Blog

Susie continues to improve. The TIA appears to have faded today; it is hard to notice that she is still not using her right hand much–you have to be looking for it. This made it a good day for me.

I started with the 6:15 alarm this morning, having awoken with the sunrise around 5ish and staying in bed until it was time to start. I could have slept the morning away, but I started at 6:30ish.

I made french press liberal Fair Trade coffee, but that did run out before I ran out of morning. I also got a bagel out of the freezer, defrosted it in the microwave, and then toasted it. This is followed by me liberally applying veggie spread and capers to the same–Breakfast is never conservative, especially not with cream cheese. The bagel was perfect for a local product. I also had a banana.

Next, I had meetings until 11ish and a few crises of the moment. All this while working from home and drinking all the coffee I made. Zooming.

I also did two loads of laundry, put it away, and got dressed later while listening on Zoom. Next, I did my Quicken update and assigned various expenses to the correct category. I download everything from US Bank, Paypal, AMEX, and Visa all at the same time. Plus, my investments are also updated. It is quick work and lets me feel confident with my finances.

When things settled down at work, I reheated the Indian dinner from last night for lunch, Tikka Masala Chicken. I had some rice I made yesterday too. The food was improved by the overnight settling of the spices and the reheating. I got the large glass measure cup and reheated the chicken and rice in the microwave. I do not have many microwave-safe dishes or bowls, which Glenda thought I should fix when she visited. So, I am leaning that way now that I am cooking for one.

I was in Air Volvo at about 1PM, headed to Susie’s place. It is sort of summer hours still. Before I left, I had built another section of my OcCre work cabinet. I do a bit of it here and there. I discovered that I need to be very careful as it is easy to build a part wrong–I dry fit all the pieces first before gluing and then use Elmer’s glue which dries slow and cleans up with water. So far, I have made no unrecoverable mistakes.

On the way to Hummingbird House, Allstate called. My local agent’s office was looking for cheaper car insurance for me. I am trying to economize, but the new policy (you are billed based now on your credit rating and not your driving–I have perfect credit) was more expensive, by far, than the old school policy (based on your driving record, how many drivers, and your commute distance). In addition, I learned that being a single driver had a penalty on the newer policies. Thus, I would retain my existing insurance unchanged.

Aside: My policy is only extended to existing policyholders–cheaper insurance like this is not available to new drivers or new customers of Allstate. This is why I have not left Allstate after 26 years–there is nothing open to the public as good as what I have for a better price.

Susie was napping in her recliner when I got there at about 1:30ish. After waking her, Hana, the nurse for today, got Susie in her wheelchair, and I took Susie out to the park. We even went “Baja-ing” across the grass and found a nice bench in the shade for me to sit on. On my iPhone, we called Leta, Susan’s mother, and they used FaceTime to see each other and chat.

The park was surprisingly empty today for such a lovely day. Just a few families going for an outing in Metzger Park. Nobody played basketball or used the tennis/pickleball courts when we arrived. I took Susie for a spin on the basketball courts. Next time maybe I should bring a nerf basketball and see if Susie can do baskets!

We then headed back to Hummingbird House. After a change of clothes for Susie, I started the old Cold War movie, White Nights. I love the music, and Susie loves the film’s dancing. It is about 2 hours long, runs a bit slow, and is quite dated. My Love is Chemical is a favorite song of mine that is introduced in the movie.

Still, Susie and I enjoyed the movie. I was following along at work for a bit on Slack channels and email on my iPhone during the movie.

After the movie, I headed out with a kiss from Susie. Hana would get Susie a snack; she had skipped lunch to watch the movie and then would have dinner later. Susie did have coffee that I helped her with during the movie. She managed to not choke or spill the coffee. This was a clear sign that she is fully recovered from what appears to have been a TIA.

Traffic for a Friday across Beaverton was slow, with the lights taking two waits to get through. Slow. I only got home at 5PM and had to call in immediately to the status meeting. I had a few crises at the moment, but after that, I was clear to have dinner.

I got the big bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and drove to the Weld-Martin’s to have dinner with them. Wayne had been in the ER again, and I thought it a perfect excuse to have some KFC with friends. I got the large bucket with plenty of sides so Wayne and Anne would have leftovers for the weekend. They can skip cooking a few times.

We had a nice dinner; I had a beer with the KFC. I did not stay long as I was fatigued.

I got home and took a nap. I got going again. I wrote the blog. Thank you for reading.

