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The morning started in less than a rush than yesterday. There was no 7:30 f**king-in-the-morning meeting that had to be rescheduled after I drove in and called into the meeting. It was still a bit of a rushed morning as I was still headed to the office, trying to be there before 8ish. I managed it but then had a hallway conversation for an hour or more and missed calling into status meetings which I have to not use the camera. I am not as good an actor as my directors, who can look interested and not roll their eyes no matter who speaks meaningless gobbledygook. It’s like we are saying: Yes, we do know that you are making it up, speaker, but we all know if we point it out, the meeting will go on longer. So we will just smile and nod. So it was good to chat with my friends.

OK, I am a bit spicer today. I made the mistake of asking questions a few times today and extended the meeting. I am so sorry! I was amazed by my colleagues’ ability to nod and smile. I will practice more.

Returning to the narrative, I heard from Rick from Physical Therapy, and he will see Susie for a re-evaluation on Friday at 10:15 at the hummingbird house. I called and got that on Susie’s schedule with Vanessa, the nurse aide for today. So I will try to make it.

Next, I met the lead for development, who was in town today, Spanden. We have worked together for years and have been on many calls but have never met. It was great to shake hands and talk. We agreed we would get some beers next time he is in town!

Thursday went on with meeting after meeting with me asking too many questions. Finally, I managed to quiet down.

I also loaded Python on my Nike laptop; I have never loaded Python on Windows before.

I headed out just before noon and stopped by Burger King to get a burger, thinking I needed some protein. The traffic jam in the parking lot near Burger King was an Oregonian mess of over-polite driving. I had to wave the drivers to move through and not scratch the paint. I ate my burger, watching the slow-moving traffic in the parking lot with cars backing up and others waiting for them even when there was parking elsewhere. It was an eye-rolling kind of day.

I managed to escape the parking lot and then got on 26 and found the parking lot, which was 217, this afternoon. I was driving 4 mph for about a mile. But, I finally made it to the hummingbird house. It was still cold, so it was not a park day.

Susie was delighted to see me. She was all comfy in her recliner. She stayed there for a visit, and soon we called her mother, Leta, and they had a friendly chat on my iPhone using FaceTime. Susie was slightly distracted; M.A.S.H was on the TV, which is her favorite. Vanessa found it and put it on for her.

I got out the balloon and had Susie hit it back with her right hand. Susie’s left hand was overtaking her right, but soon she could use just her right. It was fun, and one of the other residents soon joined in. I spoke to Vanessa, and she will do that with her. It helps Susie to improve her right side. It was nice to see Susie smile.

I had to head back to work, and with a kiss, I was headed out.

I stopped by my building, Clubhouse, and had to deal with a few crises of the moment; a data scrambling for protection was overdone and needed to be reversed. I was late for my next meeting in the building Victory. This is my old group that I am helping again. It was nice to see folks working on my previous software.

Soon, after chatting for a while and listening to an emergency discussion–which was like returning home for me, I drove home. I worked from home for a few hours.

I made pasta with sausage for dinner. I overate, but it was so good. I will still have plenty left over for the next few days. I watched the over-the-top show Lucifer while I had dinner. I was laughing non-stop and loved the first two episodes. The storyline is Satan is on vacation in LA, running a high-end dance club. He has made friends and is upset when one is murdered in his arms. The steely women detective is somehow immune to his charms and powers, and he helps her solve the murder–yes, it is a cop show! I was laughing so hard at the outrageousness that I was crying. I was saying to myself, “I wish I had written it, and how do I get a gig to write that.” The third episode started, and it was a bit flat for me, so I got back to work writing and will watch it later.

It was nice to laugh again. I have been crying a lot.

I got an email from the Naval Institute that they have an Artificial Intelligence (AI) meeting in October. I am thinking of going–I might go in person, but online access is also available. I was heartened as the fiction story I turned in for the Naval Institute contest was about AI and the Turing Test in a wargame setting, and maybe they won’t hate it after all. I am afraid to hope.

Well, I must get the trash out and get to bed soon. I had to stop about halfway, and my feet and legs cramped up. I rested for a bit and read, and napped.

Thank you for reading, and hope I was not too spice or too specific about work. It was a busy day–I like busy.

 

Today I am exhausted and had to rest a few times. I am feeling a bit better now.

