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It is already Saturday morning, and I just got to writing. Richard, one of the PDX gaming folks, invited me to play at his house. Usually, I have to turn down his offer as I cannot play with a group. But this was just Richard and me tonight. We kept our distance and masks on the whole time. I felt safe the whole time. Richard had his vaccine; he is a dentist.

I got there in Portland about 6:30 this evening, and Richard and I went over for about an hour painting techniques. Richard has acquired many dudes-on-a-board games that really need to be painted. I had already agreed to paint some for another game Anachrony.  I brought over some near-empty spray cans of primer and other items from the Army Painter method of painting to try out. This, I think the fastest means to get a collection of figures looking great for a tabletop game. Richard will give it a spin on Project Elite figures.

We then played a game of Project Elite. This is a cooperative dudes-on-a-board game based on the spawning endless monsters. You and the other players try to complete an objective before you are overwhelmed by the auto-spawning bad guys, or the monsters reach some objective, and you lose. I have a couple of these, and I find them either light games in the beer-and-peanuts style or endless frustration. Project Elite had a new mechanic I had not seen before. You roll dice as fast as you can for two minutes following the rules and try to take out as many bad guys and achieve objectives on the map. I don’t care much for race-against-the-clock games–it feels like I am back to work, but just two minutes and then continue with the game turn worked really well. I found I liked the game, and we managed to win the first scenario.

We went for another game. I had read about the board game The Lost Ruins of Arnak, and I even watched a video on it. Richard got it out, and we played the advance board (I did not know it had two sides and Richard was shocked about 1/2 into the game that we play the hard version). The game is about archeologists exploring the ruins of the fabled city of Arnak. The game mixes worker placement and deck-building to produce an enjoyable game. You can explore, get resources, purchase better cards (equipment), and prune your deck—all the time building up the understanding of the ruins on a science track. Richard did outscore me, the science track is worth many points, and I neglected it. I look forward to playing it again and might have to add it to my collection. It seemed that good.

As it is already late, I will not recount much of the workday before heading out to Portland. I slept in a bit, 7:15ish, and then had crises of the moment all day. Even earning a meeting at 4:30 on a Friday to discuss the solution to one of the crises. It was a busy, crazy day at the shoe company.

I had a late lunch with Mariah between meetings. She can over to use our laundry. That was fine, and I had to leave before she finished. I brought Susie a cheesecake from Reedville Cafe and made Susie a grilled cheese for dinner before I headed over to Richard’s.

29,325 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. This number will like increase as they get all the counts in for the next 72 hours.

1,001 people died in the USA today from Covid-19.

A Closer Walk with Thee is not a bad choice for Good Friday 2021.

Today I saw this video on Facebook and had to put it in the blog. I think of my friends Peter Keller and Jan Poepke sitting in all the hotels over all the years we have worked together. I could just see them start dancing like this when nobody is looking. Missing you! Video: Fat Boy Slim: Choice of Weapon

The morning started at about 7:30ish. I first was up at 6ish and saw I had no meetings for a bit, so back to sleep. I was out the moment I closed my eyes, and poof, it was 7:30.

The chaos continued at the shoe company, and I was busy listening to meetings and having to stop multi-tasking as I often had to supply some information. Corwin was up early and made some breakfast. He made baked eggs with just a bit of shredded swiss cheese, buttered the glass dish, some milk, and no stirring to keep the yokes whole—just a sprinkle of Herbs de Provence. The eggs could have used a bit of salt but were great. Susie only wants her eggs scrambled, and thus I never bake eggs, French-style, and I forgot how good they are. Corwin said he is not frying an egg again now that he has discovered baked eggs.

I had a bagel too that I made before Corwin cooked.

The morning was full of meetings; Thursday is usually packed all day with Zoom conferences.

Susie was up about 11ish, and I got her food, Eggos with peanut butter.

I slipped out for a few minutes and drove to Popeye’s for a Spicy Chicken Sandwich. I called Dondrea while lounging in Air Volvo enjoying the perfect weather and told her I felt guilty today. Global warming has given us a lovey spring in Oregon. Other places, like the Pacific Islands Nations, are facing being drowned by rising seas and the loss of their reefs from climate change. We in Oregon have wonderful weather now. It should be gray and raining sideways with floods and building snowpacks. I should feel bad, it is so nice!

One of my Portland-based gaming opponents, Richard, texted me this afternoon, and we agreed I would come by and pick up some figures that were delivered today to paint for Richard. I showed up today, but he meant Friday and that the figures were delivered today. Oops. Richard is a local dentist and has his Covid-10 shots. We have not seen each other for over a year. I won’t play games in groups until Susie and I both have had our second shot.

