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I managed some sleep, so the day started at 7ish, and I first felt I had beat the coughing and wheezing. Next, I finished the text of the revisions of my Dungeons and Dragons adventure, 24 pages and 15,000 words in its shortened form. I was planning to play this Sunday, so I had to finish up the changes and some model building. I started on the blog next, and slowly while I was writing, I began to wheeze and cough. Well, puke! While fading at first, the cough and wheezing were still going strong.

I wrote an email canceling the Sunday game, so I would not give the cold to anyone else as I was still coughing and sneezing. The coughing got worse as I showered and cleaned up. I took more cold/flu meds and knew now I would be sleepy all day–the meds make me tired and makes my thinking sloppy.

I headed to Susie’s place and arrived near 11. Evan showed up a little later. Susie and I decided we could do the park as it was sunny without wind (which seldom happens in November in Oregon). It was frosty still, and we had the park primarily to ourselves. Only a few dog walkers were out in the cold. The path of the sun could be seen on the ground as anywhere the sun had not been was still covered with a light frost.

Susie was bundled in her heavy leather coat, hat, scarf, and mittens. We passed through the tennis courts as the only paving into the park was a handicapped parking spot to the tennis courts. I opened the court’s door, with Susie’s wheelchair hitting me in the ankles as it rolled forward, and I kept on my feet (the PT is helping, I think). I will need to put the brakes on her wheelchair next time!

We skipped the benches (I was not interested in sitting on a frost-covered bench) and called Leta, Susie’s mother, from a sunny spot just off the paved track (we got off the path to let the dog walkers by). Folks still do social distancing in the park. We talk to folks from six feet. Everyone is happy to see each other, but we all have this now built-in six feet space requirement. Leta could not talk long as she was at a party with the new Methodist Bishop–a friend of hers. Yes, Leta was partying with the Bish!

We did the whole park and even took a short trip to the Magnolia tree, which was not flowering, but the bright red seeds were showing now. We were getting cold. So we returned to the hummingbird house. I took Susie into her room, got her coat off, and put it away. Anassa, the nursing aide on weekends, moved Susie to her bed and put her head up. We then found The Mask of Zoro to watch. We watched the movie, and my coughing got worst. Susie fell asleep for some of the films but was awake for all the good parts.

The sword fights and some of the jokes were good. The movie is dated with its treatment of women and race–but not terribly so, and it is still fun. So it might be a good choice if you find a dull moment over the holidays.

Susie was unhappy when we started to leave. “I need you,” were her words. After a while, she decided she would be alright, and I could go. With all my coughing, I have had to keep my distance and keep my visits short–Susie is getting lonely. I will (hopefully, this cough will fade) spend more time with her once I am on paid time off (PTO) next week.

Evan and I got lunch and played my new board game Ostia at The 649 taphouse in Aloha, Oregon. This is my newest Kickstarter-based game, and I have punched it, read the rules, and even played a bit using the solo system. This was my first time teaching it and playing it with two people.

Evan quickly picked up the easy rules, and we were soon generating resources and placing ships. The game theme is the Roman port of Ostia, and you run a trading business in ancient Rome. You have a board for running your port and a larger board to explore and establish trade routes across the ancient world. Every ancient city has benefits you can acquire by building a building from the city in your port. You get honor by exploring and other events that increase your potential scoring (the same system is used in the board game Scythe).

Instead of cards or available choices, you pick a section of your port, do an action there (usually gaining resources) and then redistribute the ships in your port, and the last place you place a ship is your regular action. This unique way to select actions can be quite a brain burner.

We completed the game and scored wrong, and I am not sure who won, but I gave it to Evan. He managed to complete two trade routes which increased his scoring. Next time I will read the scoring rules more!

I had the chicken rice bowl there, and Evan had the soup. We then shared a charcuterie board. I had a Spanish Coffee when I got there, which warmed me and stopped the cough for a bit. I had a few beers as I had no game on Saturday night.