Susie was feeling much better today, and the signs of a stroke were fading. It appears it was a TIA and not a stroke. We could not be happier that Susie was getting her control back to her right hand, and she was no longer leaning to the right.

I also received some travel advice when I mentioned running away in yesterday’s blog. Tiberias, Israel, is being recommended, a fav of mine too!

The day started at 6:15, with me waking ten minutes before my alarm, falling dead asleep, and then jumping when it went off. Ugly! I was rushing as this is an in-office day (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). I showered and dressed first and then found breakfast and coffee, french pressed liberal Fair Trade coffee. I am using the french press to make coffee for one–I have made a whole pot of coffee every day for years, but it is a waste now.

I read my email, the Nike emails, and the shoe company’s Slack messages. There was a lot going on, and I rushed through a banana and a bagel for breakfast. I froze the Einstein Brothers bagels I had delivered. To defrost, I pop one in the microwave for 25 seconds, separate the two halves (they cut them for me), and toast them. The veggie spread with some capers from a jar (which covers the bread flavor), and I have a decent bagel. I eat that all fast, take my meds, and am off to Air Volvo.

Air Volvo delivered me 30 minutes early (7:30), and I was surprised to see my boss in the command center. He texted me; it was a hectic morning. I listened to the meeting, and there were some events and recovery steps. I am working on some of the crises of the moment in the morning. I am pretty busy all morning.

I finally step out after 11 to take Air Volvo to Humming Bird House to see how Susie is doing. The past few days, she had the hallmarks of a stroke and was a bit lost. Today, when I got there, having dodged some remarkable unnecessary and likely extra-legal lane changes from my fellow drivers in Beaverton, Susie was relieved to see me. I was late, and she was much better. It appears the stroke was a TIA, and Susie has fully recovered from what I can see. Jennifer, the nurse for today, told me that Susie was able to feed herself again and was more like Susie today. Michelle, the owner, was there today, and she talked to Susie, and Susie seemed to respond. Better!

I was happy to call Leta, Susie’s mother, and have them chat for a while. Susie’s speech is still troubled, but it was not worse than last week. Even better.

Susie asked me some questions; she was worried she would have to leave Hummingbird House. She is happy there and is pleased to stay. See, every time Susie has a stroke or stroke symptoms, we are in an ER, and she ends up for a month in a hospital–we are not going to do that this time and she is, I think, relieved.

I discuss with Susie my plan to bring over a movie on Friday afternoon, White Nights, one of Susie’s favs. Susie is excited to watch it on Friday. But soon, it is time for me to go, and with a kiss, I am back in Air Volvo and passing by the police that guards highway 26 against people using their phone and speeding. This time the police were just watching–everyone was going near the speed limits and using hands-free from what I could tell.

Back in the office, I was working on some more POC of Tensor-based AI stuff on my own servers. I want to know how this works in case we need it later. The crises of the moment continue too.

I head out at 4PM and reach the Volvo Cave without witnessing any more creative use of Oregon’s roads by my fellow drivers. Soon, I am back online and listening to the status meeting while I make dinner. I defrosted chicken thighs during the meeting by running water over them.

After the meeting, I cut up the skinless and boneless chicken and fried it in duck fat. I try to always have some in the frig after watching a John Wick film. I love the evil assassin hotel in the John Wick fantasy world: The Continental. So, yes, we cook at the Volvo Cave using duck fat.

Returning to the cooking and the narrative, I drain the mostly cooked chicken that generates a lot of fat and liquid and brown the chicken more. I then add in a jar of Tikka Masala Simmering Sauce from Safeway. I wash some rice and cook that to go with it.

The sauce was just OK. The rice was perfect. However, I did have a few bowls still. I will put the rest as leftovers for the weekend, suspecting the flavors will improve with reheating.

I took a nap; I could have slept the night but managed to start back up, find my shoes, and take Air Volvo to get a hot fudge Sunday for dessert at McDonald’s. It was wonderful.

I then finished this blog and plan to do some dishes and maybe do a few hobby things tonight, but I am fatigued and might just sleep early.

I forgot to get a picture of Susie today; I was so happy she was improving!

After I finished yesterday’s blog, I connected with David and Michelle Smith, and we used Disney+ to watch the last Obi-one Kenobi episode. It was superb, and I recommend the series; just ignore some illogical storylines at the beginning–it will get better.

Thank you again for reading, and maybe I will get to write this blog in Tiberias someday.

