I am sorry, but it has been a busy weekend, and I am just now free to write. But, unfortunately, I had to rest a few times and could not just write.

Saturday 14May2022

So Saturday started at 7ish with me getting ready to have a movie day for Susie. So I quickly took my pills, read my emails, and then packed up my computer, a C-to-C USB cable, my portable 16″ Screen, and some popcorn.

I purchased a four-movie set on Apple that morning. This included Sing In The Rain and today’s movie Gigi from 1958. This is Susie’s favorite, and she knows all the words and all the songs. I have lost track of the number of times I have seen it–primarily bits and pieces while I sat with Susie for some of the good parts.

So on Saturday, I headed to the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center found at 3900 Pacific Highway, but this time I had to turn around in the parking lot. I took the back entrance, and an ambulance was parked in the driveway, blocking my parking lot access. I was relieved after re-entering the parking lot via Pacific Highway and discovering Susie in room 44A.

I got out the laptop and connected the larger screen. I connected to the Bluetooth-accessible speakers I brought and set them in Susie’s bed. I got popcorn and got some for Susie and her roommate, Terry. We spent the next few hours watching the movie. Gigi was fun, and Susie sang along and once or twice explained the story to me.

We called Leta, Susie’s mother, at the halfway point on my iPhone using FaceTime. Susie was pleased to chat with her mother and had a friendly chat, then we returned to the movie.

Susie also had some popcorn, one kernel at a time. Susie loved the popcorn but was careful and had only a few bites. It is a bit risky, but it added to the special moment.

The movie finished just as lunch was ready, and I headed out. I had sat on a hard chair for almost three hours. I needed a break and my own lunch.

I returned home and had a roast beef and cheese sandwich, and started on my balloon model. I managed to finish some of the riggings and start the basket. I also ordered some clear acrylic rods as I decided that it would look better support from below and not hung from a string. This is for Dungeons and Dragons, and I hope it is finished in time to be of some use.

I also started a new book; yes, I am reading three books simultaneously–this happens when I get tired of one book or, in this case, I get some new, well-written book. I am reading a newly published book on the shipwreck of the American Civil War (I learned from the Brits that I need to put the American as there were other civil wars), the Sultana. The book is, for me, a page-turner as there is so little known or published on the Sultana, and the book is a real treat from the US Naval Institute Press (I am a member of USNI). Sadly, we have only a few pictures and no detailed drawings of the ship. While a terrible story, I enjoy learning so much from this book. Excellent.

While I was reading, Mariah texted me, and I agreed to have a rushed early dinner with her at BJ’s Brewhouse. I was there at 4:20 and ordered a beer and food. Mariah got there about 4:45, and we had a nice quick dinner and drinks. The bar staff asked me about Susie. They remembered her, even after the pandemic, and I told the bartender that Susie was in a facility, and they asked me to take Susie their best wishes (I told her about that on Sunday, and she smiled that BJ’s folks still ask about her).

I had just the California bread appetizer and some chips with cheese with a red ale.

Next, I was almost late to Richard’s house in Portland to play board games at 6PM. James was there to play on Saturday night. It was Arc Nova again. This is an engine-building resource management game with cards driving the play. The theme is that you are building the most fantastic zoo by creating interest and doing real work to help animals and the world. Each gets a score, and when the scores of one player cross on the board, the game ends. Arc Nova is complex but fun to play, and I like it.

I started in the first place and finished last. My score was minus 20, which was worse than my first game. Next time!

Next, we played, James having to leave, my copy of Unsettled. Another board game, but a different style. This is a “dude on a board” with cooperative exploration. And, like all good cooperative games, the game builds fast, and soon, you are immersed and trying to make it to the last task and survive.

Richard and I got lucky and got all the insight that gave us the advantages we needed to win and escape. It was nice to beat the game.

I returned home after that. It was so nice to play games until late, but that meant the blog would have to wait. I was soon reading and falling asleep. I dream I was trapped in a cooperative game, and I am not sure I won.

Sunday 15May2022 (Today)

The morning started today at 7ish, and I was tired and moving slowly. I decided that the blog would wait, and I would head to church at 10ish. I just went slow reading and having breakfast. I made it to church, and we had a guest speaker from the Hillsboro Fire Department chaplains. It was a good talk. We also got to sing a Hank Williams song.

Yes, that is a banjo!

Next, I headed home and had another sandwich and some leftovers for lunch. Next, I went to see Susie by taking Air Volvo to Forest Grove. She was resting in bed. Terry sold me that Susie had been up all morning and was just now resting in bed.

