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Saturday started with me oversleeping and missing the first Zoom meeting at 8. However, I did manage to make the 8:30 status meeting and to read the emails and Slack messages so that I was up-to-date. I then watched the email and chatted, by Slack, with some of my coworkers.

I managed to get going, and Evan came over, and we headed out for Mexican food and then to The 649 Taproom to play the new board game Ankh.

Evan managed to win our one learning game that we managed. I am usually unhappy with a new game, and my first impression was not good for Ankh. It seemed a bit shallow, and many of the pieces are used once or not at all. Evan learned the game quickly, and the rules are clear to me, and we only had to look in the manual once.

The game is colorful, and the play was interesting. I need to play it a few more times to decide what I think.

I had to do another status meeting. I did that on the iPhone in the car in the parking lot. We then drove and picked up Susie, and Mariah decided to meet us again at The 649.

Susie had never been there before. She had her fav drink, Southern Comfort Manhattan on the rocks with two cherries, and we tried some of their unique drinks. I had a wickedly spicy Moscow Mule. Evan and Mariah tried some other great drinks. Susie ordered a grilled cheese. Mariah and I split a salad and a Cubano sandwich. Evan went with the beef sandwich. No complaints and I thought the Cubano was good.

We played Killer Bunnies, Susie’s fav. It is a cute game where you collect carrots to have a chance to win. Then, you place out your bunnies to be able to play cards. But everyone else tries to kill your bunnies. Such weapons as Jello or Nuke Weapons are available. It is very random, but fun and there is some thinking involved (not a lot). Somehow I managed to keep a bunny alive when the last of twelve characters were acquired ending the game. I managed to have the randomly selected carrot and won. First time I have won the game in a long time.

Susie and I returned home and watched the movie Cruella again on Disney+ for free. Evan and Mariah headed on their way.

Susie had some challenges that night, and I had to do some caregiving as we headed to bed. So I was a bit late to bed then for my 6:30 morning alarm.

Yes, I started at 6:30 with five hours of sleep. I also started some laundry when I went to sleep around 1ish. So I ran the two loads while getting started. I also did the dishes. Finally, I ordered bagels and one with salmon for me.

I was dressed and ready for the 8 defect call this Sunday. Clean and shiny with the camera on.

After getting a muffin, coffee, and water ready for Susie when she is up, I got in the car. I called into the meeting on my iPhone and listened to the status meeting. I had not done Zoom on an iPhone before. It worked.

It was strange to be driving through the Portland tunnel and listening to status. However, I did manage, safely, to answer a question. Finally, I got to Richard’s house in Portland, and there met our gaming friend Casey.

We played the long-playing three-person Through the Ages board game. I had just learned it last week. It was fun to play again, but I made mistakes and missed some opportunities that Richard snatched up. I had a hard stop at 2PM, and we reached that and surrendered to Richard’s overwhelming play. Next time!

I dropped off Casey at home and then drove over to South Park to meet Mariah. She was having a new bike worked on, and they were over their estimate. So we met and had a glass of wine and a few bites on the appetizer menu. I also slipped in a dessert for myself. We both, Mariah and I, had not been back to South Park in years. Only service outside and the menu was nothing a recognized. Fish cakes?! Tiny cheese plate?! But still, the wine was good, and the dessert was also good.

The bike was not ready. We headed home. It was still nice to get a glass of wine and snacks at South Park!

I drove home in Air Volvo to make the next 4:30 status meeting. After that, I took a break and then drove to McDonald’s to get dinner. Susie Happy Meal was without apples! We asked for apples. With a learning permit, Corwin piloted Air Volvo with me in the passenger seat to McDonald’s. He drove on TV Highway.

Funny, Corwin hit the trash barrel with the mirror at the house. No damage. I have done that before. The Volvo alarms exploded as the small thunk happened. Air Volvo will press the brake for you if you hit them straight on. Clipping the mirror gets a lot of noise.

Susie and I are now watching PBS Wicked in Concert (with too many pledge week messages).

I am tired and it is late. I hope you like the story.

The morning started with me sleeping an extra hour and attending my first meeting with the camera off. I was not dressed and presentable until after 9ish.

When I worked for my old friend Aboo, he had us always do different things on Friday. So I try to keep to that spirit of not treating Friday as another day of the week but to try to do something different for the day. Thus today, I decided to dress later.

