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The day started with my alarm getting me going at 6:15. It was a rushed morning as I had to be in the office at about 8ish. The morning status meetings are canceled, but the 5:05PM are longer and a bit more political now that there are fewer meetings and the project is approaching normal product support and the end of hyper care. So cereal and banana, liberal coffee, shower, dressed, and aboard Air Volvo with me arriving about 7:45.

Yes, escalation did happen, and we had to create messaging on one of the crises of the moment for leadership. Frustrating as the message did not prevent more escalations, leadership soon moved on to other issues, and we were clear for a while. All of this filled the early morning, but I could leave early to see Susie as the required alignment meeting on the escalating issues would be in the afternoon.

Air Volvo delivered me just about 10AM, and Susie was still eating breakfast. I waited thirty minutes for Susie to finish with me feeding Susie a few times. Jennifer, the nurse aide for today, also fed Susie a few times. Sometimes Susie can’t get the spoon and her hands to work. Mostly, she can do it, but once in a while, she can’t get the spoon to stay straight. Susie is using a special smaller spoon, and that helps. She can lift her own glass and drink her milk. Susie still chokes quickly, and all her food is blendered–she can drink liquids, but she has to go slow with small sips.

For our 32nd wedding anniversary, Linda and Barb Wild sent flowers.

After Susie finished breakfast, we called Susie’s mother on my iPhone using FaceTime. Leta was happy again to see Susie and today was a long call as I decided not to rush today and spend more time at hummingbird house. Next, we called Linda and Barb Wild to thank them for the flowers. Jessy, Linda’s boyfriend, was there making lunch. Linda had decided to work from home at Mom’s house in East Lansing, Michigan. They were thrilled to connect with us at hummingbird house from Chateau Wild East, as I used to call the house in East Landing. We chatted with the Easterner for a while, and they showed us a view of Jessy’s handiwork. It looked good.

It was 11ish, and I had to return to the shoe company and had an alignment meeting at 1PM on the escalating issue I could not be late for. So I was off with a kiss; Susie was visibly sad to have me leave. It can be heartbreaking.

I stopped by Carl’s Jr. and had a Western Burger for lunch; I love their stuff, but I try to have one only once a month. Then, I parked the car and ate it listening to public radio, OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting–the same broadcast for all of Oregon and parts of Washington. Unlike Michigan, for example, we have the same broadcast for radio and TV).

I soon returned in Air Volvo to the Clubhouse office building. The afternoon was filled with emotions as nobody liked to be recipients of an escalation. Nevertheless, we aligned and started to execute a plan that would show progress for leadership. The de-escalation was moving forward, as we call these.

We worked on the plan, and the emotions cooled; this is not my first escalation. “Smile and wave” was my suggestion to anyone feeling unhappy. It worked.

I left the shoe company at 4ish and was online at 5:05 for the hour-long, slightly political status meeting. Our issue was the last one to be reviewed, and by then, all the politics were already burned out, and everyone just wanted the meeting over. Perfect. Sorry, the details can not be recorded here.

Before the meeting, I printed all my paycheck stubs for the last few months after downloading them and emailing a PDF of each. More information to arrange for my meeting with the CPA next week. CPAs love paper.

While the meeting was going on, I reheated my Thai food leftovers eating wonton soup and Pud Thai. It was still excellent. I then rushed out and headed to First United Methodist Church, Beaverton. I was just a few minutes late.

Zophia, Dondrea’s girl, was there while Dondrea and the others did choir practice which is more like a Christian Rock rehearsal. I promised some board games for Zophia. We started with the Forbidden Island. This is a cooperative game; you work together, and the game is a lighter version of the same mechanics in the game Pandemic. This means the game starts off simple and without stress. Soon the game accelerates the collapse of the simulated island, and your team is rushing to finish before you lose a part of the island you need to succeed. Zophia liked it, and we played twice and won on the easy setting.