We called Susie’s mom and then Susie’s sister, Barb, on my iPhone. We did FaceTime so everyone could see each other. Barb and I chatted too for a bit. I had a short visit and left with a kiss.

I returned home only for a short time. I head out in Air Volvo to Cory’s house to play Dungeons and Dragons. We finally got a chance to try out our characters in a significant heist. We raided a small base. Our characters are not built for combat but for hidden movement and a grab and run. This time we got to use this to our full capability. Matt was surprised by our tactics (or lack of them) and how we stole everything we could get and escaped with our goal fulfilled and even more loot. This fits the older model of D&D, where you avoid the battle but grab the loot.

Our characters are two monks (I play the drunken style while Scott plays the mysterious shadow monk), a ranger, a bard, and a rogue (and hobbit and arcane trickers–filling in for being our wizard too). Every player character has stealth as a skill!

That is where I will stop the story. I am tired, but it was a lovely weekend.

My china rose, Old Blush, flowers are out now.

The bloom is beaten down by the heavy rains. Yes, it has been a damp spring–even by Oregon standards!

Yes, it is that fateful day: Friday the 13th. But, it is also Summer Hours, so Nike closed at noon today, and we are not in the office on Mondays and Fridays. And, today fit the bill of a fateful day: dark and wet.

I started the day feeling fine at 6:15 and began some laundry for Susie. I wanted to wash stuff that had been hung up for months that she could wear at the new location. I liked the stuff to be clean. I will also wash some blankets and collect some of her fav stuff for her new room.

At Nike, the big project starts the journey of the final implementation this weekend. Thus, it is tranquil at work–quiet before the storm. I slipped out about 10ish to mail the books Glenda wanted to keep when she was here. I got them addressed and then off to the post office, media mail–cheap. I next slipped in a quick purchase of stuff for lunch, some cleaning supplies, and flowers for Susie at Safeway. I was back in time to drive Corwin to work at 11ish.

I made a chef’s salad and Pacific Clam Chowder (made with local pacific clams) that I picked up in Safeway. After that, I took Air Volvo through the rainy roads that reached the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center at 3900 Pacific Highway. Susie was not in room 44A but was just starting her lunch at 1ish near the Nurses’ station.

I stayed with Susie; I was now off for the afternoon, for her whole lunch. I also replaced her old fading flowers with new flowers. Next, I spoke to Social Services, but they have not done anything about discharging Susie; medical stuff always goes at its own speed.

Soon Susie was done, and I was ready to leave with a kiss. I headed home. I was a bit dizzy and tired. Soon I was facing long evacuations in the bathroom, ugh. I was repeating one of the side effects of colon cancer today. So I canceled any more plans and took a rest.

I finally got up and could stay out of the bathroom by 6ish. I ordered Kentucky Fried Chicken delivered and rented the movie via Amazon, Moonfall. I had read reviews that it was not that terrible. Soon KFC was here and I was watching the disaster-SciFi film and enjoying it. It was really fun and never blinked or made fun of itself. I liked it.

After that, with the bowel problems slowing, I rested some more and then wrote the blog.

I will try to get some rest tonight.

By the end of the day, leaving work at 4ish, I was unsteady and sleepy. So it was time to stop. But that is not where the day started, and the finish was not too bad either, thus:

The morning started with my alarm at 6:15 not waking me as I had left my phone charging and woke myself up. I was disappointed when the alarm did not ring when I woke minutes before it. I was happy when I found the phone, and there were no calls last night.

Starting my day, I read emails, both work and mine, and some news while eating a bagel and a banana. I drink Fair Exchange coffee–liberal coffee every morning. I wanted to be at work before 8ish, which I managed.

I had a few meetings in the morning. I was mostly reading today as it is always quiet before a go-live. The skies were gray, and the rain blowing sideways. My hat was endangered by the wind.

I headed to the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center found at 3900 Pacific Highway in the rain at 10:30. I needed to be back around noon as we had a visit from our new VP. Another rushed visit, I am afraid, and I was soon walking into room 44A to see Susie after driving on 26 and the back roads without event today.

Today Susie was awake and thrilled to see me. She had her morning workout already with the Rehab team. I was rushed, and we called her mother, Leta, who could not speak for long as she was headed to her car after shopping. I then stepped out and talked to the Administrator, Dan, and he let me know that the head of Social Services was out with Covid. I spoke to another gentleman in Socal Services, and he will call Michelle at Allegiance Senior Care to start the process of transferring Susie to their care.

Rehab is happy with Susie’s progress, and I expect her to get another week of care covered by insurance in Forest Grove. So it would be great if we could transfer her two Fridays from now, but that may be too complex, and medical stuff always takes longer than you want.

