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The side effects of my re-mix of Covid-19 from Pfizer have been light, with just some joint pain. I am also tired, and my allergies are out-of-control, but I don’t think I can credit that to the vax. I did my usual pile-on for a Saturday and my new anti-Beaverton driving without any slow down from the vax.

I got a new photo ticket from Beaverton, which has made me avoid Beaverton. I was driving to avoid Beaverton on Saturday and returned to places like The 649 that are not in Beaverton. It may be childish, but I have had four driving tickets in my life and two in Beaverton in the last month. So I will avoid the problem and can skirt Beaverton to reach Susie. I will not be returning to 217; it is a mess, and folks are stressed-out driving in the construction there. My life is already stressed; I do not need more from Beaverton’s Finest.

At 7AM, after getting some sleep, I started my day. It was Saturday, so I was trying to not feel too rushed and managed to write the blog, have a bear claw and a banana, and enjoy liberal coffee via French Press without feeling like I was pushing it. I showered and dressed and soon loaded up Air Volvo. I had my computer and speaker in case Susie wanted a movie. I also, after years, put the board game Scythe in my car (leaving the airships and Fenris campaign add-ons behind). My friend Will used to say that you should always be ready to play Scythe and keep the game in the car. With the pandemic starting to wind down (in some ways), it is time to return to old habits.

I crossed Cooper’s Mountain and took Scholls Ferry Road to Tigard, skirting Beaverton. After the ticket, I am avoiding the mess that is Beaverton, with roads torn apart. The drive is lovely and full of curves and one tiny section of construction. You travel through the last of the farms in the area and see the new neighborhoods being built into the hills that were once orchards. It is hard to see the change, but it is the future–more urban.

I reached Susie after noticing the camera that photo ticketed me in Beaverton. I might have made a face at it. Returning to more adult behavior, Susie was in her recliner, having been up early that Saturday. She already had breakfast. We tried to call Susan’s mother, Leta, from the house, but Leta was having lunch at Panera’s in Lansing, Michigan, so we agreed to call back.

Susie was ready to head outside. It is already the fall season in Oregon, with cold nights and hot sun. You will shiver in the shade at 65F (18.3C) and bake in the sun. The park, Metzger Park, was full of kids and families. At least three different birthday parties were going, one with an impressive set of foot-tall plastic dinosaurs and a standee raptor for photos. The bunnies, squirrels, butterflies, and various birds seemed to hide from the rambunctious little people. Parents were everywhere trying to direct kids to the correct party. There were many toys set out, and kids were running to whatever looked good at the moment, never mind they are some stranger’s party. Chaos.

I found a bench in the sun, and we luxuriated in the sun like a pair of reptiles. We called Leta again, and this time she and Susie chatted for a while. I was just enjoying the sun and watching the various parents posses trying to find and route their children. Soon I heard Leta saying to me on the phone that Susie was falling asleep again; she was enjoying the sun and got sleepy. We said our goodbyes.

We headed in and started doing exercises for Susie. Susie has some rubber band-like things, and she pulls on them to help her arm strength. We did that for a while in Susie’s room. I then got out the ballon, just a normal one, and we then played a game. Susie hits the ballon only with her right hand. The left hand often overtakes the right, so I had the left hand hold the rubber band while the right played balloon. I would serve, and Susie would hit back, and I was often chasing the balloon.

We changed it up, and I would call out which hand, mostly the right, and Susie could only use that one to hit the balloon. That worked but with the left slipping in once in a while, which was OK. I tried to set up a TV show for Susie, but Susie would rather play balloon. We played (I took Advil later) for more than two hours. Susie loved to be a bit physical, and the ballon game really worked for her.

Evan showed, and Susie, after hours, was finally yawning and decided to stop. Evan and I said our goodbyes. I got a few kisses goodbye.

I took Scholls Ferry Road back to my area. The traffic in Beaverton, what a surprise, was terrible, with my left turn taking twenty minutes to finish with five light changes. I was soon safe and out of Beaverton without raising the crime rate. A bit later than I planned, I arrived at The 649 in Aloha, Oregon.