I had hours more reading design documents and providing hopefully meaningful feedback and more status meetings on Zoom. I even tried to put in an official defect for our project when access to all SAP systems broke (for those who speak SAP, SAPGUI global setting were lost, and SAPGUI just stopped), but I have no access to the defect tracking software. There is some irony there that would fit Douglas Adams. The problem was resolved before they discovered I could not enter the ticket, more irony.

I then slipped out again and picked up Susie’s prescription at RiteAid and got her a McDonald Happy Meal with apples. I had a two-cheese burger meal.

QQ: When did McDonald’s stop having salads? I was going to have a Crunchy Chicken Western Salad, but they don’t have that. So two-cheese burgers meal instead.

I read another document and asked for a meeting. It has problems. I read more emails and sent and read some more messages.

Finally, after five, I then headed in error to Richard’s house. I was there at 6:20ish and discovered my mistake–I was thirty minutes early. It was great to see him, and he was upset I got the days mixed up as I had driven to Portland. It was a perfect day, and the traffic on the bridge let me enjoy the view of Mt. Hood. I was also surprised by my emotions; I nearly cried when I saw Richard.

Tomorrow we will meet, and just he and I will play a game. My emotions should be back under control by then, and I hope to crush him–I seldom beat Richard. I will pick up the figures.

I drove back, enjoying the trip. I did stop by Guardian Games in Portland. No game or brushes got my attention.

It was a wonderful drive and the sun above the Coastal Mountains was breath-taking on Highway 26 also called the Sunset Highway.

I had some caregiving moments this later evening so all of this is running a bit late and rushed. Sorry!

29,262 people received vaccinations in Oregon yesterday. The previous counts also increased into the near-record levels. It is likely this value will increase as it takes 72 hours to post all the counts.

The deaths in the USA today are 952 from Covid-19. I remember my shock a year ago at the huge spike we had in 2020 in March-April-May, double the current rate of deaths. Let us hope that this rate will decrease.

I went with All Creatures Great and Small. I liked the theme version.

 

 

 

In the Pacific Northwest, it rains. It rains from November until July 4. My first year here, 1996, it did rain every day from November to July 5. My memory was not seeing a single clear day except for a freezing day in January. I remembered it being 5F.

Today, it was a perfect blue sky day. It was in the sixties. I went for a walk, and we went out for dinner and ate outside. Dry and warm–they had propane heaters for everyone. When you sit and drink beer, the 60Fs are still a bit cold.

It almost feels like 2021 is trying to be a record good year.

The day started at 6:45ish, and work was a constant source of eMail and Slack messages. I managed to step out and get showered and dressed before my first meeting at 8AM. I had meetings all day, many meetings popping into my schedule without warning, and ran with only a few breaks until 4ish.

I managed to get a walk in despite the rushed day. I did my Tuesday 1/2 mile walk.

I managed to order lunch eating while working through much of lunch. I had a massaman curry with beef and ordered some spring rolls to go with it. I split it with Corwin as he was up today. Susie was up a bit later and had Eggo Waffles with peanut butter.

More meetings and more discussions. I did manage to slip in a video on The John Company, 2nd Edition board game. I am really like what they have done with the game. There so many options I do wonder what the strategy should be. The game designers are updating Kickstarter and Youtube with new information. This game is a novelist version of the East Indian Company, where you help run the company to your family’s advantage. The family that can do it best wins.

As I said before, we met Mariah and her dog at McMenamins Cedar Hills and had dinner and beer in the wonderful weather! Our waiter was new to Oregon and McMenamins. She is a Native American from North Dakota from the tribes by Spirit Lake. She had been in Oregon for a few months with her spouse-to-be.

Susie donates to the schools for the tribe.

BTW: Oregon’s minimum wage for waiters is 11.25 plus tips. Not that this wage in Oregon will make you rich, but it is better than 7.25 in North Dakota and many of the central states.

23,834 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. The number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to update all the counts and post them.

1,115 people died in the USA from Covid-19 today.

I went with In The Garden by Johny Cash.

I was reading late, and then a headache woke me. I had very little sleep. It was hard to get going with my first meeting at 7:30. I managed to make the Zoom meeting dressed and ready. This was followed by many status meetings and alignments. Being tired and in a bit of pain, it seemed unfair that I had to speak in many meetings and provide status. I can often get away with doing multi-tasking and not have to say anything on most days. I kept going all morning in constant pressure of trying to get things done.

I rested instead of taking a walk today. I had a non-stop inflow of email and Slack messages, so there was no real rest.

Coffee and a just biscuit leftover from KFC were my breakfast today. I ordered the more expensive lunch today, delivered by GrubHub. Lamb kebobs from Gyro House over rice and with a salad. I was hungry when it showed just before noon. It is as good as it gets for lamb kebobs.

After clearing more emails and more Zoom meetings that I could not avoid, I finally got lunch and a real 45-minute break.

