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The data conversions that my teams were working on finally finished this afternoon.

I am sleepy as I have stayed up every night for days. Just a few observations.

We played Dungeons and Dragons online using Roll20 this evening. As usually happens, the easy but many monsters were devastating while the big-bad fell in two combat rounds. When I write my own adventures, I try to avoid letting the players concentrate all their attacks on one creature. This is a common flaw I see.

The only funny thing was that I had a meeting through lunch, so I decided to make Mac and Cheese from a box. I got about halfway cooking. While listening and trying to participate, I saw the most dread words on the package Vigan. Yes, it was a unique taste. I added a bit of meat–not an improvement. I then got some newly purchased curry powder and tried to fix the flavor. I was hungry, but it was terrible. I ate it.

I went to put the curry powder away. I have just bought the curry powder, Madra Curry, in a nice tin and it is quite heavy as it is packed tightly in the tin. I missed, and the tin fell all the way back to the counter and exploded open. So I had a pile of yellow powder two inches tall on the counter and a yellow spicy cloud in the kitchen.

Corwin came in a bit later. I had some of the yellow spice back in the tin and the rest in the trash. There is, I noticed later, curry on the coffee maker and the blender. I will have to clean the counter again and sweep again. Corwin says the house has taken on a new smell.

I am tired and have to just stop there. I hope you can imagine the yellow cloud while I am at a meeting to automate change control. I tried to sound calm and helpful my newly formed yellow cloud billows.

I was home too late to do a blog, and then I was busy all day on Sunday. Work is running a long data conversion, but this evening there are issues. So I am online listening while writing this.

Saturday alarm was at 6AM as I had an 8AM meeting. I rolled over and got going at 7ish. I read the emails and status messages on Slack to be ready for an hour of status meetings. I was lucky as my experts were on the call so they could answer the questions. I spent an hour listening and talking.

I had canceled my morning gaming as I was all the data conversions were running this weekend. So I stayed home and watched.

While I was watching, I worked on my Hell War Machine. First, I fixed the wheel problem by cutting the wheel well larger. I then started on finishing the backend and the smokestacks. Next, I got out the watch parts collection I acquired from a modeling site. These are tiny gears and plates from watches. Next, I started decorating the model to add more drama to the model. I put gears by any large features on the model to make it look like it is driven by large gears. Finally, I continued to decorate and finishing the back of the model.

The work stuff became very quiet as it was a long-running data conversion.

Evan called me, and we agreed to try to play some games and have lunch. First, I got Susie breakfast as she was up late. Then, Evan and I headed to a Mexican place across from The 649, a tap house that we have played games at before. Evan wanted to try them again. After lunch, we played Lost Ruins of Arnak. This is a new game for me; it came out last year and is a new favorite. You play as a 1920s Hollywood-styled archeologist searching for important ruins to understand the mysteries of an ancient lost culture. In addition, you must overcome monsters, legendary ones, when digging new sites. This is then used to run the research track to understand the culture and reach the lost temple.

Your archeologist also gets tools and powerful artifacts with great magical powers (definitely slipping into the Hollywood-film motif) to help with their work. This is a deck-building mechanic that I have begun to like. You buy cards (tools or artifacts) and remove poor cards from your hand to improve your chances of drawing the cards you need.

We managed to fit in two plays of the game. I won both games. I had to rush to a status call and managed to make most of it. More Zooming. Evan and I will check to rules at the next game. The research track seemed to run strange, so we will recheck those rules.

The data conversions are running overnight and into the next afternoon. Nothing is going wrong, so I am not needed. I have an invitation to Richard’s to play board games. I make Susie dinner, scrambled eggs with cheese, her fav, with apple sauce. I sprinkle some cinnamon on the apple sauce.

We had five players for the board game Scythe. We played the more basic game as Kathline and Alex did not know the game well. This is a very successful game from a Kickstarter a couple years ago. I have a copy also from the Kickstarter and have painted all the miniatures for the game. This is a 4x game, but combat is more basic and can be punishing to the attackers and defenders. It was a pleasure to play again for the first in more than a year with so many players.

Well, sort of pleasure, as I made basic errors while playing Russia. I blew an attack on Alex, having the Scottish faction. I failed to spread out, and Richard ended the game. All basics I know. Next time!

We played 7 Wonders. This is a card game from 2010 that is now revised to the 2nd Edition. You play cards in front of you to create a city. There are three sets of cards to buy and play and after each set, the city’s military fights. I had played the Duel two-person version before, so I was not too lost during play. I game in second.

I drove some of the folk’s home as it was late and was in at 1AM and could not write a blog as I was again up early on Sunday.

Sunday morning came too early, as it does when you are up late. More status meetings and our experts were online, so I was mostly a tourist on the Zoom calls.

Susie was not feeling well. She complained that light and noise were giving her a headache and went back to sleep. I did explain that the light was the morning sun. I tried to be quiet.

We have Dungeons and Dragons today at Cory’s house, so I needed to finish the Hell War Machine and paint it. Next, I spent some time adding the screen sides to the model.

I then went to Beaverton First United Methodist Church for their first service in 15 months. We all had masks on, and we were a small brave bunch, but it was nice to see everyone. Everyone missed Susie, but they were all happy to see us. We survived and made it back to church. It is a big deal.

I raided McDonald’s drive-thru for our usuals. I brought a happy meal for Susie with apples and a hot apple pie. I got the two cheeseburger meals.

The shoe company did not need me. So I started finishing the War Machine and painting it.

I managed to get it ready just in time. The decals were still drying; I put Scythe Russian stars on decal paper left over, so I added them to the car in the center. This is where you drive, in my imagination, the war machine inside a car shell. It hints back to a Mad Max movie. So my creation is a call back to Mad Max.

