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Today was warm, overcast, and muggy–humid for us. But, it was not raining, just warm and sticky.

Sunday morning is a strange rush for me. I need to write the blog for Saturday, a 1600+ word blog. That is a few hours of work. My church is at 10:30, so I should be time-boxed. But, I am late for church instead of cutting the blog short.

I started writing while eating breakfast cereal with sliced fresh banana with French press coffee and continued the writing through the 8:05 shoe company status meeting. I must stop writing for some of the meetings’ discussions and listen and interact, especially the more detailed descriptions of ongoing issues.

The meeting is over at 9ish (having run over), and I am about 1/2 through the writing. Nevertheless, I push on and finish at about 10AM. I rush dressing and soon am headed to church, only a few minutes late.

Dondrea is giving the sermon today, “Why Am I Still Here” is her title for her sermon. She asks why we still associate with a church when the religious right has highjacked and redefined Christianity in terms that are not acceptable to us. Folks believe now that Christians are white supremacists and anti-gay. Also, anti-women rights and anti-immigration. None of these things are true of our local church, she points out, and that historically the United Methodist Church (UMC) has worked for social justice. Dondrea identifies that the UMC has the only non-government building on Capital Hill in Washington DC. The build was built to help bring UMC’s focus on Social Justice to the US government. Dondrea says it is our mission to say no to those who would redefine Christianity away from seeking social justice and let your actions speak. Dondrea quotes Saint Francis, who may have said, “Preach the gospels, use words if you have to.” Or something like that (Aside: If he did not say that, he could have). Why are we here–the world needs us.

After church, I spoke to Howard, the organist at church, about chess artificial intelligence programs and studying how music is played. I wondered if the organ could record how Howard played and play it back–not the sound but how he physically played. He told me our organ could record the playing but could not play it back. I was wondering if we could study the way the keys are played on different pieces to see how the player interprets the music. I am always interested in how to find the truth in music and art. That extra layer is the difference between just mathematical adherence to the notes and timings and the human filter that creates something more. Also, how would Howard, for example, play Bach differently than a composer like Handel, for example? Both composers are from a like time in music development, but would they create different reactions in a player, different emotions? We see some of this now being developed in chess-playing software. Do you want older-styled gameplay or cutting-edge reactions based on Nunn’s Chess Openings mammoth work of opening lines? Do you want exchanges to happen more often and suddenly reach the end game? Chess is looking into this. Howard knows chess, and so I hope he found it fascinating. I am just thinking about AI while he played a few times and the truth in the music.

After church and chatting, I headed to Panera for a chicken salad sandwich. After discovering Arby’s had stopped selling them, I was on a quest for a good sandwich. So I ordered at the kiosk, there was a long line, and then grabbed my lunch when it was ready. I had French Onion Soup with 1/2 an almond chicken salad sandwich. The bread, lettuce, and tomato were good. The bread was especially lovely, and the crust chewy. The sandwich had only a few tablespoons of finely chopped chicken salad. Almonds may have been there. I decided not to complain (I did not want to make things worse in a pandemic and low staffing) and enjoyed my abbreviated sandwich and soup. I had an apple with it. I will try again and see if I get a better sandwich.

I went to Powell’s at Cedar Mills, just across the parking lot from Panera, and bought a copy of The Worst Case Survival book. At Dungeons and Dragons, we wrote in the book about the death of some of our characters (or close to death) in a section that sort of matched the events. This was Matt’s, our DM, birthday, and I thought this would be a good gift. We had some cake and fruit. Matt is on a special diet, so he had just a bit of food.

Next, I headed to the hummingbird house to see Susie.

Susie resides at:

Allegiance Senior Care
Adult Foster Care Home
9925 SW 82nd. Ave.
Portland, Oregon 97223

The house phone number: 503 246-4116

Susie looked tired, and her eyes were red from allergies. Susie did not want a movie. So we headed out for an extended walk. We toured the local area, stopped under a magnolia tree, and called Susan’s mother, Leta. They chatted for a while

We then headed to the park next to the house, Metzger Park. It was overcast, but it was warm, so the park was busy with kids, folks walking one or more dogs, and baby carriages being pushed. We sat and just watched them for a while. I then pushed Susie through the park again, returning one stray tennis ball to the courts with a toss.

