Blog

Thursday is the last hard day where I have to get going early and be in the office for Zoom meetings by 8. I woke with my alarm again, a surprise after a dream-filled night. I cannot recall the dreams, but I know there were many, and none were scary–nightmares wake me, and it is hard to sleep again after waking in terror. Despite all the horror films with Eric and friends in my Highschool days, and the H.P. Lovecraft and cosmic books and films I have read or seen recently, my dreams are B-movie horror with Vampires, ghosts, and cheap scares or suffocation from being buried alive (asthma attacks while sleep makes for very nasty dreams)–nothing that would scare most folks. However, I have harvested some ideas from my dreams for better home-grown Dungeons and Dragons adventures. I wrote a whole adventure where you use the ventilation system to invade a complex–quite different than the usual dark hallways!

Returning back to the narrative, I did all my exercises at 6ish after getting coffee started. I then made liberal coffee using a French Press to go with a banana and a yogurt cup with fruit. I then read the updates from email, Slack channel updates, and news reports to be prepared for starting my day. Next, I rushed through a shower, dressed (in a dress shirt), and then headed out with flowers for Susie and cold meds left the Volvo Cave in Air Volvo from yesterday’s run to the pharmacy.

The morning at the office started with good-mornings and welcome-backs, and comments about getting better. I thanked everyone for their support and then started hours of Zoom meetings. I also had a few crises of the moment and tasks and electronic paper for software issues–not interesting, but the morning was over soon. I then headed out for Physical therapy with Michael at Bethany Therapeutic Associates. The rains returned, and I had failed to wear a coat or a hat today. I was soon quite damp with the heat in the cabin of Air Volvo.

A few minutes early for my noon appointment, I dried out in the heat. I parked a short distance from the facility and quickly crossed the door without much dampness. Michael and I discussed my progress (now checking in every three weeks), which is good, and I am seeing improvements. I did complain about my new back issues where I get considerable pain from standing long enough to make dinner–something new. Michael added more exercises to help my back, involving pulling bands with my arms. He showed them to me, and then an associate took over–a young gal who was in school and hoped to be a practitioner. She told me how she loves the work. I always ask the new folks about themselves and how they became involved in PT. I took new bands and instructions with me.

Lunch was at the Bethany Public House, and I sat in the bar. The bartender got me a Diet Coke and a bowl of their cowboy chili. It is a perfect lunch after a light but intense workout.

I headed to Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. I stopped and got gas at $4.09 a gallon (remember there is no sales tax in Oregon when comparing prices), which is the credit price. I am disappointed to see gas prices slowly rise again. There is no reason for this increase from a supply or demand viewpoint other than the petroleum industry forcing us to underwrite their stock buybacks and executive compensation. In all other sectors, their products are getting cheaper and often better as they mature. Only the energy sector seems to keep charging more and more. But, I digress, sorry (we will see if I leave that in).

I finally reached Susie and gave Jennifer, the weekday nurse aide, the cold supplies for Susie and the house (hopefully, we won’t need much of it), and then found Susie in her room resting. Susie stays in her room most of the day to control the spread of the cold. Susie is still unable to feed herself, is a choking risk, could inhale the food into her lungs (serious bad news if that happens again), and could fall out of the wheelchair. So Susie eats alone at the table with Jennifer all the time and not in her room.

Susie was asleep and took a moment to wake. She was delighted to have me visit, even for a few minutes. Susie loved the flowers that would go in her room for her to see while staying there most of the time. We did call Leta on my iPhone and used FaceTime so everyone could see each other. Leta was happy that Susie could talk again, awake and looking much better. It was an excellent short time together.

I left and returned to work in the pouring rain, our typical May weather (I call May and June the hose-down months). The traffic was heavy there and back to work with folks going fast, unusual, and dangerous in the rains. I managed to not connect with anyone, but Beaverton’s Finest was out dealing with those who discovered that roads after days of no rain are slick with it rains. Yikes!

The rest of the day went by fast, and my boss told me that my Nike laptop was old enough to replace, so I requested a new one–Lord have mercy on my soul. Maybe it will go fine this time.

