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This morning started a bit late with me stealing 30 minutes of sleep and getting going at 7ish. The meeting started with endless Zoom calls on status and alignment. I just sat through most of them as others could answer the questions. It was a busy morning of reading emails, reading Slack channel updates, and keep track of the goings-on of the data conversions.

Lunch was driving to the Golden Valley Brewery and meeting Madhular from Wipro and Michael G for lunch. It was my first biz lunch in 16 months!

We talked about work mostly and about how the project was going. We did get a few comments about gold, running, and traveling in. It was a typical catch-up biz lunch. We will have another lunch soon. Not wait another 16 months!

I rushed back using Air Volvo and had three hours of Zoom meetings. The afternoon was full of surprises (none I can write about) and frustration, best forgotten. It turned out to be a better day than I expected as the surprises were all nice. The workday ended after 5PM. I did follow along on Slack.

I ordered a take-an-bake pizza from Papa Murphy’s for dinner with a chicken caesar salad using the app. I got there, and they had a crowd, at least masked and sort of socially distanced, and my order which was supposed to be done, was not even started.

I told them to not hurry, but they did, and I had my pizza and salad soon. I stood outside to avoid the crowding inside, and they brought it out for me. I was just polite and with a friendly smile.

Tonight was Theology Pub on Zoom. Susie watched the first NFL game tonight. I managed to catch the start and the ending of the game. It was a close and amazing good game.

We talked about how the founder of Methodism, John Wesley, would see the problems of today. We would expect he would suggest only do good and help people. That grace would be obvious, and helping people is the most important thing to do. Wesley would expect people to not state ideology but to work with the poor and the sick.

Sorry for the short story. It is what happened today. I am tired again tonight.

I just finished dinner. I made fried hamburgers with a loaded baked potato (well, microwaved) with canned peaches. Sour cream, butter, and even cheese for the potato–my fav. I watched the Star Trek 2 movie while cleaning and cooking. This is the new version. I made fresh coffee to enjoy and brought the sense of control I had back into my life. Cooking and cleaning the kitchen before I start cooking always bring calm back to me.

Going backward, I was exhausted by frustration and staying up late to follow along with the data conversions. I fell asleep at 5ish and could have slept forever. I woke past 6:15 and got going again, making coffee, and made dinner.

Before that, I had Zoom meetings on and off all afternoon and followed along with all the events happening. After my experience in the morning, I was still frustrated. So I made chocolate chip cookies. I had put out the butter soften yesterday. So I baked the angry out and broke a rule. I had cookies!

One of the advantages of working from home, you can bake while listening to the endless Zoom meetings. Yes, the camera was off, and I did this between meetings, mostly.

Still going backward, nobody was up for lunch, and I had more Zoom meetings over lunch. So I ordered Pho from the local Vietnam place. Soup fits the tired feelings and frustration.

I also watched more of the Nerd of the Rings videos once the meetings stopped and could take a lunch break and eat my soup. These videos are wonderful part of a channel on Youtube. Patreon is funding Nerd of the Rings–so many wonderful things are coming from Patreon–and if you need your LOTR fix, this has everything you need.

The morning started as usual with status meetings with no real breaks as I had a few crises of the moment to handle.

I forgot to put on my alarm and overslept to 7:40 and was missed my first meeting. Nobody noticed as there were no issues for me in the meeting.

The day was bright with clear skies again. It was a hot, dry day. I walked about side a few times when I could not take the emails, Slack messages, and endless talk.

Susie had trouble sleeping last night and was up and down all night. My sleep was limited.

I will stop there as it is already late. Thanks for reading, and I try not to name the cause of my frustration because it is not fair to people. Please be safe.

The day started with the alarm unwelcomed at 6:30. I was up and going non-stop from there until almost lunchtime. After that, status and staff Zoom meetings started and went on for the first three hours with a few breaks. Between I was reading emails and trying to catch up. It was quiet during the holiday, so everyone wanted something now.

I managed to get Susie out to Zeriada by 9ish. Her appointment moved to Tuesday due to the holiday.

I continued on with the appointments and also filled out online medical surveys and scanned medical cards and like. I have a video appointment on Friday, and I wanted all the online stuff done. My doc wants me to get some tests done, but I first have to have a screening. So we wait.