You can make out that we are escaping with not much Island left, each recovering two artifacts. I recommend this game to anyone who wants a fast cooperative game that requires some planning and tactics to win.

We tried Kill Doctor Lucky next, which did not play well for two players. I managed to kill the Doctor twice. I will have to bring a better two-person game as we never got passed two turns. I have a metal special edition Doctor Lucky figure, 28mm scale (Dungeons and Dragon sized), and brought painted figures to play instead of boring wooden pawns. So it looked good.

Zophia and I played chess next. I brought the silicone chess set (!), and we thought we would try a different version of chess where you take turns throwing pawns at the other person’s king. Whoever knocks the king over first wins. Zophia managed to win a lot. The chess pieces are indestructible and bounce a bit.

We played a more classic game of chess–no more throwing pieces, and Zophia showed she knew the game well and was able to build some good pawn structure, but moved the queen too much and was soon underdeveloped. The exchange of a knight for a bishop was good for me (usually, a bishop is ranked slightly higher than a knight). I exchanged my pawns in the middle and cleared a file to her king with my queen and rooks, after a castle, focused on her king. With Zophia underdeveloped and me pushing her queen around a bit to the side, she could not castle out of the easy trap, and I soon had her checkmated. It was not a bad game for someone her age–I had to work for it. I suspect she will get much better, and I will not win in the early mid-game.

After that, Zophia helped me load the games in the car, and Air Volvo headed home. I read a bit and went to sleep a bit early. My work week was over, and while I dreamed of work, I would not be back until two Mondays.

The morning started with me rushing just a bit after my 6:15AM alarm. I was up reading late, and so the morning came unbidden. I made liberal Equal Exchange Fair Trade Morning Blend coffee using my French press and combined that with yogurt and a banana to make a decent breakfast. Next, I rushed through my email and any pressing issues from work. I showered, dressed, headed out, and was at work by 8ish. I heard that smoke was starting in southern Oregon and was talking to my sister in the car about it; thus, I was a few minutes later at a desk.

Aside: There are fires now in northern California, and the smoke is in the south still. See https://www.oregonsmoke.org.

I had a few meetings and some suggestions to provide. The usual crises of the moment resurfaced, not unexpectedly, and I was busy in meetings and discussions until after 10:15ish. I then took Air Volvo, with cat prints on the windshield that only showed in the glare–ugh, to hummingbird house only fifteen minutes away from my office building, Clubhouse.

Susie was free from lockdown and happily sat with the other residents in her recliner in the living room. She had breakfast at the table; it was not served in her room. She was excited to see me, smiled, and gave me a kiss (on the mask). I, always masked, in hummingbird house, held her hand, and we talked a bit. I usually would take Susie to the park, but it was still 65F (18.3C) and overcast (with an ugly humidity of 80%).

Next, we called Susie’s mother, Leta, on my iPhone, and Leta was thrilled to see Susie via FaceTime. They chatted for a while, and I was running out of time. Soon, Susie was sad to see me have to leave already; with a kiss, I headed out.

I stopped by Jimmy Johns to grab a quick sandwich. I had to wait as they had a too-go sandwich box to build. I watch the sandwich guy grab a nest of lettuce, fill it with sandwich making, and carefully roll it and tape it. He then cut the roll into small sandwiches that the tape held together. Amazing. He then took a minute or two to make my Italian grinder, and I ate it in the car, avoiding Covid-19 and unmasked folks. I could not finish it and toss the rest.

Air Volvo soon had me back at the office building. After lunch, I had a few more crises of the moment and some discussions with various teammates at the shoe company. As usual, I took Air Volvo home at 4PM and then made dinner while listening to the 5:05 meeting. I avoided some political fireworks with one team that wanted to explode an issue, but nobody would raise to their bait.

Having just escaped and escalation, I was done for the day. I rested for a bit.

