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This Tuesday started with me ignoring the shoe company and headed to an early doctor’s appointment. I have some issues, and more appointments and more tests are required. It is also troubling that my labs are getting worse; I was hopeful that some practical changes would improve my status. No.

So the morning was spent getting up and have breakfast, and then driving to the doc’s office. There I enjoyed more blood work, and more appointments are now planned.

Everyone was masked, and my doctor never took off his mask and carefully washed his hands after the exam. Everyone had eye protection too. This is an upgrade, and I was happy to see it.

I drove back directly in Air Volvo and returned to work. A few crises of the moment and required meetings flowed. I tried to catch up and then help.

Susie was awake, and seeing that my calendar was oddly clear around lunch, I offered lunch and a visit to Powell’s Books in Cedar Mills Crossing Mall. That got Susie going, and we managed to make it to Powell’s before noon.

Again, masks are required. The statues of owls and cats are also wearing masks again. The staff was all carefully masked, most double-masked. Social distancing was followed by staff and customers. We had KN95s on. Doc recommended that we use those now that delta-variant is back and so easy to catch.

Susie was looking for Vortex, a new Karen Coulter novel that just was published. They were sold-out. We managed to order a copy to be picked up later in the week.

I found the huge, nearly three-inch-thick Radical Mycology by a local author, Peter McCoy. This book is an attempt by the author to present his knowledge and learnings on growing and understand mushrooms and their like. Susan’s father was a published mycologist, so she is also interested. I have always liked this area of study, but I love it when someone creates a carefully thought-out work and not just random links on the Internet. This book is meant to be the go-to book for working in fungi.

We had lunch at the Italian chain place nearby, a fav of mine, but today the food was not as good. Usually, it is a step above generic Americanized Italian, but not today. Pastini’s was not that great.

Back home and I spent the rest of the day online working for Nike. The last meeting ended at 5ish.

Susie’s new Nike shirt came today. I had to pay full price to get it. It is a Just Do It with Bugs Bunny. She loved it.

I did receive a Kickstarter game today: Empire of the Stars. This is the second edition of an older game, and I have been waiting for it for a year. The pandemic and the snarl that is logistics from China delayed it by more than six months. This is another 4x game (EXplore, EXpand, EXploit and EXterminate) that is a bit between the monster empire-building Twilight Imperium and the extreme mind-numbing-low-level detail of Eclipse. All of these games are in new versions in the last few years. All are improved.

Reviewing the rules of Empires of the Stars, this game has fewer moving parts than the above-mentioned games. It also has a different turn structure that seems to fit a fast-moving game. The two-hour reported length of the game is a surprise for 4X. It is also very colorful but uses tiny plastic ships and other markers. The trend is larger. They have also removed the technology tree structures in many space games and added some random card events that feel like Scythe, another recently made 4x game. The game feels like mixing only the best parts of these other 4x games to produce a faster game.

A flaw, the game has no storage solution built-in. So I will have to stuff it in bags. I decided not to punch it today as I did not have enough good bags to hold the different items. Now games come with a storage solution built-in or at least some plastic bags. No bags. That is already getting comments from reviewers, not happy ones.

I think the game will be fun. As you play, you get chits for doing something that you then deposit in a box in the shape of a throne appropriate for the ruler of the galaxy. This is kept secret until the game ends when someone runs out of open chits. An interesting rule I have not seen in a 4X game. The unique turn order will also have all the players keeping their attention on the other players. No playing Candy Crush on your phone while you wait!

Well, I am out of time and have a migraine headache, and as I said, lab results have depressed me.

I hope you enjoy the blog and like my little review

Susie had some trouble getting to sleep, but I did manage to sleep once she got settled. It is always hard to start at 6:30 with only five hours of sleep, but that is a typical Monday now. So off to get the work week started by reading emails and Slack channel text messages. I was able to get breakfast and cleaned up in time for the first meeting.

I was late for many of the following meetings as there were many crises of the moment and also wrote an email on my Apple computer about the risk of the delta-variant for my church. I summary of the facts as I understand them. All of this had me late for status meetings.