We then sat on the porch of the hummingbird house for a while. Next, I called Susan’s Aunt Glenda and Uncle Gene in North Carolina. We talked for a while. Glenda had helped me by flying out and assisting in selecting Allegiance and their hummingbird house. Gene and Glenda were happy to see and hear from Susie on FaceTIme.

After that, I turned Susie over to Vanessa and headed out. Susie was sad to see me leave but was tired and was going to nap in her recliner.

After arriving without incident, I took Air Volvo home and changed out of my dress shirt and tie. I rested for a bit and napped only for a few minutes. I needed a short recharge and reset that a short 30-minute break brings.

I then reheated some leftover pasta and sausage I made a few days ago in the microwave for dinner. After eating that, I packed up the car with gaming stuff and headed to Cory’s house.

We play at Cory’s house as Cory lost his legs to events, and it is still too challenging to play elsewhere. It has worked out well for us, and while Matt has to carry some stuff with him, it has not been a terrible burden for anyone. We are still playing the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons 5e version (D&D 5e).

We played from 5:30 to 9 at Corry’s. My drunken master character, a monk, did take a lot of damage in this game. Mostly from bad rolls of the dice than anything else (failed saving throws for those who know D&D 5e). I play a combat-centric Jackie Chan-styled character, so I take damage (and give it back too), and so my character was drunken stumbling all over the battle. It was fun.

I was home after that and writing the blog for the rest of the night.

Sorry, I forgot to take photos today. Thank you for reading.

Susie was a bit tired and looked sad when I left, but she was feeling OK. Her allergies are in full swing, like the rest of us.

Starting in the morning, I was up at 7ish on Saturday. I had slept well and had not stayed up very late on Friday night; thus, I felt more rested. The mouth sores have not been repeated; my self-care seems to work. I made cereal with milk and 1/2 a sliced banana for breakfast. I got the coffee press out of the dishwasher (now all shinny) and made liberal Fair Trade coffee to go with the cereal.

I read my emails, the shoe company emails, the various text, and Slack channel messages to be prepared for the 8:05 status meeting. While I have a small role in the current go-live at Nike, I like to understand what is happening. I also check this throughout the day and part of the night to ensure I am up-to-date on the project. I did have to update a ticket last weekend to change its settings so a fix could move to production.

Aside: My Internet connection broke on Friday in the middle of the 8:05 status meeting, but it started working by 9ish. I canceled the service call after it stayed working for the morning.

The status meeting was the regular updates and the issue list informative. Many on the project are working through the weekend to fix issues before China’s biz day starts at 5PM Sunday. I put away the dishes while listening.

I got dressed after the meeting and cut a few roses and rosemary for Susie, and I thought the Hummingbird House might like some fresh rosemary from my bush. I have grown rosemary for years. The greeks thought rosemary helped with memory with its distinctive pleasant odor, awakening lost or forgotten memories.

When I stepped outside, I was surprised we had precipitation, light mist, and rain. Usually, we don’t have any showers once the hot days start in July. However, it was pleasant and will prevent some forest fires, so it was welcome.

With the rain and mist, the park was out today. Susie does not like wet and damp, and a wheelchair is not so good with a raincoat. Soon, you will be sitting in a puddle.

Instead, Vanessa, the nurse on for today, had Susie in a recliner in the activity room, a spare bedroom with chairs and a card table for family meetings and card games, etc. Susie and I watched Mama Mia (the movie version), and Susie often softly sang along.

Few people love this movie as much as Susie and I do. It is just fun for me. I even like Pierce Bronson’s terrible singing as it fits in my mind with the story. His character struggles in the story, and I like that his singing is so hard for him, but he pushes through anyway. To me, it is part of his character’s story.

