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The morning started with me not having to rush as Monday is a work-from-home day for the shoe company. I was reading emails, texts, and Slack messages before the morning had even gotten going. I had a bagel with cream cheese, picking the jalapeno bagel, which was a strange cultural mix. I don’t usually have hot peppers before I have had coffee!

The coffee was Equal Exchange, and I had only one extra bag, so I ordered more, finding I even had a code to reduce the price in my email. Perfect. So another case of liberal coffee is on its way.

Work was an hour of meetings and then mostly following along and reading days of emails from the weekend. I received a text from Tracy from Physical Therapy (PT) that she planned to see Susie in the afternoon. This surprised me as the last appointment was Friday.

I got ready to head out and then got another text from Tracy that she was delayed. So I leave and stop by Popeye’s and order a chicken sandwich. I eat that in the car. I then return to taking Air Volvo to hummingbird house.

The weather has changed to our October weather. It is cold, 68F (20C), and it rained last night. It will be raining off and off for the day. The smoke is still visible as a gray haze, but it is not as bad as yesterday. The rain and wind will likely get us back to normal. We can use some early rain this year!

Susie is in her recliner in the living room watching TV. She is delighted to see me. The puffy eyes and exhaustion is gone–she was waiting for me and PT. While waiting for Tracy, we called Susie’s mother, Leta, on my iPhone so they could see each other on FaceTime. They chat for a while, and I join in here and there. We ring off.

Tracy arrives as Susie is getting a snack, now in a wheelchair, at the dinner table. We wait for Susie to be ready and then head to Susie’s room. Susie uses her peddle device and manages to do 20+ cycles–good for her as she could only do a few last time. We also play with a ballon with Susie hitting it. She needs to use her right arm, which is clearly weaker than her left side. Susie is a bit upset. Today standing is difficult–I think the peddling wore her out–but she finally manages a stand. She is tipping to one side–again, the left side. It was quite a workout for Susie.

Tracy and I leave Susie in Jennifer’s good hands. I head back and reach the Volvo Cave without incident. There is less traffic on Monday than Sunday(!?). I am back to work and following along.

I get an email from the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival about the deadline for the 500-word story. It is today! I write two short stories and submit them. They were not as good as my story last year, but I wanted to get something in.

Dinner from the freezer is a Chicken Cordon Blue with garlic toast and green beans. I wilt the microwaved beans in a hot pan with butter and almond slices with a hint of garlic. Dinner was consumed while enjoying the next episode of the House of Dragons. I was happy to see Matt Smith back being bad. I think he should return to Doctor Who as the Master or the Dark Doctor.

The blog is my evening. I have the window open in the office and let the fresh-smelling air roll over me while I write. I have to edit the Naval Institute fiction yet tonight. Writing all day and night.

Thanks for reading!

One of my memory of the events of September 11th was standing outside on the soccer field a few days later with a choir singing at Nike World Headquarters.  We listened to Phil Knight, then CEO, trying to speak and make sense of it all. The pain was helped by all of us coming together, and Phil announced that we would run across the country because that is what we do at Nike; we run. It helped. As did seeing Queen Elizabeth having the Star Spangled Banner played in the UK. Just some memories for today.

The morning started with me sleeping in until 7ish and then getting going. I was in some discomfort and was in the bathroom for some time. Unfortunately, that problem repeated not in the bathroom. This was combined with breathing issues, there is worse air today, and a headache. Ugh! Not a good start.

I decide to work on my Naval Institute fiction story first. I spent a few hours inside my head reworking my first draft and cutting as I needed only 3,000 words. I have polished and added an Epilogue that completes the story. I have mostly smoothed out the text and removed fundamental grammar issues. I am more interested in the flow than the perfect grammar.

That led me to the blog, and I did feel like I was writing all day. I then felt unwell and went to rest for a bit. I did sleep for a bit. I felt a bit better and went back to the blog wanting to finish it.

I ordered lunch from Gyro House, a fav from GrubHub, and had the lamb kebab platter. I go with protean and lamb if I can get it when I feel off. Lunch helped. I finished watching, putting the blog aside, The Rings of Power, episode 3 while eating lunch. The break and food helped, and I could return to the blog and finish.

