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It was the end of the RMS Titanic 111 years ago. The SS California is stuck in the ice. The seas are perfectly calm, and you can see for miles in the crow’s nest on the foremast of the Titanic. It is bitterly cold, with the salty sea being colder than freezing. RMS Titanic is still alone. The coal strike has reduced the number of ships out today. RMS Olympic, the sister ship of Titanic, has left and is headed to New York just about a day behind Titanic. She will be known as Old Reliable, survived a collision with a warship (thus giving her and the Titanic the unsinkable label), sinks a U-boat in World War 1 by raming, tows a torpedoed battleship, and survives a torpedo attack (the dud broke her double hull–installed after the disaster and the damage was found in her post-war refit), and is finally scrapped after being the choice for movie stars and the wealthy to cross the Atlantic until the Queen Mary arrives. I have a piece of Olympic in my collection from a first-class stateroom.

The RMS Republic sank only three years ago after a collision in the fog. The radio was able to call for help, and the lifeboats from other liners were able to help. Most passengers and crew were saved (except those lost to the collision). The new radio was declared the savior for the passengers, and all important ships now carried the Marconi wireless. The great risk to liners was considered to be fire and collisions. The Titanic and other early liners all used electric lights to avoid open flames. The water-tight door system, having been proved in the Olympic when it was rammed, removed the last chance of all known casualties. Stricken ships in this new modern world could always call for help.

The night was moonless and pitch black 111 years ago in the northern Atlantic. The field of icebergs, reported by the SS California, was known. The Titanic wireless had demanded that the nearby SS California stop using its radio as it was jamming the Titanic’s signal. The wireless in California was then taken offline. The iceberg, the first one spotted, was hit as the ship tried to spin around it. The single hull was punctured for about 300 feet, causing unsurvivable damage. This was late on the 14th, and it took until the 15th, past midnight, to determine that RMS Titanic was doomed.

A CQD and later SOS were sent; California, the only nearby liner, did not know about the stricken ship. Instead, ships that were too far away to help in time rushed anyway. Olympic was a day away, but she rushed full speed to her sistership. RMS Carpathia rushed through the ice and hurried to the rescue, but it was too late for most, but Carpathia was able to get the lifeboat survivors aboard and safe as the sea turned choppy. This includes the Unsinkable Molly Brown. The end of Titanic started 111 years ago today, alone in the Northern Atlantic surrounded by ice.

For me, today started, as usual, for Fridays, working from home. When I woke, I was relieved that none of the breathing issues reoccurred, and I felt better. I slept into 7:30ish and then found my way to breakfast, an NYC bagel with cream cheese (I still have a few frozen, thanks, Joyce), and drank all the liberal coffee made in my French Press. The project has two data conversions and testing running this weekend; ugh! I spent the whole morning in various status and information-sharing Zoom meetings. I read status, emails, and Slack channel updates all morning–keeping informed.

I made a taco salad out of leftover taco meat (reheated in the microwave), some shells I baked, and salad items (lettuce, chopped carrots, celery, olives, and sour cream. I ate this while watching a few shows on YouTube from some fav channels (Battleship New Jersey, Ship Happens, The Discriminating Gamer, and Cody Carlson P.h.D.).

I next boarded Air Volvo after loading the cargo hold with my Apple and Nike laptop and Grand Hotel Austria board game. Air Volvo delivered me to Susie’s place at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. The traffic was a bit heavy near 217, and Hall Boulevard as Hall was reduced to one lane for construction. But I arrived without issue.

It was 64F (17.78C), sunny, and had no rain (yes, we get rain when sunny), and the wind in Tigard was non-existent (there was a cold wind in Beaverton). Perfect. Ana, the nursing aide today, helped get Susie in her wheelchair and dressed in a coat and a blanket–it is so easy to get cold when just sitting. We then headed out into Metzger Park, next to the hummingbird house.