 

 

I spoke to Michelle, who runs the Hummingbird House, and her folks agree with me that Susie has had a setback and may have had a stroke on the right side. It is also possible that it is the re-emergence of a previous stroke (strokes can come back) or some other cause, including fatigue. We will not send Susie for tests or to the hospital but will care for her at Hummingbird House. She is safe and comfortable there, and the no-needles rule is still in effect with Susie. Susie will have no more pokes. Leta agrees with this decision.

Going backward from Wednesday night, I had coffee with a shot of amaretto liqueur on the side. This is one of my favorite desserts. I was at BJ’s Brewhouse for dinner with Mariah. We talked about Mariah getting back to her Zine publishing and a lot about work. Mostly, “why me or Lord” and “How long, Lord?” on work stuff. The usual grousing.

I spoke about running away someday (the news about Susie made me think about running away). Mariah wanted to know where I would go to hide from the world so she could find me. Look for me in Istanbul, Jerusalem, or even Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee when I go and hide. How long? It depends if I want to keep my job or I just hide. Yes, look for me where the food is good, the summers are warm, and the olives are great.

I did offer to write a story for Mariah’s Zine if she needed one.

I had the steak, as did Mariah. I had a Jeremiah Red beer (likely the name had me thinking about the Mediterranean). Mariah stayed with red wine for dinner and after.

While we ate and talked, I watched for news on my cell. I have the Slack channel application on my iPhone and can monitor all the messages on the hyper care channel. I also read my emails. Instead of attending the call, I stayed up on the messaging and emails. I was not needed.

Before getting a text from Mariah to find dinner and even, unusual for Mariah, a phone call, I was home, having left work about 4PM, and was home reading emails, both work and mine, and so on. I also paid some bills, ran Quicken’s updates, and assigned most of the transactions to expense accounts. I want to know where every dollar goes.

My checks finally arrived in the mail from US Bank. So much of the medical stuff is falling back to paper checks, and I had run out, never imaging I would need paper checks again. Thus the bill for the ambulance to take Susie to the ER a few months ago, $312 after insurance, was now in the mailbox and entered in Quicken (it will automatically match when it clears).

Aside: I don’t mind writing paper checks for medical bills as those are all sort of one-time bills that need to be tracked for various tax reasons and to ensure I am not paying bills multiple times (with different amounts). I do not like to write checks for re-occurring bills like utilities and services–I like to use electronic payments for repeating expenses.

Work included some interesting POC of AI stuff I am working on and some future planning. As usual, as the new software is going live, I am working on the following new things. I had only one crisis of the moment today, and that was quickly resolved.

Lunch was free, and I had a chicken rice bowl with kimchi and creamy coleslaw. The slaw rescued me from the heat of the kimchi!

I spent the morning in meetings, but at 10ish, I headed out to see Susie at Hummingbird House. I was there without incident, and Susie was still eating a bit of breakfast. Vanessa, the nurse today, told me that Susie had a tiny bit of fruit, and I could see she only had a bite or two of oatmeal, but she sometimes drinks two glasses of milk. She was done, and Vanessa moved Susie to her recliner in the living room. Vanessa will make sure that Susie is not hungry and will get her an early-ish lunch if Susie gets peckish.

Susie and I then called Leta, and they chatted for a while on FaceTime. After that, I just held Susie’s hand until the 40 minutes I could be there, just an hour a day on workdays, was over. Susie asked me if she was OK, and we talked about her hand shaking and possibly having another stroke. Susie was a bit confused and worried but still smiled and looked comfortable.

With a kiss, I left and soon returned to work. Just before I left, Susie asked me to get her coffee, like we were back at the house. Vanessa got it for her. On the trip back, the police people of Beaverton were chasing other cars, so I had no problems getting to the office.

Before this, I made it to work 15 minutes early and sat in the command center for the first meetings. I had woken up before 6 and just got up when I could not get to sleep. Thus, I was not rushed this morning. I had breakfast: a banana and yogurt with liberal coffee. Today, I got out the french press and will stop wasting a whole pot of coffee daily. I am in the habit of making coffee for Corwin, Susie, and myself–now it is coffee for one.

I dreamed much last night and woke early and refreshed.

Thank you for reading!

