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We started this morning with me waiting for Susie to get ready. We managed to leave about 9ish for the 9:24AM appointment for a Corvid-19 shot for Susie. This was a repeat of yesterday where I got my shot at Nike WHQ. I was ready with everything that needed to be done as I had done it the day before.

Susie got her shot, and she was just tired and rested for a bit, possibly from just getting going early, and Susie has had no paint or other side-effects.

I have had body aches, pain in my arm, and feeling run-down all day. I am taking some Tylenol to keep the side-effects under control.

I made mac and cheese for lunch. I also had some kielbasa that I cut thing and fried in a pan to brown it a bit and bring out more flavor. Susie had some lunch later after her nap.

Evan came over, and we played a few games of Vindication. I was stupidly lucky in the first game and won easily. The second game had Evan pull ahead, and the End Conditions Card, which we forgot to deal out, ended the game when we finally remembered them. One of the issues in the original version I played before the game was finished was that the game had no end. Apparently, the variable End Condition card was the answer. Thusly, today our games ended early. Evan beat me in the second game.

We then tried our hands at Frostgrave. I got out the terrain for 29mm figures, a newly acquired winter ruins mat from Italy, and my figures I assembled and painted for Frostgrave. We then had to create a war party for each of us. This took about an hour. We then had to set-up the table and learn the game. Frostgrave game rules are easy to follow, and it fun to have a wizard and apprentice shoot off spells. And to have some tough guys like thugs or, in Evan’s case, a man of arms to provide more direct action on the enemy. We played a treasure hunt basic game. We put five treasures on the map, and the team that recovered the most wins. We had a big fight over the central treasure, and my thugs, cheap help, and my crossbowman fell to the Grenade spell cast by Evan’s apprentice. My wizard and apprentice did manage to get two treasures off the map. The central treasure was grabbed by Evan’s warband giving him the victory of one more treasure.

I have to re-read the rules a bit as we were unsure of a few items. It was still fun to get out the tape measures and all the cool figures and play a fantasy raid on the lost city of Frostgrave to recover treasure–the base scenario. We will play again; now that we have warbands done, it will be more play and less paperwork. I have more interesting scenarios besides just raiding and fighting over the treasure.

We ordered pick-up at Nonna Emilia Ristorante Italiano. We had soup, garlic bread, and pasta dishes. They forgot the salad. I called them, and they sounded upset I would bother them. I had them give me credit for my next meal for the price of the salad. I was not that happy with Nonna Emilia tonight. I did like my meal, as did Evan and Susie. We will try them again and see if their service is better.

We watched the movie The Prestige on prime while we ate. A dark fairy tale also parts horror story about magicians in the late 1880s. I liked it when it came out years ago. It was fun to see David Bowie as Tesla. I cannot recommend the movie, but I do like it. I like The Illusionist better. I am also loved Now You See Me two movies.

Evan headed home. I went and set the clocks ahead. Welcome to Daylight Savings Time 2021!

18,556 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. These numbers may increase as it takes a while to get all the counts in.

1,037 people died in the USA today from the infection.

I have to go with the Battle Hymn of the Republic with all the people helping us today. It made you proud and happy.

It is funny to be at almost a year of blogging, and I am now further in on lockdown as I worked from home last year because of allergies. The sneezing was scaring people, so I started working remotely, as we called it before. Now we just call it working.

The morning was full of chaos as many important processes were not working for data movements. The status reports caused more meetings and more rushing. It was a busy morning.

I had to skip-out of the rest of the day as I had a Covid-19 vaccination appointment at noon. Nike WHQ was hosting the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue vaccination clinic for Washington county for two days. I had managed to get an appointment today and one for Susie on Saturday. I wanted to do one by myself; thus, I would be able to help Susie on Saturday as I would have already experienced the process.

I was there twenty minutes early, and they have me through security and told me being early was fine. I joined a Q of cars. We answered questions along the way and showed ID, and filled out paperwork. It was simple, and nobody was in a great hurry. Everyone wanted to get through the process.

It seemed like a car wash for a bit. When I finally got to the injection part, I started to get nervous. Not about the shot, but how I could not believe that I finally had a chance to get the shot after all this time. It did not hurt, and then I drove through the rest of the process and got my next appointment and my vaccine card.