I did forget that Mariah had suggested lunch on Sunday, but she was OK with pushing that off.

After the blog was posted and emailed to folks, I dressed and headed to hummingbird house. The air is worse, and I was coughing and sneezing in Air Volvo, which has new filters (recently serviced, and these cabin filters were replaced). I crossed Beverton without incident.

Susie’s place is in Tigard, and their air is better; you can see less gray there. Susie was tired and bundled up in her chair. She had passed on lunch. Susie’s eyes were puffy and watery, and she decided, unusual for her, to forgo watching a show and just sleep in her bed.

A thunderstorm rained at about the same time, a surprise, and the beginning of the rains is always welcome. The air should be better, and we need rain, and of course, the firefighters will welcome the rain, but not the lightning strikes.

I kissed Susie goodbye and drove back to the Volvo Cave. The air getting worse and worse. The traffic was almost as heavy as a workday. I also saw many police cars in Beaverton and left my phone in my pocket.

I just pulled up the covers at the house, like Susie in Tigard, and slept. I was worn out. I had nightmares last night and in a waking dream in the morning. I was finally able to sleep without waking with a pounding heart.

I decided to head to Central Taps in Beaverton to play the solo board game Nemo’s War. The air was a bit better with the rain in the area, and I could use some human interactions. So I managed to play a partial game, but I could not focus. I had a stout beer that went well with the game. I could imagine the Hollywood version of Nemo with a tankard of dark beer–no IPA for Nemo! Something dark and brooding with subtle, complex flavors. I put the game away as I was daydreaming too much.

After paying, I headed back to Air Volvo. My luck almost ran out. Five, yes five, cars decided to brake shortly for someone turning off of TV Highway. Air Volvo had alarms going off, the polite trolly car bell warning that braking was about to happen. I thew the car into the bike lane and shoulder, braking, and avoid scratching the paint. I also avoided the rear-end paint loss as I saw the vehicle behind me was now where Air Volvo was a moment ago.

I arrived intact in Air Volvo at the house, getting a hot fudge sundae from McDonald’s on the way. I then started on the blog and will try to start more work on the other writing after the blog.

I hope your memories of September 11 are positive. For me, they are sad but positive. I did not lose anyone in the attacks, but friends of mine did.

Thanks for reading.

 

Going backward, I was home rewatching episode 3 of The Rings of Power at 11ish. I managed to get 1/3 of the way before falling asleep and going to bed. Before this, I discovered that the new print on the new huge 3D printer failed and was a pile of hardened resin at the bottom of the tank. Frustrating.

Moving to the earlier evening, I played board games at Richard’s house in Portland. Val and Shawn joined us for a four-person board game of Vast. Only Richard was familiar with the rules. I have not played it since before the pandemic; it is not a very good two-person game. We played my copy as I had the figures for the game (an extension that just adds plastic pieces in place of wooden or paper standees). I played the Cave which was a bit boring, and I helped the knight too much, but I was relearning the game. Richard slew the dragon; Val played the dragon. Shawn was the goblin horde, and he was getting beat up by everyone.

Vast is an exciting game as each player plays an entirely different game that all interfaces on the board. It was the first of the genuinely asymmetrical competitive board games I learned. When you have four good players, and they know the rules, it is an exciting game. Our game was a bit muted by having to check rules and actions, but it was still enjoyable.

We then played the card game, The Crew, for the rest of the evening. This is a version of a trump-based card game, but unlike many card games, this is a cooperative game. Each mission is mainly to ensure that a particular player, or crew member, gets a specific card in a trick. This means you have to provide the player receives the lead and takes the trick, which is easier said than done and runs against my usual card play. Cooperative card play makes for an exciting game. But, you may not speak during the play. Instead, you get a marker and can flash one card and use the marker to partially describe the card. It is a good filler game.

It was a pleasant game, but soon I was tired, and time to leave. My drive was not difficult, though there was a lot of smoke. I was coughing in the car from the smoke.

Before heading to Portland to play board games, I wrote more for my naval institute contest fiction story. I managed to reach the second draft and edited it to below the limit of 3,000 words. I will do the final editing on Sunday and then let it rest for a bit. It is due 15Sept.