The day started with me rushing to make a 7:30AM meeting in the office. This was made harder as I could not sleep well last night. I finished my article for the Naval Institute Fiction contest and submitted it. Again, it was hard to sleep as I was excited to get it done and turned in. I am not sure that it will be something they want, but I did write a story of just under 3,000 words, edited, and hopefully with only minor typos. So 5:45 appeared unwelcome by me. I was showered and had a banana and 1/2 a bear claw pastries in the car–no time for coffee.

As often happens, the meeting failed and will be rescheduled. Ugh! I found coffee and then had hours of meetings in the morning. I had a few crises of the moment, but mostly I was just keeping up with status meetings and various emails and Slack messages.

Leadership had breakfast, and later, lunch was delivered not far from our working area. We could smell food the whole time. But, oddly, it appears that the food was not eaten by anyone, as the meeting it was for seems to have been canceled. How strange.

One of my colleagues had a birthday today, so we went to a Thai place for lunch, and the guy with the birthday bought everyone lunch (?!). Also, we were happy to see another colleague who had just had a child. So it was a lovely time; I ordered the special, which was not that good.

I left from there to see Susie. I had a little trouble getting turned around, but soon I was in the slow traffic of 217. It took me twice as long as usual to reach the hummingbird house today. Susie was happy to see me.

We called her mother, Leta, on the iPhone for a while, and then I made a quick visit with Susie to Metzger Park. Some health issues, lack of sleep, and walking a lot seemed to have exhausted me. I had not felt this worn since chemotherapy; I needed to slow down.

So after a short visit, I left with a kiss, got home again in heavy traffic (for Beaverton), and reached home. I then crawled under a blanket and slept for 90 minutes. I closed my eyes, and despite the neck pain, foot pain, knee pain, and other discomforts, I was asleep in seconds.

I managed to awaken at 5:20ish and was ready to head to the First United Methodist Church. I got there at 6ish, and Zophia, as usual on Wednesday nights, played board games while the band and choir practiced. I brought a harder one, The Grand Hotel Austria, which has lots of rules and a strange game flow that takes a while to get used to. Zophia was game, and we soon played without too many mistakes or redos.

The Grand Hotel Austria is not a game I would recommend unless you try it with someone who knows it. However, it is a wicked collection of rules and options that can make your head spin. My version is a blinged version with little 3D coffee cups, tiny cake slices on plates, strudel, and bottles of wine. I backed the recent Kickstarter that upgraded and reprinted the game (I got the upgrade) but have yet to add the ballroom dancing (yes, waltzing rules now) to my play. Zophia liked it but agreed it was a challenging game to play and learn.

We next played the quick board game Azul, and Zophia crushed me again.

After that, I headed home and had a dinner of crackers and pickled herring in cream sauce, a guilty pleasure.

I am tired and staggered. I will get some rest tonight.

Thanks for reading!

My ticket for Grammarly is on hold until I can invest some time in making some changes for them. However, I am getting excellent and demanding service from Grammarly support–they want immediate feedback. I have also noticed more updates that have smoothed out the workflow issues. I will try to help them when I have more time.

I am also having a colon issue, best not described, that keeps me running to the restroom. I have been enjoying this for a few days now. I seem to have only two settings now–everything and nothing. So far, no accidents.

I will go backward to narrate today. I met Mariah at BJ’s Brewhouse, yes–there again, to celebrate Mariah buying a house and my 25th (actually now 26th) year at the shoe company. We had the steak, and Eric, our usual waiter in the bar, was ready for us. He informed us that the pork chops were sold out, my goto, and we instead had steaks. Kate, another waiter, wanted to know when I moved into BJ’s as she saw me there three times this week!

Before this, I was resting at home. I had stood and walked too much, again. I also picked up the missing prescriptions (I missed the notification that they filled them–all weeks early–and those need to be refilled) and then bought some groceries at Basics next door. This is a new grocery store that recently opened–I like it. I was limping in the grocery store by the time I finished. I needed some milk and other items. Finally, I realized I was risking too much and drove home, unloaded, put away, and then laid down.

Moving further back in the day, the official celebration was today, the first party for folks with 25 or more years at Nike, including retired folks since the Pandemic. I shook the CEO’s hand during the party as he tried to duck out. I got to say a few words before he excused himself and left the party. Earlier, he actually tried to tell the joke that it was one of the few meetings where he is not the oldest person, which, forgetting the seniority of the crowd, booed and moaned at that remark. He recovered and got the toast done for our service: Honor the past while creating the future (I think I got that right–corrections are welcome).