I picked up lunch at Burger King and started to feel a bit tired–I brought Susie back a Whopper Jr with just cheese and fried cheese sticks instead of their terrible fried. I took 500 mg Tylenol and read and rested. I felt a bit off and tired. I could not be sure if it was the relief, the vaccine, or all the hours of this week working Beaverton and India time. I am feeling fatigued writing this now.

I received my missing mat from Italy today for Frostgrave. As it takes little effort, I decided to build the medieval tower and ruins I also received from the gaming company PWorks in Italy. It takes little effort to assemble it, and it was something to do.  So I built it and put the initial paint on it.

Corwin needed a lift, so I drove him across Beaverton, and we got lunch at Carl’s Jr. I had a Western Burger. I drove home getting more tired, and made Susie a grilled cheese for dinner. I think her sandwich was better than my burger.

Susie’s shot is 9:20ish at Nike WHQ on Saturday.

23,075 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. These numbers will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to get all the counts entered.

1,505 people are reported to have died from Covid-19 in the USA today.

I found this, and I liked it: United Nations Hymn.

 

The morning started with me sleeping into 7ish, having my first Zoom status call at 8:30, and then having non-stop Zoom when I was back online until 5ish.

I had a messy day as I need to get labs done for my doctor’s appointment on Monday. Blood draw and so on. So I had to step out at 10:30ish and drive to my appointment. I checked in by text and read Modular Forms and Fermat’s Last Theorem. A book that purports to explain at the graduate level the wonderful proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem; it is very advance and, I do enjoy it, much flies over my head. I am just into the next section and have only a basic understanding of what I have read so far.

I worked on eclipse tracing in college, and it is an eclipse used in the solution, so I am interested in the underlying math. I am surprised how much math has advanced in this book. I am not sure my knowledge is enough to process the modular forms, but it is worth trying.

The tests are familiar, and all the precautions made me feel safe. It was funny when they asked me “if I have had any of the blah, blah symptoms,” and I said, “no, blah, blah.” Yes, we all know them. They did take my temperature; I was fine.

I went to Panera for lunch at Cedar Mills Mall in Beaverton. I have not been there since the last lockdown in Fall 2020. I used the terminal and ordered my fav, a tuna fish sandwich with broccoli cheese soup, with coffee. The tests are fasting tests, so this was the first coffee and food for today.

I continued to read and slowly watched as tables were not cleaned and the staff was not socially distancing. There were no fresh stains from the cleaner on my table. I slowly began to feel unsafe and left with my coffee half-finished. I will not return to that Panera.

I drove towards home and stopped and got Susie a very happy meal this time. Apple slices were included with the six-piece Chicken McNuggets this time! Susie was happy to get that.

I returned to Zoom meetings all afternoon. Alignment and technical design session replaced the usual status meeting today. It was nice to do some thought on design.

I finished about 5ish today and then ordered Chinese food, Susie’s idea, delivered from Happy Panda. It was all good. Susie had her Chicken with Cashews. I added Shanghai Noodles and Coconut Milk Curry Chicken for Corwin and me. It was above average.

This evening is the 2nd Thursday, so we have Theology Pub tonight. Today’s topic was about the right and left-wing church views and if a left-wing can survive. We had a good discussion, and I believe all views were heard. This, too, is done on Zoom.

I then returned to work. It is morning in India. I started the Zoom meeting. I completed a status report and talked to folks about our data conversions.

I am quite tired.

20,002 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. These numbers will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to collect and post all the counts.

I went with Russian Orthodox tonight: God the Omnipotent.

In Hitchhikers Guild to the Universe, Arthur Dent says he can never get the hang of Thursdays. Today I could not find my groove for today, Wednesday. I managed to experience unrelenting status meetings via Zoom and handle crises of the moment, but I could not make any progress on anything.

I did get my blood test scheduled for tomorrow. My doctor has been after me to show up for a check-up, and I have not been willing until now. I will see him on Monday, a year in lockdown later.

I received a tower model from Italy today for playing the figure-based game Frostgrave. The tower is laser-cut particleboard and is more ruins to assemble and paint as scenery for my playing of Frostgrave. You are supposed to have enough ruins and buildings to prevent any clear sight across the playing surface. This is on 3’x4′ mat that looks like frozen ruins. I have most of what I need to play–it was a fav a few years ago, and the new second edition looks even better.

