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I was very busy this weekend, and my current health issues make me tire easily. Also, I feel that a blog needs to cover more than what was for lunch now that we are coming out of the pandemic. Of course, we may return to lockdown, and I will be writing about lunch again if the variants get worse and we all lockdown again. Then just getting lunch delivered and groceries send is a big deal.

So returning to Friday, I started the day as usual and had a few status meetings and emails to read and send. I also got my lab results and was a bit unhappy as there are some issues, but no medical person said anything. We have a website and even graphs of results from previous tests. I did follow up with a message about one missing test appointment.

As it is summer and Friday, I decided to stop working in the afternoon. Nike has summer hours on Friday, and so we often stop at noon.

I went to the hobby store for a few items and brought back Susie’s dinner, her fav, McDonald’s Happy Meal. Then, I drove in usually easy traffic into Portland to Richard’s house.

We played two games of the Vindication. I spent most of the first game explaining and helping others. We had a four-person game, and I was the only veteran player. Unfortunately, I managed to score last! However, Kathleen picked up the game fast, Richard managed to score high, and Alex managed to pull just ahead of me. They mostly liked the game, and we looked up how to buy a copy once the new Kickstarter ends.

I drove Kathleen home after playing one more game of Vidincation that we had only three rounds until we tipped an end-of-game trigger. I managed to repeat the same score positions (I was last!). Everyone seemed to like the game. However, they were unsure of the end-of-game triggers as it seems to end the game too soon, and the game felt a bit random to Alex.

Saturday was a slow start for me as I had trouble sleeping. It is hard to get to sleep after playing games at night, and the medical issues were on my mind too. I had the classic too tired to sleep. I managed to sleep for only a few hours and was up at 5:30AM.

I had time to do all the laundry, dishes, cook breakfast, and watched an episode of Warrior on cable. Evan was over at 1ish, and we had Mexican food for lunch and then headed to The 649 Taproom to play two games of The Lost Ruins of Arnak.

This is a new fav board game of mine that came out in 2020. I bought a copy after playing a two-person game with Richard. I like the theme of the 1920s Hollywood version of archeology with hints towards Indian Jones and Lara Croft.

This is often called a mid-weight worker placement and Euro game. It also includes a deck-building mechanic with deck thinning, which I think adds to the game’s charm for me. We played on the advance board this time, and we also had some misplays. For example, we did not get the iconography in some cards that only apply to campsites, not the more valuable explored sites. We corrected that and a few other mistakes.

Evan crushed me in the first game, and I came back and took the second game, but barely.

We returned and picked up Susie and went to the movies and saw the next Suicide Squad movie. We loved it. It was a freaky, fun movie. Peter Capaldi was the bad guy and seemed to channel all his villains from his Doctor Who days to make a believable and horror of a mad scientist.

We finished with the Spaghetti Factory for dinner. We had caught the early evening movie so we could make dinner work. We had a nice dinner, and that was the end of Saturday.

I managed to sleep a bit. We were up and out by 9ish to drive to the coast to see the Smith family at their beach house. The drive was 1:45 long with a strange wicked drive on a highway innocently called 53. It was two lanes and was a workout to drive. My speed was seldom above 30 as there were so many curves. It climbed within sight of Saddle Mountain’s summit (I was a bit surprised by seeing that). Apparently, Kat Smith, David’s and Michelle’s daughter, followed the same guidance and drove this on her trip too. It is now known, to the Smiths, as Kat’s turn-off, and it is avoided.

We were there at the beach house before brunch time. We had not met in 15 months. We were delighted to see each other. We then had brunch at The Yolk. The Yolk is open for brunch only and offers amazing breakfast food (except the biscuits and gravy I had, which was average at best).

After that, we returned to the Beach House and played Concordia, another board game. I had to teach this game too. Michelle and Kat played with me. Susie and Kat as a team. It took a while, but soon Michelle understood the game and started building her Roman Trading Company; the goal of Concordia is to build the best trading family. Kat started to get it and focused on food production. Kat built her last trading post and started the end of the game. I managed to pull just ahead of Michelle with Cat far behind; she had not purchased as many personality cards as Michelle (having cloth and wine trade covered), and I (bricks, tools, and having all my colonists out) and thus scored less.

We played a partial second game and had to teach David the game. I think everyone liked the game. It is one of the best light-to-mid worker placement Euro-styled games. It uses a deck-building process, but there is no deck thinning.

Kat made vegetarian-styled burgers and with fruit. It was nice.