After talking to Social Services, I was out of time and left Susie with a kiss and a promise to return on Friday. My plans are to watch a movie together on Saturday, maybe her fav of Giggi. I will try to get there in the morning on Saturday.

Work included a pizza party and a chance to meet our new VP. After that, I read some more and started looking at possible uses of Machine Learning in our existing platforms. I am also interested in getting some users to access the extracted data from our new platforms going live this July.

I was up and down the stairs more than ten times today. Finally, I reached my limits at about 3PM and got one more coffee, a free one from our coffee cart: an Americano with cream. I was fatigued and needed to stop at that time, and I drove home at 4ish.

The mail included a new item for my stamp collection, the famous F**k Off stamp from Ukraine. Why yes, there is a Ukrainian stamp set with a guy flipping off the famous Russian cruiser that is now sunk in the Black Sea. The set comes with a digital version of “F**K Off,” you can play, and other unusual additions.

I rested for an hour and then headed out to get some packing tape and other items at the pharmacy. I was going to have Popeye’s Chicken but remembered that there is a nice Sushi Track next to the pharmacy. Dinner was raw! It was wonderful! It was not chicken.

The food helped.

I returned home and decided to catch up on my stamp collection. During Covid-19, I have been able, from time to time, to purchase in auctions some stamps, mostly old used USA postage, for considerable discounts. I have done this as a distraction from cancer and all the other things. One of my specialties, local carriers, has been unusually cheap and surprisingly available (local carriers’ postage is rare and often expensive and full of forgeries–only experts should be buying anything–while not an expert, I am skilled at detecting forgeries and even collect them). So tonight, I went through all my purchases and put the USA and CSA stamps into my collection.

That is an actual, unused Pony Express stamp (a local carrier). I have another version of the stamp used on the real Pony Express. Used stamps are more valuable as the Pony Express did not run very long, and there is a special cache of surviving items carried by the riders. Also, I have a forgery over 100 years old of that same stamp.

Aside: I don’t like to collect Confederacy stamps–I despise the Confederacy, but I have a collection of many of the stamps. There is a large amount of forgery and reprints for CSA, which keeps me slightly interested. There are also local carriers for CSA too.

After putting out the trash and the lawn waste for Friday’s pick-up, I then wrote the blog.

Thanks for reading again.

I am again tired, but I will try to make a full report for today.

I was rushed this morning as I had an early 7:30 meeting, and I planned to do that one in my office building, called Clubhouse. So I immediately showered and reheated yesterday’s coffee and rushed to eat a bagel with cream cheese and choke down a banana. Soon, I was in Air Volvo, having taken my pills just before leaving. When I arrived at my office building with 15 minutes to spare I discovered that my laptop was still at the house. Crap!

Yes, I drove back and called into the meeting with my iPhone while driving, which was not what I had hoped for. The rest of the morning went better, and I soon had a few meetings completed and free coffee from our coffee bar in Clubhouse (serving Starbucks’ coffee, of course).

I headed out at 10:30 for the Forest Grove Rehab and Care Center with all my morning meetings done and a few hours open for Wednesday. I quickly reached 3900 Pacific Highway and was in room 44A. Susie was sleeping and still in bed when I got there. I woke her up, and soon she was talking to her mom, Leta, via FaceTime on my iPhone.

They talked for a bit, but I was rushed (again) as I had limited time, and soon they finished. I then call Dr. Peter Koper, our college English and Literature professor from Central Michigan University we have kept in contact all these years. Pete and Susie have a friendly chat that I joined a few times. Today, it is all good news as Susie is getting Rehab and responding well.

Susie will soon be moving to Tigard to the Allegiance Senior Care, Adult Foster Care Home, 9925 SW 82nd. Ave., Portland (just inside Tigard), Oregon 97223, and phone number 503-798-6037. The facilities are arranging for her transfer after she completes Rehab. That should be next week, I believe. Medical stuff always takes longer than you hope.

With all the calls done, I left with a kiss, and I drove back to work from Forest Grove. I take 26 and avoid the crazy driving trip through Hillsboro. However, I witnessed today a person driving across Pacific Highway and stopping traffic. This was particularly amazing as the person was riding a pink bicycle. I was unsure if the person would be crossing or soon fatally flying through the air. Still, the passive-aggressive Oregonian drivers, likely just as amazed as I was, stopped and let the bicycle rider pass through the traffic unharmed.

I soon returned to work and then went out for our free lunch. The wait was long, but it was a sunny day, and we all chatted in the crowd. I got my exotic fusion Korean and Mexican burrito and devoured it as I had to get back to my desk. More meetings.