The project is getting hotter, and I see some panic. This is usual as we are just a few months from the final build, and there are many issues. This, too, is normal, but we have many new people, and leadership seems uneasy.

I ordered out for lunch. No more going out to lunch with delta-variant exploding in Oregon. Instead, I had Grubhub bring me a Monta Cristo sandwich from the French place, La Provence, at Orenco Station. It was lovely.

Susie was up in the early afternoon, and I got her breakfast, water for her pills, and coffee.

I had a few discussions online at the shoe company. Finally, the crises of the moment stopped, and I had a quiet afternoon. I rested a bit.

I also called my health care provider to explain why my doctor’s appointment for Tuesday is not covered. The doctor’s office called me to check my insurance was still the same. The agent said that should not be a problem and would call the doctor’s office. I told them I need to see the doc and please stop the shenanigans. I see doc early on Tuesday, and I hope this is all fixed by then.

I made a salad for dinner, a chef styled with many veggies, cheese, and some lunch meats. I made cold roast beef and swiss sandwich for Susie.

We tried to play a new campaign in Roll20 today, but the material is not working. The maps, the most important part for the players, are completely dark. Roll20 has a new lighting system, and somehow this content is set to be dark. I will see if I can fix it. But, we could not play much today. A waste.

I called Dan Gray, and we talked about the choices for our church. We feel in our hearts we want the truth to be different, but the facts suggest that it is more dangerous now to have the church open than before. So the path forward is hard.

Today the skies here are clear and the light white again, not yellow with smoke. The temperatures are lower. We left the AC off and opened the front door to catch a little breeze.

My roses are still blooming even in the dry heat. You can see the photos a bit of fade, but still, they are nice.

This is a Japanese-styled rose that is nearly indestructible. Even salt tolerant.

This rose is bleached almost white by the heat and sun and is about 1/2 sized but still nice. There is also a tiny garden spider hiding in it that is not in the photo.

I will see if I can recover the Roll20 content or ask the Roll20 to refund (that usually gets their attention). We may try the Call of Cthulu role-playing game in Roll20 if the Dungeons and Dragons content is not an easy fix.

I have hit my time limit. So I will stop there. I hope you enjoy the blog!

I started Saturday with not being able to sleep and was up in time for a meeting for the shoe company and did the dishes and laundry that had stacked up for a few days.

The light was yellow again Saturday morning from the fires. The smoke also covered the coastal mountains as a small fire started on the coastal forest was also burning over the weekend (it is out now).

I finally got back to painting some figures. All my joints would hurt, undoubted the results of the flu shot, during the day. The pain would just move around all day. I did manage to paint a bit of the Scooby Do figures. This is the second set I have painted from Hassel Free Miniatures. I have a couple miniature companies in the UK where I can purchase miniatures that are knock-offs of a movie and so on. There is a Trojan Bunny out there I have yet to get from Studio Miniatures (that is where I purchased a Lara Croft look-a-like miniature).

Evan contacted me and let me know he would be late.

I did more painting and chores. Then, I mailed my copy of Fresh Brewed Murder to mom. I think she would like the light story. The next book in the series will be out soon.

Evan was finally here at 3PM. He took a quick shower, and then we headed to Mexican for lunch and then just one game at The 649 Taproom. The gals were running the taps, and they had a small but constant crowd. Everyone was back to masks, but I noticed that some guests did not follow social distancing. The staff was also changing their stances by guest; farther from me but closer to other folks showing less attention to safety processes.

Evan lost just by three points in our board gameplay of The Lost Ruins of Arnak. So we included my new 3D replacement parts. The game looked a bit better with less cardboard. I ordered the new parts on Esty, and they came by mail on Saturday. The mailman came to my door and asked if I was Michael Wild, and when I said I was, he then signed the package for me and handed me the mail while trying to keep our distance.