I had hours of status meetings in Zoom for the morning. The project is still running full-out and will consume yet another weekend. The holiday weekend is the first weekend officially a break for us.

I took Leta’s suggestion today and used Susie’s stationary bike to ride for ten minutes to help my leg cramps. I remembered to set the bike back to the pencil marks for Susie. Susie used the bike today without issue.

I ordered lunch from the La Provence at Orenco Station. They have wonderful, but not cheap food. I ordered two croissants for Susie and Corwin. I had their hash with poached eggs–wonderful.

I had more meetings, some crises of the moment, to cover various status and issues with data conversions. We are at the point of the project where folks panic. We had a bit of that today.

I continue to watch videos on how to play my newly received game from Kickstarter for lunch: Ankh. Unfortunately, I did not get to painting today as I was tired and received another game from Kickstarter. Grand Hotel Austria, Deluxe was delivered today. This includes the Let’s Waltz add-on and an upgrade kit for the base game to the Deluxe version.

This is mostly a component replacement for the original to finally use pictures of coffee, wine, cake, and strudel instead of the blocks that the game once game with. In addition, I have 3D-printed items that are even nicer than the ones supplied by the deluxe version.

The game is hard to learn and win, and it has you accepting only the best guests into your hotel; the game has you running an exclusive hotel. While their rooms are made ready, you supply the guests with the aforementioned treats. The imperial government is also making demands of you that will be costly if not fulfilled in time. But, you can hire staff to help. Need more cake, then maybe you can hire a pastry chef or a barista for that coffee you need. It is hectic in the hotel biz around the 1900s. Plus, there are unique goals assigned to each game that force you to many dizzying choices. You are manager, accountant, and concierge for a quick seven rounds.

I do like this game, but it is a hard game to learn. The flow is chaotic, which does not appeal to many gamers. I just like serving treats, I think.

I managed to upgrade my original game. Disappointingly, the new revision of the rules did come with the upgrade. I had to print a new set on my color printer.

I am happy to see that the new rules include more explanation of various cards. Previously, I had to find the explanations of various cards in English on the Internet; it is a German game also available in an English version. The new rules also have changed the setup pictures to match the new components. I was not sure how all the new items work, but the new rules cover them.

I just peeked at the Let’s Waltz add-on. I was surprised to see that there are stickers to make your own cards in the same art style. The heads are separate, so you can pick how you want to fix them up. Bernie Sander’s head, with a mask, is included to remember 2020! I will try to punch it and get it ready when I am not rushed. I really like the theme and style of this wacky Euro-styled and want to enjoy unwrapping and enjoying the new material. I also might have to make that masked Bernie card! It also has a robot mode now for solo-play called “Dinner for One.” Oh my! Did I mention that the champaign is added as another treat!

I have three new games now from Kickstarter, and all are new in design and colorful.

I consider myself blessed with riches. I have so much fun I can’t even get to all of it.

Turning to the reports, the news in Oregon is grim. The National Guard is helping the hospitals now. We are not yet turning away people. Delta is exploding and killing folks. The smoke is in the east. Our skies are cloudy, with no smoke, as our weather returns to our rainy fall. It rained yesterday!

Oddly, our economics are great, and the state will be returning the most it has ever paid back to the people next year. If the Oregon state income is above the budget by 2%, then the state pays the money back. It is another unique Oregon thing.

My five-week sabbatical starts in five weeks.

I hope you have found this a good read today. Thanks for reading.

I managed as did Susie to sleep most of the night. The alarm at 6:30 did not seem that terrible. I got up and check my schedule, and rested until the last moment. I will admit that I was 5 minutes late, but that did not cause an issue. All clean and shiny with my camera on.

I continued to Zoom more meetings. I turned off the camera while I ate breakfast for the second status meeting. I managed to get through all the morning meetings.

Once free for a moment, I road Susie’s bike (adjusting the seat and remembering to put it back to the pencil mark I put it on for Susie when I was done). I am hoping some bike action might help my leg pain. Leta’s suggested it.

I ordered lunch from the local sushi bar called Sushi Zen (ten-minute walk) but had it delivered. The driver was laughing. Air Volvo is at the hanger getting updates, so I just ordered online, forgetting that Sushi Zen is a minute by car.

