Blog

I was doing some research, and in the 1880s, they celebrated the possible end of winter and feasted on the groundhog. Unfortunately, I have not found that on the menu today, and I will write this at BJ’s Brewhouse, enjoying their excellent pork chop. Eric, my usual waiter, got me the last one–Excellent (you must get here before 6PM to get the chop).

Groundhog Day 2023 started with me waking for my alarm and deciding I wanted another 1/2 hour of sleep. I also had light nausea throughout the day, making me want to head home and pull a blanket over me. But I resisted and made it through the day. Today was a sunny day meaning that any local groundhog would have seen its shadow. We have top-level predictors that ensure that there are no slow ground-based varmints and ground animals drown here–we thus have no groundhogs. Still, by tradition, we have 6 more weeks of winter (so also was the ruling in Pennsylvania today) from the sunny day. Puke!

Aside: Constipation is a new normal. The surgery that removed 25 cm of my colon seemed to remove the nerves that let me know it was time to go. Thus I am running on empty or packed full. I am trying to develop habits to prevent the swings and find a happy (and easy) medium. So far, no accidents and no need for potty training!

Returning to the story of my day, I continued the rushed morning reading my emails, work emails, text, and the all-important Slack channel messages, but nothing important this morning was revealed. I then continued the ritual that resulted in me being summoned to work (i.e., eating breakfast of toast with peanut butter with liberal coffee supplied via a French Press, showering, and dressing).

I took Air Volvo in almost no traffic to Clubhouse, our office building not on WHQ Nike Campus, and arrived in time to start all my status meetings. But instead, our leader is going on vacation, so we had our last meeting to plan the next two weeks. I am leader-light as I will be doing status meetings and should only have to smile and nod as our colleges should report in the status meeting. I get the “we will review the issue internally” statements if folks don’t show up or an unexpected question arises in a status meeting. I also am a backup approver, and I even read two design documents today and approved them. So back in the saddle again.

We start working a 7/24 schedule with me doing status meetings all weekend for the next two weeks, beginning on Sunday. I had some crises of the moment to deal with today (thus the reading of designs) and was busy much of the day. I left after 4:30, learning that I am a Python resource and PySpark may be my next chance to supply amazing service to my group. Oh my!

Returning to the middle of my day, I had lunch at Serena Williams building at Nike WHQ. We started at 11:45 to beat the crowds and find a table. Scott had read in this blog that I was discomforted by folks sitting next to me at tables and kindly offered a new time to avoid the lunch crush. I was not complaining but more surprised by my reaction. I still can’t sit next to strangers without feeling threatened. Thanks, Scott. We talked about more work I am interested in joining. There is so much exciting stuff out there!

After lunch, I headed to Susie’s place: the hummingbird house in Tigard. Susie was asleep in her recliner when I arrived in the shared living room. She had only had breakfast, and I was told she was up all night–Susie again has sleepless nights. I had to wake her; she was delighted to be awoken by me.

We called Leta, her mother, on my iPhone using FaceTime, and they were happy to see each other. Susie would nod off and be distracted, but they still had a friendly chat. I was a bit rushed as I had a list of items to work on when I returned, and soon I left with a kiss, but Susie looked a bit confused (not sure if it was a short visit or she nodded off). Jennifer distracted her with questions about lunch as I left. Susie seemed happy today.

I headed to BJ’s for dinner, and I am finishing this story as I drink my after-dinner coffee.

Thank you for reading!

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures today.

Well, it is now February 2023. I started with a night of good sleep and then waited until 6:30 to get going. I skipped my exercises and stretches again. I will do some tonight, but I was still tired and sore.

I made the last bagel from NYC today for breakfast with liberal coffee. I then read emails (both mine and the company’s) and then reviewed updates provided by Slack channels. These also appear on my phone. There were no exciting texts to study.

I also read CNN, BBC News, and some New York Times to get a feel for what is happening worldwide. Using the bluntest of tools–Interest Rates–the Fed decided to only inflict another 1/4 point on us. Yes, I do not like this approach (Don’t try to explain it to me–I understand the theory). More shootings. It just hurts sometimes to read the news.