Work finished with a 4:30 status meeting, and I headed out. I met Dondrea and Z at Hillsboro Swagat Indian Cuisine. This was my delayed birthday dinner. I ordered the tandoori platter, Dondrea the Lamb Vindaloo, and Z had a chicken biryani. We shared all the food. We ordered a lot of naan to go with it all. Z loved the thin cracker-like Papadum bread. One of my favorites too. The small sides (we ordered dinners for two sets), biryani, and vindaloo went home with Dondrea and Z, plus the leftover naan. We finished with some chia, unsweetened.

Z and Dondrea had a gift for me for my 59th birthday, a modern rose bush in a container. I will have to find a place for it. I could always use another rose. Thanks!

After hugs, we headed on our separate ways, with Z facing homework tonight. I had to write this blog. I also put out the trash waving to my neighbors, doing the same thing.

Thanks for reading. May 4th be with you!

.

Today started with me not being sick. I was concerned that I would catch the really nasty cold that Susie was suffering through. But this morning, I was fine and worked from home. I did not want to give the cold to others if I caught it from Susie. So far, so good. I do have hints of something, but it could be allergies.

So I started at 6AM and managed to get moving. It was a night of dreams, and seemed to have been busy all night. But I finally found my focus and started. I got toast with less sugar jam and a banana after finishing my light set of exercises and stretches. It seemed more challenging today, and I was breathing header, but I still completed them.

I did the initial email, Slack channel, and news reading, then dressed and popped into the shower. Yes, I put on a dress shirt, even at home. An L.L. Bean grey-blue Oxford. I was ready before 8 for my first meeting drinking a mug of the Equal Exchange’s morning bled, certified fair trade, pure liberal in a cup, and packed and shipped from Portland, Oregon. What could be a more liberal brew (until the AOC starts to sell coffee).

The news was horrible. Mass shootings. Russia claimed the Ukrainians used drones to attack Putin’s residence, the stock market dropped another 200 hundred points, and there were more Tucker stories (just stop finding new Tweets). I just was numb to the news by the end of today.

I spent the morning working and covering some crises of the moment. Quite a few started to pop up. Lunch was here before I knew it. I called Jennifer at the hummingbird house, and Susie was not well. She had spilled her milk and could not feed herself today. She was leaning when she sat, showing the stroke damage. When Susie is tired, the stroke damage is more pronounced, and she can fall right out of the wheelchair.

Jennifer called me on her cell, and I did FaceTime with Susie for a few minutes. Susie could barely talk and looked exhausted. I only spoke to her for a few minutes as it was hard for her to talk and stay awake.

I made lunch from leftover pasta and sausage a few days ago. I watched some YouTube videos while I ate. More on Battleship Texas and its repairs.

I checked at work and was between things, so I headed across Beaverton to RiteAid to get some cold stuff for Susie (I will bring it over on Thursday) and brought my list of things I forgot to buy more groceries at Basics Market. Air Volvo made the round trip without incident. After putting them away, I returned to the office and finished my day with one more Zoom meeting.

It was a hot sunny day. I received my redwood twig (using the word sapling is going too far for the tiny thing). I will plant it when the weather cools a bit. It did rain for a few minutes in the evening.

Next, I made a roast beef sandwich with cheddar cheese. I heat butter in a non-stick pan (thanks, Steve W). I put the sandwich together with good sliced roast beef (I got it at Safeway), add two cheese slices, and fry in the butter. Flip with care twice. Get a lid that fits and pour water on the hot pan and steam the sandwich, trying to not get water on the sandwich. Flip again to dry out a bit, and then remove the steaming hot sandwich from the pan and cut it in half or quarters. The water boils hotter than 220F and instantly cooks the sandwich.

I had that with the end of the pickles in the old jar (I have more) and some potato salad. Perfect.

I also got my new stamp albums together today. I even added some of my beer stamps to the album. I am happy with it (it does not have Scott Numbers for the stamps, but I can make it work). The heavy paper and page protectors make the album as large as my US book (just paper one-sided pages).

I have about six beer stamps and will likely collect more. I have wine and newspaper stamps for which I do not have an album. I will probably acquire those in the future from the same source. I like these (even missing the Scott Numbers)–from StampParaphernalia.com. They only do US and Canada stamps.