We drove home convoy-style that night. David led, and we watched the sunset in the Pacific as we drove along the beach for the first ten minutes of the trip home (David did not take 53). Unfortunately, our homebound trip was delayed by paving highway 26. I put in for Monday off after I got home. The travel and my illness slowed me down today.

I am time boxing this blog to two hours of writing. So I will cover Monday and Tuesday together tomorrow.

Thanks for reading! Be safe. And as an IT person, I always say, “And don’t break anything!”

The morning started with me ignoring my alarm and finally getting going at 7ish. The day is bright but yellow. The smoke is in the valley and changes the bright colors and changes to be more yellow. The air quality is still good. I can smell just a hint of smoke.

I started on email and Slack messages at 7ish and managed to get dressed and cleaned up in time for my first Zoom meeting. I had five hours of Zoom scheduled this morning, but some ended early.

I read the terrifying report from Violet Blue on the Covid-19 breakout. I subscribe to her report for an early version; you can find it on Twitter. With the smoke and the bad news about Covid-19, I ordered my lunch from Grubhub, Don Chilitos Mexican Grill. I was sad not to go out, but there is no reason to risk the smoke and the virus.

Work continued the afternoon with hours of more meetings. About 1/2 of them canceled, and so I was free.

I made potato skins with cheese and bacon for dinner from Schwann’s. Susie likes it, and I had managed to have two boxes of it in the freezer. So I baked two boxes worth, enough for all of us.

I would head to the movies tonight for the new movies. But I am unsure if it would be safe with the smoke and the apparently more contagious and possibly more deadly delta variant in a full explosion here in Oregon. Washington County, where we live, is one of the few counties in Oregon that are not at “high risk.” So I will be on the sidelines again, watching and staying safe.

The county and local government are not setting any standards. However, the bars and food joints in Portland are joining to have no-vax no-entry rules. Proof of vaccination will be required soon to enjoy Portland’s nightlife.

This Sunday, I may travel to the coast to meet The Smiths, who I have not seen in a year. With the exploding delta issues, I will drive out and back on the same day. I have done that a few times.

I am starting to work on some figures again. I am cleaning up my work area after building the hell war machine. I fixed a broken figure yesterday by drilling and pinning it to a base. I will paint the base after painting the base with primer. I usually use spray-on primer, but I will hand paint the base as the figure is already painted this time.

Holy Spirit Dwell in Me was a song I found when I was looking for something else. I liked it.

Last night the smoke was starting to show in the valley. The air quality is still good, but the bad smoke is already in the southern valley. Eugene, Oregon, is already in the yellow for air quality. We can still make out Mount Hood, and the Coastal Mountain Range is hard to see with the white smoke.

Last night I also found a squirrel sitting on the ground opening hazelnuts. The squirrels plant the nuts, wait for them to germinate, and then eat the sprouted meat. Not sure if they plan it this way or if it just happens. They leave little piles of broken nuts with sprouted leaves on the ground. I refer to them as squirrel circles. Not as cool as the wheat circles found across the county, but still a by mysterious. Do the squirrels farm the nuts?

It was in the 90F+ today and sunny with a nearly impossible 6% of rain.

I managed a bit more sleep, and my breathing is better. Today I was a bit busier at work as more items need solutions. I started at 7ish and managed to be ready for the Zoom meetings starting at 8 and enjoying hours more of the meetings.

Between meetings, I managed to redo the paperwork for my 25th work anniversary. I get five weeks off and other items. Our big project changed its plans and thus mine too revised back to the original dates.

I also had some caregiving for Susie as she took a shower while I helped. Again, between meetings. Everything went as normal. Susie only showers when I can be there to help.

Wall Street has fallen in love with brand names, and my Nike stock has hit levels I could never imagine. Wall Street believes in strong names and deep pockets. Nike has a lot of cash. Like many famous names, Nike’s stock structure prevents a takeover from raiding the cash.

I drove to Burger King and had a whopper with cheese and bacon. Oh my, that was good. Susie had just breakfast late, so she had dinner later.

While listening to meetings, I chopped onions, carrots, and potatoes. Then, I made a goulash-like stew from a German Cookbook that Michael Giessner’s parents gave me for Christmas years ago. Then, again, listening to the Zoom meeting. I was glad there were no questions for me. I was crying quite a lot from the onions!

I am going to stop there as I have already lost one set of updates.

A normal day.