I went off to the office and managed to be ready and there in time to call into the stand-up meeting. The sprint is over, so we are closing tasks. New tasks will open on Thursday. It is the Agile way (I feel very Mandalorian).

The rest of the morning is meetings and me applying vendor patches (SAP OSS notes for those who speak SAP) and asking folks to test them. I also approve some access, and I am now, again, backing up folks. So it is a busy morning.

I head out to see Susie and arrive without any interaction with Beaverton’s Finest, experiencing any unique application of driving practices as often seen in Beaverton and the Greater Portland Area or the loss of paint on Air Volvo due to unexpected contacts. Susie had been up all night and was tired this morning. Jennifer was also running a bit late, and Susie was still eating when I arrived at 11ish. I waited fifteen minutes.

For years, Susie had issues with sleepwalking, not sleeping, wandering, and getting lost in the dark in the house. I would have to find her. Many of her falls were caused by confusion at night. I improved things by using voice control on the lights and Susie stopped getting lost and hurt. Thank you, Alexa (named Echo in my house).

Now, the nursing aides care for her at night and there is a crash pad next to Susie’s bed when she is alone. She has not been hurt for about a year now. While I miss Susie at the house, I am so happy she is safe and stable at hummingbird house.

Returning to the narrative, Susie was delighted to see me and seemed surprised and pleased to see her mother’s face on FaceTime via my iPhone. Susie was slightly confused today, likely caused by poor sleep. But it was an excellent time together, and I decided to run a bit over and rush back to the shoe company. I had twenty minutes to get back, the amount of time it took to drive back when I left Susie with a kiss. Jennifer was ready to get Susie in her recliner in the shared living room.

I returned to work just in time to meet the master data engineering team and join them for Jatin’s birthday lunch. We headed to Thailand for, obviously, Thai food. I had a lunch version of the Mussaman curry, beef, with rice. Service was just one gal and so it took a while for us to get our food. But we enjoy each other’s company and so it was a nice time.

At lunch, I talked to one of my colleagues about how he always feels like he has one leg in India and one in the USA. He is, as many Indians are, conflicted and has aging parents in a distant land. We talk about my experience with Susie and I can see the worry–he is flying back to India on Friday–and he wonders what the future holds for him. Hard choices come as you suddenly discover you are the responsible older adult in the room! When did that happen?!

I continued to work on crises of the moment and help where I can. Brad, my boss, discovers I am responsible for the status of the next test session, a 7/24 adventure starting soon.

I leave at 5ish and head to see Rev.Dr. Wayne Weld-martin at Maryville (room 113B–find 113 and B is the next room). Wayne is recovering from various medical challenges and looked good and was happy to see me. He had called me at work and asked me to see him. My game with Zophia was canceled today (Dondrea has a cold) so instead visited Wayne as that just worked today. We talked for a while and Wayne showed me his books to read. I left after Wayne’s dinner arrived.

Air Volvo returned me home without incident, and I made baked potato wedges and clam strips (we used to call clam strips, “The Show”) for dinner and had them with tarter sauce and watched more of the Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power. I really like the dwarf and elf relationship bits.

After that, it was already past 8 and I got to writing.

My 2600 showed up, but the story I wrote was not published. Hackers! Should be in the next one. Or the one after that. Growl.

Thank you for reading. Sorry if it is a short story today.

Yesterday I thought it was the last day of January, but that is today. Finally, I was feeling much better after getting some sleep last night. I woke on Tuesday morning at 6 and decided to sleep until 6:30, which seemed only a few seconds later. I got started, skipping stretches and exercises as my back was painful. I made toast with peanut butter and the rest of the canned peaches from yesterday, dumping most of the syrup. The peaches are canned in their own juice, not sugar syrup. I made coffee in the French Press, liberal coffee.