The park was busy with kids with families, folks walking dogs, and just visitors like us. We pulled up by a bench in the sun, enjoyed the warm, almost hot sun, and called Leta, Susie’s mother. Susie and Leta were delighted to chat outside. The sun made it comfy, and all the kids running around was nice. The bugs, primarily bees, were out, and I saw a hummingbird zip by. The park manager was also out, and he stopped by to chat; he was pleased with the crowd, and you could see he was proud of how excellent the park was. He got the new crushed gravel in the parking lots, and the grass was mowed. It looked amazing.

We have a redwood in the park that loses its needles for the winter, a particular tree that the park manager was happy to point out to us. I was concerned it looked dead, but he said it was a favorite and would soon look fabulous.

We soon finished chatting with Leta and the park official, and Susie wanted more travel in the park. Obviously, she was not cold. So I pushed her through the rest of the park, up the streets, and back to the hummingbird house. The little daisies were out, the daffodils were bright, and various trees were still flowering. But, again, Susie was looking everywhere–last time, everything was wet and tired; Spring was full running today in the sun.

We returned to Susie’s room in the hummingbird house, and Ana got Susie safe in her bed. I sat in the chair beside her and followed along at work while Susie watched M.A.S.H. on her TV. At 4PM, I stopped following along at work (I also read the rules of Grand Hotel Austria again as I might play it on Saturday night for my birthday) and started on Susie’s fingernails. I had new supplies, and it could quickly remove the old chipped paint. I soon had all her nails stripped of pain and used a nail file to remove rough edges. I painted the nails again and carefully removed any overpainting. We let that dry (almost a whole M.A.S.H. episode), and I put on a clear topcoat. Susie was excited to have her painted nails back. Later, I found Ana had started on this for the other gals, and she was surprised I did the nails for Susie, “just once in a while,” I said. It was not nearing 5PM, and time for me to head out.

I left with a kiss, and Susie needed a nap.

After more traffic, I arrived at BJ’s Brewhouse and had a Porkchop. There I wrote the blog. I had Jill as my waiter today. The food was perfect.

Here is Mister Lincoln tea rose enjoying the day–a few months from a flower. Notice how large the canes are–it was just a stick last year!

Thanks for reading.

Covering essential items tonight, I saw Susie in the afternoon and stayed with her for a whole M.A.S.H. episode. Susie was in her recliner in the shared living space, watching M.A.S.H. on the large screen. Susie resides at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, and they chatted for fifteen minutes. Susie was tired today, and I had some issues with her mouth; I had to wipe it for her. They cleaned her mouth after breakfast (I asked), but it needed more work. Susie was looking tired and a bit sad, so I decided to risk staying longer. I watched work issues on my iPhone (I have an app on the iPhone for the shoe company Slack channels where all the updates happen) the whole time and even replied to a few items. But time was running out, so I kissed Susie goodbye and then asked Ana, the nurse aide for today, to get Susie some water. It is good for the nurse aides to ask Susie something right as I leave so she is distracted–it stops the tears (for either of us).

The next important item was my Physical Therapy with Michael. I was there for a lunchtime (noon) appointment. We changed a few exercises to make them harder and dropped one that did not help. Michael showed me how to do the new ones, and then he watched me do them. I will do them again on Friday.

While Bethany Therapeutics Associates no longer requires a mask, I still wore my N95, and Michael put one on. While I believe they are safe, I woke to a cough today (allergies, I think), and I can’t afford to get sick from colds or flu–who will check in on Susie?

After the PT that lasted until 12:45 or so, I headed to Bethany Public House and had my usual bowl of chili and a Diet Coke. After that, as described before, I headed to see Susie. Again, the driving was nuts, with folks making dangerous lane changes and mangling traffic merges to the point of me having to drive on the shoulder and braking instead of accelerating. Yikes! I managed to not scrape the paint on Air Volvo.

This evening we did Theology Pub with the topic being Woke. I pretended to read my copy of The 1619 Project during the discussion. We all agreed you need to be nice to people, and there are some limited cases where maybe folks overreached. However, many of us thought that the complaints rang untrue, and it was good to be woke and try to make folks better: “Aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice).” For those readers who think woke is terrible, I am unapologetically liberal.

