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My editing tool went sideways on me…there are a few typos left…but best to just publish before it breaks again….

Another perfect day. The pollen is just impossible. And I could not put down the next Vatta’s War book last night. Sleep came finally after 1:30ish.

And that would be wonderful if I was not back at it at an unfriendly 6:00 this morning. No lollygagging either as we had an All-Employee Meeting at 7AM with John, Nike CEO. The meeting was fun as John had sports folks do most of the hour. I had status meetings all morning with only a break for lunch. Many meetings went over meaning I had to cut them off or be late. I had to speak in many, so no multi-tasking for the meetings. Zooming with Nike all morning!

I managed to do my walk. I thought I was going to cough-to-death even with multiple puffs of the emergency inhaler. This was my short walk. I have managed to reduce the coughing finally with more puffs and going slower. The rains should be back soon.

I had lunch delivered from Gyro House, and there was a note. I write them a note about missing them and wishing them well as special instructions for my lunches all pandemic–usually ordering at least twice a month. They told me on the note to come and see them; Gyro House must have re-opened for in dining. I see a Turkish Coffee in my future!  

I had a few vendor patches to work on, OSS notes if you know SAP. I had a few other crises of the moment to handle. It is all rather mundane, but it gets us further on the project, so I don’t mind a bit of mundane.

I did watch some more old Doctor Who Classic while I had lamb kabobs and shut the Nike laptop for lunch. It is a treat, and with the early hour and the near strangling from a mask and asthma attacks, I enjoyed the show and the food and tried to relax and breathe.

Back to work, I have to admit at one meeting I took my Doctor Fauci bobblehead and waved it over the keyboard–clearly visible to the other on Zoom. Yes, we are doing some first-ever (in the world of this complexity and volumes) data egress using special SAP Data Intelligence (Yes, thet call it that). I thought we would need some special help…Dr. Fauci being the totem of these times. Nobody thought it was that silly. Oh my!

I slipped out once the late lunch status meetings completed. I got Air Volvo washed. The crows will soon likely repaint it in the Jackson Pollack style. The sap and tree stuff with the bird art was just too much for me. It looks better and it is easier to drive now. We know it will rain now that Air Volvo is clean.

I stopped by Safeway and everyone was careful and masked and respectful. I got a pre-cooked chicken for about the price of a raw one (the mystery of chickens I will never understand). Eggs, Milk, deli products, the normal drill.

Back at the house. Susie gets a fav: Beefaroni.

Back to work for me. OSS notes go bang and I send emails out that something is broken. We will have to pick that up later.

I finish up with my weekly status and then read some more trying to get the coughing under control. Missing sleep makes this worse–I slow down more.

Dinner is baked chicken from Safeway, potato salad, apple sauce, and some fresh artisan bread (also from Safeway). Susie has dinner just a bit later.

Susie is asking if I am OK a lot. The coughing is worse than I think.

I have a second shift with India morning coming up. We received a request to lighten the workload for India-based folks. Covid-19 is really hitting them hard. Our hearts go out to them. I will of course try to do what I can. Pray for India!

896 people in the USA today died from Covid-19.

2,256 people are reported to have died today from Covid-19 in India. 332,503 new cases were reported today in India, a record.

Oregon is plowing thru its vaccinations at about 24,000 a day.

For our African friends, Baba Yetu.

The morning started at 6ish, but I got up and saw I had no meetings until 8ish, so I rested some more and woke with a start at 7:15ish. I then got up and read emails and slack messages until 7:30ish and then showered and dressed for the first status meeting at 8 this morning.

Six hours of on and off Zoom meetings, some short and some running over are a lot of online meetings for anyone. Most I have the camera on and have to listen with some care as I have multiple teams impacted by various issues. It made the day strange as I was mostly listening and then trying to read email and slack requests between meetings or falling behind when meetings went over into another meeting. I had to step out once for a bio-break!

Cowin got an appointment for a Covid-19 shot today:

Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians COVID-19 Vaccine Event – Moderna
05-14-2021
Chinook Winds Casino

We will likely get a room and enjoy a Friday there. We think this is the one on the coast. Yes, we got a parking garage at Nike. Corwin gets a Casino! It is not fair!