This is my favorite song from the movie; it is a sad and hopeful song, unlike most ABBA songs: I Have a Dream.

Susie slept through a bit of the movie while holding my hand. Susie, as I said, looked sad or tired today. So she let me go when the movie ended, but I could see she wanted me to stay longer, but she was falling asleep and needed a nap. I did cry a bit in the car after I left.

Some days are harder than others.

I met Evan at the food carts in Beaverton near the city hall. From what I could tell, all the carts were open, and the place was full of people, none masked–but it was outside. After walking through, Evan selected the crepe cart, and we had savory versions. As is my habit, I asked the gal at the window which stuffing she liked, “fig.” So I had the ham and fig crepe–it was delicious. Evan enjoyed his pesto version.

We did get a table as the lunch crowd began to thin.

After we finished our lunch, which was a bit light for me, we headed to Central Tap House, just a block away from the carts. They had some open tables, so I presented a credit card to open a tab and then walked back to my car. Air Volvo was parked in the parking garage, which would charge $1 an hour for parking (!), except it was free parking for this weekend. So I got the board game Vindication that I put in the car when I left for Susie’s and walked back an entire block as the only doors are on the other side of the building.

With my excise walking a block carrying a not-light board game, I got a beer, and Evan had ordered me some bar mix. Next, Evan started to set up the game. We played two games as the end-of-game trigger ended both games early. Vindication was designed in the Pacific Northwest in Vancouver, Washington, and I even had input on some of the game processes. It has gone through three Kickstarters with me supporting and participating in them. Finally, I have the “swanky” version with all the promo add-ons and should get the last update in the next couple of months from the last Kickstarter. This is a resource management game with light player interactions. It plays fast once you get the structures down. It is a recent game; it is bright and colorful with high-quality production. It is a fav.

Evan and I both had a second beer for the second game. Evan almost won the last game, but I managed to pull just enough of the proficiencies to stay ahead at the end. Evan plays to build a repeated point-generating engine, and I pick up the points at the start and usually win if I can get the game to stop early. One of the suggestions I had in the design was to have random ending conditions, and that is how the game works now. I got lucky in both plays today: The game-ending conditions were easy to reach.

After that, I took Air Volvo to Portland. I stopped by Guardian Games; there, I constantly worried about leaving Air Volvo parked in the same area where the car was broken into, but it being daytime, it should be OK–it was. I found a few items for Dungeons and Dragon games and a pamphlet that looked interesting. However, I resisted buying a copy of the board game Notre Dome which we played last Saturday, which I liked, and thought was unavailable. Resist!

Shawna and Richard played two games with me this evening. Shawn, our usually third, not being able to make it. Also, Kathleen has been traveling in her native German and will be back next Saturday. We played two enjoyable games: my copy of The Grand Austrian Hotel and Richard’s Suburbia. The hotel game is complex, almost insanely difficult for the size of the game: “The best hotels select their guests” is one of the themes.

Aside: I forgot to take a pic of the games at Richard’s house, sorry!

Even though I was teaching the game, I did come in last place, with Richard lapping me twice! My copy has a 3D-printed cake, strudel, coffee, bottles of wine, and other upgrades that I have made, purchased, or came with the last Kickstarter revision. I love the visual of a cup of coffee and little slices of cake.

This is effectively the 2nd edition, and as I have said often in my previous blogs, a 2nd edition version of a game on Kickstarter is usually an excellent game, and this is, but it is very complex. The turns in the game Hotel are simple, but what you do with resources (cake, strudel, coffee, wine, and money) and how you hire staff and use them (yes, you get staff), ready and fill rooms with guests is up to you, and there are lots of choices. I like it. We played the base game. I have the add-ons for waltzing and named hotels and many more rules for an already complex game. Soon!

The next board game, Suburbia, always surprises me. The game ends abruptly, and you are building engines the whole time by building up your city–it is a race. Most of these engine-building games are longer. I supplied Richard with 3D-printed markers last year to make this game more visual–it helps. It was fun to print and paint them.

