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I see the first year of this daily blog approaching. I never expected to write for a year, and I was hoping, a failed hope, that we would have vaccines and would be free of this at the start of 2021. I never believed that people would take the normal precautions for infection to be a political statement and that I would be looking at Year 2 of my blog and still not seeing the end of lockdown.

And 2021 has now had the largest power failures in Oregon history. Yes, the world has gone for another first. The USA faces the complete collapse of power grids in Texas and other western states while an arctic blast hits deep into the county’s south. My friend Violet Blue in San Francisco, we only meet online, said she finds it strange that California is not the center of yet-another-natural-disaster with total power grid fails. Another unexpected but totally predictable event. It has been cold before.

It does feel like Monty Python, Douglas Adams, or SNL is writing our script!

I might have to write another Howard story about the continuation of unexpected but completely predictable events.

I guess the only good news is that any murder hornets-filled trees broke-up from the ice storm, exposing the wasps to the elements. I suspect they are gone or greatly reduced.

The snow is mostly gone today, the water levels are coming down, and the mail and packages even were delivered. The trash and recycling are still not picked-up. I suspect we will see them on Friday, our normal day. Waste Management charges for each extra bag on the curb. I suspect the bad weather will be a windfall for them–irony and pun all in the same statement.

The morning started on Tuesdays as normal, 7AM Zoom calls with India and the USA. That is followed by four hours of status meetings, all on Zoom. I did write some Groovy code trying to make some progress on one of my tasks. I also had to look up how some data is sourced and what it means for another team. I helped write the old software, so I often find the answers they need or headed them towards them.

Much of today, including a few crises of the moment, was routine, and I was still tired. Focus came and went, but at least I did get some of my focus back a few times.

I went outside for a walk but saw my neighbor and a chance for us, socially distanced, to just chat, so I skipped the walk to just chew-the-fat with Chris. It was polite, and we do get along. I am still polite even when he told me that the QAnaon shaman guy from 6Jan2021 was actually an employee of Nancy Pelosi–not. He is good to his family and did my air conditioning for a good price. I am sure he thinks I am a crazy liberal.

Lunch for me was a can of New England Clam Chowder. I still remember having it in Massachusettes when I lived there as a little kid, and it is still a thrill to have some. Seafood, to me, is a pile of steamer clams. And taking the shells home to paint and play with. I remember still having a few even left when I was in college in a box.

Susie had Eggo Waffles with peanut butter.

Work went on with some more meetings, mostly status all on Zoom. We also had an alignment meeting that went well.

I stopped about 3ish as I was getting tired again. I did check emails while I read. I took a short 30-minute nap, unplanned.

Returning to the kitchen, I made tacos for dinner—boxed taco shells and spice packet, old school. I put the cheese in the shells before I heat them in the oven. I ate a lot of tacos–I love these. Susie had a few and split a bottle of Mexican beer with me.

This evening, I read the German Report on the Battle of Jutland that the British found in a partially scuttled German battleship and published the translation in 1918. I had never read this before; I have only seen quotes from it. It is in the back of a book of communication and reports published after World War One by the British Navy. It includes even the flags used in the battle. I order a print-on-demand copy of the book from India bound in leather. It is a scanned copy in the public domain, so it is not perfect, but it is good enough to read.

To me, it is amazing to read these reports. We are still learning about this 100-year-old battle.

I am back to working on India time tonight.

5,281 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. Again, the rates are way down, and the state website says there is not enough vaccine now.

1,787 people died in the USA today from the Covid-19.

I have not sung this before, but I learned from cartoons: Nobody Knows the Trouble I Seen–Methodist Hymnal 520.

Last night the pine tree next door dropped a large branch on my neighbor’s front yard. About three inches thick and more than ten feet long, the branch brushed the house and roof as it fell next door. The neighbors, alarmed, moved to another side of the house to sleep. No more of the tree came down today-tonight. There is no damage—just some small branches on their roof.