I ordered lunch from Biryani Corner using GrubHub. It was more than I wanted to spend, but I did not want to make my own lunch today after five hours of non-stop meetings. I missed my stress-reducing walk now for three days as the meetings are running over my short out-of-office meeting that says “Do Not Book Over.” But it was booked over anyway. The Chicken Tikka Masala with Naan is not as nice as what I make, but it still was good today.

I decided to take a break for lunch; I shut the Nike laptop instead of reading emails and handling crises of the moment and emergencies of the day for lunch. I put on instead a video of classic Doctor Who. After I had to clear the licensing of my new Mac to watch my Apple TV account. It took a few minutes, but I had that fixed soon.

Later, I had to replace the HP printer software as it too was now not working on a new M1 device–it is fixed now.

I also received my quote for Earthquake Insurance, GeoVera, which was no longer stupidly high. I paid the bill and again have Earthquake protection, full coverage (which means 90% coverage in the strangely untruthful words of insurance). I figured that we had deadly smoke, a 20-year wind storm, murder hornets, and of course, a pandemic. The earthquake must be next.

I stopped the earthquake insurance in the past. After the bankruptcy of so many insurers after the last few “big ones,” I did not believe I would get paid. I also did not like the huge holes in coverage before. Previously, if your house was knocked down by a quake, they would cover the next $100K, but if the foundation sank, then you were getting $0. This policy looks like real coverage at a price that is not insane. I bought it. I may regret this later.

I managed a few episodes of the Baker playing the Doctor and then returned to work. I then listened to another two hours of status meetings with some breaks. I then went and rested a bit. Checking back on my phone. I was not needed anymore.

Mariah stopped by and borrowed our washer and dryer and, while her wash was running, headed to beer and pizza at The Rock Woodfired Pizza. They know us there, and they were happy to serve us. I tried the fish tacos (I was still stuffed by Indian-styled food), but it still was too much food for me–next time, a salad.

Mariah had a work call and then finished her laundry and headed out. I rested for a few minutes and then got to this blog.

24,407 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. This number will likely increase as they get more counts for yesterday.

876 people died today from Covid-19 in the USA. Washington County, our county in Oregon, locks down partially on Friday, again.

I picked my fav hymn for today: This Is My Song. The music and the words mean much to me. This version was published just before the huge second wave in the USA.

There is also an alternative I love as much: A Tribute to All The Nations.

I drove Air Volvo, still decorated by the crows, to Portland to play a game with my friend Casey. He had some time off today, he works nights, so I met him this evening. We both have had our vaccines, but we still wear masks except when eating.

I was there about 5:45PM as the traffic, while not light, was fast. You never see fast here, so I was unsure if the Greater Portland Area (PDX, also the name for our airport) drivers have been changed by the long isolation. Usually, PDX traffic is slowly and insanely polite until they hit you. I have read that PDX has some of the worst drivers in the USA (maybe the world). Drivers wanted to get somewhere today, and I had no close calls.

Casey and I then drove a short distance to Mazatlan Mexican Food just off of Burnsides in Portland. This is a local chain, and Casey had a three-taco dinner plate while I had my usual chile relleno and enchilada. It was good.

Casey introduced me to a game I have only seen reviews for, Watergate. This is a two-person fast-paced game with each player playing a different persona: The Editor or President Nixon. This is an asymmetrical game; the players have different options and winning conditions, all played on a shared board. The Press and the President have different decks that they draw on to take their actions. The editor is trying to establish evidence to connect the president to a source. If two sources are connected to Mr. Nixon, the President Nixon player loses the game. Mr. Nixon obstructs the press by getting his hands on the evidence and using it to block the path to him. There is also has a marker, the momentum marker, that when either side wins five times, that player wins.

The main action is a tracking board with evidence, initiative marker, and momentum marker is reset each round. The cards allow you to manipulate the track and markers. Often you can use a card to do special effects that move evidence and the markers together. The card is then removed from the game. So be careful. The press burns cards to get sources like Mr. Dean. At the end of the round, anything on your side of the track (not on the zero space) is yours.

