) and added pepper (freshly ground) and sea salt (just a pinch). I paired that with peaches from a can in juices, not syrup. Just 1/2 the can. The coffee was the liberal Equal Exchange brand via French Press. An excellent choice for the first day of Republican control of the USA House of Representatives.

Work, being Monday, was just status meetings and reading emails. Slack messages also flowed as we are in the six-month of the corporate year at Nike. Reviews, feedback, and budget estimates season. I followed along.

At 10ish, I had a break and started on my stretches and exercises for my back. I had taken a few days off as I had started to hurt. I made it through the list without issue and later had only a tiny pinch in my lower left back.

I saw a bald eagle flying over the backyard this morning. All the squirrels disappeared for an hour. They reappeared after the all-clear and stole more apples. Quickly moving the apples to their trees (bunkers).

I then cleaned up and dressed. I collected my tax info and agreements for my new CPA in Hillsboro and headed to his office. The trip to Hillsboro was without incident, and I had only to circle around once to find a parking spot near Cornerstone Tax‘s office. I handed them my large envelope with stuff and told them there was more to come. I had printed off the release schedule from my various investment houses for tax documents, the last pay stub, interest paid on the house document, and other useful and requested items, including a signed agreement to do my taxes. The staff remembered me and were happy to see me in 2023!

Next, I crossed over Hillsboro to the cheap gas, cash, or debit-only station. I filled up with $3.45 gas. Next, I headed to the car wash I used this weekend. I asked them for the part of the license plate the car wash broke apart on Saturday. Yes, they have a “2” for me. They provided free license plate holders and installed one for me (also a free service), and we moved the unruined plate to the back, now safe in a metal plate holder. Then, primarily legal again, I headed across Beaverton to see Susie in AIr Volvo.

One car did pull out in front of me. They waved their apology (a funny Oregon thing–like in Soccer, you raise your arm when you make a mistake when driving here–unlike the rest of the country where they pretend to ignore it and get flipped off or get a horn sounded). I saw it before the Air Volvo autobraking started; we were never in danger. Traffic was heavy, the rain blew sideways, and the wind rocked the cars. Folks braked for rain. Construction (slightly flooding) slowed Air Volvo more.

I arrived around 12:30 in Air Volvo at the hummingbird house. Susie, she was up late and was just finishing breakfast. Jennifer, the live-in and weekday nurse aide, was busy with folks. So, I slipped Susie from the breakfast table and moved her to the social room (letting Jennifer know I was stealing Susie). We called her mother there. Susie had slept poorly (she was up all night) and looked a bit out-of-sorts, but she could interact with Leta, her mother, and they talked about each other’s day.

I had to return to work. I was following along with work on my phone. So I soon had to leave. Susie was surprised but not sad–time comes by so fast. I was quickly facing heavy rain and traffic caused by construction–now messy with wet. But I did get to see huge rainbows between insane sideways rain.

I stopped by Wendy’s and got a chili with onions but did not pay 30 cents for cheese (I have some) and a large french fry. On arriving at the Volvo cave, I brought the damaged plate and the food into the house. I used gorilla duck tape, affixed the broken plate parts to the plate holder, and then mounted the plate and plate hold on Air Volvo–legal again. I took the chili (now with shredded local cheese–Mexican style) and poured it over the fries–yes, my Michigan heritage was showing. I had that for a late lunch.

I followed along with work. Finally, WageWorks aligned with common sense, and a ticket I opened with HR, and they decided to reimburse me for Susie’s car now. Apparently, I needed to use “Nursing Care” and not “Long Term Care” as the code for the request (!?). This was a relief as I looked at endless appeals to fix this.

Soon I was resting. Now returned to NYC, Cat Smith received her Christmas present, Lamp Black Comics #1-2. Excellent!

I made a ham and gouda sandwich for dinner with a dill pickle. I watched some YouTube videos while eating. The BattleShip New Jersey had a nice couple of new videos on fact-checking the Internet (folks have the armor thickness wrong as they seem to be basing their information on Soviet (!?) estimates) and another on a photo of a shell exploding (incorrectly) on leaving the barrel of the USS Missouri (sistership of NJ). I also watch a video of a model, in resin, of a sunken Nazi Bismarck and the original on the surface. The sunken model had a mistake and did not keep some of the paint as we see in the real wreck. But still, it was really a cool project–tempting.