I rest and then head to First United Methodist Church to meet Dondrea and Z for a board game. Z and I agreed to do Scythe, a 4x and thus a very competitive game set in an alternative steampunk world where the world wars did not happen. Z surprised me by remembering much of the process, but as we have not played it often, she did not have a strategy down. I spent most of the game developing efficient processes that drove a score of 51, and I won by twenty. Z was beginning to figure out the game, but it then ended. I remember when it was newer to me and having the same experience. She is ready for another game.

(You can see I was yellow against Z’s white. I ended the game in combat, and you can see the combat wheels are still out)

We played a few games of Azul, the tile game, and then it was time to leave.

I headed home after making plans to have dinner with Z and Dondrea–Indian Food on Thursday!

I am writing the blog at my office. Thanks for reading.

 

Today it will be a brief story as I am tired. I made dinner. A German goulash from beef that took a few hours to complete. I had a few bowls, but most of the stew-like goulash will be ready to reheat for leftovers. I watched Nova while cooking; I have subscribed to the year. Weathering the Future and Chasing Carbon Zero were excellent, and I recommend them.

Moving backward, I returned to the Volvo Cave after visiting Susie. Susie has a bad cold or flu, and I have what I hope are allergy symptoms, so I left work to not spread the cold/flu to my co-workers. I should be sick in the morning if I will catch it or worse, on Thursday morning. If I am fine on Thursday, I will return to the office.

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. She comes out for meals but stays in her room to avoid spreading the cold to other residents. Jennifer, the weekday nurse aide, was concerned that I could catch the infection from Susie. I wore my mask the whole time there for a short visit and kept my distance (no kiss goodbye). We did call Leta, Susie’s mother, on my iPhone to see each other on FaceTime. Then, Susie started to fall asleep, and we rang off. I stayed a bit longer, and Susie, knowing I was there, and so she was safe, just slept. She understood that I had to return to work and might not be there on Wednesday if either of us got worse.

Susie’s pain is controlled.

I had lunch before visiting, a sandwich (average) at Jimmy’s John. I ate it while reading the news on my iPhone.

Work was full of meetings with some bonus meetings or extensions to meetings. We are having a few crises of the moment, and my ability to accept mediocrity has been tested today. I managed to not say or send any messages reacting to the predictable events for today at work. It was a day to not let events damage your calm.

I did my usual start on Tuesday with 6AM exercises and stretches, the complete set. I had a banana and toast with low-sugar jam plus liberal coffee. I rushed through emails, Slack channel updates, and news to prepare for my day. While on call 7/24, I work the 8AM-4PM shift.

I had left the new lawn chair in the backyard, and the lawn folks are on Tuesday. So I went to the backyard in my robe and slipper to retrieve it. I pushed on it to fold, and it suddenly popped closed; I staggered, now barefoot, in the 51F (10.5C) grass. I managed to not scream, picked up my slippers, grabbed the chair, and carried them into the house, noticing that the deck was not warmer than the grass.

I was glad that nobody witnessed that. I was not going to mention it, but I remember Snoopy had a like problem with a lawn chair. I will have shoes on next time or wait until it is warmer!

So I am tired and sneezing. I have body aches. Ugh. I will sleep soon!

Thanks for reading!

I don’t usually make political statements, but it is May 1, which seems to fit the day. I heard a progress leader say today in a show about May Day that today the libertarians protest by working an extra 4 hours, rejecting the leftist idea of an eight-hour workday. That is funny. Happy May Day, “Workers Unite!”

Going backward, I am tired tonight and stayed home and cooked dinner and watched videos about World War 2 and a summary of the current Ukraine War (The Armchair Historian), plus more updates from Battleship USS Texas repairs (Battleship New Jersey and Battleship Texas). I ate dinner while watching.

I watched the May Day show of The Young Turks, a news and information channel that is a paid subscription. I have not decided to join yet. I like it, but they are a little more progressive than I am used to. I will watch some more free shows before deciding.