 

 

 

When I arrived at Hummingbird House this morning, I noticed more of what I had suspected. Susie is learning on one side, and her right hand is not working as well as before. The sleepiness and grumpy morning all fit with my past experience. Susie may have had a stroke that impacted her right side. I have asked the nurse for today, Vanessa, to check with the other nurses and see if they notice a difference. I could be wrong, or it may be a previous stroke re-manifesting–they can do that. The last stroke was in November. I can be wrong, and Susie has had other symptoms that look like a stroke before, so she may recover her right side abilities.

Return to my typical storytelling, the morning got here with me feeling a bit better, but rushed as I have an 8AM morning in the Command Center in my office building, Club House. I got the shower done right out of bed and then dressed, had breakfast of a banana and a bagel with cream cheese (veggie flavor) with added capers (the salty vinegar of the capers hides the bread flavor and reminds me more of a New York City bagel). Next, I read emails, mine and the shoe company’s, the Slack channels, and the news. Finally, I got in Air Volvo and traveled to my office building without incident.

The meetings were interesting, but there were no issues for me. I managed to then head out to Hummingbird House. I had no incidents getting there, but there are two very busy police persons on 26, always with their lights on, giving out tickets!

Susie was having, as I have already related, trouble eating breakfast, and the nurse reported that Susie surprised her by he attitude this morning–Susie was unhappy. I helped feed Susie and ensured some breakfast found its way into her. She is also having trouble remembering to swallow. She had enough after about 15 minutes. I then took her out for a short ride in the wheelchair; it was still about 65F (18C) outside–too cold for Susie. The sun leaked out here and there, so it was not comfortable for just a short ride to the street and back.

Susie was sorry to see me leave so soon, it was a work day, and I had taken all the time I could, and with a kiss, I was back on the road. I managed the gauntlet of Beaverton police by keeping my speed down, not doing any exciting lane changes, or touching my phone. I returned to the office without incident.

Free lunch and coffee ended for most. I headed to Old Chicago Pizza and had a salad and a calzone, the Chicago 7 with meat and veggies, with a diet coke. They were out of iced tea (?!). Before the pandemic, they had a stromboli on the menu that I liked better. After I ordered, I saw they have a taproom special in the bar for a slice of pizza with a salad; I will order that next time!

After lunch, I returned to the office and started looking into how to run some AI processed on my own servers in my own account of AWS. My servers cost me about $3 a month, and I have control of them. So I diagnosed my issue, trashed my server, something I can do without help, and got some things working on another server. Nike is moving to Microsoft’s Azure cloud services, but I find the AWS cloud service really easy to do prototyping.

Next, there was a retirement party on Zoom. We are saying goodbye to one of the leaders I have worked with for years. We had a pleasant visit.

I returned home via Air Volvo and meant to call into the 5PM status call, but the network was down at the house. Xfinity is trying to give me a fiber switch to enjoy and shut down my cable access (?!). It came back at 7ish, but it will go down at 6AM as they did not complete the work.

Thus, I need to get the blog done tonight!

I made a Chicken Cordon Blue (Schwann’s) and corn (Schwann’s) from the freezer for dinner. I also started on OcCre Workshop Cabinet for building models. It, too, is a kit that needs to be built. I also have the add-on module for storage. I plan to return to my ship models someday, and so I first should get the tools–this looks like a good place to start. I got it in the middle of my cancer treatment as a treat for later. It is now later.

Summer seems to have left us. It actually rained today! I hope to see summer again soon!

Thanks for reading.

 

The explosions are starting to get loud, and it is still bright and sunny at 7PM. I thought I should start on this blog before the explosions got too loud, and then I would just sit outside and watch the sky. Usually, my neighborhood, before Covid-19, seemed to have enough firepower to take a small city or at least seemed to have declared war on another street. With Covid-19 officially receding, we have returned to a highly explosive July 4th. Also, the weather in our area, unlike two years ago, has been damp, so the chance of causing a fire is slight.

I also received today the badge from WordPress for 182-week straight writing, the Holey Mole-y badge. This comes with the admonition not to stop now but to dig deep and keep writing, thus using the word mole as a pun. I plan to keep digging!

Exhuming this morning, I had trouble sleeping and woke up often. I think I was having some issues with breathing as one of my meds was out, the inhaler QVAR. Or it could have been the pollen just crushing me. I ordered more QVAR, but it was hung up in some strange approval process for by-mail processing between the supplier, Optima, and my insurance United Health Care (UHC). But, I managed to get started before my alarm at 7 and started my day congested and coughing a bit. I did use my other inhaler and felt better.