I found some inexpensive wooden sailing ship model kits in 1/50 scale (close to 28mm figure size) that I can kitbash for my spacejammer projects. I wanted some sailing ship masts, so I ordered two, but they will take a few weeks to get here. More to come!

I then headed to Wildwood Taphouse with my newest board game and laptop. Here I wrote this blog!

I spoke to Dan and am cooking a pancake breakfast for the church for Easter.

I spoke to Dondrea, and we might do a Southern Dinner and maybe a show for Mardi Gras in February. I would cook Methodist (Bourbon) Chicken, some regular BBQ chicken, cheesy grits, and green beans. Dessert would be provided by folks. We will see if we can make that work.

Methodist Talent Show Bourbon Chicken

For marinade:

1 cup bourbon
(we use cheap Ten High—look near bottom shelf in store)

1 cup soy sauce
(recipe needs salt in soy sauce so do not use low salt soy sauce)

1/2 cup brown sugar
(packed down)

1 teaspoon paprika
(we used just normal off-the-shelf)

pinch hot red pepper flakes
(we used more than a pinch!)

1 tablespoon molasses
(Grandma’s Dark but not bootstrap)

3 cloves garlic, smashed
(used two tablespoons of already prepared smashed garlic in a tube)

2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
(used two tablespoons of already prepared in a tube)

1 1/2 teaspoons each onion and garlic powder
(we used normal off-the-shelf)

The rest:

6 or so split across chicken breasts (frozen, defrosts, salt washed off)

Large zip lock bag.

Non-stick spray

Foil

Broil pan

Brush for marinade that can handle heat

Combine all ingredients for marinade in bowl. Beat it so the sugar is mixed in good. Remember to set aside about 1/2 cup of this marinade in a clean jar (do not use to marinate on raw chicken; this marinade will be brushed on cooking chicken later). Keep the jar refrigerated.

Put marinade into a Ziploc bag with six or so chicken breasts and distribute evenly. Marinate chicken for 4-6 hours. Turn chicken every few hours or so (marinate longer and you will get ham like flavor—yuck!).

Remove chicken from marinade and say good-bye to marinade—down the drain! Allow chicken to sit at room temperature while you get oven on broil. Enjoy the smell of bourbon in the kitchen—something that does not happen often in a Methodist Church. Get out the jar of marinade and brush. Wrap broiling pan in foil and spray with non-stick spray.

Broil not too close or it will dry out. Cook until just about done, five minutes or so a side. Depends on oven! When a side is done, brush on marinade and flip. Do that on finish too.

Move to cutting board while hot. Cut and look—chicken should just be done. Slice into bite size and put in a pan—cover to keep warm. Juices will leak out of chicken and make chicken even happier. Slicing makes chicken go further too.

Dump unused marinade from jar down drain—do not put on cooked chicken! It is too bitter.

Based on a recipe found at Cooks.com “Cajun Bourbon Chicken”

Thanks for reading!

Today I am running late as Dungeons and Dragons ran over, and then I chatted for a while after. So I will only be covering a few events.

The morning started with me having little sleep as I had too much coffee while playing board games with Richard on Saturday night. Not his fault; I should have just had a caffeine-free herbal tea when I was cold. Next time.

So the 7AM start time for Sunday was hard. The coffee I made, liberal, using the French Press, made me more on edge, not more awake. I went to write the blog and wrote for about two hours. It was over 1,400 words, as Saturday was a busy day and included some events. I wrote until 9:10 and then jumped in the shower, dressed in a dress shirt and tie with my blue sweater over it. The rain was over an inch in the last two days, and there is water around the house again. A cold, windy, wet Sunday morning in Oregon.

I reached the hummingbird house without incident. The rain is constant. Susie, waiting for me and ready to go to church, would prefer to stay warm and dry today. I agree, and I had brought the Apple and cables in Air Volvo just in case we wanted to do remote worship. Anassa sat Susie in her wooden rocking chair, and I connected everything.

We watched the service on the Internet. The music at the start, Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus on the organ by Howard, our Music Director, was beautiful. The hymns were mostly familiar. Pastor Ken gave the sermon about the difference between a cult, a great leader like MLK or Gandi, and what Jesus taught. He observed that cults are hiding, while great leaders like MLK and Gandi operated publicly and gave their lives for what they believed was right, not sacrificing their believers.