I ordered Sushi for lunch again, forgetting that the Sushi place is a ten-minute walk away. The Grubhub driver laughed when I said thank you. I get the Smoked Philly Roll and the more traditional Spicy Tuna Roll. I order enough for two, and Corwin is grateful for the lunch.

To add to that chaos of the morning, I also received my replacement iPhone. I am going from an 8 to a 12. I wait until the upgrade is free and Nike asks me to upgrade. So I am also trying to set up my iPhone. While going to meetings.

I was late for one meeting; the new iPhone calendar was not up-to-date yet. Oops. I managed ok.

In the next meeting, I was not very happy with people. As a team player, I had to then listen to them. I was not happy.

I had a few more meetings and tried to find my calm. I managed it.

I took a nap right at 5 when I was done with the Shoe Company for today. Although I did check in a few times; no more meetings tonight.

When I had a short break, I noted that my 401K is over a 12% annualized return in this crazy year. This is the third year of 10%+ returns.

Once a bit rested and even calmer, I turned on the grill and made grilled hotdogs and toasted some buns. I have to admit I had four! I had a light breakfast and lunch, and I was hungry. So I cut up some onion and put just yellow mustard on the dogs. My fav. Susie liked them, just the dogs, no bun. We had canned peaches with it.

Finally, my iPhone is working, and I have figured out most of the changes.

I am traveling with Susie and Mariah to NYC in October, and I ordered the Modern Museum of Art tickets. I use Tripit and put all the info in there. It is pleasant to key in all the info and to see it all organized into a plan. It automatically updates by forwarding emails on flights and hotels, making it a handy tool. Unfortunately, events are not updated easily yet–manual.

Well, I am still trying to not focus on work and rest a bit. I still tire easily.

Be well, and I am again sorry it is not an interesting story for today. Just work.

Just a short note on this Labor Day. I started by getting started at 7:30 and making breakfast. I put in the French Toast Casserole I made the night before and baked some sausage links to go with it. I was going slow.

Last night, Susie fell while I had taken Corwin to a late movie, and we were contacted by Emergency Services and rushed home. Susie was unhurt but could not get back up. It was a scare for me. Sleep was hard to find and to keep.

So I was tired and trying to just find my way. When Susie got going later, I got her some breakfast, and she liked it.

I was checking Nike and saw that the data conversions had no issues this Monday. It is not a holiday in India.

Dan Gray stopped by, and I gave him the camera I bought for the church. We decided against using it before, but there are more pressing needs now. Thus a very nice stand-alone security camera is now needed. I also handed over the last two hardcovers I have read on the history of the cold war and manuscript and book production in Florance in the 1400s. Both are excellent books (the books are mentioned in the previous blogs; I have to repeat things). I sent a sample of the French Toast Casserole with Dan for him and Janice to try. We might think to service this the next time we make breakfast for the whole church. Lastly, Dan took the new Pride flag and pole with him. This is the newest version that is more inclusive.

We then went for a drive in Air Volvo. It was nice to spend some time driving around Beaverton and just chatting and enjoying a sunny day without smoke. We had a nice day of it.

Mariah called, and I was surprised to learn that the restaurant Stanford’s had finally reopened. The owning company had collapsed even before the pandemic, and the name and place were sold and reopened while keeping the name Stanford’s. But, the pandemic delayed the reopening. So, I did not know that it finally reopened.

We met Mariah in the bar, and we learned that Labor Day does not have a Happy Hour. We had dinner, and it was expensive, even for Beaverton. The food was good and familiar.

Susie and I took Air Volvo home. I rested and did the laundry.

Sorry, it is not a very exciting Labor Day. Thanks for reading.

Cover this weekend, I did manage to start Saturday late in the morning. Actually sleeping to 9ish! I was tired, and it was hard to get started. I managed breakfast and to look at everything not done and feel guiltless; I am tired.

Evan texted me, and I finally agreed to meet him, not for lunch, as I had antipasto leftover from the GrubHun for breakfast/lunch. There is nothing like meats, picked, good cheese, and cheese garlic bread (reheated in the oven, not the microwave) for a breakfast that reminds me of Europe and Turkey.

And there is not enough coffee left, so I heavest a bit of Turkish coffee. I have to beat on the coffee maker to get the brew done. It is not terrible.

I finished my “Istanbul” micro-story of 500 words for the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. I am nervous that I left a typo in the final draft I sent in. It took me a few hours to clean up the text on Friday and this Saturday morning. With only 500 words, you have to be brief and bright and colorful and detailed (but not too detailed); in other words, it is impossible. Nevertheless, I hope they will accept it.