I was covering for some folks on vacation, and do I had a few crises of the moment to cover and one late at night. So it was actually a busy day for me.

I slipped out and took an Uber to get Air Volvo and pay almost 4x the original estimate that did not include new tires, brakes, and alignment. The Uber drive had me get in the back to protect her more. I was very supportive of her attempts to be safer.

Air Volvo is perfect again. The smell is of cleaner, and the shine is amazing. I saw my car salesman who sold me the last two cars; he suggested that next time I should just buy a new one instead of spending so much on fixes. Also, I had someone admire my 2018 XC60 and had I not left, I suspect my car salesman would have sold my car to the admirers of such a nice used car and got me a new one! Never stay too long in the Volvo Dealership if they know you.

A few more crises of the moment and a status meeting on Zoom to bring my workday to an end.

Susie decided I was tired and should not have to make dinner. So off to Nonna Emilia!

Like a Roman play, we first had a tragedy. Our favs, veal, is gone from the menu. But then, our waiter just says we can make what you want, and our veal is back. Yes, it was expensive, but it is why we come. Salad and bread and all the usual Italian traditions are followed. But one last failure could not be averted. There is no spumoni! Apparently, our waiter explained here in Beaverton, it is impossible to get. You on the east coast and in Europe enjoy your spumoni for us! So instead, we had ice cream very plain ice cream.

I am home and had to log on to the shoe company and help with a few issues. I am just now finishing up the blog and work. So bracket the time for the blog, and I am way over.

This morning was a rushed adventure. It is the pay bonus month for Nike, and thus I have the car serviced and detailed to a level that it feels like a new car. It is cheaper than a new one!

I dropped of Air Volvo at the service hanger at the mothership in Beaverton. They got me a Uber to get back home. Unfortunately, they could not provide a loaner unless I wanted to wait until next month. As usual, I tell them to spend my money and fix everything. I had already had a warning on tire pressure last month, so I knew there would be extra items besides the 50K maintenance and the SUV super detail.

I managed to get my meds taken, breakfast, and be back on Zoom for the first status meetings. I had four hours of status meetings this morning with a short break. As usual, most of the items required me to pay attention, but as nothing was breaking, I was mostly a watcher.

I ordered Indian Food from GrubHub that was delivered. Biryani Corner’s Chicken Tikka Masala with naan was spicy and nearly too spicy for me. It is still not as good as I have made, but I still enjoyed it. Corwin later finished my lunch; it was more than I can eat!

Susie had Eggo Waffles for lunch with peanut butter.

The Volvo dealership sent me a note for me to approve more fixes. Tires and breaks and alignment, oh my! The price is more than doubled now. I told them to fix everything. I am happy that the tires and breaks were still safe but on their last safe layer. I used them completely without risk. I was surprised that I could wear out tires and breaks in a pandemic, but I then remembered that the car skipped its last two services as it was just sitting around.

It either that or the squirrels are slipping in and sanding down the breaks and tires on Air Volvo to get even for me not planting a nut-bearing tree.

For lunch, I finished some painting of the action tokens for my new board game Ankh. Again, I was painting like an Egyptian. I painted the hard beige plastic with a desert color undercoat from Army Painter a few days ago. I then painted the base color for the token with the larger regimental brush also from Army Painter. I let that dry overnight. Also, the undercoat is not always dry the first few hours, so it is best to let figures sit for a bit.

I then corrected all the overpainting with the hard-to-get Army Painter Kolimsky Masterclass brush. Next, I finished all the detail with the same brush. I seldom use the insane detail brush, also from Army Painter, as I can manage all the insanity with the Kolinsky perfect point. So I did that last night and let it all dry.

For lunch, I sprayed on a shiny Mr.Clean protective coat. This is new for me. My model magazines use a shiny coat as an intermediate coat. It worked well for me today and I will start using this process now. I next washed the figures (Mr.Clean when done lightly dries in minutes) in cold water with some soap and then tried them with paper towels. This allows the paint to flow.

I then went old-school Army Painter and just used the Dark Tone and brushed it on. The protective coat worked, and the colors were bright. I then used some acrylic tinner to dampen a paper towel and wipe away some of the dark from the bright colors. I let that dry for a few hours and then finished with a dull coat spray from Mr.Clean.

I like the look. I painted these items first as they are the action tracking tokens and are used by all players and would be something you look at all the time. Can’t have plain plastic for that!