As Evan and I were wrapping up, Mariah texted me about meeting up–but I was done for the night. So I demurred and headed home. I curled up with my now much worse cough and wheezing and read Violet Blue’s book, published through Kickstarter. The ebook is here for pre-order on Amazon.

That was about all I did. Then, I put away my serious reading for a while, The Song of the Cell, and got a brain cookie: The Poppy War. I have this on my Kindle and spent the evening sitting up in bed reading, ignoring the coughing. The book is fun.

I went to bed at about 10ish, after I fell asleep while reading and finally slept around midnight. I managed to wake at 6AM–a first night’s rest.

It is day 17 of Advent, and I thought Dean Martin would work for today: Baby, it’s Cold Outside.

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116

 

My cough is slowly improving and fading. I agreed with Richard to skip board games tonight in Portland to give me more rest and recovery. I took some advice and slept mostly sitting up, significantly improving my sleep and reducing my wheezing.

The day started with me working from home on Fridays, and at about 7:30AM, I had already made coffee and an NYC bagel with cream cheese for breakfast. After that, I enjoyed two hours of status meetings and planning meetings for the shoe company. I then replied by email and slack channel on various issues and got all my timesheets in for the rest of the year–I can easily estimate the two days left working in 2022.

I got the laundry washed but not put away yet. I did the dishes (to get them away from the pests-ants).

I was following along and trying to help where I could. The data conversions are ramping down, finally, for the holidays. So for us, the weekend has no more meetings. Excellent!

Next, I drove to Portland and to the colonoscopy clinic. Like last time, I had to talk to the folks as I was an exception being heavier than their usual easy patients. They are concerned that they could not incubate me if needed. I have been through this before. So I drove to Legacy and was weighed and measured. Apparently, my height which is 5’6″, was on the chart as 5’5″, which meant I was too heavy. Now with my correct heights, I was fine (put an eye-roll here). Also, as I had survived previously without issues at the same clinic, there was no reason for concern. As I expected, a waste of my time.

Instead of being annoyed, I parked next to Swagat’s India Food and set Parking Kitty (the excellent parking app we use in Portland) for two hours of parking (the app ‘meows’ at you when you need to pay more or move your car). I figured some spicy food was what my cold needed. So I enjoyed a fine mixed plate of items.

I then drove from Portland to Tigard to see Susie at the hummingbird house. Susie was asleep in her recliner when I got there. I woke her, and we called her mother to chat more about cookies. It is a big production for Leta, and Susie’s bounty is on-it-way in the USPS system.

I left after a short visit, with no contact still, and headed home. I followed along at work, and then after 4PM, I started to read Violet Blue’s new book. This is her story of becoming homeless in San Fransico and what happened to her. These were the times of the AIDS disaster and the demonization of gay people and homeless kids–I was in college during these years and remember it mainly through the lens of trying to find my way in Computer Science and Mathematics. It is hard to put down!

The ebook is here for pre-order on Amazon.

I decided to rest more and ordered dinner and a snack delivered. I ordered Pho and ate hot broth with meat and noodles. I could not finish it! I also had donuts delivered. The ants found them last night–ugh! But I did get two before the donuts were lost to the pests. I will call ant man to come for them when I am not running so hard.

I did set up my new game for solo play, Ostia. I was going to play, but I started to get tired–the side effect of the cold/flu meds. It looks lovely!

I went to bed early and just read Violet’s book. It plays in my mind like a movie, and I wish I could jump in and just give them ten bucks to have some decent food and a nice space blanket. The truth of poverty is hard to see playing on your mind!

I had a few coughing jags, but the inhaler and some hot ginger tea slowed that, and soon I fell asleep and did not wake until 6ish. The most sleep I have had in a night in about a week

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116

Good and bad news today. I am much better and was getting less good in the evening. I was hoping for this illness to pass from me today, but it is lingering. This is really disappointing to me–it is hard to deal with everything, the holidays, and now a lingering illness. I was hoping for a break. Instead, I trudge on.