Before reaching the party, I arrived at the Tiger Woods Conference (TWC) center after parking in the new parking garage, the furthest one, parking on the empty 4th floor (this also lets you take the ramp out, and everyone has a stop sign for entering the ramp, an easy out), and walking for twenty minutes to the TWC. I then used the cubicles on the second floor to catch up on emails and Slack messages. It was an hour before the party.

The party was downstairs, and I soon met old friends, many retired, and got a hefty pour of red wine, Pinot, and drank that for about an hour. The speeches were excellent, but mostly it was nice to see, literally now, old friends. However, I was tired, and I am brittle from chemotherapy still (and that other problem could return), so I stayed until after 4PM. Nevertheless, it was an excellent party.

Before returning to the Nike World Headquarters, I was with Susie at hummingbird house. Susie was having a good day, and I wished the Physical or Occupational Therapy could have been there. I suspect Susie could have stood and maybe walked today. She tried to converse with me, but I had trouble with garbled speech and could only get some of it. At least Suie was trying, and it made me feel we are making progress. Hummingbird house keeps Susie safe, and she is getting better, very slowly, but I think better. I am more hopeful today.

Susie was ready when I got there, I called Jennifer before I headed there, and Susie and I headed out into gray skyed Oregon outdoors (from clouds and not smoke!). Today is a fall day and something we see in October and sometimes in September. The rain had stopped, and the benches were dry in Metzger Park. We called Susie’s mother, and she and Susie chatted while we sat in the park. The winds were low, and the debris from yesterday’s high winds had been cleaned up. No pinecones hit me today!

Susie, as I said, was having a great day, but I had to head out soon. My phone was shaking with lots of messages from work. Today was the start of the project’s next phase–no rest for the wicked, I believe, is the quote from Macbeth that fits this.

Before reaching Susie, I had lunch at Jimmy Johns and had a sub with a diet drink and chips. I can eat about 3/4 of a smaller sub. I like the Italian-styled sub sandwich.

Preceding lunch, I was at Clubhouse for the morning with meetings from 8 to noon with just a few breaks. I managed not to have any issues and listened and discussed some new designs here and there. Details can’t be shared here, but I was busy, which was nice.

I started in a rushed morning, more rushed by my colon, going for the everything-mode multiple moments for me, without me having an accident. I began at 6:15 and had to push it all morning. Before I woke, I dreamed of working on projects and finding my way in a maze of buildings. That sort of matched my day too!

Thanks for reading. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures, and I don’t take many photos at Nike for all the usual corporate reasons.

 

The morning started with me not having to rush as Monday is a work-from-home day for the shoe company. I was reading emails, texts, and Slack messages before the morning had even gotten going. I had a bagel with cream cheese, picking the jalapeno bagel, which was a strange cultural mix. I don’t usually have hot peppers before I have had coffee!

The coffee was Equal Exchange, and I had only one extra bag, so I ordered more, finding I even had a code to reduce the price in my email. Perfect. So another case of liberal coffee is on its way.

Work was an hour of meetings and then mostly following along and reading days of emails from the weekend. I received a text from Tracy from Physical Therapy (PT) that she planned to see Susie in the afternoon. This surprised me as the last appointment was Friday.

I got ready to head out and then got another text from Tracy that she was delayed. So I leave and stop by Popeye’s and order a chicken sandwich. I eat that in the car. I then return to taking Air Volvo to hummingbird house.

The weather has changed to our October weather. It is cold, 68F (20C), and it rained last night. It will be raining off and off for the day. The smoke is still visible as a gray haze, but it is not as bad as yesterday. The rain and wind will likely get us back to normal. We can use some early rain this year!

Susie is in her recliner in the living room watching TV. She is delighted to see me. The puffy eyes and exhaustion is gone–she was waiting for me and PT. While waiting for Tracy, we called Susie’s mother, Leta, on my iPhone so they could see each other on FaceTime. They chat for a while, and I join in here and there. We ring off.

Tracy arrives as Susie is getting a snack, now in a wheelchair, at the dinner table. We wait for Susie to be ready and then head to Susie’s room. Susie uses her peddle device and manages to do 20+ cycles–good for her as she could only do a few last time. We also play with a ballon with Susie hitting it. She needs to use her right arm, which is clearly weaker than her left side. Susie is a bit upset. Today standing is difficult–I think the peddling wore her out–but she finally manages a stand. She is tipping to one side–again, the left side. It was quite a workout for Susie.