I can’t sleep when it is so bright out, which could have woken me too. It has been overcast in the morning, so I have slept to my alarm. But today, the clouds parted and gave us a cool but bright morning.

I had yogurt and a lox bagel delivered from Einstein’s Bagels with some more bagels for next week. This came with my decision that I wanted bagels again, so I got the next best thing to New York City ones, local Einstein’s Bagels. Unfortunately, these are a bit too bread-like and bread flavored, not having been boiled in dangerous caustic water while using the flat flavored water of NYC, but these will toast good and need just a little extra cream cheese to cover that sweet bread flavor. So for today, I had a “bad breath bagel” of lox and onions with capers plus a slice of tomato and plain cream cheese (not enough for my taste). I had more bagels included in my order; all but one now in the freezer will be for the week’s breakfast.

I next attended two hours of status meetings running to 10AM. I started to write the previous day’s blog and had it mostly done when the work meetings began. I had to dress and finish the blog before heading to Hummingbird House to see Susie. I also cut a few roses for Susie as the ones I supplied before were fading. I am on call all day.

Evan decided to meet me at Hummingbird House and actually beat me there. Susie had finished her breakfast when I arrived and seemed much more animated than the last few days, which is a good thing. I don’t know how to spell the nurse’s name today, so I will call her nurse for today’s blog. I will get the spelling next time!

After setting up the screen, the nurse got Susie settled in the spare recliner in the activity room. Then, it was time for an explosive movie, John Wick. Before we descended into mindless brain cookies, we called Susan’s sister, who was hosting a July 4th Dinner for Leta, their mom, and Emma, Barb’s daughter. Plus Gordon Barb’s husband. It was ribs and all the fixings. Susie got to chat with Barb, Leta, and Emma.

Back to the film, after the call, Susie and Evan stayed awake for the movie; it is just about ninety minutes and is action-packed. Susie seemed to love it, but it was soon over and time for her to have lunch and for me to find the rest of my day. I have chores and meetings to attend. I had to watch the emails and Slack channels constantly; I was on call, as I have said.

I was sad to leave–it is hard to leave some days.

Evan and I agreed to head to the Pods in Beaverton for lunch. It being July 4th, it is hard to know what is open, so we went for the food trucks near Beaverton City Hall. There the waffle place was open and had a truly scrumptious Monte Cristo waffle sandwich. How can I turn that down? I ordered waffle fries (What else would they have?) to share with Evan, who also got a breakfast sandwich. It took ten minutes, made fresh. I waited in line with unmasked folks, making me nervous even outside, and then found a table less close to people and discovered pleasure in our fine repast.

Soon, it was getting hot, and my laptop was in the car, so I said goodbye to Evan and headed home. There I unloaded and connected the computer to charge and headed out. However, I was on a quest today. I needed my meds, but which Rite Aide was now filling my prescriptions? So I headed to the closest in Beaverton, knowing that the Hillsboro Rite Aide was not listed on the moving notice I saw once on the door of my now former local store. Only had I taken a pic with my phone of the address!

I guessed right, and they had my meds waiting for me. Also, they could immediately fill my $100 QVAR inhaler prescription.

Rant: For those who believe in the free markets and believe medical stuff should be private and controlled by a corporation, for-profit, or non-profit (how it is done in the USA now), I will point out UHC decided (not based on medical reasons) that inhalers need to be more expensive (to keep costs down). Thus, we have a higher co-pay on inhalers as Nike employees than on other drugs. I have asked around, and nobody else with insurance pays $100 for QVAR. So you who believe in corporate control of health care is the way to go, f**k off. 

Having paid too much again, I was happy to use QVAR again and felt better. I also had my other drugs–all generic and rather dull. Also, still $37 (excluding the $100 for QVAR) with insurance. I will skip another rant.

I returned home, rested a bit, and then boiled the last hot dogs I had matching buns with for my July 4th dinner here in the Volvo Cave alone. I like the quiet today (except the fireworks explosions are getting loud). I did this while listening to the shoe company’s 5PM Hypercare call. No issues for me, but I did find some interesting things to listen to. The project is ahead of schedule, and so far, the incidents are not critical–excellent.

I ate my dinner on the deck and then came in and watched a few fav YouTube channels on history.

I next wrote the blog, so it won’t spill into Tuesday morning. Thank you for reading. I will keep digging! It is 8:45 when I type this. I had some interruptions, but 90 minutes of writing time is not unusual for the blog.