Susie slept through some of this. She looked very comfortable in her rocking chair, hearing familiar voices and having me there to ensure she was safe. She was happy to just hang out and nod off. She was stable, secure, and comfortable–the best I could hope for today.

When church finished, with the sound lost of the communion part of the service (not that important for us remote folks to hear people taking communion), the final music, again by Howard, was beautiful.

Bext, I played the 80s and some 70s rock videos on YouTube. Susie sang along to some of the songs.

I got the nail cleaner, paints I bought in NYC, and other nail stuff from previous health events. I had moved it to Susie’s room at hummingbird house. So while the rock videos played, I removed and redid her fingernails, including a top coat. It is about an hour of work. So with that dried, it was time for me to head home and Susie to get some lunch and maybe a nap. Susie had a lovely time and was not sad when I left (with a kiss)–we had done church, music, and her nails; a good day. I also introduced Susie to the Ketchup song, and she tried some hand movements; more practice is needed.

I went home and glued my stands together for my flying octopus monsters for Dungeons and Dragons. I got the miniature plastic figures from Etsy. They were a hit when the players faced the ghost-like astral killer octopus later that evening.

I also assembled the two spacejammer boats to use later this year. These are made from laser-cut wood, also purchased on Etsy.

Soon it was time to head to Cory’s house. I loaded up all my goodies and soon headed north to the edge of Portland. I arrived and soon unloaded. I was Dungeon Master tonight and had written a complex adventure for my friends–this is all my stuff. I tried to make multiple layers for every challenge tonight, not just a video game-like totaling damage. Further, I made damage do different things. The damage had to be applied to eliminate protections. Traps had to be avoided, and environmental threats avoided or overcome. Everything did lots of damage and some catastrophic damage–planning was necessary for the player to overcome or just survive. So not your usual 5E dungeon crawl, and I think everyone liked the mixed challenges and complexity–I try not to just build interesting traps and puzzles but to turn even the combat into puzzles to solve.

I had figures for everything I planned, including the octopus, and some threats were just thematic and not real threats to the player’s characters, but I had figures for that. Everyone seemed happy, but we ran late. We finally finished at about 9:30, almost four straight of non-stop adventuring.

In my adventure story, a Rath, Paladin of the Dead, was central. Scott suggested that maybe he returns or is reborn as a first-level adventurer. So I will play Rath the Reborn, Paladin of the Dead, Defender of the Buried, and Trail Blazer to Afterlife for the next game.

We will retire our old characters after tonight. They got an extended life in my dungeon crawl, but it is time again to start over and begin a new campaign. This time D&D in space with even space hamsters and gun-using hippos. Exciting.

I returned home, wrote this blog, and now it is 11:30. Time to stop.

Thanks for reading.

I am back to the weekend habit of blogging about the previous day’s events in the morning, and then I rush into the late-morning events. So I am writing Saturday’s blog at 7AM Sunday morning. I had two coffees at Richard’s house as I got cold and needed to warm up. Unfortunately, the caffeine kept me up most of the night. So it is a challenging start this Sunday morning and hard to write, but let’s get going.

I slept in on Saturday, and this, as I suggested above, had me running late and rushing. The sleep was welcome; it was the first good night’s sleep I had in a few days. The blog writing went on for 1,400 words, and thus I was late finishing at 10:15. The shower, dressing, and then driving across Beaverton meant that I arrived very late at the hummingbird house at 11:40 or so.

Susie was delighted to see me. Susie was sitting in her recliner in the shared space, looking alert and feeling good. Anassa was the nursing aide for the weekend, and she said Susie had a busy morning but was doing well.

Evan, taking on additional overtime at his telco call center, still wanted to meet up today and was at Susie’s place at about 12:20PM. I waited for him, so we called Leta, Susie’s mother, while waiting. Leta was home, and Susie and I had a friendly chat with her.

I grabbed Susie’s warm and waterproof brown leather coat (a good choice here in Oregon with a waterproof hat or pulling up the hood), and Anassa put Susie in the wheelchair. The nurse aides can just pop Susie in and out, and they always amaze me.