I soon read all the emails (work and my own), messages on Slack channels, and text and read the news on BBC and CNN and a bit of the New York Times. Together I get a clear picture (the BBC has better reporting on Ukraine and often has interesting USA news that CNN and NYT lose in all the important stories). Next, I rush to the shower and dressed, collect the Nike laptop and charger, and took Air Volvo to work.

The drive-in was busy with folks driving slowly on perfectly dry roads without rain. The puddles were frozen by the cold night and freezing wind from the high desert east of here. I was cold and had some trouble getting warm at work.

Work was a continuation of yesterday’s issues and chaos, or in other words, the usual. The feel is not the on-coming of layoffs but the usual chaos of software development and pushing technology to the limits–again, my typical day. More old friends have been announced joining the project, and some of the problems we solved before need to be solved again. I was feeling better today about work.

I was rushed all morning but managed to slip out after 11 to see Susie and find lunch. I called my mother, Barb Wild, and she was unhappy as she woke and the ceiling in her bedroom had a problem, maybe a water leak. I asked her to call my sister. I talked to Rev. Anne Weld-martin while at work and called her back after ringing off with Mrs. Wild, Sr. Pastor Anne had a problem with her computer, and I will visit her tonight after 8 to help with it. Unfortunately, her printer is not working right, and I could not solve it over the phone.

Mom, Barb Wild, I learned had a dream about the issues with her house. It was not real. I am glad everything is fine.

Susie was just finishing a late breakfast when I arrived. She was delighted to see me, and we retired to the social activity room; she was still in her wheelchair. We then called Leta, Susie’s mother, and they chatted for a while on my iPhone. We talked for an extended time, but soon it was noon, and I had to leave. I had a meeting at 1PM and needed to find lunch. So I kissed Susie goodbye, left her in Jennifer’s hands, the live-in nurse aide, and got aboard Air Volvo.

I tried a new sandwich place, and no name is given here, as the service was good, but the food was microwaved cheaper sandwiches, not toasted. Terrible. The meat in my NYC-styled sandwich was cheap and reminded me of a substandard sandwich I had at Arby’s. A total miss.

I rushed back to the office, noticing I was wrong, as I saw some flashing lights and Beaverton Police was out in the cold. I had not seen them for months on Highway 26. I returned to work and had a few meetings and more crises of the moment. I drove home at 4:40ish after my last meeting.

My 5PM meeting was gone from my calendar. Yeah!

I started on dinner. Gnocchi in North African style sauce with green beans and artichoke hearts. I boiled some water while heating excellent sauce from a jar that is a lemon and olive-flavored red sauce, not Italian-style. I cooked frozen beans, Schwann’s, in the microwave. I opened a can of artichoke hearts, used half, and froze the rest for later. I added that and olives to the sauce heating on the stove. I then combined the drained and cooked gnocchi, green beans, and sauce. It was wonderful and had no meat.

I had leftovers that I packed in the glassware that Glenda and Gene sent me.

I watched some more Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power series and enjoyed another episode. I am still liking it a second time. It does not drag so much the second time–interesting.

Well, I have to get this done so I can head out and help Rev. Anne at 8. I had a few Girl Scout cookies for dessert.

Thanks for reading!

On this last day of January (actually, there is one more day–oops), I updated the 401K balance; I did it manually in my Quicken software to reflect all my near liquid and liquid assets at month’s end. I only update the house and car value once or twice a year. My 401K has a -19% return over 12 months, but (and they just started supplying this number, I think to stop people from panicking) the three-year return is over 10%. Last year I spent more than $70,000 on medical items (excluding over-the-counter items such as gloves), and I expect to pay close to $100,000 this year. Thus, every expense is tracked, and asset evaluations are reviewed.

I woke tired and dizzy, breathing troubled by some irritant in the air. It was a hard morning to rise from; I managed to not stumble, but I decided not to risk an asthma attack during my stretches and exercises. I kept my inhaler near me all day. I used it every couple of hours. I rested a few times during work, and that helped. I also decided to stay inside, except to visit Susie. I called a friend with asthma, and she was also having issues.