My coughing and sneezing slowed in the afternoon.

Susie was ready for a visit to the nearby Metzger Park when I reached the hummingbird house just into the afternoon. I had driven across Beaverton in the smoke, and I was having, in the morning, out-of-control coughing and sneezing. It was so bad I took a Covid-19 test before heading out, which was negative. I was unsure if I should see Susie or play board games with Richard if all I could do was cough and sneeze.

I managed to control the coughing and sneezing when I reached Susie’s place. Tigard, the location of the hummingbird house, is near the Columbia Gorge, and the wind blew much of the smoke away. We managed the park, but it was covered with tree debris, and we stopped at a bench not under any trees. There, we called Susie’s mother, Leta, on the cell in the park.

It was good that I stayed out of the trees. I pushed Susie on the path in her wheelchair in the park, and I was hit in the head by a pinecone. I had worn my Indiana Jones hat for today, preventing any cuts.

We saw a dragonfly holding on to a rose bush. It was hot, windy, smoky, and not a place for a large dragonfly.

After surviving the park, we got comfy and watched, for the first time, The Rings of Power, episode 3, in Susie’s room using her TV (we had a challenge with the logon first, but that cleared up), which again bounces all over a map of Middle Earth from the Second Age. I am a Tolkien fan, so I like the maps and art, but still, the story is moving at Game of Thrones (GOT) speed, so I wish for more action and a faster pace. But, I think, like GOT, the writers are setting up for the big push (likely at the season’s end). Susie nodded off here and there, mainly during the Numerian and hobbit scenes, and was soon ready for a nap. I kissed her goodbye, and then Vanessa moved Susie to her bed to get some rest.

Before this, I wrote the blog and made improvements on the previously mentioned fiction story for the Naval Institute fiction contest. The smoke blogged out of the light this morning, and I had to turn on my desk lamp to write!

Lunch was leftover Southwest salad from BJ’s Brewhouse.

I also got a finished print from my new and expensive Jupiter 3D printer. This was my first successful printing and, so far, only successful print. The test print is two chess rooks on the same print.

I used blue-clear water-soluble resin, it was all I had, and they are perfect. I then tried a huge bust of HP Lovecraft, but, as I said above, that print failed and left me with only a puddle of clear resin stuck to the bottom again. Somehow appropriate for Lovecraft, I think. I am unsure what I am doing wrong, but I will try again.

I started at 7ish and was coughing and sneezing all morning. So I had oatmeal and liberal coffee for breakfast.

Thanks for reading.

This will be a brief blog. I was tired yesterday and went to bed early. All my plans to write and maybe play a game of Nemo’s War did not materialize as I was worn out. Today, while I write this, the sky is yellow and overcast with smoke, and our air quality due to smoke is yellow 69. I am also initially writing this in MS Word as Grammarly is hard to use in the WordPress editor. However, I am not finding MS Word much better as it seems outdated.

The light is so muted this morning that I had to turn on my desk lap!

Returning to my story, I was going, as usual, a bit later Friday, about 7ish. I work from home on Mondays and Fridays as mandated by the shoe company and thus do not have to drive to the Clubhouse. The Clubhouse is the former golf office building and is the home of the project and my working home for over five years.

I found oatmeal, instant, in the pantry and made two packets for breakfast. I made liberal coffee to go with that, using the French Press.

Today I learned that the project decided to move on from the software I have worked with for five years or more, which affected me more than I expected. I don’t usually grieve for work but having worked on this stuff through the pandemic, I was surprised how it has leaked into my soul. I will miss it and feel myself going through the phases of grief: anger, denial, bargaining, and acceptance. It is taught that these are separate steps, but I have found you shift between them, and acceptance is not really that but sort of wearing yourself out in the other phases of grief.

I was already tired and dragging, and the news of the change had all the exhaustion just move to the surface. My back hurt, too, so I rested for a bit and was surprised when the phone ringing brought me back from a profound sleep. I had only closed my eyes for a moment!

I went back to my in-home office with some coffee and kept going and following along at work. Fridays are usually quiet, and this is the first working Friday—during the summer, Nike WHQ closes down at noon on Fridays—was uneventful. There were no crises of the moment, and the Friday emails, texts, and Slack messages quieted as it was early Saturday in China and India and late afternoon here in the Pacific Northwest. We are also not getting the notorious Friday 4 PM emergencies that often plagued the heritage SAP system. But, again, they are one day ahead, and Thursday is a bit busy—their Friday.