All over the Greater Portland Area, trees are down, and transformers are exploding to add to the excitement. I have heard of multiple stories of children in shock as the Internet becomes not available. Why transformers are exploding from ice and branches are unknown to me. It must be a branch must hit them and short them.

We have power and no trees breaking so far.

The morning began with me very tired at 6:30ish. I had status meetings at 7 and managed to be ready and showered in time. There I started to learn of the loss of power and connections to the Internet for many Nike colleagues. Portland and areas in or near the West Hills are suffering transformer explosions and falling tree parts.

Returning to my morning, I got just started, and then Susie had to get going as her appointment with Zeriada for nails, hair, toes, and so on was 9 this morning. I had to leave the meetings running while I rallied Susie. She was responsive and was up and dressed by 8:30ish for coffee, water, and yogurt, and cereal mixed (her fav). Her driver was on time. The snow is still on the walkway for our house. Susie sat down in her walker and was pushed out to the taxi on her walker. It was not safe for her to walk in the snow. I helped get her loaded.

I then took a break. I rested instead of taking a walk today. It is too icy and damp for a walk today.

I finished the German-style goulash for lunch with 1/2 a can of peaches. While eating, I then read online the adventure I was playing on Roll20 today. I need to read everything ahead and get it set in my mind how to handle some items. We are coming to the end of The Mad Mage’s Dungeon, having skipped down to the lower levels. The last four levels of the complex are better assembled and written than any other part of the adventure. They should be fun to play.

Two more status meetings and my day is done today for the shoe company. I blocked my calendar and set a note that I was out this afternoon. I was tired, and it was hard to be focused today anyway. Susie returned, again being pushed on the walker this time. Susie had a McDonald’s Happy Meal today with Chicken McNuggets.

I drove to Zeriada’s too. I had a haircut that had been canceled twice, and I was taking on the Einstein look. I got to drive on the sloppy roads, but the roads were fine, just wet. Not as fun as yesterday.

The haircut takes no time. I headed back toward Beverton and stopped at The Olive Garden. I tried to use their app, it says to call. I walk in and ask if they can take a to-go order as their app is not working. I am reminded that because of Covid-19, I need to call my order in. I step back outside and call them from the car. I speak to exactly the same person again, but she tried to forward me and lost my call this time. I call back and hear hold music for five minutes before taking my call, the exact same person, and then she successfully delivering me to the to-go person–ten feet away from her. I put in orders for three dinners and dessert, just one for Susie. I was told it would be 15 minutes, it was 45 minutes, and they brought out the food and put it in my car, touchless.

I love their salad and breadsticks. I forgot the dish Tour of Italy was not one of their best dishes, but I have found that food is made better in this new world. I enjoyed it even if the lasagna was just OK. Susie enjoyed the chicken and alfredo on linguine pasta. Corwin got spaghetti and meatballs.

Just after finishing dinner was Roll20 and The Mad Mage’s Dungeon. All the players were ready, and we dived into the game. I had some hot tea to help with the exhaustion I was feeling. The players last time had fought a terrible battle to capture the top deck of an Astral flying ship. They regrouped, healed up, and then open the hatch to take the rest of the ship. They found many of the crew had been killed by having their brains sucked out of the cracked open skull. Quite nightmarish! The ship’s shape, squid-shaped,  and the horrific deaths of the crew suggested mind flayers–one of the worst and horrific monsters in Dungeons and Dragon. I had managed to make the players nervous, if not a bit scared.

They searched the ship and befriended a miniature giant space hamster. Yes, it is a real thing in 5E Dungeons and Dragons. The hamster was friendly, and when they headed to the bridge, it stood-up and saluted. The mind flayer, thanking the hamster for bringing it dinner, then tried to blast the minds of all the characters. It went first, everyone else rolled low, and I thought it would go poorly for the adventurers, but every one of adventures successfully resisted the mind-blast and made quick work of the captain. The hamster, who changed sides, was spared, but it was agreed by the players that it was headed to a pet shop and not as an ally. It was loot, not a friend.