Aside: Being aware of your message and how it impacts your audience is an important skill. Everyone needs to practice audience awareness and get good at it. Or, in simple terms, rude delivery ruins a good message.

The morning was challenging; my head and lungs seemed disconnected when I woke–disconcerting. Wheezing and coughing through the start of the morning–I thought I was headed to a 911 call as my breathing was short and fast. It was harder to breathe out, which is my usual issue with an asthma attack. I changed to work-from-home as I was not sure what was wrong. I slowly improved–inhalers were used! My lungs and head started to work after various blowing and coughing cleared the passages, and the inhalers removed the inflammation. By 9ish, I was fine. Ugh!

The book I am reading has not been as good as I hoped, the newest Elric book by Michael Moorcock, as the last story seems to have pages upon pages of internal dialogue that just does nothing for me (I just skimmed it). I loved the first 2/3 of the book. So a mixed bag, I think. But, if you like Michael Moorcock, this one will fit the bill (even having to skim a few pages towards the end).

Another aside: Messages that conflict with people’s beliefs are poorly received. To expect the message to not spark a negative reaction is naive. Usually, the response is, unfortunately, a personal attack (often reflecting or deflecting the true issue).

I made dinner from the freezer today. I found some bacon-wrapped pork tenderloins and green beans in the freezer. I fried two tenderloins in butter in a hot metal pan and then baked them in the same pan at 350F for twenty minutes (a tiny bit overdone). I cooked the green beans in the microwave and then wilt them in butter on the stove with a bit of garlic powder, Chinese-style pepper, and a dash of onion powder. They were good. I also microwaved two small potatoes and ate them with butter, sour cream, salt, and pepper. It was a great dinner. I watched the next episode of The Mandalorian while eating. While I like the show, it is a bit chaotic this year.

Thank you for reading.

Working backward, I am back at the house late, 9:15ish, after meeting Z and Dondrea at the church. Z and I played the board game Concordia using the Corcisa map (good for two players) while Dondrea and other choir folks practiced and prepared for upcoming worship services. While remembering we had played this before, Z took a while to remember how to play and was still a bit inefficient in her play. The final score showed this. We started a second game, and she was already climbing into the lead when we had to stop.

Concordia, not the new Venus version, but the original is a favorite of mine. This is a resource management and worker placement game with limited player interaction. The turn play is simple, play a card and do what it says. The strategy is challenging and requires careful execution over multiple turns. Purchasing more cards allows for more options, often improved options per turn, and increases your score at the end of the game. I love thinking three or four turns ahead and grabbing that great city or card before someone snatches it away.

I own the Salsa add-on and quite a few add-on boards. We play with Forum, but not with salt. The game theme is ancient Rome, and you are running a trading network for a family. You can get points for having trading posts, having them in areas (all using the Roman names), and owning specialist cards to help you build farms, for example. No battles. Just get resources, build, and hire help (buying cards). Simple to learn–but deep.

Before this, I had a fantastic stew at Top Burmese for an early dinner. The gals (one as a bartender and another as a host) were chatty as it was early–they were also lovely. We discussed Artificial Intelligence as they tried out CharGPT and wondered what this meant. I have done some AI stuff and covered what I knew and had done before. It was a fun chat–but they started to get busy, and, the gals being stunning, every table seemed to want to take their time ordering. So I finished my recommended dinner from the bartender, named Soul, paid, and headed out.

Right after I ordered, Dondrea called me about having dinner together–too late. Next time!

Before this, I left work after 4PM and drove across heavy traffic in Beaverton. I was working on various crises of the moment. So many cleared this evening–excellent.

Moving further back, I stopped by 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. Before I arrived, I called ahead and said I would be late. I went to Jimmy John’s and got a sub. I was feeling off, but the food brought me back. I was then able to spend some time with Susie. Susie was delighted to see me and was in her recliner in the living room, watching M.A.S.H. We called Leta, Susie’s mother, on my iPhone. Leta has her new stove installed, and the plumber charged her only $50. Leta now has a new stove, and the plumber took the old stove away. Leta received a $59 refund for installation, meaning she was ahead by $9!