I spoke to the doctor today, and my health issues are not as serious as they seemed last night. I have more tests and procedures to follow, but my main concern from the doctor is my breathing. The doctor may change my meds after the labs. I am to use my inhaler more and measure improvements with a flow meter.

Because of the unexpected illness, I took last night off and just read and tried to relax. The nurse said if things get worse, they did not, to head to the ER. So that kind of message slows you down and has you take it very easy.

Yesterday I did work online and tried to help where I can. I am fatigued, and it is hard to do much. I started with 7ish and starting the normal long haul of Zoom status and alignment meetings.

I had cold KFC for lunch and just followed along as best as I could yesterday. The day was full of process and reading emails and messages.

For dinner, keeping to going slow, I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for Susie and me. I fry them in butter and then dribble in some water on the hot pan to make steam to melt the cheese and heat up the ham. Otherwise, you can burn the bread and still have cold ham. You have to balance the water, so you don’t wet the bread too much. The butter will protect the sandwich from the water as long as you don’t flood the pan.

I read most of Fresh Brewed Murder, a murder mystery set in food carts in Portland, last night. It is a familiar writing style and location. It is light fair but still fun to read.

Today, I started a bit before 7ish. Unfortunately, I did not sleep well as I was keyed up by worry, and just laying around all evening did not wear me out. We had a celebration meeting and 8 that overlapped my doctor call set for 8:20. As usual, the doc was 40 minutes late.

He believes I will be OK and told me to tell Susie the same; he is our doctor, and I often attend Susie’s appointments. He knows she would be unhappy with me ill. So he is ordering more tests and believes we can work out what is happening. But, again, he thinks it is asthma-related.

Work was more Zoom meetings and quite a few surprises today. We have left the data conversions and are now setting up all the fixes and tests for the next data conversion in late August and September. I have many emails on finding and test results and corrections today instead of endless status meetings. I was covering architectural issues and some coding issues–nice to be back to real issues.

I also slipped out for lunch to BJ’s Brewhouse. There I had spaghetti and meatballs with a salad. I got to-go ribs for Susie and for dinner tonight. Everyone was back into masks, and there was a note that masks were required again. I could sit at the bar, and so I did.

Danny, a pony-tailed blond, was the bartender, and I thank her for the efforts. “It is a privilege to eat here,” I said. I believe that just getting to eat in a bar in a pandemic is more than I could hope for. I told her that I had heard that it was hard. She told me she has customers going off on her, and some even dropped food on her shoes because she did not clear their table fast enough. Again, I thank her and the manager for their work.

Work continued with more findings and more questions for me to answer. I also took a break as I get tired sometimes. I stopped about 4ish.

I finished the Fresh Brewed Murder today. Again, very light fair compared to the dark crime I usually read. I would recommend it for a pool, flight, or just something to relax with. The second book should be out in a few months.

I am tired again. I think I will stop there. Sorry I had to skip Monday.

 

This weekend swirled around my near heat stroke issues on Friday. Any exposure to 80F+ seemed to wear me out. So I had to stay inside in AC all weekend. I only went outside here and there.

Saturday started with me catching up on my blog for Friday and just getting going. However, I did finish the old 1930s movie The Black Cat in the morning. This is a bizarre movie that, when made, was at the limits of technology and art. The goofs and acting are very odd. The staging, too, is so strange you are not sure what you are watching.

Going into more detail, the movie hints at forced marriages and violent murders and has an amazing Satanic ceremony complete with organ music. The service is in Latin! I did find a site that translates the words–it is all grammar school lines spoken by Karloff that makes them sound sinister. Before the Satanic rights, Lugosi and Karloff play chess to decided if the nice couple that ended up at the evil cult headquarters will be allowed to live. Finally, Boris Karloff is partially skinned alive by Bela Lugosi at the end of the movie to pay for all his misdeeds! All you see are shadows and Karloff’s hands straining against the chains. Events follow, and Bele Lugosi says, “It is the red button,” that causes the evil headquarters to be destroyed with Boris and Bele still inside (it is a black and white movie). Thus the idea of a big red button is born! Of course, the nice couple escape.

The movie was a hit and was banned, again from my reading, all over the world. It is also the first time that Karloff and Lugosi worked together.

Evan contacted me, and we arranged to have lunch and play a few board games at the taphouse The 649 in Beaverton. I had soup and a taco and iced tea. Unfortunately, the heat was still a problem for me, and the AC at the Mexican place was not working well.

We moved over to the well AC’d The 649. This is a taproom we have used before. They are game-friendly in the afternoon–they are not that busy. So we grab a table inside and play a game and have a few drinks and usually some munchy.