The morning started with me being very tired when I woke at 6:15, sent out an email that I would work from home today, and then slept until 7:45AM. I managed to get going and make a toasted NYC bagel with cream cheese (thanks, Joyce) and some hard-boiled eggs I made yesterday. I made coffee using the French Press, liberal coffee as usual. The status meetings started for ninety minutes. I was tired and dizzy, but the wheezing and coughing had stopped. Yay!

I discovered last night that my inhaler was empty. Yup, using an empty one, and the results were as expected. Once I could breathe better, I fell deeply asleep at 1ish in the morning.

I followed along online at work and then showered and got dressed.

I canceled my lunch meeting on campus as walking across Nike WHQ, while a beautiful walk, might be overdoing it. Thus, I withdrew from a lovely lunch at Serena William’s building and cafe.

I had a Physical Therapy appointment in Bethany and reached that without issue in Air Volvo. I managed to park, call into a meeting, and then complete that meeting on my iPhone. I then drove the rest of the way. PT was just a chat as I did not feel up to doing anything, and I did not want the PT person near me–they can’t afford to get this cold. We agreed on some more exercises.

I stopped at a place for lunch, and my colon decided it wanted attention. I needed the men’s room, but the lack of toilet paper did not make me happy with my choice. I will not mention the name here. The food was OK, but overpriced for what it was. When I miss sleep, other things begin to act up.

Next, I headed to the hummingbird house to see Susie. When I arrived, Susie was asleep in her recliner in the shared living room. I woke her, and she was delighted to see me. We then called Leta, her mother, who was in the middle of making cookies for the holidays. Leta showed us her green fingers on FaceTime, and there was a hint of green on her teeth and tongue–she had sampled the Christmas wreath cookies (made with cereal, green dye, and something to glue them together–maybe melted marshmallow). Susie was happy to chat and talk cookies. Next, we talked to Barb, Susie’s sister, for a while. Barb was at a Holiday Party at work. Susie was happy to speak with her sister for a bit. Susie was sad when I had to leave so soon; back to work.

I returned home and followed along for a bit at work. I went to rest as I was getting exhausted now. No rest; the banshees were back–ugh! The new inhaler (full) helped, but not for long. I did put all the trash and recycling. I am trying to just do the needful today.

I put on the cable and watched more episodes of Stranger Things on Netflix. Not sure I like it.

I am also reading Violet Blue’s new book. I like it and her poetic style of telling a story. I wish I could write that well. The ebook is here for pre-order on Amazon.

So I took more cold/flu meds and tried to rest, write this blog, and resist coughing.

The Christmas party at Hummingbird House is at noon on Sunday–we will be there after church. It is open to visitors.

Advent day 15 song: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116

Today I tried to work from home, and for a while, the coughing and wheezing gave me a break, but at 3PM, it was screaming banshees in my chest, and no means to stop the noise. But I then took my inhaler and some cold/flu meds and was better. So this is primarily a game of managing symptoms until the nose running and wheezing halts.

I started at 6:15 and sent an email that I would work from home as I was still coughing, and nobody wants at work for me to gift this cold to them–definitely a white elephant. I attended the usual ninety minutes of status meetings. I tried not to ask questions in the Zoom meetings as I have been out for the last four days and am still trying to get back into things. No reason to waste everyone’s time on an obvious question.

I was tasked to review some items, read more technical specifications, provide feedback, and re-reviewed the documents when updated. I did this while the meetings were ongoing or between meetings.

I did my stretching exercises today, now that I was back to work, and while I did cough a few times, it did not set off exhaustion or a coughing jag. Better.

I was running on limited sleep, as I had trouble sleeping last night, and I could quickly nod off for boring stuff. So I spent the boring time reading tech specs and reading some news articles. I kept going the whole morning. Breakfast was an NYC bagel with cream cheese (thanks, Joyce, for sending the Zabar bagels) and some fruit from a can. Coffee, as always, is Equal Exchange brand liberal coffee (fair trade certified) to remind me in each cup that the world still needs work–liberal work. I have been drinking this on most days since President Trump was elected.

