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Today I heard on the radio the voice of a man, 101 years old, that was a sailor on the USS Arizona when the battleship was destroyed on 7Dec1941. Americans always pause on this day to remember the day; even though most of us were not born yet when the attack happened, it is something carved into the collective memory of most Americans. I always notice the day and hear some new memory of the battle most years.

The day started with pain. I had overdone the stretching or the exercising, and there was back pain. I decided to take a break today. I had slept poorly as I had vivid dreams of staying at a hotel for some reason. The hotel got dirtier and more bug infested with each loop of the dream. At the end of the dream, the hotel manager was a vampire, and I was trying to leave before he “got me.” I was not relaxed when I woke.

It was a work-from-the-office day, so I was rushed to get ready. I noticed the pain and decided to stop today on excises and stretch and see if I felt better. The pain is gone now. I think it was a good choice. I finished the cereal box while making breakfast with some liberal coffee I made in the French Press.

I got through the emails, texts, and Slack messages for work and my personal accounts. Next, I showered and dressed. I was out the door a bit early. I was at the shoe company with plenty of time to start the reviews and status meetings. I spent the meeting reviewing some items, revising a PowerPoint, and handling a few crises of the moment.

I headed out at 11ish to see Susie at the hummingbird house. Air Volvo got me there with no issues in light traffic. Susie was in her bed; they were having trouble with the screen in the shared living room, so Susie was lying down and watching Miracle on 32nd Street on her TV in her room.

Susie was sleepy. We called her mother, Leta, and chatted for a while on my iPhone. Susie nodded off but managed to wake up, and we had a pleasant chat on FaceTime. We also remembered the Advent Calendar, and Susie had a tiny piece of caramel from one of the doors we opened. We are caught up now and have some chocolates to try. I forgot the fruit cake slices I got her–the fruit cake I ordered on her request has arrived, and I cut a few slices for her. We will have to be careful when she gets a tiny piece. Susie was soon falling asleep. I left with a kiss.

Next, I stopped by the bank to get pictures of presidents and postmasters as gifts for folks. I will try to send these out soon.

I got lunch, thinking of Susie, at Red Robins, where Susie used to get lunch all the time when she took the bus. They are still trying to get back to normal but were short-staffed today, and I was ignored for ten minutes. When Jen, my waiter, spotted me, I ordered a cobb salad and some fries, which arrived promptly. It was nice to sit down for lunch and visit again with a bartender, Jen (she had tables and the bar). I thanked the folks at Red Robin when I was leaving and was introduced to the General Manager. I told them how happy I was to get a chance to eat there again.

I miss having a beer and lunch at Red Robins with Susie and the bartenders. Susie would get bourbon and ginger ale.

I returned to work after that and worked the afternoon, skipping the Christmas Party as my master data folks were covering for test builds; I stayed with them to help. I took the 4:35 status and get-to-green Zoom meeting (we are trying to catch up after being behind by about three days–depending on how you count it).

Once the status meeting was done, I headed to Old Town Beaverton. It is Wednesday, so I meeting Zophia, Dondrea’s daughter, at the church to play games while the band and choir practice. Traffic was horrid, and I was stuck on Walker Road for twenty minutes for a usual five-minute traversal. I reached the church at about 6.

Zophia was brave and decided to give Brass: Lancashire a go. This is a cut-throat resource management and worker placement board game with minimal space, meaning the players will be in conflict. The board game is in its second printing through a Kickstarter project. Thus the artwork is excellent, the components good, and the rules and play debugged. This is the more brutal version of Brass, and I like it better.

Zophia’s head nearly exploded when I reviewed how the game was played. There is a lot to get straight. The turns flow logically, and Zophia knew it was hard and a learning game. So we just played through it, and soon she ran her turn without my help. Zophia also saw how the game can be mean (your turn may remove options from another player and foil their plans). She nearly tied me for the first epic and crushed me (I was not paying enough attention) at the finish. Yes, I was crushed by an 11-year-old playing Brass!

Brass is not something I recommend to casual or new board gamers. It is harsh and punishes mistakes (like not taking out that last loan before loan giving stops), and you often take a turn back as you see you are missing some resources after you start changing things on the board–this can be frustrating. But, it is an elegant game, and you feel the theme of building an empire in the Industrial Revolution in the UK. “I just need another coal mine to build those trains,” you often think. It is a favorite, #20 of all games at BoardGameGeek (its lighter version, Brass: Birmingham, is #2 for all games). I love playing it.