The 649 was the same, except they stopped serving water, and we soon had a tab with Steven and enjoyed an Octoberfest-styled beer and setting up the board game Scythe. We had not played this since Evan crushed me, and I had started painting some figures and needed examples from my game. I have played so much Scythe that I know the rules, but I had to remind Evan here and there, and we played a simple two-person game to remember the rules and the play–it had been two years! Originally, I planned to have some automatic factions in play to see how that played, but today we instead stayed to the basics to get the rules and feel of the game back.

Scythe is a recent modern game and a lighter 4X game. The focus is on building and exploiting with limited combat and exploration. Like most Kickstarter games, it has some good art and various upgrades. My copy is fully-blinged, and I have painted all the miniatures (including the mechs). When you play, you are one of the factions that start on the edge and move into the center. There is a Tesla (not the car) mythology to the game.  Steam-punk technology was made possible by Tesla’s unexplained blue power sources in the early 1900s, and World War 1 was avoided. The game is Euro-looking with elements of early twentieth-century posters. Ocean liners, Zeppelins, and battleships are replaced with Steam-punk mechs in the art.

Scythe involves collecting resources and using them to improve your capabilities. It also has a silly mechanism that only certain waterways can be crossed by different factions. Why rivers are so complex is never explained, and you have to just accept it. After the game was released, it was discovered that certain combinations in the game are impossible to beat and are now banned. I have glued a warning on the affected boards.

I did beat Evan, but by only nine points. I ended the game by completing all the required tasks, including beating Evan in combat twice (he beat me once) and managed to squeak by before he could use his superior setup on the board to force me back. We both played well with a close 50ish score.

I left The 649 after paying the bill (which included dinner) and headed to Portland, again avoiding Beaverton. The traffic was a bit slow, but I soon stopped by McDonald’s for a chocolate shake and fries (the Advil was not settling well) with thirty minutes to spare.

Richard made me coffee, a new request from me, and we started on the board game Rococo. Richard has taken on the challenge to play every game in his collection, and this was the last one and a fav he held back to the end. It is a resource management game with light engine building and a Kickstarter game. Thus, the components and art are of the highest quality with some 3-D and painted. The playing board is huge and full of colors.

This game eschews complex rules and levels of complexity for a smooth easy to understand turn closer to Concordia than Scythe. You collect cloth, thread, and lace to make dresses. You then put the dress on a noble for the balls, or you sell it for cash. You can hire staff, send staff to work for the royals for a significant payment, and collect resources. You buy decorations on the walls to get influence. It has my fav structure, a simple turn with hard decisions.

Kathleen and I had played once before. I was crushed, as usual, but managed to play every part of the game without errors. Being last on each turn at the start was a problem, and I learned to get the Queen’s favorite (cash and going first next time) was more important than it appeared. I also made many dresses and did not sell any, which was also an issue. Next time!

I would recommend the board game Rococo as it is an excellent game and fun to play. The theme worked, and the easy turns and long-term strategy were fun. The full version, with all the add-ons and 3D components with metal coins, is only about $150 online, so it is also one of the cheaper Kickstarter game buy-ins (usually running now $300+ to buy in with everything). We asked Richard to play it next week with more add-ons, Jewelry, and holiday gowns!

After that, drinking a bit more coffee, I headed out with Kathleen to her house in Milwaukee outside of Portland. I dropped her off and then drove home. Getting out of the way of many speeding cars on the late night drive out of Portland. I took 185th back, avoiding late-night Beaverton and 217!

I was home before midnight and went to bed, and fell asleep dreaming of making dresses and organizing my collections to be the most in each ballroom.

Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

Friday, I took most of the evening off, not writing the blog, and just watched the cable show Lucifer and made dinner. I made goulash for dinner. I defrosted some beef leg slices I bought on a whim at Basics grocery store. I then shopped up some garlic and salted and peppered the beef after patting it dry and frying it in oil in a pan. The garlic was unneeded as it just burned up in the heat. I added some to the goulash. I booked the beef leg slices until beginning to reach rare.

I had sliced onions, carrots in large pieces, sliced mashing potatoes, Hungarian sweet paprika, plus the rest of the spices and wine for the goulash in my low-temperature cooking pan. When the beef was starting to finish, I took it out of the pan and put it on a cutting board to cool and stop cooking. I then cut the meat off the bones and put the ones in the slow-cooking pot. The sliced beef was poured over the top, and I stirred as things started to cook at the bottom. I add more wine and later water.