Shawna loves the game, and she pulled ahead and stayed there despite Richard’s usual expertise in creating engines. I like the gaming experience, but like Hotel, money matters, and I struggled with cash the whole time in Suburbia. I watched Richard and Shawna had plenty of money, so I must have misplayed. Next time!

After that, we chatted briefly, and then I drove back home. I had to take the “space shuttle” on-ramp to the bridge, which is as tall as the bridge roadway itself! I do not like heights.

I made it home and had some cottage cheese and a few beets from a can, pickled, as a snack to go with my meds. They can be a problem without food. So I was to bed about 1AM and asleep soon.

The rose Souvenir du President Lincoln is on its second flower but is now showing powdery mildew. This is my first bourbon rose and is not as resistant as my other roses. I will have to get some treatments for it.

The newly planted Wedgwood is still flowering, but the heat stress has, as it does, shrunk the flowers.

The apple tree, likely one of the Johny Appleseed trees in Oregon, fell over a few years ago, but we managed to trim it back into a usable and survival form. It is now in its fourth year since falling and resting quite comfortably on the ground.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

 

Going backward, I just finished watching the first episode of the second season of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and was shocked how terrible it was. I did like the books years ago, but the T.V. version is not working for me, but I will try a few more and see if it was just an unlucky choice. Before this, I drove to a few Tap Rooms in the area, but the bars had standing room only tonight, the unmasked crowd did not allow me to feel safe, and since I wanted to play a game of a solo boardgame, Nemo’s War, which needed a table for a few hours, that did not work out. So I went home and tried out an old T.V. show.

Before that, I listened to the 5:05PM status meeting and made dinner. I pay attention while I get dinner going. The meeting was a slow process of reviewing and getting action plans for every severe error in our software.

While the Zoom meeting went on, I chopped up some thin-cut ham, precooked Cajun style andouille sausage, and a bit of kielbasa. I cut the sausage length-wise to make cube-like cuts, not coins. I heat this in a large pan. Once browned a bit, I add a can of fire-roasted tomatoes and two cans of water. I get that to boil, add a box of Zatarain’s Jambalaya rice and seasoning from a box, and cook covered on low heat for 25 minutes. I had a few bowls, then let the Jambalaya cool and put it in bags to have as leftovers in the frig.

Previously, I continued to re-reading The Club Dumas on my Kindle. I read it a year ago and mentioned it in the blog then. This book was restructured into the movie The Ninth Gate, also a favorite. I forgot much of the book, and the reading still gets a laugh from me here and there. I like the ending better in the book than in the movie. Recommended.

I was at Hummingbird House with Susie this afternoon, and we watched a movie in the late afternoon. John Wick 3 continues directly from the previous movie, starting the story only minutes after the last film’s end. In this story, we expand the evil hotel now to the wicked High Table. Halle Berry and Angelica Houston join the cast. It keeps up with the shootouts with Halle Berry’s character, Sophia, showing the same skills and high body count as the anti-hero John Wick. Susan enjoyed it and stayed awake for all of it.

When I got to HummingBird House, I found Susie in her recliner watching a soap opera on T.V. She was ready to head out to the park. It was just getting hot, so I found a bench near the shade and let Susie enjoy the Sun. We managed to contact Susie’s mother, Leta, on the iPhone, and they chatted on FaceTime for a bit.

The park was filled with kids, dogs being walked, and picnics. There is no rain in the forecast for two weeks, so we are finally into our rain-free summer months. The temperatures will climb next week into the 90s. Because of the cold and damp spring and early summer, the fires are delayed. Let’s hope the forest and grass fires will remain small and contained this year!

Before taking Air Volvo, without issue, to Hummingbird House, I was working as usual for a Friday at home. I was attending Zoom meetings and reading lots of statuses. Zoom, email, and texts were flying fast. It was a busy morning.