I used an old model from the Soviet Union to kitbash (yes, they made toys in USSR) I picked up from years ago. Oddly, it is from a hoarder that collected models. The family sold the collection to a local hobby store. I picked up four really nice hard-to-find ship models. It was fun to re-purpose the ship. I scanned the model cover in and put a miniature copy as a poster on the ship’s side to remember the original kit of the famous Potemkin battleship.

Corwin and I headed over to Cory’s with the model to play Dungeons and Dragons. We are currently playing are characters in Hell trying to save a city that has been transferred to Hell as an evil plot. There my character, a gnome wizard, is also a tinkerer. Thusly, my character has built a small war machine, and our group captured a larger one. Everyone was surprised to see our new Potemkin Hell War Machine.

I am now online on Zoom from 10PM until 1AMish.

I am sorry I was so busy to miss on Saturday.

 

I awoke before my alarm and turned it off. I overslept to 7:15 but made it to the status meetings starting at 8:00, all clean and shiny. The Zoom meetings went on until 9ish, and then I was just watching and chatting with folks about various small issues.

I left for lunch at about 11:40ish and had chores to do and also some hobby items to get. So I headed to Gyro House and had the lamb kabobs. I wanted some protein and something that reminded me of Istanbul and India. The staff knows me at Gyro House as a regular customer and they were happy to see me. We all smile and laugh. We are so happy to have lived through 2020 and Covid-19 and see each other.

I drove to Tammies Hobbies in Beaverton. However, I am less happy with them as they even took down the screen for the cashier. I stood six feet back when cashing out.

I picked up from the Train department–the train guys have all the best toys, scale corrugated steel in plastic sheets. I got some more cement for plastic (it dissolves the plastic and then welds it together).

I stopped by RiteAid, still scandalized that they sell tobacco products for our prescriptions and supplies for Susie.

I stopped by McDonald’s to Susie’s fav. The Happy Meal did have apples.

I get Slack and emails from Nike on my phone now. So I can follow along as I travel.

I started back on the Hell War Machine model for our Dungeons and Dragon game this coming Sunday. I have repaired the glue spill issue and returned the model back to its working state last night.

I started on the model and finished much of the back of the model. It has corrugated steel now, all beat up. This is a kitbash scratch build. I have cut up an old Soviet model of a Russian Battleship, a US tank, and a staff car model that would look perfect in a Hogan’s Heroes rerun. I have built from scratch the framework added kitbashed decorations, and built some items from scratch using stips of styrene plastic.

I use my Dremel to cut dents and holes in the plastic. Then, I repair the holes with some metal screen. This partial filling of the hole adds to the drama of the damage.

As the model needs to open to hold 28mm Dungeons and Dragon scale figures, I have used a magnet to hold the deck onto the model. It is a cool trick I saw on a build video for adding lighting to a model. Instead of sealing the model with glue, hold parts you might need to open again together with strong magnets.

I intend to finish the model on Saturday morning and paint it soon. I will be using metal screening again for the sides and decking with plastic bits attached to the sides. Again, I might use magnets so we can simulate damage by removing the panels.

I was back on Zoom at 4:45PM (being a few minutes late). The data conversions are running 7/24 tonight, and I keep watching.

I went out and got some groceries at 7:30ish. I got busy with the model and forgot to get groceries. I picked up sandwiches for dinner, and we had a late dinner.

I returned to the Hell War Machine again and watching Slack and emails.

I turned to Breathe on Me, Breath of God in the Methodist Hymnal.

Working backward tonight, Susie and I returned from dinner with Mariah at the Golden Valley Brewery. We sat outside. The place was packed and had no limits, and mostly no masks were in use. Susie and I kept with our norm of using a mask until seated. I find that people now are having no thought of social distancing when getting into place. I am not ready to be that close. Not sure I ever will be.

Susie had a steak, Mariah had the steak salad, and I had the chicken pot pie. While the pie is nice, those steaks looked good. So we had the kitchen slice Susie’s steak for us. I still had to make smaller pieces for her, but it was easier this way. I am with the Asian belief that food should come ready to eat. Don’t even get me started on Lobster (it takes a biology textbook to eat one).

Work was ongoing data conversions and endless Zoom meetings. We are having some issues, so there was a lot of explaining and rechecking, and redoing.

Lunch was drive-through Burger King as I was rushing a bit today with all the fixes and following along.

I was asleep around midnight with broken sleep and back at it 7ish. My first meeting was at 8AM, so I could go a bit slower this morning.

I had to cancel gaming plans on Saturday with Casey and Richard, and friends. It is Casey’s birthday, but our conversions are running on the weekends. So I will need to help.

The first hymn I turned to is Love Devine, All Love Excelling.

After I published yesterday’s blog, I still worked until 1AM doing a status meeting at 12:30 Wednesday morning. That made 6:00 come rather soon. I managed to get going about 6:50ish and was ready for all the status meetings beginning at 7:30 and running into 10:30 for Zoom calls. I had a break and took a short walk, and talked to our neighbor.

I returned to more information on data conversions and some new challenges. I then slipped out to lunch at BJ’s Brewhouse for lunch. I had their chicken and noodles and iced tea, resisting a very nice red ale. I got a full rack of ribs for Susie for lunch to-go.

I did a few more status meetings and took a short nap between meetings as the lack of sleep caught me. Corwin made dinner Jambalaya from a box with kielbasa and ham. He also added a can of stewed tomatoes (Mexican style).

I am following along with the data conversions. I am much more blurry today.

I will include a new picture of Mister Lincoln with the next flower opening. It is my only hybrid tea and has a nice smell. I inherited a 50+ years old tea rose that smells of musty tea with the house. I like hybrid tea roses better.

I have all these fences. I think that climbing roses, maybe white ones, would be nice.

I picked In The Garden for today for my flowers.