Evan showed, and I took Susie to Air Volvo, got out the stool, put the lifting belt on Susie, and then lifted her into the co-pilot seat. Susie is not standing, so I must handle the whole of her weight and swing her into the car. Now that I am ready for that, I get her onto the seat and then reach in and pull her fulling into the seat. Evan put the wheelchair for me in the cargo hold and then took a passenger seat in the second row.

Aside: Air Volvo is a 2018 XC60 Volvo, an SUV, and is grey-green in color, I traded in the previous XC60 as I did not like my first one, but the newish 2018 version is a dream to drive. It is a gas vehicle, as only hybrids existed for the size of SUVs I wanted and were priced relatively high. I looked last weekend at a perfectly sized Tesla SUV for Susie and me, but the $121,000 price tag (also the price point for the nice Mercedes EV SUV) has me staying with my existing vehicle. Also, Telsa gets no federal tax credit, making it a costly EV SUV.

We drove a few miles to Washington Square Mall, parked, and unloaded Susie. The lift down to the wheelchair is more straightforward as I just swing and lower Susie to the wheelchair. We then crossed the parking lot, always taking the covered parking so we won’t enjoy an Oregon downpour when loading or unloading Air Volvo.

We walked pushing Susie the whole way through the entire mall. Evan wanted to see the menu of the world-famous Korean restaurant that was now at the mall. It is famous for its dumplings. We stopped at the food court, which is very busy for an after-the-holidays January, and got our usual for Susie and me. I had a giant hot dog with onions, ketchup, and mustard, and Susie had a scoop of strawberry ice cream in a cup. Susie mostly fed herself today–yeah! I also had some fries, and I shared a few with Susie, who ate a tiny bit of the deep-fried potatoes without a choking incident. Evan found some Indian food but would not recommend it.

We then continued the visit and found Williams Sonoma was selling their excess (a huge pile) of the Christmas goodies at 1/2 price (meaning now it was not too expensive). Susie agreed to share hot chocolate and peppermint bark at the hummingbird house. Susie also picked out some cut flowers to take back with her. A stand for flowers is in the mall hallway made out of an old van.

Afterward, we crossed through the mall and returned to the parking lot. I reloaded Susie after pulling out Air Volvo halfway and turning on the flashers. More folks had arrived, the parking spot next to Air Volvo was full, and the remaining space was too tight for Susie and the wheelchair. We managed without incident.

Susie was quite tired as we had skipped a few outings for various reasons in December and January–we were out of practice. Susie was leaning now in her wheelchair, and I had to be very attentive not to have her fall forward and out of the wheelchair. Susie was soon safe at the hummingbird house, looking for lunch (even after the ice cream) and some rest. We left Susie, happy and tired, with a kiss and a wave.

Evan and I stopped by a Viking-styled taphouse, Iron Tap Station, not far from the hummingbird house. I ordered a beer, and we got out my choice of the board game Brass: Lancashire. Evan had played it last week and cost a bit lost, and I wanted to try again. This time Evan got it and beat me by a tiny four points or so. We still had a few problems with card draws–from here out, cards will not be drawn until income to ensure that no extra cards are drawn in error. Evan often had ten cards in his hand as he would finish his turn and still have a full hand.

Evan won by building ships that are high points in the game and automatically flip to the point side–very valuable. I had ignored this as there are a limited two places to build ships in the two-person game, but Evan noticed that you could build trains to the other sections of the board and build a ship with the general cards. I had not thought of that and was schooled thus by Evan and lost by a few points. Evan was proud of his win.

We use Iron Clay poker chips with Brass, which improves the game experience. In Brass, the player that spends the least money is the first player on the next turn. This means that all the money spent is put on the player marker, counted at the end of the turn, the turn order is revised, and then the money is returned to the bank. This means a lot of movement, and the poker chips make this much more manageable.

We finished our beers (just one for me) and then packed up and went our separate ways. I drove through heavy traffic. A car slammed its brakes on 217 and nearly caused a multi-car pile-up with Air Volvo in the middle. The auto braking started, and it was hard for me to understand what was happening (the polite trolly car bell); then I threw the wheel to the right and slammed the brakes taking Air Volvo into the on-ramp lane. Other cars, now sideways in various angles, joined me there, but no paint was lost. Traffic quickly resumed, and Air Volvo had no more trolly car bell events on the way to Richard’s.