I slipped a shower in between meetings and then attended an architect and engineering meeting on how to fix a performance problem. As a result, we have approved a POC on a possible improvement.

Once that was done, I headed to the hummingbird house and arrived without issue. I am still coughing and wearing a mask. I keep my distance and minimize the things I touch. No reason to donate this terrible cough to others.

Susie was in bed on her side, resting. She was having tummy issues and was sleepy. So I made it a short visit (I was getting messages on those tech specs while there–no rest of the wicked). We called Susie’s mother, whom we connected with before she had to head to church. She is helping with the church holiday camp. Susie nodded off a few times, and soon I said my goodbyes.

Susie was not the only person with some issues. I was sleepy, too, and the coughing jags were back. I stopped by Carl Jr. and acquired their western burger (a guilty pleasure) for lunch, which was well made. Excellent.

I did some more items at work and then rested and had a terrible coughing attack, and my breathing issues worsened. So I took a nap, somehow sleeping in this mess for an hour. That helped, as did the inhaler, cold/flu meds, and constantly blowing my nose.

At one point, the messages, texts, and emails from work and friends were coming so fast that my iPhone sounded like R2-D2.

I was cold too. I had reprogrammed the heat to be low on days I work at the office. So I turned the heat back up to normal!

Work finished, and I reviewed the emails, texts, and Slack channels. After that, I made buckwheat pancakes (like we used to have thirty-plus years ago at the Sidewalk Sales Day in Laingsburg). I still remember all the biz men working under Mr. Hurst’s direction singing, “Hot Cakes!” I also got some cooked and frozen bacon and heated it to go with it. Maple Syrup, lightly poured on top, finishes the meal for me. It was sausages back then, but I have bacon.

The coughing continues, my nose is producing an outflow that one wonders how there can be that much stuff up there, and my chest and stomach muscle hurt now when I cough.

This takes me to the other event for today; the Colonoscopy police called me. These folks ensure you are ready for the dreaded deed on 22Dec2022 at 6:35AM–I am the first one. I got my updated directions today, arranged a taxi ride to Portland, and then an additional check on Friday is needed. I will have to slip out to Portland at noon on Friday for a breathing check. I was frustrated that we would be repeating this again and again at the last minute. So I start the fun, assuming I pass the test on Friday, on Wednesday. I will arrange a return trip at 8:15AM to the Volvo Cave. It is forbidden in Oregon to drive on a day when you are knocked out by an anesthetic. So taxis for me.

I received a new set of special gaming poker chips I bought myself for Christmas. These are used in various games, and I needed some good ones. Iron Clays 200 set was delivered, and my 100 set, which I already own, and, when combined, covers any needs.

Another Kickstarter was delivered today. My friend Violet Blue has published her book and delivered it today. I received the ePub file today and other eContent for her. I have sent it to my Kindle to read soon. The book is not her usual erotica (yes, that word) or technology book (yes, she goes both ways), but about her life growing up in San Fransico drug culture and then being homeless. It is authentic, and that is what I like about Violet. I will provide a link to her autobiographical work on Amazon when ready.

Update: The ebook is here for pre-order on Amazon. Please consider it. A printed version will appear soon.

Well, I am tired. It hurts to cough. It is not worse, just not slowing much.

For day 14 of Advent, I picked Happy Christmas (The War is Over).

Thanks for reading.

Feel free to call or send cards. Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care

Adult Foster Care Home

9925 SW 82nd. Ave.

Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: (503) 246-4116

Going backward, I am writing the blog after another day of paid time off (PTO) from a nasty head cold. The coughing is from the drainage and causes wheezing when I am tired. All of this is starting to fade. I had my usual colon issues from lack of sleep, but as that matches Covid-19 symptoms, I ran a test that was negative–no Covid.

I finished reading the rules for my new Kickstarter board game, Ostia. This is resource management with a race to reach the end-of-game with the best combination of placement and filling orders game. It is a Japanese-based build, and the game comes in English, primarily well-translated, and when finding not-so-good English, the meaning is obvious. There is a Japanese version of all the rules, of course. Like all Kickstarters, this game is lovely, and the pieces are upgraded. No regrets.