I did the dishes and ran a load of laundry–all put away. All of this while following along and enjoying Zoom meetings.

I managed to start at 7ish, sleeping in just 30 minutes more. I managed to sleep well.

 

To begin with, I had my check-up with my cancer doc. As I had read in the reports, there was no sign of cancer in my CT scan, and all that remains is to have a colonoscopy, ugh, in December (don’t open to Christmas label comes to mind) to validate the findings. Thus, it appears that I am doing well.

The morning started with the alarm waking me at 6:15 despite the sunny morning, meaning I got some sleep. I did have to prove hydration at 1AM, but after that, I slept through to 6ish. I was rushed as this is Thursday, and I need to be in the office at 8 for the first status meeting in the command center.

I had a bagel and banana for breakfast. The liberal Fair Trade coffee was from a french press. The house was a bit cold as the AC seemed to let the temperature crash in the early morning hours. Nevertheless, I managed all the morning tasks and meds and was in Air Volvo before 7:30. I reached the command center in the Nike Clubhouse building to find it empty of any leadership.

More positive Covid tests, I am afraid, and some folks late. Unforently, I could not figure out how to start the AV, so I just had my laptop for the room. It was messy but worked. I did sample the fruit in the provided breakfast but skipped the breakfast sandwiches provided by catering. It was one of the jokes we have in Nike IT that a project is not serious until it starts catering!

I followed along and then headed out to see Susie at Hummingbird House. I ran a bit late and arrived at 10:30 without incident. Susie was still eating her breakfast. I waited for her to finish. Susie managed to eat her whole breakfast without help. Her right hand is working again; I am very relieved.

Once done, Susie was ready for a trip outside. This time we did Metzger Park, which was starting to fill up with kids and picnics. It was sunny, but the shade still came with a chill. No hot wind to mix the air yet, so I parked Susie in the sun by a bench where I could sit. I am careful not to stand for an extended period and wear myself out.

We called Susie’s mother, Leta, who was home, and we talked for a while in the park. It was hot in the sun, and the wheelchair, which was colored black, was heating up in the sun–we headed back. I kissed Susie goodbye once I got her back to Hummingbird House and headed back.

I stopped to get gas as Air Volvo threw the message that I had only 40 miles to go. Today regular unleaded gas was $5.45 (credit), and the fill-up was less than $100 this time. Better.

Lunchtime was close when Air Volvo got me back to near the office, so I parked the car at a Chinese place and waited for my lunch meeting time. I read on my phone all the emails and messages. I was right; one of the directors told me when I predicted that we had repeated a mistake that we fixed/avoided in the legacy system.

I had lunch with a work friend, and we discussed our plans for data at Nike over Chinese food; we both ordered tofu. I am starting to head to a less meat-inclusive diet. I actually like tofu.

I have a new health issue, mouth blisters deep in my mouth, and I decided to leave work and deal with them some more. They were bothering me after lunch. So I headed home early, stopped by Walgreens (our RiteAid has closed its doors), and got some antiseptic mouthwash and painkillers. I then took my 400mg (two tablets) of Ibuprofen and one 500mg of Tylenol to reduce the discomfort and swelling (this is my pain management system that I recommend to anyone) and used the mouthwash and soon felt better.

I rested for a few minutes and then did my video call with my oncologist. It was not a good day with AV, and we just did a call, no video. But, as I said above, everything is fine.

This was followed by the usual 5PM status call for the project on Zoom. I followed along. I got out the taco makings from a few days ago and made a taco salad for dinner. While this is ground beef, it is at least me eating my leftovers (Glenda must be smiling). I crushed a few taco shells (also leftover) and added lettuce and cheese. It was good and did not bother my mouth. I ate dinner while listening to status.

I took out the recycling and garbage for Friday. Glass in the red container.

At 7PM was July’s Theology Pub, where we discuss theology with a glass in one hand, usually an adult beverage. Before, we met in a pub, but now it is Zoom and supply your own dinner and drink. We talked this time about the separation of church and state and the seeming disregard the American Supreme Court has for the previous ruling on this right. It was a hot topic.