Tracy and I leave Susie in Jennifer’s good hands. I head back and reach the Volvo Cave without incident. There is less traffic on Monday than Sunday(!?). I am back to work and following along.

I get an email from the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival about the deadline for the 500-word story. It is today! I write two short stories and submit them. They were not as good as my story last year, but I wanted to get something in.

Dinner from the freezer is a Chicken Cordon Blue with garlic toast and green beans. I wilt the microwaved beans in a hot pan with butter and almond slices with a hint of garlic. Dinner was consumed while enjoying the next episode of the House of Dragons. I was happy to see Matt Smith back being bad. I think he should return to Doctor Who as the Master or the Dark Doctor.

The blog is my evening. I have the window open in the office and let the fresh-smelling air roll over me while I write. I have to edit the Naval Institute fiction yet tonight. Writing all day and night.

Thanks for reading!

One of my memory of the events of September 11th was standing outside on the soccer field a few days later with a choir singing at Nike World Headquarters.  We listened to Phil Knight, then CEO, trying to speak and make sense of it all. The pain was helped by all of us coming together, and Phil announced that we would run across the country because that is what we do at Nike; we run. It helped. As did seeing Queen Elizabeth having the Star Spangled Banner played in the UK. Just some memories for today.

The morning started with me sleeping in until 7ish and then getting going. I was in some discomfort and was in the bathroom for some time. Unfortunately, that problem repeated not in the bathroom. This was combined with breathing issues, there is worse air today, and a headache. Ugh! Not a good start.

I decide to work on my Naval Institute fiction story first. I spent a few hours inside my head reworking my first draft and cutting as I needed only 3,000 words. I have polished and added an Epilogue that completes the story. I have mostly smoothed out the text and removed fundamental grammar issues. I am more interested in the flow than the perfect grammar.

That led me to the blog, and I did feel like I was writing all day. I then felt unwell and went to rest for a bit. I did sleep for a bit. I felt a bit better and went back to the blog wanting to finish it.

I ordered lunch from Gyro House, a fav from GrubHub, and had the lamb kebab platter. I go with protean and lamb if I can get it when I feel off. Lunch helped. I finished watching, putting the blog aside, The Rings of Power, episode 3 while eating lunch. The break and food helped, and I could return to the blog and finish.

I did forget that Mariah had suggested lunch on Sunday, but she was OK with pushing that off.

After the blog was posted and emailed to folks, I dressed and headed to hummingbird house. The air is worse, and I was coughing and sneezing in Air Volvo, which has new filters (recently serviced, and these cabin filters were replaced). I crossed Beverton without incident.

Susie’s place is in Tigard, and their air is better; you can see less gray there. Susie was tired and bundled up in her chair. She had passed on lunch. Susie’s eyes were puffy and watery, and she decided, unusual for her, to forgo watching a show and just sleep in her bed.

A thunderstorm rained at about the same time, a surprise, and the beginning of the rains is always welcome. The air should be better, and we need rain, and of course, the firefighters will welcome the rain, but not the lightning strikes.

I kissed Susie goodbye and drove back to the Volvo Cave. The air getting worse and worse. The traffic was almost as heavy as a workday. I also saw many police cars in Beaverton and left my phone in my pocket.

I just pulled up the covers at the house, like Susie in Tigard, and slept. I was worn out. I had nightmares last night and in a waking dream in the morning. I was finally able to sleep without waking with a pounding heart.

I decided to head to Central Taps in Beaverton to play the solo board game Nemo’s War. The air was a bit better with the rain in the area, and I could use some human interactions. So I managed to play a partial game, but I could not focus. I had a stout beer that went well with the game. I could imagine the Hollywood version of Nemo with a tankard of dark beer–no IPA for Nemo! Something dark and brooding with subtle, complex flavors. I put the game away as I was daydreaming too much.

After paying, I headed back to Air Volvo. My luck almost ran out. Five, yes five, cars decided to brake shortly for someone turning off of TV Highway. Air Volvo had alarms going off, the polite trolly car bell warning that braking was about to happen. I thew the car into the bike lane and shoulder, braking, and avoid scratching the paint. I also avoided the rear-end paint loss as I saw the vehicle behind me was now where Air Volvo was a moment ago.

I arrived intact in Air Volvo at the house, getting a hot fudge sundae from McDonald’s on the way. I then started on the blog and will try to start more work on the other writing after the blog.

I hope your memories of September 11 are positive. For me, they are sad but positive. I did not lose anyone in the attacks, but friends of mine did.

Thanks for reading.