I read the rules for a couple of board games. Zophia, Dondrea’s girl, will be at the church for a few hours for choir practice on Wednesday night, so I will meet them there at 6PM and bring some games to try out. I have put chess, Forbidden Island, Kill Doctor Lucky, and the improved game from the same idea, Save Doctor Lucky (on the Titanic). I reviewed the rules of the board games to remember how to play (I know chess, of course).

I went out and got gas for Air Volvo, and the fill-up was down to $80.

Next, I had the car washed for $15. The price has gone up a lot. A cat had walked across my windshield, and I needed to fix that. I fantasized about putting up a picture of a cat and offering an award for making the cat lost while the car prints were expensively removed.

Before returning home and starting the blog, I stopped by McDonald’s and got a hot fudge sundae.

Today I also have two new forward-looking plans started. Air Volvo needs to return to the mothership once a year, and I have the car fully detailed then. I do this near the bonus time at Nike–this weekend. Sadly, to get a loaner car, I will have to wait until 19Sept2022, which is a two-day process. I ask the dealership to do all the maintenance and recall and software updates when I do this once a year.

Also, I have an appointment with a CPA in Hillsboro to discuss my tax situation and Susie’s illness. I also want to see what he thinks of retirement for me, possibly selling the house, renting the Volvo Cave, or, yes, keeping the house. I want to know if I can deduct the substantial medical expenses this or next year and how to make the most tax-efficient use of the stock option, IRA, and 401K. His name is Darrin, and I have visions of Bewitched, and I hope he can help. I need professional help with the expenses and how to keep paying out $8,000 in support for Susie and some money for others.

The new office furniture for my office is coming about 11AM on Friday.

The Internet connection is running fast again with a burst of 600 mbps.

Thursday is our 32nd wedding Anniversary.

Thank you for reading.

 

Today was a quiet day, and Susie seems mostly recovered. I spent most of the day not going too fast. I am having trouble with my legs being stiff, and read a lot and took painkillers.

The morning started with my alarm on my iPhone at 7ish. I had to be ready as I had Xfinity (Comcast) coming to look at the issues with the Internet connection via the cable. I had coffee and breakfast of yogurt and some fruit. The Comcast tech was here about 8:30 and spent two hours taking apart and reassembling the cable. He did replace all the short connection cables in the house but diagnosed that the issue is with Comcast’s equipment on the poles. He does not do that work and ordered a truck to fix the issue. That will take up to another 48 hours. I do have better access now, 100+ Mbps, but there is an issue, and my speed, as I have experienced, will degrade.

The technician had been with AT&T when it was bought out by Comcast years ago–I was a customer of AT&T back then, and the tech shared that he had worked for the same company for more than twenty years. I shared with him that I have worked for Nike for twenty-five years. The technician told me he once tried to get his copy of Phil Knight’s book, Shoe Dog, signed but was turned around at the campus. He asked me if I knew Phil. I have met Phil a few times and talked to Mark Parker, the CEO that followed Phil, a few times. And I do not have a signed copy either.

The truck left with the technician, and I hope that the next truck can repair Comcast’s issue. I am considering other options.

I spent the rest of the morning using my better access speeds to finish a short blog entry, make lunch, and then shower and dress. As it is not a work day (I took a long weekend), I am wearing one of my scary t-shirts from the Kickstarter to create the short horror movie, The Last Incantation.

I had the last of the pasta and meatballs I made a few days ago. I would have to eat soon or throw it away, so it was lunch today. I microwaved the pasta in the large glass measuring cup (I don’t have much glassware) and washed out the ziplock bags as I was out of the smaller bags. Glenda should be smiling somewhere.

I watched a YouTube video on a war game, W 1885, which is a fast and rules-light (!) version of the Battle of Waterloo, but Cody, The Discremating Gamer, recommended it. He is a military historian, so his views on his YouTube channel heavily influence my purchases.

Next, I drove to the hummingbird house to see Susie. I called Jennifer ahead of time to ensure I could talk to Susie through the window. Yes, I could. I was soon at 9925 SW 82nd Ave., Portland (really Tigard), Oregon, and it was still a cool day (it reached about 85F today–29.4C). I stood outside the window and told Susie about my day yesterday and asked her how she was. She is fine and very happy, relieved, to see me. I called her mother, Leta, and held the phone up so Leta could see Susie through the screen. I could not get close to the window to be safe.