It was just the two of us, Richard and I, and we played the board game War of Whispers. It was more than a year since we tried it, and it took us a while to get the somewhat arcane process in our heads. This game is unique in my experience and is loosely based on the Game of Thrones (GoT) world. But you could imagine it anywhere, as only a bit of the iconography resembles GoT. In this game, you have a set of hidden tokens that list what factions (simply colors) you support, are neutral towards, and ones you wish to damage or destroy. You and your opponents advise these factions and get some control of them. Likely, you will only have partial control of a faction, and you have to guess your opponent’s plans. It is a fast game and has some crazy GoT power cards that can tip the game back and forth as you treat the factions (colored armies) as pawns. It is pretty fun, and Richard made a last-minute attack that crushed blue (my second best) and wounded red (my best) by expanding brown (his best). Richard won by four points–next time!

Next, as that game, even with the rules checks, took only 90 minutes, we played a couple card games. Innovation is an insane card game from 2016, like nothing I have played before. I started to get the hang of it and had Richard running scared for a bit, but in the end, his better strategy won as he blocked my rush to finish the victory conditions. Innovation is just a box of cards with an under $20 price tag and plays 2-4 players in about an hour.

We played, and I forgot the name, a fun and easy matching card game based on Star Trek, and that was fun. We played two hands, as it was fast and easy. Richard pulled everything he needed in the second game and had a massive score.

I was cold and asked for more coffee. This was a mistake as I slept poorly, if at all, on Sunday morning. Richard made French press, and there were enough coffee grounds for a pot–I was fully awake when I left at 10:20.

My drive was fine, and the roads were dry primarily as the rains had stopped for the evening. However, on my last trip, the showers were so heavy that there was standing water on the on-ramps to bridges–on-ramps that are five stories tall!

I had a ham and cheese sandwich at home, which helped a bit–I had no dinner making the coffee wallop me. I dozed a few times, but deep sleep did not come. Next time, no coffee at the end of games.

Thanks for reading.

It is my first Friday of 2023 and the first one in a few weeks working from home. I feel a bit off as I try to work, see Susie, and run my household. It all feels a bit overwhelming this new year.

The office in the house, the back bedroom, and the window let me watch the backyard. Some of my favorite birds, Flickers, showed up today after the cats patrolled the backyard. A large grey squirrel was also in the back, jumping into the air and chasing some bugs. Mike, a local, removed all the leaves and gunk from my eaves, and now the water is making a lot of noise. I had forgotten that sound.

I start a bit later in the morning as I work from home and do not have to rush to the office. My foot hurt and woke me in the night–I take the usual painkillers, and soon I can sleep again. I skip my stretches and excesses as I am not supposed to hurt.

During the day, I order my emergency inhaler via the online pharmacy. It will still take a few days to get here, but at least it is now on its way. I also sent a note to my new doc, and they quickly replied that they had approved the refill. So, finally, it is on its way.

Why not the local pharmacy, the worn RiteAide a few miles away? I have found that they have a three-day or more backlog. Sometimes they reject my prescriptions without an explanation that I can understand. Lastly, they fill my prescription at a central location and then mail them to the local RiteAide, thus the backlog. To fill an urgent need, I would likely have to use Beaverton Pharmacy, a locally owned store, now as RiteAide and the other corporate places are overwhelmed when the same companies close so-called excess pharmacies.

I started the morning, as I said, a bit later. I attended five hours, yes all morning, Zoom meetings. I am covering a few items for the master data engineering group I have worked with for years. They are short-staffed from the usual things of family events, visa updates, and the holidays. I try to help.

I called US Bank and talked to the Anti-Fraud division. I saw in my reports in Quicken of doubling of Paypal transfers from my USB checking to Paypal, and my Paypal account was not showing a matching receipt. We reviewed it and found that the double transactions are NOT in my transactions. Somehow Quicken, or me, had doubled the transactions. It got pretty light-hearted as I discovered I had hacked myself and the Anti-Fraud expert was happy and laughing with me. It was fun to hang out with the Anti-Fraud for a bit, and after letting Anit-Fraud go, I deleted the mistaken transactions. I will watch for them to learn what I am doing wrong in Quicken!