Soon it was time for me to go, and Susie, not too sad, let me go with a kiss.

The rest of my day was a blur of working and rushing to work. I fit in the basic exercises and stretches at 6:15. I slept well, but 6AM came too soon.

Sorry for the brief story, but I am tired now.

Thanks for reading!

Remembering that 111 years ago, the RMS Titanic left its last port call in Ireland (my late Grandma Wild being a few weeks old) and headed out into a calm sea. The coal strike has made a mess of the usual tidy schedule with the Titanic’s sister still in Europe. The plan is that they should pass in the Atlantic with the big three, Olympic (1911), Titanic (1912), and Britannic (1914), to cover the passage with one ocean liner in port and two out. Instead, Titanic is on the seas ahead of its sister, both headed to New York. It is cold, and to take advantage of the earth’s curve, the course is north enough to be in the ice, making it even colder and riskier. Usually, the track is full of ships, but the coal strike has reduced the count of liners. The Titanic is alone except for a few slower liners that its Radio Operator, Wilde (no relation), hears on its radio in Morse code.

It is before the stabilizers and the ship rocks. The passengers rent rugs to keep warm and sit on the cold chairs watching the sea, trying to avoid sea sickness by watching the horizon. On Titanic, the promenade deck is glassed in and not freezing–a new improvement that will soon be added to the Olympic and is already incorporated in the larger Brittanic. The ship is about five days from New York, rushing at about 26 mph (43 km/h). The passengers and crew are getting used to this new ship, the largest in the world in service.

Returning to our narrative, Tuesday’s morning started as usual, a rush to get to work by 8AM for the first meeting in Clubhouse, our non-WHQ building, for the project. I was up at 6AM and started assembling breakfast before doing my exercises and stretches–doing the whole set today. I managed to reheat the sausage from the weekend without drying them out in the microwave and have the last cold hard-boiled egg with a banana for breakfast. I complete this with coffee. I pour the coffee only to learn I forgot to turn on the hot water. Cold will not do, and sadly the ruined attempt is washed away. Redo! Breakfast is started without coffee.

I read emails and texts and consume the news from Slack channels. Coffee, another try, creation is successful, and a cup is drunk. Then, the race begins as I leap into the shower and rush through the start-of-the-day process. This includes using Utterly Smooth 20% Urea (cow pee) cream on hands and toes to delay or prevent nerve loss; strongly recommended by my cancer team (!?) and seems to have worked. I assume the Urea removes some reactive material that can cause nerve damage.

Air Volvo takes me into the wet morning with light flooding. The traffic is a bit heavy for Tuesday, with Air Volvo having to wait twice for some lights. But my arrival is within ten minutes of 8AM, and I begin the two hours of meetings on time. There are some crises of the moment, and I help bring a bit of order to Tuesday’s chaos, but I do get so turned around that I report the results of one release to the other release’s status meeting. I am forgiven, and everyone admits they are getting lost too. Three tests are running together with two nearly simultaneous tests. It is easy to forget which meeting you are in when you get updates for multiple events in multiple work tracks.

The most strange thing is that one track appears to be running for about two weeks and will soon be two weeks behind–a fantastic planning failure you don’t see often. The track is re-planning its dates now, as you can imagine. Doctor Who technology may be needed!

On technology, we had a failure-over of production. The systems are in the cloud, and there was a failure. Details cannot be discussed here, but I felt like Murphy of Murphy’s Law had joined the project.

I headed out before lunch to see Susie at Susie’s at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116. The rain had stopped, and blue was showing (something we seldom see in April in the Pacific Northwest). Beaverton’s Finest was out on Highway 26 and 217 to celebrate the improvement by generating new revenue for Beaverton’s Traffic Court. I assume a grumpy motorcycle cop was on 26 giving tickets out in the Oregon mist, and a police car was operating on 217 somehow finding something to ticket people for in heavy construction (I assume it is using your phone–what I was nailed before last year). I managed to reach Susie without police action.