After that, I went home and had a bagel-like product. This is because I have to have some food with my meds. I then wrote the blog.

Today, we had moderate air quality, but I felt it all day, and my breathing was laborious a few times. Another reason to pass on exercise.

Today’s Advent song is Hark the Angels Sing, a new take.

Going backward, I just started on the blog after resubmitting a more detailed invoice from Allegiance Senior Care, also called by me the hummingbird house, to see if the reimbursement of medical expenses will accept the more detailed invoice. I am getting ready for next year and want to use my reimbursement account next year, on the advice of the CPA I used last year, to cover the first part of Susie’s expenses. I am trying to write off in my taxes part of the expenses and therefore need IRS-level detailed invoices. I will work with the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center to get the same documentation.

Before this, I made dinner, chicken Cordon Blu from Schwann’s, green beans from Schwann’s, and some noodles. I wilted the beans in a pan with butter, almond slices, and garlic salt. I wilt the beans as they a frozen and need a little more kick to make them good. The noodles, which I have tried before, were a failure. Just not a good product.

I watched the last episode of Wednesday on Netflix while eating, and it did not hold back. The character Wednesday is so cold that she is sometimes hard to like, but she never breaks character–so it works–and she would not care what you thought. I was happy with the series and sorry to see the last episode. Recommended!

Before cooking, I walked in the cold dark street and back as part of my exercises. It was just too cold to go any further. I will ride the bike later tonight and do my stretching. The pain is mostly in my back, with only a little in my right leg. I was told that when the pain centralizes is a good thing.

Before this, I left Nike at about 4PM and took Air Volvo home. I had no issues, but the traffic was heavy, and I took an alternative way home to avoid the long lines to turn onto 185th. I plugged in the lights when I got home. Chris, my next-door neighbor, put up the lights for me. Large icicles of various colors that look like the colors drip down the icicles hanging below the gutters. It is pretty festive.

I was at work before this, working on two issues and helping with a few crises. I was busy, as usually happens in December, rushing until the break. We are running two tests over each other using all the same people. It is going a bit rough.

I can’t go into detail here, but I was busy writing up recommendations and decisions on software design today.

I managed to visit Susie between meetings and crises of the moment. I drove over to the hummingbird house without issue in surprisingly light traffic without problems or witnessing any extra-legal driving. Susie was just finishing her breakfast, and we headed to the social room–it was cooler and damp than yesterday, so we decided not to visit the park today. Leta, Susan’s mother, was in a minor crisis as she lost one of her hearing aid and could not chat for long. Leta did recover it later after retracing her day. As we could not speak with Leta for long, we called Susan’s sister, Barb, and we chatted with her for a while. Susie was delighted to talk to her sister. We talked for a while until Barb, still at work, needed to ring off.

I failed to take a picture today or catch up on the Advent Calendar. I will try to remember on Wednesday. I stopped by Carl’s Jr and had a Western burger, a guilty pleasure.

My day, moving further back, started at 6:15, with me rushing my morning. I had the usual dream that I was back in college and trying to find the classes in a dream-logic mix of Nike WHQ and a poorly remembered Central Michigan University campus. I was wound up this morning. I managed coffee, liberal and French Press, and cereal for breakfast. I was at work before 8 to make all my meetings in the office.

Thank you for reading.

For Advent, day six, I picked the number one disliked Christmas song for a likely inaccurate poll: Santa Baby. I like it.

I remember hearing a comedian saying one year that they felt like they were wing stalked by the song Sleigh Ride. “Every time I stop, I hear it,” was the joke. When I hear it, I smile now, thinking about being stalked by it.

 

 

 

Monday was a later start at 7ish, and me trying to find my way in the morning. I was a bit confused at first as I had a ‘Walk Thru Nike’ meeting at 7:30, but that was a review of software design with our friends in India working on a complex interface. But for a moment, I thought I was supposed to be on a tour of the world headquarters campus (it is stellar), but no, this meeting was a strangely worded review meeting invitation. Nevertheless, I managed to get coffee and breakfast ready before the meeting.

I also read the Technical Design (TD) document before the meeting. It was a mad rush. Many points were raised, and, as usual, that birthed another early morning meeting on Tuesday. I did review the TD in the afternoon and supplied some off-line feedback as the folks are from India, and the scheduling is tricky.

The regular status meetings happened, and I did my stretching exercises and then spent five minutes on the stationary bike with the Nike laptop next to me, listening to the meetings. All these help unlock the muscles in my back and other places.