Ignoring the challenges, I also could not sleep anymore and got started at 6AM and made a breakfast of instant oatmeal (low sugar), adding some goodies to make it good (no, not sugar, but walnuts and dried cranberries). I opened a can of peaches in their own syrup and had that, too, just 1/2 the can without much of the syrup. I took my pills; I had messed up taking them on Sunday, which also can explain all the health challenges.

Work was a blur of meetings and discussions about issues. I was unhappy as folks were not talking to me and others about the issues. As a result, I was grumpy and made more frustrated throughout the day. This continued until 6:PM, with one meeting running over by forty-five minutes. No details here, but I was unhappy.

Bouncing around, I managed to dress in the early part of the morning before my first meeting. I then slipped out to see Susie before noon. Monday traffic was light, and there was no police out in the cold–apparently, Beaveton’s Finest only come out on warm sunny days. It is a bright and clear day with frost from the frosty early morning still clinging to roofs, shaded plants, and structures.

Susie was exhausted, with dark circles showing under her eyes. She fell asleep while her mother was talking on the phone. As usual, I called Leta, her mother, and connected with Leta at lunch. She was enjoying Panera’s lunch. Susie and Leta called about skating–there is more next weekend. I sat with Susie for some extra time as she fell asleep again. After she slept holding my hand, I finally got a kiss, said goodbye and headed home.

Lunch was the last of the hotdogs and sour kraut. Excellent. It was too cold to use the grill, so the dogs were microwaved. Even cooked that way, the Olympic Provision hotdogs were good. I started dinner at 3ish, checking on work, and chopped up sausage, ham, and kielbasa to heat in a heavy pan. Once the meats browned and tasty brown stuff was forming on the bottom of the pan, I then added a can of diced and seasoned fire-grilled tomatoes and stirred until the pan was cleaned. Next, I added boiling hot water, 1 1/2 cups, and the jambalaya mix from a box. I got that quickly to a boil and then let it simmer.

I had dinner before the long meeting! It was excellent. It is more traditional with shrimp, but with Susie’s allergies, I never cook with seafood. It is just a habit, and while I have made it with shrimp, I like the all-meat version too. I had hot tea with this, and that worked for a while to keep me going.

I watched the first episode of The Lord of the Rings series again, The Rings of Power, and liked it. However, I was falling asleep at the end, not from the show, but from the food, warm tea, and all the stress lifting. Not to mention I can only count a total of 12 hours of sleep for three days.

Thanks for reading. Sorry if I am complaining, and hope that Tuesday will be better.

I started the morning with my alarm going off right after setting it. At least, that is how it felt this morning. I did not get started at 6:30 but managed to start at 7:15 and rushed through the morning. Finally, I was making coffee, liberal as always, with an NYC bagel and the last banana in the house. The bagel is one of the last ones from Christmas and was good, an everything bagel from Zabar’s, with cream cheese.

A friend called at 8:30. She could not sleep well as her asthma and headaches kept her from sleeping–I have been there. I recall having the same issues she recalled last week; we had some lousy air days (an inversion), and one day, I could barely talk as there was something irritant air near Highway 217. She knew I was up early on Sundays, and I suspect she had not slept last night, and it was good to talk for a while.

This made me later than I had expected. I managed to publish the blog but was hopelessly late for church.

I have learned that I must give them up. I cannot superman my way through things; I have to let something go. So I went swiftly, and the blog was published with a few forgivable typos (I fixed a few later) instead of being read through the usual two times. I loaded the Apple computer, the necessary cables, and the Bluetooth sound box into Air Volvo. Then, I calmly drove to the hummingbird house. I called and told them to leave Susie in her chair as we should watch church there when Air Volvo arrives, which will be after 10:30. Again, I know that I had to give it up today or risk everything in a mad dash.