Today we went with Vindication designed here in the Portland greater area. I know the designer. We have not had it out for a few months. I forgot how fast it plays.

The game is based on the idea that you are a wretched person thrown overboard and swims to an island where a companion finds you. You now are trying to vindicate yourself by exploring this magical island and gaining honor. You and other players, also playing wretched persons, are trying to gain honor. Your abilities allow you to invest in strength, knowledge, and insight. You can combine these to make wisdom, for example. You use the abilities to hire more companions. You then can activate them to gain their abilities and special powers. Or maybe you can find the tower where artifacts are available to give you use their powers. There are monsters to defeat that may slay your companions until you have the conviction to keep them alive. There are many choices. You may also move your potential to influence to use those resources. The game is about making choices on a random set of options.

The game is a resource management game with engine building possible. It plays fast and is made to look beautiful.

I lost the first game by seven points. That was anyone’s game. In the second game, Evan had terrible lock slaying monsters and lost his only companion twice. I have had this happen to me too. Evan lost by much more. The game end condition was hit early, too, meaning Evan had no time to recoup the losses.

My general approach is to get many companions so that I get their ability and special power. I usually find a combination that works much like an engine in a Euro game by having many. I then seek to Vindicate my character by using monastery location to exchange the attribute knowledge to improve my character by moving potential to influence. I also try to improve my speed. These give me a chance to win. When I fail at two of these, Evan usually crushes me.

I still like the game, and it plays fast. I think it plays better with more than 2+ players as if both players play well, the two-person game is always +/- 7 or so points apart. That is just chance. I have ordered the new add-ons on Kickstarter for the game. They will show in six months or so (depending on the messy supply chain that is now China).

We returned home after the game and a drink and a pretzel at The 649.

From there, we loaded up Susie with Evan in Air Volvo and drove through the McDonald’s at Cedar Hill Crossing Mall. The drive-thru had palm trees!

We then went to Powel’s books, picked up my book on order, and got a few books for Susie.

Outside of the books store, someone made a chalk painting.

After that, we headed home, and Evan went home.

I stayed up and watched Gunpowder Milkshake on Netflicks. This is a cable movie that is an amazing action film. It is so bad it is good. Karen Gillian just can’t convince you that she is taking any of this seriously. The camera work, the set work, and the actions are great. The acting is odd. I liked it, but you have no idea why the story bounces around so much. It steals from Clint Eastwood westerns and John Wick without even a wink. But Karen Gillian and the rest of the crew just can’t seem to decide to be serious or a comedy. It needed to be more serious, but still, it is not terrible.

I finished the laundry up this Sunday morning by drying the last load from last night. I decided that I was not going to sit in a hot church. I had trouble with the heat above 75 yesterday.

I spent the morning watching yet-another-silly-movie. I put on The Old Dark House, another 1930s horror film. This, too, was another group of travelers trapped, in this case by a bad storm, in a house full of trouble. This time an insane would-be drunk and another insane brother that wants to burn the house down. Boris Karloff is in the background a bit and not the main bad guy. He uses a high voice, and if you did not read the credits, you would know it was him! The movie shows him in a different light; he is also given some of the best lines and plays a frightened butler-like character. It is a strange movie and even manages a happy ending. Can’t recommend it.

I had chores to do. I committed insecticide on the ants after getting a mix of products from True Value Hardware. The store was packed, and only about 1/3 of the folks were masked. I was not happy being so close to so many folks. The check-out line still is socially distanced.

I picked up KFC for lunch and dinner. We have Dungeons and Dragons at 5:30, so I needed to get lunch and dinner handled.

Susie spent the day watching the Olympics. I also slipped out and stopped by the Hobby store, Tammy’s Hobbies, to get some glue in Beaverton. I then picked up some basic groceries like milk and eggs.

I read for a bit and then headed out for a game at Corry’s house.

We are playing an adventure in Hell using our War Machine. If you remember, from a few weeks ago, I had pictures of the model I built for the game. We had that model out again.

The designers of the adventure in Hell, it is a purchased adventure, seemed to stack a quest on top of another quest and then another. It is truly hellish trying to figure out something. Our DM Matt also buys all the premium add-ons, so we will try to use all the toys. So we will continue on the multilevel quests.

I am back home and rushing to finish this blog. I even started it before it in the afternoon.

Sorry if I left too many typos.

One last item, one of my roses has rebloomed. This rose has my favorite round structure for an English Rose.

Thanks for reading.