I made pasta with a sauce from a jar. I added pan-fried mushrooms and meatballs. The meatballs are from a bag of frozen ones. I bake them until they start to brown in the oven, and then slice the hot meatballs and fry them on the stove. I mixed that all together and then overate–it was good. I put the rest in glassware (thanks, Gene and Glenda, for the glassware) and will have it as leftover the week.

I managed dinner as I finally found time to grocery shop. I wrote out a list; it was two pages! I slipped that in today between meetings and seeing Susie. Awe was my checker, a kind man from Iraq. We have been friends for years and ask after each other’s family when we see each other. I saw only a few masks, and I did not wear one. I did keep my distance. I had five bags of mostly food and invested more than $230 at Safeway. It was nice to see the shelves full.

Later I learned I forgot the first items on my list.  I will be back on Tuesday for a short stop to get the items I missed!

I was ten minutes late for the 4:35 call as the process of finding most items at Safeway and buying them took more than an hour. I am still not used to this process as I usually order them delivered, but lately, I have not been that organized to supply an extended delivery window. I followed along all day at work and knew they did not need me, but I like to attend the meeting even when my shift ends at 4PM. I was able to catch the last few minutes.

Moving back further in the day, after lunch at the Volvo Cave, I drove 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. The traffic was light, and I crossed Beaverton without involvement with Beaverton’s Finest or losing any paint on Air Volvo.

Aside: Yesterday, I had a motorcycle go about seventy down 185th between the cars with a tremendous noise (obviously modified to make a lot of noise and to go fast). The bike noise startled me. Never seen that in Beaverton. Also, the traffic at 3PM was terrible as school was ending and folks were on the roads, picking-up kids and grid-locking Beaverton. I was surprised to take two or more lights for many intersections; ugh.

Returning to my visit, Susie was sleeping in her recliner in the shared living room space. Jennifer, the weekday nursing aide, told me that Susie was having issues with pain in her right upper leg and that the current Tylenol dose was not removing the discomfort. I needed to contact doc for more painkillers and get an order for that. I sent a message to our doctor on MyChart. Doc sent an order before I headed out for a larger dose of Tylenol.

(Susie in her recliner with flowers I cut from what I have blooming at the Volvo Cave. While tulips are not the best for cut flowers, I wanted to share the new tulips with Susie. The yellow ones are huge, and I love the shape of the red ones–they remind me of Turkey!)

Susie, despite the pain, was delighted to see me, and Jennifer transferred Susie to her bed in her room. It was still only 60F (15.5C) and gray outside–no park today. So there I set up shop, as I have started to do on Monday, Friday, and Sunday with Nike’s laptop and my Apple laptop. While watching the animated version of Mulan on Disney+ with Susie, I read emails, Slack channel updates, and news updates. Susie and I both miss China when we watch the film (Susie has been to the Great Wall on two trips, once with me and once with her former Olympic-level ice skating coach, Norma).

I was there for more than two hours but had to head out for the shopping mentioned above and meetings. Susie was disappointed, but I put on M.A.S.H. for her when I left, which made her happy. I left with a kiss.

Moving to the start of the day, I was up at 2AM with my colon deciding not to wait until the morning to empty. I then slept until the morning until 7:30ish and did have a second round with my colon thinking it needed to empty. This happens now, and I think it is because I no longer detect the need to use the rest room and everything needs to unload at once then. This often happens when I am busy for days. I try to be more regular, but I get distracted by life.

I had a breakfast of oatmeal and liberal coffee. Then, I had meetings starting at 8AM that went on for a few hours of status meetings. I was carefully following along as I had multiple data conversions running on various environments, and complex breaks were being repaired, tested, software fixes installed, and restarted. So it was a busy morning.

I made a lunch of tuna salad on an NYC bagel (thank you, Joyce) with cheese heated to bubbling goodness in the broiler. I sliced onions and celery for this tuna salad for a more premium experience. It was as good as anyone else’s, and mine was cooked through, unlike what I get in some places.

I continued to finish April 2023 in Quicken and updated the house’s value, increasing to $464,000, according to Rocketmortgage.com (they hold the loan on the home). As I said before, I have all the accounts (except the 401K balance) automatically updated their balances and download transactions. I now use Quicken’s local version (I decided not to use the online version).