The game is a mix of Deck thinning and exploiting events to control a tug-of-war board that provides The Press and President Nixon with means to win. The cards manipulate this track. There are many options. The randomness of just four or five cards to play in each round and random evidence that must be matched to color means the player, The President, or The Editor, must be flexible and react to events and resources now available. From my experience, President Nixon is powerful, and The Editor player needs to burn events to keep from being crushed. The press must thin their hand to useful Journalist cards and other useful cards. Mr. Nixon can retain cards for later use as his cards are powerful.

I enjoyed the mix of creating chains, the tug-of-war over the markers and evidence, and the deck building and thinning process. It plays fast and is a bit forgiving. I cannot wait to play the President next time. I also like to see all the names and events I remember from my childhood, and I read Woodward’s books for years. The theme was a bit immerse for me.

We had time for two games, and I won the second game as I started to thin my deck and hold my own against Mr. Nixon. The game is simple, cheap ($35), fast, and fun.

I drove home, and again the traffic was moving fast and safer than I am used to. The polite is still there as I had folks flash their blinkers, and I let them in, and everyone seemed happy when I did that (no East Coast styled horn blowing).

Moving to the beginning, I started the day at 6ish and discovered my 7:30 meeting was canceled. But I was up, so I just read the email and tried to find my way. I had a team meeting and a status meeting every hour. And two status meetings canceled just before I was going to attend.

I also had a few alignment items and a few emergencies of the moment, and crises of the hour. I managed to send polite emails and texts. I could resolve the issues without anyone getting upset or, hard to imagine in the Pacific Northwest, someone getting overly direct.

Susie was up by mid-morning; we got in Air Volvo and did Burger King for lunch. Our usual plain cheese Whopper Jr for Susie and a regular Whopper with cheese for me. We had diet cokes and mozzarella sticks (their fries are not good). As usual, we parked the car and enjoyed watching the TV Highway and listened to the radio while we enjoyed our repast.

Today in Aloha, Oregon, it was warm, sunny, and I could not breathe! Pollen! Trees! Pollen from trees! I managed to use my inhalant to stop the uncontrolled coughing. My chest pain is back–caused by the harsh coughing. My lungs are better now.

Corwin made dinner for Susie. Corwin and I discovered that the local American Indian Tribe is hosting vaccinations at their casino. If Corwin can get signed up, we may have a plan for a weekend in May!

17,762 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. This number will likely increase.

883 people died today in the USA from Covid-19. Washington County, our county, is returning to lock-down as the infection rate is out of control.

I thought it best to remember the day with this song: Lift Every Voice and Sing.

Moving first to the most interesting part of the day, my new Apple Laptop was delivered today. I was able to slip away from work and start the transfer. I was hoping to use Time Capsule to restore, but the new system did not recognize the backup drive. I then just did WIFI-to-WIFI transfer using the Mac tools, Migration Assistant. This took only about three hours, and I then had my new Mac running. I contacted David Smith as he uses Macs a lot in his business. Something was slow. The developer tools were failing, and Python was not loading at all. I finally rebooted the Apple using the power-off.

My new mac is working fine and fast now. The restore should have done a reboot, but I suspected it did not. That was likely the issue; the system was unstable.

I am quite happy now. The Mac handles Roll20 online; Monday is my Dungeons and Dragons game on Roll20, better than my old Mac. Actually, it was running fast, and the screens moved a bit too fast a few times.

The screens for WordPress are also working smoother. I suspect the Javascript underlying the screens can use the 8 core to keep the screens going.

We have five players and me on Roll20 with live video, sound, and a screen full of well Dungeons and Dragon. It was a good test, and I had no problems that could be resource bottlenecks.

Returning to the start of the day, I was up at 6ish and started on backlogs of messages and emails. I found a couple from Friday that I needed to reply to. I managed to read or clear everything on Wednesday. If I have more time free on Tuesday, often full of endless status meetings, I will try to clear more.