I did not get the mat I ordered. It appears that the shipment was split into two boxes. I sent a message to PWorks to check the second shipment. Sadly, I bought the tower only because the initial shipping cost was high, so I added the tower at no extra shipping cost. I want the mat. Let’s hope it will appear in the next few days.

I was a bit late for lunch with Mariah at 9 Dang Thai near Orenco Station. I went for my walk and did the whole walk today, more than a mile, and then found the package. I was trying to trace it and lost track of time. I managed to be just a few minutes behind Mariah as she was running late.

I had Chicken with Cashews, and Mariah had something that was on fire. We had a nice lunch and chatted. I was a bit distracted by all the crazy work items that all started hitting just before lunch, so it was a bit muted conversion. It was still nice to get out and enjoy some Thai food!

I drove back and picked up Susie a Happy Meal. The folks at McDonald’s did not put apple slices in like I requested. Susie was not happy to not get her apples!

I logged back on to work. I handled a few more crises of the moment, and more status meetings had me enjoying Zoom all afternoon. I took a break then. I checked up on email a few times. My asthma, even with the walk, was still troubling me. I got back up and sorted the pile of boxes and recycling to see if moving would help, no.

I read some more and got up a few more times.

I made dinner, Whole Food’s pork chops with boiled red potatoes and corn niblets (Schwann’s frozen cooked in the microwave). I fried the chops in a pan to get them a bit brown and then baked them in a glass dish.

Susie thought it was good.

I am also watching old Fowle’s War episodes on Apple TV. I really like the show, and I only got about 1/2 through WW2 last year. The show goes on with quite a few seasons. It finishes with WW2 and enters the Cold War. I recommend it (I just buy seasons). I put on the show while using the kitchen or doing the dishes.

I looked back at the start of this blog as we are coming to completing a whole year. I had forgotten about the liquidity crises of March 2020.

14,081 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. These numbers will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to get all the counts and post them. Our county, Washington, is at 16.5% vaccinated.

1,610 people died today in the USA from the virus.

My first song for the blog was “This Is My Song” on March 15, 2020–my fav hymn. Later in 2020, I found this song to the same tune, Finlandia, and I like the words better: Tribute to the Nations. Enjoy!

 

 

 

I got a call from Jennie Fast that there is a vaccine two-day clinic opening at Nike. I managed to get two appointments for us, Friday for me and then Saturday for Susie. Later, I received an email from the clinic that the set-up of the clinic was not done right, and we should give up our appointment if we are not in group 1A or 1B in Washington County. We are still the required group and happy to get an appointment. I hope they will not cancel the whole thing; I plan to go first to find my way to help Susie on Saturday.

A friend of mine, a dentist, suggested taking some Tylenol to help with the side effects of the Covid-19 shot. I will follow his plan of 1000 mg just before the shot and 500 every six hours.

Returning to this morning, I started at 6:15ish this morning. My first meeting, an all-employee meeting, was at 7. This meeting was well put together by the CEO and removed some of the issues from the day before. Clarity was provided.

I then started an endless set of Zoom meetings and crises of the moment. All my teams are rushing and pushing now. The work is coming due, and there is a lot to finish-up.

I managed to get my walk in and walked my usual 1/2 mile for Tuesday. My breathing was better as I managed to keep active this weekend. Use it or lose it!

We are facing some drama from our church and the central church. I talked to some of my church friends about that today. I will not cover it here.

I ordered lunch from Gyro House, lamb gyro, and a side of hummus and bread. I made for Susie when she started up late some breakfast of yogurt and cereal.

The day continued with Zoom status meetings until about 3ish. I did a demo and showed how my recently written software worked to install some software. I managed to show it all working.

I then listened to more status and did a few more crises of the moment. I took a break at 4ish.

I nodded off while reading and started dinner at 5:15ish by baking some chicken that I sliced up. I put it over pasta with alfredo sauce from a jar. I did not like the sauce, so I will look up how to make it from scratch. Susie approved of dinner.

I managed to get that done and watch some news before it was time to log back in to work. I am still working India mornings, about 9ish PST. I tried to help with a few issues. I finished at about 9:45ish.

8,760 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. This number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to collect all the data and get it posted.

1,704 people are reported to have died today in the USA from Covid-19. The number was low yesterday; this sudden doubling might be a correction and not a sudden increase. Let us hope for that.

I turned to Savior of the Nations, Come. This is from Martin Luther. This uses a 14th-century tune from Bach, going old school.