Susie was in her chair in the living room, a shared space, with the evening staff looking a bit more relaxed today–everyone looked happy. The usual day folks are seeing relatives. Susie was delighted to see me and was pleased to call her mother, Leta. We chatted with Leta on my iPhone using FaceTime so everyone could see each other. I still use a mask at work and in the facility to keep everyone safe.

Susie was watching her favorite show, M.A.S.H., and it was about season 7–some of the show’s best shows, I think; fewer jokes and slapstick and more story. Leta and I discussed lunch and whether Oregon has the strawberry salad, a favorite, now at Panera Bread. This bored Susie, and soon she was sleeping or watching M.A.S.H.

Susie knew I was there for a short visit and I had a crisis of the moment at the shoe company, so she let me go with a kiss. We both miss each other at night. It is always hard to leave.

I stopped at Panera Bread and followed along on my iPhone for work issues. I did get my Poppie Chicken Strawberry Salad, yay. I ate it fast while reading emails and news items–I like to stay connected.

Aside: That morning, I discovered that Susie had more than $700 bills still to be paid and paid them. Later I remembered that I had paid $110 already; oh my. A $110 credit will likely be consumed as we have not yet reached our out-of-pocket maximum. We usually get that in May (Susie’s room cost is not included in that maximum as it is not covered at all by insurance).

I returned to work with my back complaining and a headache. I stayed until 4ish and saw the rain was gone, and temperatures rose to near 60F (15.5C). I arrived without issue in Air Volvo at the Volvo Cave and then rested. I needed the pain to stop and my head to clear. Within an hour, I was better.

I painted the wooden radio box for the radio project. The result, a second coat, was not an improvement. So I will sand this and try something else. I bought some recommended items to refinish the radio that I think will do better, but I need to sand the failed finish first to make this work.

I reheated the spaghetti with sweet Italian sausage and vodka sauce for dinner. Next, I watch YouTube videos from Battleship New Jersey comparing Bismarck and the Iowa class guns. It was an interesting lecture. The curator, who does the videos, highly recommended a book, and I ordered it, Battleship Bismarck, for my birthday (it is a limited printing at the Naval Institute Press).

After this, I started on the blog and drank too much tea (I made pot), and now I am bouncing in my chair. But it is nice to be smiling and writing. There have been too many tears this spring for me. So learning more about ships, writing, and working on things with my hands is good.

I have found the LEDs from my model building kits. These were selected to look like overhead lights and will be perfect, I think, for the radio face plate light. I have programmed the standard pin, 13, to turn on when the microcontroller starts. I like visual cues to tell me what is happening, and controlling the light by the microcontroller, instead of wiring it into the power, lets me know that the program has started. The original use was a lighting kit for my model of the Nautilus. I built my own circuits and used some of the parts to make my own look.

I plan to do a bit more work on the radio tonight.

Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

 

On April 10, 1912 (my late Grandma Lee was only three weeks old), the RMS Titanic left for its first trans-Atlantic crossing 111 years ago. The crossing was delayed, and many crossings had been canceled–there was a coal strike. On its first official voyage, the Titanic was loaded with coal scavenged from shipments for other ships–White Star Line was going to get its new ship out there. The coal bunker fire in the forward coal bunker was ignored. When the huge, then the largest ship ever to sail, pulled out, the pressure wave drew another liner into the Titanic, nearly bringing the Titanic’s first trip to a sudden halt, but the errant liner was recovered. The passengers, unaware that the fourth funnel was mostly for ventilation, were shocked when a man looked over the funnel (there was a platform in the funnel and stairs to enjoy the view and well smoke. The passengers thought someone had fallen into the funnel. No. Now late, the RMS Titanic left on its last and only crossing. Everyone was a bit unnerved by the events (and a fire still burning in the forward coal bunker).

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures today.