The game uses a strange mechanism to determine your next action instead of cards like Concordia or The Lost Ruins of Arnak, and I do not know if I will like it. You have a port that is also an action wheel. Each ship on the section you choose gives you one of the resources (except for the admin action), and then you redistribute the ship markers round-robin, and the last ship marker location determines your action. Oh my, that is a brain-burner. “To do a move action, I will pick the gold segment, as it has three ships which will then get me to the move action as it is three away and I get gold too,” is an example of the inner thinking this requires. “But I need permits to move, and so I will have to take the permit segment and then use the two ships to get to the order action instead and fill an ‘order’ as I have all the grain leftover from the last turn,” is more example of deeper thinking. Yes, really complex game cycle.

I am looking forward to trying Ostia.

I punched it, upgraded it with the wooden parts, and included, to some degree, the add-ons. One add-on does not add many rules, and the upgrade kit already incorporated it–so I left it in. I also received card sleeves and used them; the included organized fit the larger cards with sleeves–definitely a premium Kickstarter product. Again, looking forward to trying it out.

Next, Mariah sent me a note at 4ish that she could do dinner in Beaverton. I concurred that I could use dinner out, and we settled on Golden Valley Brewery (GVB). It was Happy Hour when I arrived, so I had a cheap, locally-made beer. Mariah had a cocktail (off the Happy Hour menu) and a beer product. We both had the meatloaf.

This was my celebration dinner for my story being published (for no money) in 2600 Magazine. My fiction, “Turing’s Battle,” was accepted. Mariah was familiar with Alan Turing, and we talked about how I met one of the code breakers that worked with him on Enigma. My story is about the Turing Test, where a reverse of the test is used to extract intelligence from gamers to create an Artificial Intelligence based assistant to help with real modern naval battles. I originally submitted the story to the Naval Institute, was turned down, and sent it to 2600, which accepted it.

Before this, I visited Susie, careful not to touch her or anything except the minimal things in the hummingbird house. Jennifer followed by cleaning everything I touched later. I was happy to have everyone be careful. There is no reason to share the head cold.

Susie was delighted to see me. I brought the Baby Jesus in the Grotto carved olive wood nativity. I think we bought this in 1994 in Israel near Bethlehem on our first-ever international trip. Susie was happy to have it in her room for the holidays.

We called Susie’s mother, and Susie and Leta could see each other; we used FaceTime on my iPhone. As I was ill for days, this was the first time they could see each other in days. Leta was in the middle of cookie production. She wants to send some to Susie, and I am sure others will receive dividends from the output.

Next, we called Rev. Anne Weld-Martin, and Susie was happy to talk to Anne for a bit. Anne was pleased to hear that I was improving.

Lastly, we reached Dr. Peter Koper, who was happy to catch up with us. We will be seeing a Christmas letter soon with all the family details. Dr. Koper was glad we reached him. He even demonstrated his new technical savvy by using Alexa. We had an excellent talk.

We opened on day 13, the next Advent door. We passed on the candy as I could not safely break off a small piece.

Without a kiss or any close contact, I headed out.

The morning was a sleep-in morning. The first one in days. I was not going until 9:45. I was up at 2-3AM coughing and wheezing and put in another day of PTO. I collapsed with cold/flu meds and slept another seven hours, finally getting a night of good sleep. I am feeling much better now.

Lunch was reheated pizza, and breakfast was a real bagel (thanks, Joyce!) from NYC. I added yogurt and liberal coffee (i.e., Fair Trade certified product branded as Equal Exchange and shipped from Portland).

As I said, I was up a few times but finally just slept through. I have some ginger tea left from the Chemo support package sent by friends, and that helped my throat at 2ish, and I was able to finally sleep with that and cold/flu meds. So I would recommend the tea for colds.

Mariah has suggested Stranger Things as my next binge-watching.

Here is The Twelve Days of Christmas song from our Canadian Friends for the 13th Day of Advent (12 days left).

Thanks for reading.