The mail came, and my new solo board game was dropped off (three days early): 414 BC: Seige of Syracuse. I paid one of Susie’s medical bills; Susie has about $200 in over-the-counter items and about $200 in prescriptions a month. I opened the game, and it was nicely made. I read a bit of the rule. More to come on that later.

As it is Friday, I make lunch by baking a premade frozen Chicken Cordon Blu from Schwann’s, frozen corn, Schwann’s, and instant mashed potatoes. I am using things I have at the house. Everything was good, but unlike when you use a restaurant, the kitchen is now full of dishes to do. Hmmm.

Before cooking, I did the dishes and reassembled the glassware and covers that Gene and Glenda got me. It packs small to larger, so it only takes the space of the largest pieces, three containers for which I have to find a place. Sort of Russian Dolls of the cookware.

I follow along and even do a Zoom meeting while cooking. I get a load of laundry done. I take a short break while eating. More status and review meetings pop up, unusual for the official no-meeting Friday, but by 3PM, I have finished all the meetings planned for Friday. The traffic of emails and Slack messages diminishes in the mid-afternoon, finally.

Dressing between meetings, I leave in Air Volvo to Susie’s. The trip across Beaverton was in a surprising amount of traffic. Folks drive very slowly, and traffic backs up to the next traffic light. It takes me thirty minutes for my usual twenty-minute trip.

Susie looks tired and is watching Golden Girls in her recliner in the living room. We tried to call Leta, Susie’s mother but got no response. Next, Barb, Susie’s sister, calls, and they are having dinner with Leta at Cracker Barrel. We chatted on my iPhone using FaceTime for a while, and their food arrived. We get to see dinner: Country Fried steak for Leta, and Barb and Caleb, Barb’s son, have the Chicken and Dumplins.

Susie is sad to have me leave so soon, it is a work day, and I am worried that another thing will pop up on this unusually busy Friday. So I go with a kiss and promise to be back on Saturday.

The trip home hits an early rush hour traffic jam in Beaverton. I am stuck on Murphy Road for ten minutes. Air Volvo reaches the Volvo Cave after nearly an hour of travel; ugh. I check in at work, and nothing has been sent in my direction, but I see messages from folks working all afternoon, and the software is working so far. Nothing for me.

I read a bit of The Last Magician and have cheese and crackers for dinner. Dondrea had supplied me with a basket for Christmas, and I should start to use that up.

I spent some time on my electronics and became frustrated as my Gemma M0s were not working well with my Apple. The one I planned to reuse seemed unstable.

I switched to my Dell Windows laptop as my M1-based Apple laptop is still having issues with the dynamic disk mounting the Gemma use. You plug the Gemma in with a USB mini-A cable (I have four types of lines for this kind of work) to an Apple, Linux, or Windows 7 (or better) computer. The cable will mount the memory of the Gemma as an alternative disk drive, much like a memory stick, and there you can change the code that runs the Gemma.

You can also set the Gemma into boot mode by pressing the reset button twice fast. This allows you to replace the software with a newer version or re-image a bricked Gemma. For example, I found a Gemma in the original package in my collection of hardware, and I loaded the current software on its boot.

The device survived, and I returned it to normal mode, mounted it, and discovered it was empty. I found a copy of the demo code and loaded that. It failed. I then got new supportive libraries for MicroPython supplied by AdaFruit in NYC–they make the Gemma. Next, it failed as there was a bug in the keyboard software. I noticed that the device, the size of a US quarter, did not have a keyboard and commented out that code. Back to working.

It had been hours. I was done with Gemma for today! My radio also started stopping when I stood up in the chair again. I believe the breakout board for the radio chip connection is unstable, and the right vibration will cause it to shut down the radio. Something to fix with electrical tape. Some other day.

Next, I watched the election of the USA Speaker of the House election. I was less interested in politics as theater, but in hearing the initial speech of the speaker. McCarthy’s speech did contain a few conciliatory words, but I was not surprised when it became laced with anti-spending, anti-China, and conspiracy theory statements. However, the delivery and back and forth from near-rabid attacks to calls for all Americans to work together was well done. He even made some wisecracks that got me to laugh. While I do not like the latest political theater from the right, at least the speaker can make me smile. He is an excellent choice for the Republicans; well done.

I read and finally went to sleep after midnight. I woke up a few times and started late on Saturday.

Thank you for reading.