The food was good, was short on salt–as is all my cooking, and could have used some hot spice to give it a slight kick, but it was good and old school. The bone marrow had gone into the goulash, and I tossed the bones. I had a few bowls and put the rest away for leftovers.

I watched some more of Lucifer–it is getting predictable. I am laughing still. I went to bed at 11ish. I got the mail which came late, and found a gift from Beaverton Police. Yes, there was a camera at that intersection. Some more to pay.

Before making dinner, I worked from home as this was Friday, and as usual, my email, texts, and Slack messages slowed after 2PM. So I started dinner at 3PM and did laundry as the pressure of work released. At 5:30, I finally closed the Nike laptop and turned it sideways–that was my drive home and the start of the weekend.

I had a complex afternoon, and I hope I managed not to have the Beaverton Police find new ways for me to pay, with stopping by Rite Aide to get my prescriptions and some lettuce to go with all the salad fixing I have, but no lettuce! I found the lettuce at the end of the produce section, which seems to be sorted by price at Basics. Eggs and milk are in the other furthest corner.

I had tried to have all my prescriptions turned to Optima mail-order 90-day supplies, but it appears that Rite Aid had filled them early, making a mess of this. I decided to move to this not cheaper (I pay the same co-pay multiplied by the extra dose) but more convenient delivery after learning that all my Rite Aid prescriptions are not filled locally but mailed from a central pharmacy in Washington state. Rite Aid thus, by filling early, prevents the move–more clever than I would expect from Rite Aid, which always seems to be behind. The POS pad was working at the store, the transaction was fast (I was used to waiting), and I was trying to keep up. I could tell that the person at the cash wrap station was proud that I was falling behind–the previous system really sucked.

We don’t want to give Rite Aide too many points, the store is still a wreck of half-done merchandising, and muddy prints on the floor show that the store is only cleaned at night. It feels like a tired old-school pharmacist trying to keep up with the new-fangled ways of the world, but I like it. I was sorry when my nearby store closed, but this one looks like it needs my business. So I will stay a bit longer.

After getting my prescriptions and lettuce, I drove towards home but first put in some gas in Air Volvo. Gas is down at the same Chevron another ten cents, and fill is about $83 now. For you folks who gasp at $4.89, remember we don’t add on sales tax, and Oregon has a high gas tax as we have NO sales tax. We are one of few states where you cannot pump your gas. So that is the full-service price. It rains a lot out here, and unlike Washington state (which is the reverse with no income tax but lots of consumption and user fees/taxes) would rather pay some to stand in the rain than do it ourselves.

The car windshield, still showing the bug hits from my trip to the coast, needed to be cleaned. So I did the now $15 car wash. It has not yet increased from inflation; it was $15 during the pandemic. Few of us were driving in 2020, but we were all happy to pay anything to have an excuse to drive in 2021 while locked in our cars!

I returned home and grabbed my passport holder with my vax card. I then jumped back into Air Volvo. I saw while coming home that Tektronix campus was doing free vax again–I bet they got the good stuff! I had spent an hour of my life trying to schedule on Rite Aid’s website, gave up, and had the next shot scheduled for 30Sept2022 at Wallgreens. But, if I could just show up and get this done, that would be a home run.

And that was what happened; the same crew that did my second booster was there from the south of the USA. So Yup, African Americans and Latinx folks filled the room, giving shots. Soon I was watching my 15-minute timer going after a friendly Latinx gal who had used my right arm for the shot, all Covid-19 goes in the right arm for all the obvious jokes, and I was done.

You can see the original shot was on April 9, 2021, and I remember how relieved I was to get it. Susie’s shot was the next day. I had split the days to learn the process and then to take Susie. (Yes, I have had the Shingles vax too). It was scary back then.

I drove home and went back to work as I described. But, I stopped at our Salt and Straw Handmade Ice Cream store, just a few minutes from the vax, and had ice cream.

The morning on Friday was a bit rushed. I was up at 7ish, dressed, and ready for a few meetings. I was meeting Rick from Physical Therapy at 10:15 at hummingbird house for a re-evaluation for Susie. So I rushed to be parked at 10:00 and then called into a meeting. Yes, I no longer touch my phone when in Beaverton while driving. The meeting at 10 was short as the issue was resolved and the meeting unnecessary. All my other meetings on Friday were also canceled (except for the first status meeting at 8:30) as folks must have been reminded of the No-Meetings Friday rule at the shoe company IT group.