After the game, we only played one game as it was already 6:30ish. We returned home and watch the movie John Wick and then Svengoolie’s take on 1959 The House on Haunted Hill. This is one of my fav old horror movies with Vincent Price, lots of drinking, and some great lines. The ending is not that good, but the original had a skeleton fly out of the screen and scare the audience. This movie created the mythos around the haunted house that created so many movies later.

We ordered Pizza Hut while we watched all the movies. I managed to get to bed a bit early. Unfortunately, the pizza and I did not enjoy each other.

I overslept and missed the 8:30 meeting, and decided that church was not happening today. I was tired, and well, I was having some issues that made it clear to stay home. I was often resting today because of the issues.

I made cream scones, peaches, and cream styled from a mix, King Arthurs.

Susie slept late and then had caregiving that took the rest of the early afternoon. I, too, was having issues that best not be described. I had to do the laundry and remake the beds. I grilled hamburgers for lunch with corn on the side–I love corn. No buns, just a bit of cheddar on the burgers.

I ordered groceries online, and those were delivered this early evening.

I fell asleep while reading. I dreamed I was watching a movie. I did not want to sleep as I had dinner to make and dreamed of turning off the movie! Yes, I dreamed I was sitting in front of my Apple trying to stop the movie. I did awake with my hand moving on the bed as if it was a touchpad!

I made dinner using Schwann’s Chicken Cordon Blu, baked.  Schwann’s green beans were microwaved first, then in a hot pan, butter cooked some garlic and almonds I sliced up, added the beans, and wilted them. This adds a lot to frozen beans. Finally, I made rice in broth as a starch side.

I prep’d some Roll20 Dungeons and Dragons material for my Monday game (Roll20 is an online site that allows you to play D&D paper and pencil style, but automated and over the Internet). I have purchased some new material from a different source and fantasy universe. I usually stick to the standard 5E (i.e., Fifth Edition, the current version of Dungeons and Dragons). But, there is nothing left for the current power level of the characters in the standard material from the makers of 5E. So, I decided to try something from the Burning Sky campaign. This is a giant 5E campaign you can buy and play in Roll20 with revised 5E rules and settings. I can make it work with my usual approach to keep the details of gods, religions, and settings in the deep background and focus on the players instead. You know, if you, as DM, have to read and explain things for more than a few minutes, something is going wrong. I hope my players can enter the war and help the Rebel Alliance defeat the fallen empire by destroying the empire’s superweapon (why does that sound familiar?).

Well, that is about as far as I can get tonight. I am already beyond my normal timeboxing of 90 mins. I hope that these blogs are interesting and you enjoy them.

I decided to write this blog the next morning after taking out the trash and breathing in all the smoke without a mask and was then very tired. So, I will be more careful today. But, the air is, why yellow, is not a hazard.

The day started with starting at 6:30ish and me doing the normal stuff of getting up, catching up on work and my home email, and then reading the status and other information at work in various slack channels. The morning was dullish, with the smoke already making everything yellowish.

I had hours of status meetings in Zoom to cover status and various other issues. We had a build in the morning, and I helped with some of the planning. It was a bit old school, and we found our way.

The afternoon was a few more meetings and taking a short rest. I tire easily now.

The smoke was in the valley, and I was often coughing.

I had Mexican food delivered again by Grubhub. The delta variant and the smoke kept me indoors today. It is no longer about overcoming fear but surviving again!

I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for Susie and me.

I had a theology pub meeting in Zoom (we used to meet at a bar–most folks have a drink while on the Zoom meeting), and we talked about religion and the problems of inclusivity and elitism. Much of the discussion was about how to include and how the “elect” or the belief in elitism (that you are right with God or gods and others are not) impacts how people see religion and, in our case, how it impacts a group of Methodists. We did not find many answers on Thursday night, but being inclusive seems a start.

After that, I read and then slept.

Friday started at 6:30ish with me not getting dressed as I read lots of emails and status and even attended a status meeting. Today is bonus day at Nike, so my bonus showed in my bank account. I paid off some small debts, and my only debt is the house loan for a few moments.