With the loss of rights now accelerating in the country, some of us have friends and family thinking of immigrating, and Portugal appears the go-to choice. I was surprised to find a whole industry helping Americans move there. Apparently, if you can own a few million dollars of land and businesses for a few years in Portugal, you can get a gold visa. As you can imagine, the gold visa gets you treated like a local, and you can travel in Europe with the ease of a native. There are quite a few firms on the Internet available to help you make the transition (an example: Atlantic Bridge), assuming you make the investments. I suspect 401K money can be redirected to specific funds and assets to qualify–for a fee.

I would say that most of us were surprised that folks wished to reduce the separation as it seems one of the main issues that the founding fathers had with England was the mixing of church and state. We did go for 90 minutes which was longish for us.

Besides looking up immigration to Portugal, I spent the rest of the evening writing the blog and doing dishes.

Thank you for reading!

 

 

I will try another way to write this today; I will cover important events in the day and assemble the rest of the day in that narrative. So let’s see if that works for this Wednesday, shall we?

I was a bit late to see Susie and arrived in Air Volvo at Humming Bird House at 11ish, avoiding any collision with the local drivers and having no police entanglements. Susie had stayed in her wheelchair waiting for me–she wanted to go outside with me and enjoy the lovely day (a high of 92F was still yet to be reached with the temperature still comfortable when we went for a walk). So instead of the park, I wheeled Susie through part of the neighborhood. There are no sidewalks, so we took to the road; the streets were not busy.

A magnolia tree, still flowering, seemed an excellent place to stop for a bit. There was some grass, so I could park the wheelchair off the road. We called Susie’s mother, Leta, on my iPhone, and they could see each other on FaceTime. Leta saw the magnolia tree in the background on the iPhone and was surprised to see it in bloom. Our summer is delayed by the rains. After they finished the call, we traveled some more in the area, and Susie loved the magnolia tree. It was a nice healthy one.

We returned to hummingbird House, and I was out of time, so I had a kiss goodbye and left Susie in Jennifer’s hands. Jennifer is the nurse today. I reached the office without issue, but I saw Beaverton’s Finest handing out tickets on 26. Today, Wednesday, lunch was from a truck and free. I had the Chop Chop Chicken Sundae from the truck with the same name. It was a rice bowl with chicken, cheese, veggies, and gravy.

Earlier I had my annual review with my boss. I cannot cover most of this here, but I can say that he and Nike seem to want me for another year. I do not now plan to retire early with Susie in Adult Foster Care and having bills of $8,000 a month. Thus my review was fine, and I received the usual raise, below the inflation rate. I read the policy, discussed it with my boss, and read the information on social media.

Aside: Again, I will not do a rant here, but I will point out that corporate profits are running more than 2% above inflation so far in 2022, while the cost-of-labor is up only 1.5% in the first quarter of 2022 (far below inflation of over 8%) for the USA.

I headed home at about 3PM after following along with the project and doing some AI experiments on my servers. I was getting sleepy, the AC could not keep up in our area, and I had started at 5:30AM this morning to make the 7AM meeting. So I had a rushed breakfast of a banana and yogurt. I had a small sample of the breakfast in the command center–it just smelled too good not to try it.

I have not slept well for the past three days, and it is hard to do much more today.

We did have an All-Employee meeting at Nike today in the late afternoon, which is always fun. John Donahue, Nike CEO, did a live presentation from Korea, which covered much of the direct-to-consumer process in Korea now in use by Nike. The production was not just speeches and covering agenda topics but included the cool Nike videos (some only seen internally and some exciting externally directed videos too–all flashy and fun) and some interviews. It was a good show as always.

I made pasta with sauce from a jar and sweet Italian sausage. I had too much, but the rest I will put in bags for dinner over the next couple of days.

As I said, I am short of sleep and will stop here. Thanks for reading.