Rick was there to discharge Susie. We had not reached the goal of having Susie be able to transfer. I was not happy. I offered to appeal the decision based on the fact that at least 1/3 of Susie’s visits were canceled due to her having Covid-19, and then she had to recover. I was surprised that Rick agreed with me, but he gave the usual answer that it was the Medicare decision. I then waited, and yes, he discovered that we are not using Medicare but insurance from my employer. We had three more weeks if he wanted to continue. Rick found himself back peddling and seemed relieved. That needs a song, Elton John’s big comeback song.

We set new goals, and Rick then got to work. We got out some rubber bands and discussed how to build strength in the next three weeks. We need to show progress, and he was going all-out to try. Better. Though we look the part, we are not 75+ but not even 60 yet and might be able to make this work.

Susie did stand, but she was pretty unstable. Susie was exhausted by the time we had finished. Jennifer will help with the arm exercises. Excellent.

We called Leta after all the physical and bureaucratic workouts, and Susie fell asleep talking to Leta! Yes, we had a busy morning. That means a song from the 1980s.

I was again unhappy with the ticket from Beaverton and will have to be extra-extra careful now.

Aside: While I sit in my office, a ruby-throated hummingbird visits the roses outside the window. I watch the squirrels, and the local cats patrol the backyard. It is so lovely to sit here and work.

Thanks for reading again. I will carefully drive across Beaverton this morning to see Susie, very carefully!

 

 

The morning started in less than a rush than yesterday. There was no 7:30 f**king-in-the-morning meeting that had to be rescheduled after I drove in and called into the meeting. It was still a bit of a rushed morning as I was still headed to the office, trying to be there before 8ish. I managed it but then had a hallway conversation for an hour or more and missed calling into status meetings which I have to not use the camera. I am not as good an actor as my directors, who can look interested and not roll their eyes no matter who speaks meaningless gobbledygook. It’s like we are saying: Yes, we do know that you are making it up, speaker, but we all know if we point it out, the meeting will go on longer. So we will just smile and nod. So it was good to chat with my friends.

OK, I am a bit spicer today. I made the mistake of asking questions a few times today and extended the meeting. I am so sorry! I was amazed by my colleagues’ ability to nod and smile. I will practice more.

Returning to the narrative, I heard from Rick from Physical Therapy, and he will see Susie for a re-evaluation on Friday at 10:15 at the hummingbird house. I called and got that on Susie’s schedule with Vanessa, the nurse aide for today. So I will try to make it.

Next, I met the lead for development, who was in town today, Spanden. We have worked together for years and have been on many calls but have never met. It was great to shake hands and talk. We agreed we would get some beers next time he is in town!

Thursday went on with meeting after meeting with me asking too many questions. Finally, I managed to quiet down.

I also loaded Python on my Nike laptop; I have never loaded Python on Windows before.

I headed out just before noon and stopped by Burger King to get a burger, thinking I needed some protein. The traffic jam in the parking lot near Burger King was an Oregonian mess of over-polite driving. I had to wave the drivers to move through and not scratch the paint. I ate my burger, watching the slow-moving traffic in the parking lot with cars backing up and others waiting for them even when there was parking elsewhere. It was an eye-rolling kind of day.

I managed to escape the parking lot and then got on 26 and found the parking lot, which was 217, this afternoon. I was driving 4 mph for about a mile. But, I finally made it to the hummingbird house. It was still cold, so it was not a park day.

Susie was delighted to see me. She was all comfy in her recliner. She stayed there for a visit, and soon we called her mother, Leta, and they had a friendly chat on my iPhone using FaceTime. Susie was slightly distracted; M.A.S.H was on the TV, which is her favorite. Vanessa found it and put it on for her.

I got out the balloon and had Susie hit it back with her right hand. Susie’s left hand was overtaking her right, but soon she could use just her right. It was fun, and one of the other residents soon joined in. I spoke to Vanessa, and she will do that with her. It helps Susie to improve her right side. It was nice to see Susie smile.

I had to head back to work, and with a kiss, I was headed out.

I stopped by my building, Clubhouse, and had to deal with a few crises of the moment; a data scrambling for protection was overdone and needed to be reversed. I was late for my next meeting in the building Victory. This is my old group that I am helping again. It was nice to see folks working on my previous software.