Work went on, and I was not home until 5:45, which was the lastest I stayed at work since returning to work. I was fatigued from the stairs and long walks in the building. You do not realize how much extra walking and stairs are in these buildings. After staying home for two years and surviving surgery and chemotherapy, the daily grind is at my limits and leaves me exhausted each day this week.

I rest for just a few minutes. After that, I got a new book delivered, Learning from Data, which was recommended in one of my meetings today by the Nike VP in charge of Nike’s Artificial Intelligence platforms and services. Amazon delivered the book in less than 12 hours! It must be popular. I started it, but I am too tired for that tonight.

Next, I cut up the sausages we have left from a few meals and heat them in a pan. I then add the pasta and water for mac and cheese. I make meaty mac and cheese and share that with Corwin. That is dinner for me–cheap and easy.

I rest some more and relax. Then, I read a travel book for Europe. It is interesting as it is from 1926 and one of my purchases to better understand the time period for the Call of Cthulhu. Reading old travel books with all their advice is interesting. For example, the US money comparison chart in the travel book specifies gold-backed US currency; most US money was convertible at a fixed rate to gold until 1933.

Before it gets dark, I also visit my roses that are now starting to bloom. Here are some pictures and explanations: This is my China Rose called often Old Blush and is the first rose to bloom each year. It already has a faded blossom. It is ever blooming.

You can see that the rose bush is getting ready to explode in flowers. I did cut my finger on a thorn taking this picture. Old Blush has sharp wicked thorns–gloves to handle.

This is pink moss. It blooms only once and is near the bedroom window so the scent can float into the house. It is a huge bush. The thorns are soft on new growth and are medieval on older growth but generally can be avoided.

My tea rose, Mister Lincoln, is growing to a large bush in its second year with us. It is ready to flower next week. I have Root-Gel to propagate some cuttings once it flowers. I have promised new plants to friends from this one. The rose is not protected by trademark or other legalities. It is an old tea rose.

My rosemary trunk broke from the snow in April but is still in flower, lovely blue flowers.

My other rose bushes are growing and will also soon flower, but these are the first roses for 2022.

Thanks for reading!

I am almost too tired to write today. So please forgive me if I am brief today.

Going backward, I returned from dinner with Mariah at the Golden Valley Brewery (GVB), where we both had steak salad on charred lettuce. We sat outside, and I had left my coat at home as I was rushed to make dinner with Mariah. Dr. Peter Koper called and was looking for an update about Susan and me, which delayed me. I will try to call him this Friday or weekend when with Susie.

We chatted about cars and work. But unfortunately, I was fatigued, and I was not hearing that well after a loud party at Nike this afternoon. So I tried to pay attention but found conversation work tonight and excused myself early.

I did have a Spanish Coffee, which might have made me even more tired, but it warmed me up.

Moving more into the late afternoon, still going backward, I drove home, spacing that Mariah and I had agreed to dinner. I had just laid down and closed my eyes when Mariah called me. Unfortunately, I had to drive back almost to work for dinner, but even though I was tired, I had not seen Mariah for a few weeks, and she is always fun to have dinner with. So Air Volvo returned and took me to the GVB after talking, as I mentioned, to Dr. Koper.

Before this, we had a celebration for reaching the next milestone at work, planning a go-live for our software at Nike. I cannot share details of the software and the project here. However, there was finger food, wine, and beer. My boss, Brad, was good with a game apparently called corn hole. It was a lovely party and my first since returning. Many folks were happy to see me knowing that I was out with cancer.

Michelle, my first boss at Nike, and I had some pictures taken for the event.

Moving backward, I was working in the Beaverton office and, for lunch, walked out to the carts that are free this week as Nike is celebrating our return to work and picked up a to-go lunch. I then drove to see Susie in Forest Grove using 26 and the back roads instead of TV highway and thus avoided enjoying all the extra-legal driving I usually experienced on TV Highway. Susie was in bed and awake when I arrived. I could only make a quick visit (I ate the lunch while driving) as I was trying to use no more than 90-minutes for my visit and travel time. We called Susie’s mother, Leta, and they chatted. I had to head back right after that. It is a rushed visit, but it is what I can manage with Susie still in Forest Grove. When she moves to Tigard, I will have a bit more time.

They were celebrating Hawaii day.

I spoke to the Rehab team, and they are happy with Susie’s progress and expect Susie to remain in their program for another week.

Before this, I took Air Volvo to work and arrived there at about 8AM. I had a few meetings. Before leaving, I was up at 6:15 and had breakfast of a banana, some baked goods, and coffee. I try to read everything personal and work-related before 7AM. This allows me to reply before some folks’ workday and at the end of India’s day.

I slept well.