I had to stop attending the usual Monday morning status meetings, clean up, and dress, and instead, attend Physical Therapy in Bethany. I took Air Volvo and was just a few minutes early. Colin was my therapist today, and he went over my experiences so far and can register some improvements–I am less frozen when I walk.

He was doing some stretching which involved a belt across my legs. I said deadpan, “I usually pay extra for this,” which did get a laugh. Colin then misspoke and said the next part would be painful instead of his usual painless. I told him he was getting into the Addam Family PT theme (he is also watching the new show Wednesday on Netflix). Next, we discussed staying in Addams family theme, that Uncle Fester was getting the bone saw to help me be more flexible. Better to release the locked muscles. Colin suggested that Uncle Fester was “rusting” the saw, which was why he was delayed in my therapy.

I have new exercises and had quite a workout. I headed home as it was still morning when I finished after 10AM. I was back to work, trying to reschedule some items and working on a few crises.

Next, I put aside the Nike laptop for a few minutes, took Air Volvo to the local strip mall, and got a chicken bowl and a side of shrimp. I ate that while watching a YouTube video on one of my favorite channels, The Battleship New Jersey. They had a video of the one known hull leak they had with the museum ship. It was in a steam condenser, usually made of non-ferrous metal (this one was steel, surprisingly), and the dissimilar metals were causing corrosion. One of the issues old warship wrecks have is people cutting them open illegally and stealing the condensers. I have read about that for the wrecks from WW1 Jutland. So it was interesting to see one, even a WW2-styled one.

Next, I headed to see Susie and forgot to do the Advent Calendar when I got there. Susie was finishing her lunch when I got there. She was finished, actually pushing her wheelchair out. We then got Susie’s coat and headed outside to the park. I wanted to get Susie out of the hummingbird house, and I had no meetings left, so I could spend extra time doing the park.

The park is well cared for but still looks sleepy as it changes to winter and the rains. One of the cedars is brown, and I think it is a Bald Cyprus and suppose to lose its needles (leaves). There were a few dogs, as dogs are welcome (on a leash).

We found a place with some sun and called Susie’s mother, Leta. Leta and Susie chatted for a while, with me adding a few comments here and there. Today, as Susie was all bundled up, I held the phone for Susie. I had to put on my gloves as it was 47F (8C), but there was no wind, and the sun was out–so a good day to be outside in Oregon. Soon Susie was cold, and we rang off. I got Susie back, stopping at the car as Susie recognized Air Volvo, and then got a kiss goodbye.

Aside: Ensure is now being delivered by the pharmacy. I will not have to buy it and deliver it. Also, it is now part of the pharmacy bill, and the doctor’s order to use it makes it likely that I could write off the expense next year.

I returned to the Volvo Cave without issue. I was feeling exhausted from all the workouts and travel. I got home, checked in on the Nike laptop, and crashed for an hour. After that, I was back up, checked in, and then made dinner.

I reheated the tacos and taco meat left from a few days ago. I cut up lettuce and added olives, cheese, and sour cream to the leftover to make a killer taco salad. I watched episode 5 of Wednesday on Netflix, and this one disappointed me, but I am hoping this was just building more storyline. I still love the show. Recommended.

After that, I rested again and was out at 6PM to the Wildwood Taphouse to write the blog and maybe work on my Dungeons and Dragon Adventure. I need to adjust to let it end at the next gaming session. Next year we will be changing to Spell Jammer, so just one more session for my stuff. Cutting it to a short one or two sessions adventure is fun. Seldom have I written a short adventure–a challenge.

Thanks for reading.

Today’s Advent song is The Carol of the Bells. This version is as if this song was played in a war zone, a very dark version: Carol of the Bells. I think of the folks in Ukraine who are living this.

I am back home from playing Dungeons and Dragons and DM-ing an entire session for the first time in years, running an adventure I wrote. I even painted some of the figures, some custom revisions to fit the adventure. I plan to play it more than once and may publish it someday.

I could set up my iPad for one player, Mackers, who could not come as he was exposed to Covid-19 but could still play with us using the iPad now. He could join in a Zoom meeting, and the iPad camera gave him a good view. I had my Mac with the adventure in MS Word and also running Zoom, so Mackers could see me while I DM’d. It worked well (we used a box with a rubber band to hold the iPad. It worked well.

Karyn joined us, she was out for health issues, and this was her first time with people, not her family. So it was good to see her join us again.