I was able to help with a few issues, but most of the day was listening to see how I can help.

I reheated my leftover pasta from Olive Garden yesterday for lunch. Susie picked up a Happy Meal with apples on her way back from her spa day with Zeriada.

The pollen is crushing me today with the return to work and also running Roll20 tonight. It is a lot of stuff. I am tired.

I think we will keep this short.

17,649 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. This number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to collect all the counts and post them.

488 people died in the USA from Covid-19 today.

I went with We Will Understand It Better By and By. This is a version I like.

Today is my last day off of the ten days I took off. I had a Covid-19 shot, a doctor’s appointment (my blood pressure and sugar are normal!), DMV to reach the required legality while driving, and then a few days with no plans. So not exactly a vacation, but more of a staycation with a few follow-ups.

I managed to sleep until 8:30ish this morning. I decided to nothing productive this morning and had some fruit for breakfast. I found coffee leftover from last night, so I debated whether making more coffee would violate my initial decision to do nothing. I relented and made more.

I watched the end of The Rise of Skywalker this morning. I am still happy with this movie. Of course, if I was the evil Sith Lord, I would have put some of the superweapons on another planet. I would also have lots of relays so my superweapons would not be trapped on the surface. And I would have 1/2 of them leave early. Lastly, I would have an escape plan. But, lucky for the Star Wars universe, the Sith have not hired me. I enjoyed the movie and must admit I cheered both sides; some would call that unnatural.

After that, I got dressed; Mariah suggested lunch via text, and nobody was ready, so I got going. I also finished two of the factions I am painting for Richard before heading out. This is for the board game Anachrony. I have never played it, but I believe I am missing out. Maybe sometime this summer…

Mariah and I talked at lunch about a driving trip with Susie we are thinking about in October when I am on my 25th Year sabbatical at Nike. I just learned about the lost city of the North American Indians, Cahokia, and wondered if we can drive that far east. This would mean driving straight to Denver and then to St. Louis and not head North. But this site looks so amazing and so Lara Croft I might have to go. I think I can already hear a Howard story starting.

I headed home by way of getting gas and a McDonald’s Happy Meal (with apples) for Susie. I am always amazed when I pull into the gas station and all the computers controlling the station fail. I waited five minutes, and they restarted. Oddly, they only filled 3/4 of my tank–but I decided best to escape. At McDonald’s, I asked, “Can you check there are apples.” I then watched them take apart two different Happy Meals and stuff most of the stuff in another and hand it to me with assurances that it was good. Then they handed me the missed sauce. I resisted eye-rolling.

I pushed my bad luck and drove Air Volvo to the car wash. The crows are again turning my car into a Jackson Pollock. I do not like riding the automated car wash with only a few feet between cars. They were packed, and the autos were too close for me. I drove by and will try again this week.

Susie was happy but asked me why there are two toys in this meal. I just smiled and said nothing. There were apples and six McNuggets, so all was good, and I received praise as a loving husband.

I rested for a bit and then remembered I have new CyberPunk figures at the local game store. Another excuse to drive Air Volvo in the wonderful sunny 84+ day! Corwin went with me, and I also bought the book for the new version of CyberPunk, now called 2077 or Red. This is the tabletop traditional role-playing game (RPG) and not the killer video game that hit the market just after the big surge in the pandemic. The figures are 32mm, not my usual 28mm, but we can make them work. I am not sure when or even if I will play this game, but it appeals to me.

Back to the house. I then rested and read some more—next dinner. I ordered for pick-up, another excuse to drive Air Volvo, from Olive Garden. I love the salad. I drove there and called Dan Gray to chat. He asked me if I could get a Salad for his family. I got one and was happy to see Dan again in Beaverton. He got the salad, and his family was happy. I returned home with dinner.

The Sun finally went down on my last day off while I was writing this blog eating dinner.

20,973 people were vaccinated yesterday. This number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to get all the counts posted. Oregon will soon be just under 50% vaccinated, as 500,000+ people are waiting for the second dose.

310 people died in the USA today from Covid-19.

The Great Commission in Russian seemed to be a good one for today.