I put in an order for Safe to deliver on Sunday night. It includes coffee, Duncan Donuts brand.

Evan gets here as I finish dressing. Then, we head for The 649 with two games. We will try the board game Grand Hotel Austria again after the Kickstarter updates cames this week. As a backup, we also agree on Wingspan, one of the great new games.

We also ordered some nice drinks. I had some Belgium-styled beer I thought was wonderful. Grand Hotel Austria still seemed mechanical and less about building an engine or resource management, and if you get behind on resources, the crawl back is harsh. But, again, it is fun to feed cake and coffee to the guest and run your own hotel. But, it seemed forced again. I will try it again with more players and see if that fixes the issues we had.

Wingspan has you play as a keeper of a bird sanctuary where you picked your birds with the game’s framework. Naturally, the best and happiest sanctuary wins.

Wingspan had me outpace Evan by quite a lot of points at the end. He managed to build a decent collection of birds, but he did not get any that collected resources or tucked cards. I was doing that with the first few birds, and that scored me very high. My only complaint with Wingspan is that sometimes the birds just don’t show, and you can’t win. It is still a pleasurable game once you get the rules down and plays fast.

We then picked up Susie and went to the Mexican place across from The 649. Susie liked her food, and we had some nice drinks. I had soup and a taco.

I did change Susie’s bandage. I made a new one to cover the stitches and we were all ready to go. I removed it on Sunday and treated it a bit. It looks fine. Susie has just a little pain. No issues.

We drove Air Volvo to the movies from there. We saw the movie Shang-Chi. This is the new Marvel movie based on yet-another-young-sexy-comic-book hero story. I did not like the last set of Marvel movies–the large scale of battles did not interest me much–but the introduction movies are often good. This movie, another introduction movie, is great and fun. It reminds me of Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange movies. The right mix of crazy and over-the-top superpowers. I will not put any spoilers here; it is just good.

Susie loved the movie, but as with most Marvel movies, she was not quite sure what is going on. Susie is not a comic book gal and magic that is not Harry Potter is hard for her to follow. She truly enjoyed the movie and was holding my hand through a scary bit.

That finished Saturday.

Sunday started with me up at 6:30 with my alarm and doing laundry and dishes. I have a board game with Casey and Richard. It is Through the Ages again. Casey wanted another shot at the game, and I am also willing. I make instant coffee for Susie and set that out with her breakfast as she is still sleeping when I leave a bit late for Richard’s house in Portland.

I felt better this time when I was chasing Richard’s score at the end. I could not catch him, but my score was respectable. I missed acquiring a mining resource and did not build enough science, but I still did well. Next time. Casey had the same problems I had in the last game. I think it takes three plays before you get the feel of the game and get the balance of options (cards) and resources. I suspect Casey will be hard to stop next time.

We then tried the brand new Ankh that I got last week from Kickstarter. My first three-person play. I had to explain the game and the rules. Some of the rules of combat just have to be experienced. We went pretty slow at first, and then it got faster and faster. We used the Old Kingdom Scenario for three players. I was at first doing OK playing the Egyptian Amun. Richard was playing Isis. And Ra, played by Casey, was ahead.

We kept learning and finding our way in the new game. It is a territory management game with some Euro engines in the Ankh powers. This game is in-your-face knockdown styled. It has a strange camel process to split the board into more areas.

Lastly, Amun, because I was in the last place, was merged with Richard’s Isis (in second place). I now played as a second-class helper to Isis. Casey now fighting a recombined powered-up Isis with full Amun superpowers.

Just as we reached the hard stop time of 4PM, Isis-Amun reached the game-ending level of devotion. We are all surprised by the game and how different it is from other games by the same designer. We will need to play again. Next time I am sure I will be the new lead god of Egypt.

We quickly tried to get Ankh back into its box, but the cards did not quite fit. I will have to work something out. I drove Casey home and then took Air Volvo back home. I made tacos for dinner.

Safeway delivered the groceries. Goodness, that was a lot of bags. Did I really used to spend hours buying, put them in the car, and then carry them in all that stuff? Or for $4, I can have them delivered. Hmmm.

Well, I have hit the time limit for writing this. I timebox it now to stop it from being losing its fun. I hope you enjoy today’s blog.