The adventure went well, with me scaring the players a few times. I did knock two characters unconscious. Some of my other encounters did not last long, as the adventures with their hired help could put out a lot of damage. I had given them a choice to hire some non-player characters (NPC) to help them. I also missed some saving throws for the creatures, which cost me–just bad rolls. I will make a few changes to toughing up a few things, but I am pleased with it. Matt and the players liked my mix of puzzles with combat and unique creatures. This is old-school Dungeons and Dragons, and I was happy to bring back some good ideas.

We play at Cory’s house, and I have one more DM session before Matt takes over for another long-running campaign. After that, I will add a few more encounters to the tomb I have built and make it a stand-alone adventure. A two-session adventure is something I have seldom done, but I think a reduced scope fits with my current complex life. And that would be easier to publish.

When I got home tonight, I watched another Episode of Wednesday on Netflix and still love the show. I rode the exercise bike while enjoying the show.

Going backward, I spent the afternoon painting figures and building some unique ones. It was nice to return to old hobbies, and I quickly turned out some decent-looking figures for tonight. I also found my iPad and sent out a Zoom link for the game after learning that Mackers was exposed to Covid-10.

I finished a lunch of fried chicken from Popeyes after talking to my neighbor Chris. As a favor and to help me, Chris agreed to put up some lights for me. So he did that while I was out, and when I returned, the house was all lighted up. It looks great.

I also met Joan at the post-church Zoom meeting to discuss the sermon and share our thoughts. Only Joan was in the meeting when I connected twenty minutes late, but we had a friendly chat.

Before this, I was with Susie at the Humminbird house. Susie was not feeling well today after eating breakfast. She decided to skip church and take it slow. But, as she was already in her coat and bundled up, I got her to agree to go out and see the snow. It was snowing big white flakes, and I wanted her to get some time out of the hummingbird house. We were outside for fifteen minutes.

Susie was tired and uncomfortable. Anassa got Susie comfy in her bed, and I rented one of her favorite movies, Love Actually. Susie stayed awake for most of the movie, singing along a bit here and there. I stayed with Susie until the movie was over, and Susie looked like she needed a nap. We did call her mother, Leta, to chat for a while.

I called later, and Susie was still tired but had gotten up for a while. So we are all watchful and hope she will be better on Monday.

Before all of this, I was up at 7AM, having slept strangely, and gave up sleeping later. However, I did start on some figures in the morning. I had cereal for breakfast with liberal coffee made from my French Press. I watched the snow start and get heavier as the morning went on.

Well, that is all for a snowy Sunday. Thanks for reading.

Advent’s fourth-day song is from Love Actually: All I Want for Christmas is You. And here is another version of the same song, which is my fav: Carpool Version.

Today, like most days, I have too many things to do. The addition of stretching and exercises, while not a lot of time, requires focus. So I felt a bit rushed and pressured yesterday, and I am pressed for time this Sunday morning while writing the story for Saturday.

Today I will write by events and then explore before and after.

The first event was writing my Dungeons and Dragons Adventure. I finally finished most of the editing of the entry text and started on the encounters. The first text describes the adventure and what is happening, and I needed to realign it to what I wrote in the encounters. Some of my ideas changed, and earlier ideas were best forgotten.

I started editing, revising, making it harder, and better connecting the themes of the adventure. Encounters are the part we play in Role Playing Games. Imaging your adventurers walking down a hallway in some lost complex is interesting, and we used to map all this out, often spending hours of time mapping and drawing. But the encounters are where the action happens and are most of the adventure. For the in-between events, I minimize as they use the time that is better used on encounters. We only get so much time to play games, so we should use the time for fun things.

The encounters are primarily rooms in last tombs with horrid traps and undead protectors, trying to convince a librarian at an arcane fantasy library to let you “borrow” an ancient tomb in exchange for a pile of gold, or sneaking in to rob a sleeping dragons favorite cup. It is the part we play and usually involves a conflict and often combat with all the sword swinging and blasting magic one comes to expect in Dungeons and Dragons.

I managed to finish all the encounters I needed on Sunday. I also started on a special figure I need. I used my Dremel to make a few adjustments and glued the McDonald’s Happy Meal figure to a Dungeons and Dragons large creature base. I also got some cloth glued to the new figure to see if that would work. I think it will be good. Just have to finish it on Sunday (this Sunday morning, I finished the rest of the application, and the work is drying now).