In the middle of work, I headed out to see Susie (I am not going in order today but going by item). I was there just before Tracy from Physical Therapy (PT) showed up. Tracy proved that Susie could stand on her legs. However, Susie is just off balance and very unsure of herself. Susie leans to one side, the stroke damage is visible, and one side is stronger and more controlled. This mismatch makes it even harder for Susie to feel safe.

We also managed to get Susie to use the new peddles from a recliner, and she was able to peddle a bit. We can keep working on this without PT as it is not high-risk like standing. So we can get Susie some exercise now!

Tracy had Susie standing in a walker, and Susie had started to compensate and was standing straight. Success got a smile from Susie. We are just a little bit hopeful.

Susie was tired, and I left with a kiss as Susie was headed for a snack and a return to her recliner in the living room. She was watching Blueblood, a fav, reruns. I returned in Air Volvo with the sky turning yellow and the East winds from the desert making the air worse and the winds high.

At the house, the trees, gum trees, were being beaten together by the strange backward winds (winds don’t usually go East to West), and it was raining small branches, leaves, and prickly balls (I don’t care for those) all over my front lawn and the street. The air was hot and roared. Yet, my trees did not break as they have survived snow, the 2020 cyclone winds, and the winter winds for years.

Changing subjects, I was trying to print something successfully on my new Elegoo Jupiter 3D printer. It failed again! I know I had correctly reset the printer’s Z axis and was disappointed. Worse, the print was welded to the bottom of the resin tank, which was full of resin. Resin is slightly poisonous but not that dangerous. A mask and gloves are mandatory.

But that does not usually require the local cat. I noticed some things fell off shelves and a piece of furniture fell. I put most of the stuff back and then saw the cat. It was likely trapped in the garage when I closed the door yesterday. It was hiding by the water heater, and I started to meow at me. I pointed at the open garage door, and it just meowed. So, I meowed back and pointed again—my attempts to communicate the obvious failed to impress the unhappy cat. Putting asides what horrors could happen if I got a broom and tried to force it out, I instead, thinking the obvious might still work, went back inside, found an unbreakable bowl, filled it with water, and placed it in front of the cat.

The cat looked at the water, got out, smelled it, walked by it, and then ran out of the garage. When it hit the road, it jumped for joy and ran faster for home. Later, I looked up while working on the printer, and the other local cat was looking at me in the garage. I said, “No,” and waved it away. It looked disappointed. Cats!

The new tank is about three times larger than anything I have worked on before, and the printer is just set on the garage floor. It needs its own table. Soon, I was spilling resin, trying to get it back into a bottle after filtering it. The tank holds much more resin than I am used to working with! A good feature when printing, but the handling needs more space and better planning. I finally broke the print from the transparent bottom—it uses a high-temperature strong 97% transparent plastic film that is replaceable.

I saw that the resin was strangely sticky and wondered if it was just old or maybe a bad mix. It is only soluble in alcohol. I was soon pouring alcohol on the tank out in the driveway like it was water. Unfortunately, I forgot about the strong sunlight, and soon the remains of the goo was rock hard and still sticking to the film. I had to scrap it off with a plastic scraper. I finally managed to clean the tank. I brought the tank into the house and used water to remove the remaining sand-like bits.

I grabbed the water-soluble transparent resin I bought some time ago to try again. I replaced all the bits and cleaned the old resin where possible. Then, I started the print again. The new resin is blue transparent, even in the tank, and soon it was correctly printed. Yeah!

Mariah sent a text, dinner with beer. I accepted and then, as often happens, spent a while drinking beer alone at BJ’s Brewhouse, chatting with Mo, my waiter, and saw Kate, who bar tendered for me last time. She was doing tables today and dropped my beer off.

Mariah showed after I got a second load of chips for my cheese dip complements of Mo. We both had salads for dinner, but those steaks and prime rib looked excellent. Mariah was excited as she might have found a house she could own. This is no mean feat in the current market and ongoing interest rate uncertainty! The price was lowered, and the terms changed to work better for her. The owner liked Mariah and wanted her to have the house. Excellent.