I did the dishes twice and did my usual laundry on Monday but did not feel up to putting it away. I will do that soon. I again wore a dress shirt and still liked it (with apologies to Katy Perry).

Thanks for reading.

It was 56F Sunday morning at the Volvo Cave (13C), and the house inside was 62F (16.67C) at 9ish. I was cold and had to close the doors and windows and start the heat again! I was comfortable again in just an hour as I stopped shaking while writing Saturday’s 1,400+ word blog.

Sunday started with waking to my alarm at 7, smelling the cold air in the house, and being surprised I was comfortable (sitting for hours made me cold). I found some cans of albacore tuna fish and made a tunafish salad with capers for breakfast. I had no crackers, but it was still good if an unusual breakfast. I made liberal coffee to go with this via a French Press.

My first meeting was at 8, Zoom, followed by another, and by 9, I was writing the blog and following along. There was much chatter on Slack channels and emails (no details here). The blog was long for Saturday, and I was done after 11AM. I had to follow along at work, which slowed my progression on remembering Saturday in words.

I heated a can of chili for lunch, showered, and dressed. After lunch, I packed up my Dungeons and Dragons 5E stuff and the laptops (Nike’s and mine) 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. Sunday traffic was light. The weather had changed to cloudy but dry.

Susie was waiting for me, napping, in her recliner in the shared living room space. Susie was delighted to see me. I had cut one of the medium-sized blue irises that have flowered near our mailbox and brought Susie the first flower from our home in 2023. She was thrilled to get the dark blue iris.

Anassa, the weekend nursing aide, moved Susie to her bed, and I put on a movie. I set up all the laptops and worked from Susie’s room. We watched the animated Little Mermaid, and both sang along with the music. I was replying to emails, reading Slack channel updates, and singing with Susie the Disney songs. Susie later had me play Under the Sea a few more times on Alexa.

The stress and hours had me nearly nodding off this afternoon. I am tired. I managed to keep going.

I have the beginnings of a sore throat and cough from the pollen. My eyes are red and burning. Allergies to pollen are challenging in spring without the rains washing it out of the skies. While I love sunny days, rain, please!

I left Susie at 4 and took the last status meeting, for me, in the car at 4:35 using my iPhone. Before this, I stopped by Barnes and Noble and purchased a copy of the latest Strategy and Tactics. I used to have a subscription, and every two months, I would get a well-written military history magazine and a board game built around one of the articles. Unfortunately, I never played most of the games, so I stopped the subscriptions. But this one had Timur in India and the French Indian War battles focus, which got me to buy it (no game in this version). I also like the notes about their board games and war games.

I stopped by Pizza Schmizza nearby and got a slice and a diet drink. It is excellent pizza.

Next, I drove to Cory’s house, where we played from 5:30 to 9ish. I was playing my 5th-level lawful good paladin of death in a spell jammer game run by our DM Matt (M@). We had the typical DM backstab, with the usual little old lady being the baddie and having to negotiate with pirates. This was followed by investigating a shipwreck with a severe battle to end the night. My paladin managed to remain standing, avoid the instant death trap, and fight to bad guys were all gone. A fun and relaxing finish.

I returned home and got a snack, and wrote the blog.

I also started to close the books on April 2023 as I do not want to have to do three months again. So I will try to do the months and close them out as they happen now.

I got a note from eBay. I had lost the bid on an expensive stamped cover flown on the Graf Zepplin with a special US air stamp. I refused to spend a considerable amount and thought these covers were overpriced anyway. I received an offer from the seller to buy the item at my last bid (apparently, the winner refused to pay for the article), and eBay rules allow the seller to offer the item to the second-best bidder. This is the same way I purchased part of the RMS Olmpic–I lost the bid and was then offered the item at my lower bid. I will finish the Graf Zepplin part of my collection when the stamp cover is delivered. Excellent.

I have also found a company that makes stamp collector album pages, so I have ordered some pages I don’t have for US stamps. I have beer revenue stamps album pages coming. If they are good, I will order some more for other items. Leta bought me, a long time ago, my current Scott US stamp album, and I used the birthday money she sent me to pay for these new pages. Thanks again, Leta!

Thanks for reading!