My legs started to hurt again; I have been brittle since the chemotherapy, and stress on my legs, like standing for twenty minutes, can cause me issues. I still am having issues with stairs, and curbs were starting to become difficult. I might have to use a cane if this gets worse or a walker.

The painkillers, two ibuprofen, and one Tylenol four times a day is working. The pain and stiffness are finally slowly fading.

I stopped as my legs began to hurt and left Susie at the window. No kiss but a wave goodbye this time. It is always heartbreaking to leave. I drove back across Beaverton.

I drove Air Volvo to Tammy’s Hobbies in Beaverton and bought the new issue of Fine Scale Modeler, and talked to another gray-haired model builder. He told me about a European company, Magic Scale Modeling, that makes lighting and sound systems for models. He used their stuff in a huge cut-away U-Boat model. I no longer build these giant models–museum pieces, but the lighting and sound really improved this one.

Next, I stopped at See See, a new coffee and bar place in Beaverton. I wanted to write a bit, read some of a math book I bought, and try the newish place. They had bagels made in Oregon, and they told me the bagels were baked by folks from New Jersey who knew how to make real bagels. I ordered one, and I was then dreaming of the East Coast again with cream cheese. Dinner would have to be light.

I drove home and took more painkillers and napped, and read a bit. Finishing another chapter on math with examples that I need to do in Python. I read some more of World War 2 history in a one-volume history, The Second World War, by Anthony Beevor, who manages to create a complete narrative of the war–a near impossible task. I have just read the chapter, still early in the war, 1939-1940, of nearly a million people killed in China. I am on page 83, and Norway and Denmark were just taken by Nazi Germany. The author supplies extensive footnotes for any quotes. I would recommend this book to anyone like me that wants to tour the events without the deep dives. Deep dives are available in other books, of course.

I ordered Pud Thai and wonton soup to be delivered by GrubHub and ate about 1/2 of the soup and 1/3 of the Pud Thai. I plan to finish it on Wednesday night.

I watched the BBC news while eating dinner. The war in Ukraine continues with Russia being accused of hiding weapons in a nuclear plant and Ukraine being accused of firing on the same. The head of the UN said it was suicide and just shook his head.

I took another nap and read more about the atrocities in WW2 and Hitler now expanding the war, April 1940, in Europe. Hitler had more atrocities to start.

I took another nap and read more. I got going again at 8PM and wrote the blog. I also looked at some model kits and other possible hobby items. So far, I have resisted.

I did order more special cement I use to connect brass to wood and plastic, G-S Hypo Cement. I recommend if you need precise model work and you, like me, must mount impossibly small metal items onto various surfaces without ruining the surface.

Thanks for reading again.

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

I started the day at 7ish with my alarm waking me. I planned to drive into Portland and see stuff at Ikea, but I never managed that and instead just ordered stuff online. Oddly, the things I wanted were unavailable for pick-up at Portland’s Ikea.

I spent the morning getting ready for church and writing the blog. I managed a breakfast of yogurt, strawberries from the local Farmers’ Market, and a banana, plus I made Fair Exchange Morning Blend coffee, liberal, of course, using a French press. I purchased another case of coffee and have six more bags of pre-ground coffee with shipping for about $8.60 a bag. I don’t buy more as coffee ages poorly when ground, and this is cheaper than Amazon and, as it comes from their warehouse, it is likely to be fresh.

Aside: Xfinity was here for two hours this Monday morning working on the cable. This delayed the blog, and the findings are that there is an issue on the pole or the connection to the switch. I am back to 600 Mbps for the moment, but my experience is that this will collapse again into very slow rates in a few hours.