The morning started with me waking to my alarm and then getting started at 7:30–going slow. Yesterday I had done the pancake breakfast cooking (with many folks), and my legs were stiff and my back uncomfortable this morning. I took my first status meeting at 8 and then one every half hour for a few hours. During this time, I was drinking liberal coffee made in my French Press. Breakfast was a banana and yogurt. The meetings continued, but as few issues touched our team, I was not paying that much attention. I did react to one crisis of the moment.

I had a long break from Zoom meetings at this time. I did the lighter side of my exercises and stretches as I was still stiff. I showered, dressed, put the dirty laundry in the washer, and then checked back in again. There were a few more crises of the moment, but nothing that was not quickly handled. I boarded Air Volvo and headed out.

It has rained 2.3″ of rain so far in April versus usually less than 1″. As a result, the light flooding was back, and my backyard was slowly filling into a pond. The roads are filling, and the puddles are huge, with Air Volvo kicking some water ten feet in the air. We have rain for the next few days–it is damp.

The trip to Susie’s was without event, and folks, apparently scared by the flooding, passed on driving today. Thusly, very light traffic in Beaverton today. While I saw no police, fire trucks and ambulances showed up every ten minutes of driving. Soon I arrived at Susie’s at the hummingbird house in Portland (Tigard) at Allegiance Senior Care LLC, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave. Portland (Tigard), OR 97223; phone (503) 246-4116.

Susie was in her chair, and the evening folks were running things today (Jeniffer, the usual live-in nurse aide, was traveling) and asked us if they could help. I demurred and let Susie stay in the living room (where the action was), and there we called Leta, Susie’s mother. We chatted on my iPhone using FaceTime for twenty minutes or so. Susie was feeling better and was fascinated by the chaos, as things ran a little differently today than most Mondays.

Susie was sad to have me leave, “I miss you.” She gets lonely in the evening (I do, too, some days), but let me go with a kiss. My trip back was a bit wetter as the rain and the, puddles and flooding were more. My emotions were a bit mixed up, so I stopped by Salt & Staw and got an ice cream cone. That brightened my spirits, and the rain, the sadness, and the light seemed all a bit better (it is gray with shades of gray with hints of moss green fading to gray).

I finished my cone while driving, and just after I had finished it, a car was poking into my lane on TV highway (five lanes main drag from Beaverton to Hillsboro), and I slowed and then stopped, not wanting Air Volvo to have an insurance claim. The driver of the wayward car then decided to cross and forced another car to stop to let them cross. The driver of the other vehicle that was forced to stop then rolled down his window, and while we could not hear each other, it was clear we both were amazed and suffering from WTF, and then we drove on.

Air Volvo landed without issue at the Volvo Cave. The mail contained medical bills. One explained the charges (which I had asked for) on a bill I received last week that had no explanation (I just don’t blindly pay ’em), and the others were the usual stuff. My rule is to pay them when I get them by a manual check. There must be paper records for everything. So I wrote the checks, entered them into Quicken (my account software), and walked the bills (paid) to the mailbox. I also downloaded the latest transactions from every transactional account (including credit cards and investment accounts) and noted the correct category for the spending transfers and income. I need good records for the IRS and social agencies I might need to deal with and for myself. I need to know how long the money will last, and Quicken gives me a consolidated picture of all funds and expenses.

I read more emails, texts, and Slack messages to follow along at work. Everything was going OK. I rested as my back had not enjoyed the chairs today. I read more Elric (Michael Moorcock’s new book on his 1960s character Elric seems to fit my memory of the older stories–excellent) and stopped about 4PM. I rested some more and made Clam Chowder from a can for dinner. I then worked on my radio project and started to finish the replacement radio face with the digital LCD insert. I am trying to work out how to replace the nobs. The old holes are too small and deep for my previous approach of sliding new switches in slightly enlarged holes. I cut some wood to place the buttons and nobs, but I don’t think that will work. I am thinking of replacing the holes with a wooden board with excellent brass screws holding it on. I could cover the basswood with veneer. It might look nice. More to come.

I then decided to stop any more work as I was tired and just head to Wildwood and have a beer, chat with folks (JR bought me more beer), and write the blog.

And that is what I did on Monday night.

Thanks for reading.