The adventure is 33 pages long, over 21,000 words and about 1/3 done and edited. Another 1/3 needs to be edited more, and the last third remains to be written. However, it writes faster now that I have much of the story finished and aligned.

The next event is seeing Susie. I dressed and was ready in the mid-morning. I had cereal with milk and liberal coffee from my French Press. I got into Air Volvo, adding the board game Brass: Lancashire to the collection already in the car. I planned to play games Saturday evening at Richard’s house, and he might want to try the other Brass.

I reached the hummingbird house without incident, avoiding the traffic in Old Town Beaverton; today is the tree lighting and Christmas Festival. It was still morning, so the traffic was not building yet, and I was quickly and without losing any paint at Susie’s place.

Susie was comfortable in her recliner in the shared living room. Susie had already had breakfast. Susie decided that she would stay inside today. I got out the Advent Calendar, and we opened day three. Inside the small door was some small hard candy–not safe for Susie. I had one and decided I could not give one to Susie–perfect for choking!

Next, we moved to the social room, and I set up the screen and plugged my Mac into the screen. Then, we watched two Christmas shows: Rudolf and The Year Without a Santa Claus. Susie stayed awake for all the shows and sang along to some of the songs.

Susie was feeling better but still having some tummy issues. Likely that was breakfast settling now that Susie is eating more. Evan, who joined us in the second show, told me he thought Susie was more awake, and her speech seemed better.

I paused one show, and we called Leta, Susie’s mother, on my iPhone using FaceTime. We all chatted for a while. I try to connect Susie and her mother daily using FaceTime so they can see each other.

Soon the shows were over, and Susie was looking tired also; it was time for lunch (we did two fifty minutes shows). So I kissed Susie goodbye, and Anassa took over, the nurse aide for the weekends, and was getting Susie ready for lunch when I left.

The next event was getting a birthday dinner for my mother, Barb Wild, in East Lansing. Unfortunately, my sister is ill with the stuff going around, so she could not take mama to dinner at her favorite, Bravo. Linda sent me a text with mom’s usual selections and suggested that Uber Eats could handle this. Thus, I ordered dinner for Barb Wild while with Susie (Susie got to wish Barb a happy birthday) between movies.

Evan and I had food and drinks and played a board game, Architects of the West Kingdom, at the taphouse, The 649, one of our usual haunts on Saturday. I connected to their WiFi and watched the status of the food on my Mac. The driver got lost.

Chris, the Uber driver in East Lansing, called me. I then proceeded to give directions to the unit in East Lansing. I managed to remember the way; it has been years since I have been there. Success! The food was delivered. More surprisingly, I ordered the right stuff. Excellent. Mom has a nice dinner.

After playing two games of Architects (I have described the game in the last few blogs, so I will forgo covering the game here) and beating Evan both times (just lucky in the first one), I headed to Portland.

The last event was playing with Richard and Shawn. Shawn and Richard are good game players; I would be crushed–as usual. We played again, the third time in a row, Weather Maker, a new game from a Kickstarter (again, I have described this game in last Saturday’s blogs and will pass on explaining it here). I made a few mistakes and could not find my grove, and I did not improve my best score. This time we played semi-cooperative, and Richard got the Nobel Prize and ended the game. I felt we had found the heart of the game, and everyone had a lovely time. Shawn, his first time, had a great score.

We did not take up the board game Brass this time.

I headed home and was back at the Volvo Cave without incident, except for me passing a semi on an on-ramp to a bridge on the tallest ramp in Portland! The ramp was two lanes, then reduced to one land; the semi started to pass me on the ramp! I was going fast after that and got in front of him instead of being crushed or knocked off the bridge! I don’t like bridges, and the ramp, I call it the Space Shuttle Launch Ramp, is higher than the bridge and is tilted. So a bit exciting trip home.

At the Volvo Cave, I had a bagel-like product with cream cheese and some capers I added. I need to take food with my pills. So I turned on the next episode of Wednesday on Netflix, did my stretching, and then took six minutes on the stationary bike. The next episode was fun; the teenager angst is something I don’t need but fits the show (and the audience). I still recommend it.

I went to bed after that and fell asleep. I had a terrible nightmare and was awake at 1AM–I can’t remember what was in the dream. After that, I managed to sleep again. I woke at 4AM and was about to get up and write this blog when I woke at 5:45. I was about to get up, and then it was 6:45, and I did get up.

Thank you for reading.

For the third day of Advent, I will pick these silly songs: Miser Songs.