Soon, after chatting for a while and listening to an emergency discussion–which was like returning home for me, I drove home. I worked from home for a few hours.

I made pasta with sausage for dinner. I overate, but it was so good. I will still have plenty left over for the next few days. I watched the over-the-top show Lucifer while I had dinner. I was laughing non-stop and loved the first two episodes. The storyline is Satan is on vacation in LA, running a high-end dance club. He has made friends and is upset when one is murdered in his arms. The steely women detective is somehow immune to his charms and powers, and he helps her solve the murder–yes, it is a cop show! I was laughing so hard at the outrageousness that I was crying. I was saying to myself, “I wish I had written it, and how do I get a gig to write that.” The third episode started, and it was a bit flat for me, so I got back to work writing and will watch it later.

It was nice to laugh again. I have been crying a lot.

I got an email from the Naval Institute that they have an Artificial Intelligence (AI) meeting in October. I am thinking of going–I might go in person, but online access is also available. I was heartened as the fiction story I turned in for the Naval Institute contest was about AI and the Turing Test in a wargame setting, and maybe they won’t hate it after all. I am afraid to hope.

Well, I must get the trash out and get to bed soon. I had to stop about halfway, and my feet and legs cramped up. I rested for a bit and read, and napped.

Thank you for reading, and hope I was not too spice or too specific about work. It was a busy day–I like busy.

 

Today I am exhausted and had to rest a few times. I am feeling a bit better now.

The day started with me rushing to make a 7:30AM meeting in the office. This was made harder as I could not sleep well last night. I finished my article for the Naval Institute Fiction contest and submitted it. Again, it was hard to sleep as I was excited to get it done and turned in. I am not sure that it will be something they want, but I did write a story of just under 3,000 words, edited, and hopefully with only minor typos. So 5:45 appeared unwelcome by me. I was showered and had a banana and 1/2 a bear claw pastries in the car–no time for coffee.

As often happens, the meeting failed and will be rescheduled. Ugh! I found coffee and then had hours of meetings in the morning. I had a few crises of the moment, but mostly I was just keeping up with status meetings and various emails and Slack messages.

Leadership had breakfast, and later, lunch was delivered not far from our working area. We could smell food the whole time. But, oddly, it appears that the food was not eaten by anyone, as the meeting it was for seems to have been canceled. How strange.

One of my colleagues had a birthday today, so we went to a Thai place for lunch, and the guy with the birthday bought everyone lunch (?!). Also, we were happy to see another colleague who had just had a child. So it was a lovely time; I ordered the special, which was not that good.

I left from there to see Susie. I had a little trouble getting turned around, but soon I was in the slow traffic of 217. It took me twice as long as usual to reach the hummingbird house today. Susie was happy to see me.

We called her mother, Leta, on the iPhone for a while, and then I made a quick visit with Susie to Metzger Park. Some health issues, lack of sleep, and walking a lot seemed to have exhausted me. I had not felt this worn since chemotherapy; I needed to slow down.

So after a short visit, I left with a kiss, got home again in heavy traffic (for Beaverton), and reached home. I then crawled under a blanket and slept for 90 minutes. I closed my eyes, and despite the neck pain, foot pain, knee pain, and other discomforts, I was asleep in seconds.

I managed to awaken at 5:20ish and was ready to head to the First United Methodist Church. I got there at 6ish, and Zophia, as usual on Wednesday nights, played board games while the band and choir practiced. I brought a harder one, The Grand Hotel Austria, which has lots of rules and a strange game flow that takes a while to get used to. Zophia was game, and we soon played without too many mistakes or redos.

The Grand Hotel Austria is not a game I would recommend unless you try it with someone who knows it. However, it is a wicked collection of rules and options that can make your head spin. My version is a blinged version with little 3D coffee cups, tiny cake slices on plates, strudel, and bottles of wine. I backed the recent Kickstarter that upgraded and reprinted the game (I got the upgrade) but have yet to add the ballroom dancing (yes, waltzing rules now) to my play. Zophia liked it but agreed it was a challenging game to play and learn.

We next played the quick board game Azul, and Zophia crushed me again.

After that, I headed home and had a dinner of crackers and pickled herring in cream sauce, a guilty pleasure.