I had noticed a board game, The John Company, was going on Kickstarter by a favorite designer. The designer, Cole Wehrle, created one of the more challenging games I have to play, understand, and win in my collection, Pax Pamir. I spent lunchtime deciding if I was interested in the game.

Cole Wehrle does not sell his games but runs a Kickstarter campaign to get orders ahead of time and then fulfills the Kickstarter. This means it is hard to get a copy unless you wait for the next round of Kickstarter. Even though I am happy to have a copy, Pax Pamir, while fascinating to me, does not often hit the table. It simulates the political situation in the Great Game in Afghanistan. The game board is a little carpet map of Afganistan. It has a complex but very fun to play against solo version.

The John Company is another strangely complex game from this designer that recreates the experience of working for the East India Company on the subcontinent starting in the late 1800s. It is for 1-6 players. It is very complex. Your goal is to bring prestige (victory points) to your family by operating the East India Company well but ensuring it helps your family. Other players are trying to do the same. The game allows for limited cooperation between players. You even retire your family members for even more points, but can you keep the income going to keep the retired family happy?

I watched a video on how to play the first edition for lunch while enjoying my kebobs. I ordered the game on Kickstarter as it would make an exciting solo game. I found a few minutes to order The John Company on Kickstarter’s website while Zooming.

I could not even finish my videos and reading on The John Company as I had more alignment meetings and status meetings. I had more Zoom meetings where I needed to fully participate. This lasted until about 3PM.

By that time was really tired, and the lack of sleep got to me. I rested and read.

I baked bratwursts for dinner. I also made popovers from a King Arthur Flour mix. It is a fav of mine. I have a popover pan that makes these perfect. Corn niblets, frozen (Schwann’s), heated in a staining basket over boiling water, make these always seem fresh off the cob. I add salt, pepper, and butter.

I have to admit I had more than one popover.

I fell asleep after dinner watching the news with Susie.

I had a few care giving moments today with Susie and she fell to the floor putting her socks on. She was hurt, but I had to pick her up.

I am now reading the third Honor Harrison novel by David Weber. They keep getting better and harder to put down.

14,312 people yesterday were vaccinated in Oregon. This number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to update all the counts.

873 people in the USA died today from the virus.

I turned to this Charles Wesley hymn, Rejoice, the Lord Is King. This version was just posted, and I like what they did with it.

I had a meeting at 9:30PM at night with my boss, the data conversion team, and SAP folks in India. We have complex issues, and we are looking for help. SAP is the vendor for the software that runs Nike’s accounting and fulfillment systems for the globe.

I got Susie dinner as the meeting was supposed to start at 9, it was delayed thirty minutes. We have KFC, and Susie did not know it. I was so busy on calls and then reading to find my calm place again I did not pick-up on that Susie had no dinner. Susie finally got dinner.

Before this, I had Dungeons and Dragons on Roll20. I do not want to include any spoilers here. The players managed to defeat the big boss and moved on to the next level. This level is filled with insanity. They started to explore it and found some allies that gave them a map. They then meet one of the boss monsters, and I missed almost every roll. They adventurers finished the encounter without my boss monster even doing anything! They continue to explore. The Roll20 content worked well for us tonight, and I did not have that much trouble managing a large but very short battle. The virtual lighting and the hand-out did help to be a bit of immersion to the game.

I had a meeting with China for work today that ran into my game at 6:30. This is the same issue we discussed at 9 with India.

Still going backwards, I ordered KFC for dinner as I was meeting right into my Roll20 game. Susie was resting at the time; I just put the dinner on top of the stove.

In the afternoon, I took a few breaks to read between status meetings and alignment meetings. I put in another vendor patch (SAP note for those who speak SAP) needed ASAP and handle a few crises of the moment. My work and day are much more chaotic as the projects start headed into critical deadlines.

Lunch was Don Chilitos Mexican Grill’s Mexican food–delivered from GrubHub, and I read to try to get the adventure I need to run today at 6:30 into my thinking while eating. I discovered that I needed to bring a little bit of creepiness and madness into Dungeons and Dragons today. I spent all of my lunch preparing for today’s game.

I spent the morning, starting at 6:45ish, doing non-stop status and alignment meetings. I did not get my walk today, and I was ordering lunch in moments between calls—just crazy Monday non-stop Zoom meetings. Susie had Zerida’s spa today. Susie was ready at 8ish and left with her driver at 9ish. Susie got her nails done and other treatments. She picked up a McDonald’s Happy Meal with apples (yeah!) for lunch.

Morning came too early, and I blinked, and it was 6:45!

10,067 people were vaccinated on Sunday. I hope this number will be increased as it takes 72 hours to get all the counts posted.

Five-hundred ten people died in the USA today from the infection.

I turned right to Are Ye Able in the Methodist Hymnal #530. A good song for Holy Week Monday. I like singing this one.