The weather was cold, above freezing now, with a 30+ mph (48 kph) wind. The fence gate was blowing in the wing open and slamming into the house. A few items also blew off the deck. I used some cardboard to paint the ship models, which were blown into the roses. I carefully removed it and shut and locked the gate. I suspect the slamming of the gate interrupted my sleep all night. The sky was blue, and there was no rain. The wind was drying everything, and the ground was still frozen from the freeze last night.

I arrived without issues and in almost no traffic to the hummingbird house in Tigard. Michelle Nixon was at the home, and Anassa, the nursing aide for today, was there for her long shift. Anassa got Susie set up in a recliner in the social activity room as I got the screen and Apple connected to watch the church service. Unfortunately, we missed the first fifteen minutes (two hymns).

Pastor Ken was preaching his best, I think, sermon. He managed to move from his comfort in history and bible stories to a focused religious message. He pointed out a few things that surprised me. First, while reading the scripture in Matthew about the yoke of the Lord to be light, he said Jesus never said that life would be easy. Pastor Ken says that Jesus is clear that it is his teaching and faith in Him are easy, but he does not guarantee an easy life. Pastor Ken goes even further to point out the falseness of the American Christian Prosperity Gospel, suggesting that if you are a good Christian, your life will go well. God never said it would be easy; actually, He says, “pick up your cross.”

Pastor Ken then surprised me with the observation that John the Baptist, while calling for repentance and representing the best in mankind, was not really approachable. Jesus instead ate with sinners and drank with them (Pastor Ken pointed out He supplied the wine once), and the children felt safe with Jesus. John’s focus was the past and not easy to approach, but Jesus was loving and friendly. Pastor Ken asked why Jesus did not become more like John and then answered his own question, as pastors often do in a sermon, by pointing out that John, had he been at the Last Supper, could not even drink from the shared cup.

With the sermon over, and Susie resting through most of it, we watched some Rock and Roll videos (including TimeWarp) to just enjoy some music. Next, we called Leta, Susie’s mother, and they chatted. While they talked, I went in and installed Peacock on the cable for Susie ($4.99 a month) and found ice skating for Susie. Susie and her mother were thrilled, and Susie was soon ignoring me and staying awake in her rocking chair. She followed everything on Nationals. Susie used to attend Nationals and even do some trial judging at Nationals.

I left for lunch while Susie was laser focused.

I met Mariah again at Golden Valley Brewery neat 2PM for a late lunch. I had Diet Coke as I returned to Susie’s (no alcohol when caring for Susie) and had some appetizers for lunch, onion rings with wings and a side salad. Mariah had a few beers and a Cobb Salad. We talked about a few things, including some writing that we have been missing. Mariah has a new idea for a story–I liked it.

I returned to Susie in the late afternoon to find her resting in her bed. She had forgone lunch until the skating had finished and even discussed the results with Anassa, who saw Susie excited and closely followed along–A glimpse of Susie before the stoke. Anassa was able to sit with Susie through some of the skatings and even found Susie talkative–something new for Anassa. Again, Susie and her love of skating and judging can break through the stroke damage and exhaustion. I stayed with Susie for about an hour just to keep her company.

In the dark sitting in the rocking chair with my laptop, I started editing one of my old Howard stories in Grammarly, which is much better now, and it found some more issues (more than 200) as I wanted to send it out again. I corrected the mandatory issue and also ignored a few–it is better but a bit more invasive, too–you have to reread after it is done. I started to get sleepy and thought it wrong to fall out of the chair, so I said my goodbyes with a kiss from Susie and took Air Volvo home, arriving near 5PM.

After watching more Vox Machina, I made two hot dogs for dinner after 6PM. I liked it more. I put sour kraut and mustard on the Olympic Provision weiners. I then started to get sleepy and rested for a bit, primarily reading. I got going again at 7:15 to write the blog (this). I plan to do some more coding when I get the blog (this) published.

I sent out Howard’s Lockdown story to the gaming group as it is not meeting tonight. Maybe they can find some fun in the story. I also sent them my SciFi story, soon to be published.

Thanks for reading!