I was a few minutes late for church and missed the first hymn. Howard, the music director, organist, and keyboard player, is on vacation, so the band went unplugged and sounded good. The new pastor, Rev. Ken Wytsma, introduced himself and gave the sermon titled “What Is Impossible With Man, Is Possible with God.” Pastor Ken covered the angel visiting Mary as his focus and mentioned Joseph’s visit from an angel. Rev Wyrsma pointed out that Nazareth was a small village, that the impossible can be done with God’s help, and that God will be there as more than just a promise when the impossible is asked or presented. Past Ken showed pictures from his trip to the same place. While Rev. Ken was making a point about God, it was also a lesson about the history of the people and places in Nazareth and the authors of the Gospels.

The flag is still here at First United Methodist Church, Beaverton.

I had a haircut with Zorida at 1PM, so I tried Taco Time for lunch and got four regular tacos and a diet coke. While the tacos were not as bad as Taco Bell’s, I will not be back. Next time, I will find a taco truck if I want to buy a taco! I then headed to Zoriada’s place and then remembered it had moved and changed course without much backtracking.

Zorida restored me to my usual look. The mad scientist look is gone. The pain in my legs and stiffness was much worse, and I headed home. After arriving home in Air Volvo without issue, I took painkillers and then took a nap.

I managed to get going again at about 5ish and had the leftovers of my sub sandwich I bought a few days ago in Safeway. It was still good. I then tried the Salt and Straw ice cream place in Beaverton but drove by and saw it was packed and without masks or any form of distancing. Ice cream and Covid-19 are not something I planned to pick up together.

I was shocked to see little cat prints on my windshield after the sun glare hit it while I was driving. Apparently, I had air-conditioned the car enough to attract the local cats for a cool sit on Air Volvo; you could even see the slight smear as the cat paws slid down the glass. I just washed the car at the car wash yesterday! The crows, which usually liberally Pollock my car, have been missing from the area. I guess the cats felt I needed to be reminded who rules the area.

I returned home and returned to writing my Dungeons and Dragon 5E adventure. I also bought some office furniture for Ikea, as I said, for my new office I am setting up in what was Corwin’s bedroom and will have it delivered on Friday. It was expensive, as it always is, but I got what I wanted, and I think I will be happy with it.

My Internet connection was hit or miss all day. A truck is coming on Monday (as I mentioned above).

I called hummingbird house, and Susie was resting but was doing good. Leta (Susie’s mother), who I talked to on Sunday, had reached Susie, and they chatted for a bit. Susie seems to be recovering, and if the household can get negative tests, it should be open again on Tuesday.

David and Michelle, and I group watched the newest Dr. Stange movie on Disney+. I wanted to see it again; I liked it, and it is unlike most Marvel movies. The director made the B-movie Army of Darkness movies, and Bruce Cambell makes a cameo in the movie, and there are hints to the horror movies in this Marvel film. I liked the mix.

After that, I headed for bed, But the Math of Deep Machine Learning is not something to enjoy when tired, and soon I was asleep.

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

Thank you for reading.

Susie is still recovering from Covid-19 and is still locked down in her room at hummingbird house. I am troubled by a new issue. The muscles in my thighs are still painful from the ladder work I did to fix an electrical fixture on Friday; I am more brittle than before chemotherapy. I had trouble on Richard’s house’s stairs, but with some help, I was safely out and home. I am surprised as I have done that kind of work before without issue and will have to be more careful. Ibuprofen and Tylenol together are bringing the pain and inflammation under control. I am not quite in need of a cane, but if it got worse, I would.

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

Telling the story of Saturday backward, I got home at about 12:30AM. I grabbed, as I said, the pain killer and anti-inflammatories as my legs were locking up, and getting to the house from disembarking from Air Volvo was sort of walking on stilts without the height.

Before this, I was with Kathleen driving to her home in Milwaukee near the furthest edge of Portland after playing with her with Richard at Richard’s house. The drive was uneventful without naked folks, a local hazard I experienced on my previous trips from Richard’s, distracting us. I mentioned the event to Kathleen, and she was sorry to have missed it. Her family was visiting from out of town, and they were on the coast when I was maneuvering Air Volvo around the naked bike riders and runners the previous weekend (the first Naked Bike Ride in Portland since the Covid-19 emergency).