I have undercoated 30 little camel figures that were ugly grey before. I will likely paint them in the next few days. Again, they are important to the game so I wanted them not ugly gray rat-looking figures.

I returned to work. Some email, slack messages, and more status Zoom meetings. I was tired later in the afternoon and had a break of an hour. I was surprised to wake 40 minutes later. I just closed my eyes!

I did the last meetings at about 4:30ish. I then made dinner. My goulash stew, German-styled. I cut the onions, carrots, and potatoes. I cooked up the beef in a frying pan while cooking onions with garlic and tomato paste. I remember last time to freeze the 1/2 can of paste, so I just used the frozen.

When dinner was made, Susie and I watched Pinocchio from Disney. Yes, the real old one. It is a very short movie.

Got a message from the shoe company, and I am looking into a performance issue.

I hope you like the information on the token painting. Thanks for reading!

 

Susie had a nightmare and woke me up, and I had disturbed sleep. Thusly, 6:30 came unwelcome this morning. However, my first meeting was at 7:30, and thus I had to start early; no sneaking in 30 more minutes and rushing. I was showered and shiny clean and had my camera on for the 7:30 meeting.

My first meeting was with my old team that is developing the shoe company’s main accounting and fulfillment system. I am now doing integration, data, and data conversions, which gets me into enough trouble without returning to my old haunts. But, since I was invited, I helped the architects and business folks work out the issue. So, I was welcomed back much like an honored guest. It was nice to see I could still handle the shipping side of the software. All on Zoom as usual.

After that, I had hours of status meetings, again in Zoom. I had breakfast through those meetings and took all my medications. That is quite a process now, but I am careful to follow the same flow each time.

New problems arose in my health. My legs gave out, and I caught myself on the table. A very nasty surprise! This happened three times this morning and then stopped. I had unhappy visions of needing a walker or cane!

I remembered later that the pushing of Susie seated on the walker means I have to push while leaning a bit. I put a kink in my thighs. I need to be more careful. I had pushed Susie a lot on Monday and Saturday. Got to stretch that out!

My other health issues are a bit better. But, the disturbed sleep left me tired. I took 1/2 of a Benadryl tablet (a whole one will put me out) as my allergies are running harsh. This made me very relaxed, and I had trouble paying attention to the often really boring status details. I took a break when the morning status meetings finally ended at 10:15 and was out like a light!

I reawoke at lunchtime, feeling much better; the allergies impacts had retreated. I made chili dogs for lunch and made enough for Corwin when he got going around 2ish. Susie was up late too and had oatmeal for breakfast/lunch.

During lunch, I watched videos on how to play my new game Ankh. This game is mostly a worker placement game, but I also think there are some Euro-styled engine building. One of the videos I watch was a play-through of a whole two-person game. I could only enjoy about 1/2 of it. I caught their mistakes and misplays on the video; I think I have the basics down.

I returned to work, more status and emails. I slipped out to drive Corwin to work and then stopped by Rainy Day Games, our local gaming store. I picked up some desert yellow spray paint. This is an Army Painter product and can be used as an undercoat too. I decided to paint a few basic items in Ankh already.

Mariah sent a text that she wanted to meet for a beer and more. So we decided on the Wood Fired Rock Pizza. Susie decided to go, and we met there.

I sent a note that I would miss the last status meeting.

We enjoyed some food and beers. An early start. We watched shift change as we were early and headed out while the night was still young. The staff is wearing masks, and masks are worn when headed to and from tables by the customers. I feel safe still.

I returned home and cleaned out Air Volvo of our stuff and some trash. I deliver the vehicle to the mothership tomorrow for a two-day fix and clean treatment. Once a year, I have our car checked, everything fixed and detailed to the max. Due to the strangeness of the times, they have no loaner car (unless I wanted to wait another three weeks) for me. I will have to rely on Uber and friends for two days.

I then painted the plastic 3D action markers for Ankh and washing the tiny camel pieces that I will paint soon. The action markers are not painted in the set, and they need to match the color to be useful. The cardboard versions are colorful, and I am trying to match them. It was the first thing I saw I needed to improve. I have already decided to paint the set. The desert yellow undercoat is already in use!

I am still tired, but I will try to paint a bit more. I hope you enjoy the blog. Thanks for reading!