I managed to slip out of the meetings and shower and dress. I then helped solve a break and looked at a few other issues.

I finally broke away from work to get some chores done. Then, I had a haircut at Zeriada’s, and now with the mask mandates back and smoke, I was wearing an N95 mask. I also have to call to get the door open as the place is fully locked.

After the haircut, I drove back and picked up the prescriptions waiting for Susie and me. RiteAid had called me with a recording to come and get them. They also have flu shots. So I had one. I learned that I was the first person to get the shot at this RiteAid. The pharmacist has given me many inoculations over the years.

I watched work email and the Slack channels on my iPhone, and nothing was an issue.

I rested and read a new book: The Cthulhu Casebooks – Sherlock Holmes and the Shadwell Shadows. It is a reworking of the Holmes story rewriting the first story and explaining why one character disappeared in the original stories; something I had wondered about.

Mariah is back in town and text and called, suggesting having some beer.  So we celebrated bonus day by having dinner at BJ’s Brewhouse. Everyone was back to masks again. The AC was working well, and we had a nice dinner with drinks.

I ordered a double gin and tonic. Surprisingly, Susie’s drink was delivered as a double while mine was the normal size! But, of course, Susie took a nap when we got home.

There is now a fire burning in the coastal mountains, and they are white with smoke now.

I am trying to get caught up on the blog. So I again will try to skip the less interesting items like what was for lunch. A year ago or so, I was still getting questions about how safe it is to get food delivered.

Monday was a day off for me, and I decided to try to sleep in. I managed to sleep until 8:30ish. Then, I was up and made a light breakfast and read emails, and tried to ignore the dishes in the sink. I was almost out of clean clothing, but I also resisted doing laundry on my day off.

I found an old Doctor Who I could not have seen before. The BBC in the 60s erased shows instead of keeping a copy. Thus many episodes are lost. For $2, I could buy a re-recreation of an old 1967 show. Apparently, a voice-only recording was available, and this was combined with computer-based animation to reconstruct the show. The sets are recreated from photos and other records.

The show has many episodes, and watching them used up the whole morning. It is at best an acquired taste as these episodes were made 50 years ago. They are more like soap operas than SciFi. I enjoyed the show and was watching how they recreated the screen to match the sounds. It was fun, but again you have to really like Doctor Who to watch this.

I made my lunch and got Susie her lunch.

I ordered pizza from Pizza Hut for dinner, and we watched the news for a bit.

I attended the Social Action meeting for the church at 7ish. I have never been able to attend as I usually have a Dungeons and Dragons online game on Monday nights. I have a new flag for them, a gay pride flag with a diamond shape with more colors to represent the trans and other communities. I just learned about this flag and have one now for the church.

I called Dan Gray after the meeting to ask about how to fly or mount the new flag. We are still trying to work that out. We plan to keep flying the original pride flag also.

I managed to slip in a bit of rest here and there as I still tire easily on Monday.

Tuesday morning started at 6:30 in the morning, and back to work. I started by putting on music and doing all the dishes, three days worth.

Next, while listening to Zoom meetings, I did the laundry. I have not folded it yet. That will likely be during Wednesday morning meetings.

I had hours of status meetings and alignment meetings. I also had to read a few days of emails and Slack messages. I did this between chores and while listening.

At 10AM, all the meetings stopped for a bit. I am feeling better as some of my health issues are starting to go away. The actions I am taking have positive results. Thusly, I went for a 30-minute walk to help get my legs to feel better and help my breathing. Use or lose it!

More status meetings and then lunch.

Lamb kabobs for lunch at Gyro House. Their AC is working in the 90+ heat. So I do more reading on my laptop while drinking iced tea, unsweated. It was a nice break.

Another meeting, and I am free of meetings. And that is good as the exhaustion starts. I have overdone it a bit.

I order Chinese delivered from Taste of Sichuan. Their food is better than most of our local places.

I am feeling better, but the work, excise, and house chores have made me tired. A good tired. I think I will stop here.