Before taking Air Volvo, I was at Richard’s house with Kathleen playing board games, my weekly game with Richard and friends. We played Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra, which Richard had just punched and none of us had played before. We really enjoyed the changes to the basic Azul that we know and love and played the game twice. Kathleen crushed us in the first game, and Richard won by one point over Kathleen’s score in the second game. I was less bad in the second game.

We then played The Lost Ruins of Arnak with the Expedition Leaders new add-on using my copy with all the bling and the add-on included (the add-on refreshed the game by adding more standard components and making the Leaders still optional). Next, using the new rules, we picked Expedition Leaders. Kathleen had not played before and picked the Falconer, Richard the Explorer, and I the Professor. As often happen, I got into my groove and pushed far ahead, but Richard caught and crushed me by exploring and defeating sites. I was using the unique abilities of the Professor to buy lots and lots of artifacts, but Richard was right when he explored and defeated guardians. An artifact gave you some interesting powers and was worth one to two points at the end of the game, but exploring a site was worth eight or, for the second-level sites, eleven points at the end of the game and gave you resources. Apparently, like many academics, I spent more time acquiring artifacts than performing fieldwork, which cost me the game. Next time! Kathleen liked the game but still loves Terraforming Mars better. Richard and I like Arc Nova (a game we played last month a lot) better than Terraforming Mars as the play, I believe, is more steamed-line.

Before playing the games, I was early today and stopped by Elephants Delicatessen in Northwest Portland for an early dinner. I had a pastrami Rueben sandwich which I had not had since I was in New York City last year. It was wonderful.

Aside: My Internet connection, via Xfinity (Comcast), has eroded (or possibly corroded as there is a connector outside that has been an issue before), and my connection speeds have collapsed to almost dial-up speeds. A truck is scheduled for Monday, and I am considering other faster and oddly cheaper options as I do not need the cable subscription. I would watch any local news on the web and use Amazon Fire for shows. Thus, unless Xfinity can get this fixed soon, I will try a new fiber non-cable service and forgo all the cable and the Xfinity monthly equipment rent.

I was at Central Taps in Beaverton even earlier, meeting Evan there. Evan was limited in his time to play games. We played a game of The Lost Ruins of Arnak with Leaders, and Evan crushed me (I made the same mistake as later and focused too much on artifacts, and the cards did not break my way). I had a beer and a smaller beer as I did not want to enjoy using Air Volvo too much.

Before being crushed in a board game by Evan, I had dinner at our local Pastini Pastaria. This is a chain, but the one in Beaverton’s food is often better than most chain joints. I had the lunch special, spaghetti carbonara, with an iced tea, extra garlic bread, and gelato to finish. They make a decent side caesar salad. I was reading while eating Math for Deep Learning. A book I purchased at Powell’s that is next door. It seemed really well done and uses Python programs and not exercises to help the reader learn the math concepts covered in the book–I like that.

Before I had lunch, I visited the hummingbird house delivering flowers I picked up on the way from Safeway for Susie. I had permission to drop them off and to talk to Susie through an open window. She was relieved to see me, even through a window. So I spent twenty minutes (even with the inflamed legs) standing in the garden below Susie’s window talking to her. Susie told me she was getting sleepy–the new side effect of Covid-19–and I left with a wave.

Before this, I was writing the blog, a long one, for Friday and getting ready for the day. I had planned to go to Ikea but dropped that as I would have to return to Portland again to play board games in the evening; it seemed a waste to drive into Portland twice.

I was up at 7ish and had breakfast of strawberries from the Aloha Farmers’ Market and yogurt.

Thanks for reading, and sorry if this feels rushed. I am trying to finish the story before my Internet completely fails! I am really not happy with Xfinity.