We talked and hung out for a while. Mariah commented that I looked tired, and I agreed and headed home. Air Volvo got me home as the winds slowed. I will sweep the street on Sunday once the air is good—it is covered with tree debris.

Next, I was going to write, but I staggered and grabbed a seat in the living room. I found a fantastic science show: Everything and Nothing. I managed to get through ¾ before I started to fall asleep. I went to bed at 8:30 and managed to be back awake with my heart pounding from a nightmare. Not very nice. I went back to sleep anyway and managed to wake up again from an unpleasant dream. Finally, at 12:30 took my pills and went to sleep.

It was a painful hard day. I am glad it is over.

Thanks for reading.

The morning started with me waking to my alarm at 6:15 AM, as usual. Thursday is a strange day as there is an all-day party at Nike WHQ, Just Do It (JDI) Day. I was rushed and managed to get to the Nike campus in Beaverton before 8 AM. I parked in the distant parking lot, Jay Street Lot 2, so I could walk out and visit Susie. The parking garages sometimes have lots of slow traffic.

I met some friends and saw my boss, Brad, from a distance. They were signed up to run or walk to celebrate Nike’s 50^th. Yes, that is how you have a party at a sports company. Still recovering from chemotherapy, I was clapping and cheering on the walkers and runners.

I then went into the new buildings; I had not been inside. I toured each lobby and was happy when my badge let me inside. After that, I had breakfast at one of the new Cafes.

I saw a lot of older computer folks, and many folks said hi to me whose names I had forgotten. It has been twenty-five years at Nike, and I do not remember all the names. But, it did feel nice to be together on campus and see each other.

Aside: I am still working on my ticket with Grammarly. They asked me to use their editor; it was not that good. I am now writing in MS Word with their legacy plug-in. It, too, will go away soon. I am strongly urging them to rethink this. Sadly, the MS Word version is missing some of the issues found with the WordPress editor add-in. I am now editing twice.

I spent the morning walking and talking and enjoying the cool day. Soon my feet and back proved once again that I was brittle, and it was time to leave. So I headed to Susie’s area, walking another mile to Air Volvo.

I drove 26 to 217 and then stopped by Jimmy John’s to get a sandwich, and then headed back to Susie at hummingbird house. I made a mistake and discovered the roads were a mess of construction with a multi-mile backlog of cars. Oh my! No place to go. I drove back to Beaverton Central and got back on 217, and retraced my route. It is the only means to get there!

Susie was happy to see me, and I was tired and fading. We called Susie’s mother, Leta, on my iPhone using FaceTime so they could see each other. They had a friendly chat. Next, Susie wanted to head out to Metzger Park. I promised only a short time as I was tired from walking.

Susie enjoyed the park, which was busy, as usual, with dogs and little kids enjoying the cool September afternoon. The weather is changing to cool temperatures (with only Saturday being hot). We did not see any large butterflies today. Susie was soon cold, and we headed back a bit early.

I left with a kiss and headed home. I returned to the Volvo Cave without issue. I soon reviewed my emails, discovered I missed a friend from Europe at JDI and checked for any crises of the moment. I then rested for a bit as my back and feet were uncomfortable.

I ordered Italian Food from Grub Hub as I was tired. I re-watched the Rings of Power episode 2 to see if I would like it better. It was a bit better. So I am hopeful for the series now.

We had Theology Pub tonight at 7 PM, local time, using Zoom. The subject was Fear, and we talked about how Religion uses fear to push terrifying agendas. We discussed finding the means to find the faith to remove or reduce the fear. We also are concerned about the people who are alone and thus have no support groups to help them with fear. We were told to look for people pushing a cart at a store looking sad or sort of lost. They are there to be with people and are alone and scared. It was a frank discussion.

Next, I returned to my fiction story for the Naval Institute contest due on 15Sept and finished the first draft. It is slightly over 3,000 words. I can cut, so I feel good about it and make the deadline.

I then fought with Grammarly some more and ended up in MS Word writing tonight.

I was reading a lot today about the Queen’s passing. Sad to see her go.

Thanks for reading.