I am tired and staggered. I will get some rest tonight.

Thanks for reading!

My ticket for Grammarly is on hold until I can invest some time in making some changes for them. However, I am getting excellent and demanding service from Grammarly support–they want immediate feedback. I have also noticed more updates that have smoothed out the workflow issues. I will try to help them when I have more time.

I am also having a colon issue, best not described, that keeps me running to the restroom. I have been enjoying this for a few days now. I seem to have only two settings now–everything and nothing. So far, no accidents.

I will go backward to narrate today. I met Mariah at BJ’s Brewhouse, yes–there again, to celebrate Mariah buying a house and my 25th (actually now 26th) year at the shoe company. We had the steak, and Eric, our usual waiter in the bar, was ready for us. He informed us that the pork chops were sold out, my goto, and we instead had steaks. Kate, another waiter, wanted to know when I moved into BJ’s as she saw me there three times this week!

Before this, I was resting at home. I had stood and walked too much, again. I also picked up the missing prescriptions (I missed the notification that they filled them–all weeks early–and those need to be refilled) and then bought some groceries at Basics next door. This is a new grocery store that recently opened–I like it. I was limping in the grocery store by the time I finished. I needed some milk and other items. Finally, I realized I was risking too much and drove home, unloaded, put away, and then laid down.

Moving further back in the day, the official celebration was today, the first party for folks with 25 or more years at Nike, including retired folks since the Pandemic. I shook the CEO’s hand during the party as he tried to duck out. I got to say a few words before he excused himself and left the party. Earlier, he actually tried to tell the joke that it was one of the few meetings where he is not the oldest person, which, forgetting the seniority of the crowd, booed and moaned at that remark. He recovered and got the toast done for our service: Honor the past while creating the future (I think I got that right–corrections are welcome).

Before reaching the party, I arrived at the Tiger Woods Conference (TWC) center after parking in the new parking garage, the furthest one, parking on the empty 4th floor (this also lets you take the ramp out, and everyone has a stop sign for entering the ramp, an easy out), and walking for twenty minutes to the TWC. I then used the cubicles on the second floor to catch up on emails and Slack messages. It was an hour before the party.

The party was downstairs, and I soon met old friends, many retired, and got a hefty pour of red wine, Pinot, and drank that for about an hour. The speeches were excellent, but mostly it was nice to see, literally now, old friends. However, I was tired, and I am brittle from chemotherapy still (and that other problem could return), so I stayed until after 4PM. Nevertheless, it was an excellent party.

Before returning to the Nike World Headquarters, I was with Susie at hummingbird house. Susie was having a good day, and I wished the Physical or Occupational Therapy could have been there. I suspect Susie could have stood and maybe walked today. She tried to converse with me, but I had trouble with garbled speech and could only get some of it. At least Suie was trying, and it made me feel we are making progress. Hummingbird house keeps Susie safe, and she is getting better, very slowly, but I think better. I am more hopeful today.

Susie was ready when I got there, I called Jennifer before I headed there, and Susie and I headed out into gray skyed Oregon outdoors (from clouds and not smoke!). Today is a fall day and something we see in October and sometimes in September. The rain had stopped, and the benches were dry in Metzger Park. We called Susie’s mother, and she and Susie chatted while we sat in the park. The winds were low, and the debris from yesterday’s high winds had been cleaned up. No pinecones hit me today!

Susie, as I said, was having a great day, but I had to head out soon. My phone was shaking with lots of messages from work. Today was the start of the project’s next phase–no rest for the wicked, I believe, is the quote from Macbeth that fits this.

Before reaching Susie, I had lunch at Jimmy Johns and had a sub with a diet drink and chips. I can eat about 3/4 of a smaller sub. I like the Italian-styled sub sandwich.

Preceding lunch, I was at Clubhouse for the morning with meetings from 8 to noon with just a few breaks. I managed not to have any issues and listened and discussed some new designs here and there. Details can’t be shared here, but I was busy, which was nice.

I started in a rushed morning, more rushed by my colon, going for the everything-mode multiple moments for me, without me having an accident. I began at 6:15 and had to push it all morning. Before I woke, I dreamed of working on projects and finding my way in a maze of buildings. That sort of matched my day too!

Thanks for reading. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures, and I don’t take many photos at Nike for all the usual corporate reasons.