The adventurers descended to the next level, shocked at how deep they are, and discovered a symbol of death trap waiting for them. They managed to remove it with dispel magic. They then explored found a tower that they are now resting before they take it on. The players are advancing their characters to the 12th level now.

After that, I started to write this blog.

Only 3,650 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. Apparently, we are out of vaccine; that is what the state website suggests.

954 people are reported to have died from Covid-19 today in the USA.

This is the best version I could find of Rise, Shine, You People–Methodist Hymnal #187. I don’t know this song and just turned to it today.

I managed to sleep until 9ish today. I got to bed around midnight; that seemed a fair amount of sleep for me.

I was able to get going and heard from Evan and Mariah in the morning. I would meet Mariah for lunch, actually picking her up in Air Volvo. Evan would come after 1ish to play some board games.

Susie was up in the late morning. I heated up some sausages from yesterday and made her fav, again, of scrambled eggs with cheese. She enjoyed a freshly made breakfast.

I left Susie to watch ice skating, Leta her mother had called that it was on.

The driving was sloppy, and I fished tailed in Air Volvo a few times, but no real risk. I was surprised when the SUV did a Tokyo Drift on 185th when I pulled onto the street from Johnson Street! Again, no trouble, but I suspect I smiled and maniacally laughed. It goes without saying that this was before I picked up Mariah. Thereafter I drove like I was going to church.

The pizza place was not open! We did Buffalo Wild Wings. While there, because I had to play board games later today, I ordered refreshments this way, “a refreshing beer-like product, Coors Light, please.” I then said, “Yes, a large one–it is mostly water.” I had a coffee with it. We had wings and chatted.

I then drove Mariah back home without any sudden cool car moves. I then went home, sometimes driving over the snow to help break it up–four-wheel drive, you know. I tried not to scare too many Oregonians as I tried to help break up the snow.

I stopped by and picked up a large chocolate heart-shaped box for Susie and a few small ones for Evan and Corwin. Evan beat me to the house and was hanging out with Susie until I got there.

Evan then ruined my winning streak on the board game Scythe. He beat me with Polandia by twenty points. A total spanking. I played Russia and thought I was doing OK until Evan spread out all over the map and crushed me. I have lost this way before to Polandia and knew I was finished a few turns before the end. I was still trying to adjust and win, and then Evan ended the game with a sixth star. Crushed!

I did manage to pull off a win in the next game by just two points, Vindication. We played the basic game. The game has random ending conditions, a design I helped with years ago at a local gaming convention, and this time we unexpectedly tripped them. We managed to trip another one as we ended the game with one more round of play (Unlike Scythe, which ends immediately when the sixth star is placed, Vindication is like most board games and has one more round to play to allow the players a chance to improve their score). It was a close game.

Lastly, we played a new game, Where Am I? This is a new Kickstarter game that is a recreation of the tea party in Alice In Wonderland. You have a little table, and you place tiny dishes to score points. You also try to guess who is who. It is cute and a bluffing game. Evan scored the winning score, but we are still trying to learn it.

I made cheese sandwiches for Susie and me (mine had ham too). Evan made his own sandwich.

We watched the Blazers beat Dallas while eating.

I then had to stop and write this blog.

Only 2,153 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. Let us hope that the number is a mistake and it will be increased in the next 72 hours.

1,111 people are reported to have died today from Covid-19 in the USA.

It has been a long time since I sang this, Go Down, Moses–Methodist Hymnal #448.

I could not sleep in this morning. I think it was the breathing issues I sometimes have, but it could be just the stress of working every weekend for three weekends (and nights) still not letting go. I am being careful and using my inhaler.

It snowed on top of the ice last night. My haircut was canceled for 1:30, and Evan could not make it over to play games.

But, Knowledge Mavins met today at 10ish. We are using Discord now. Zoom is so corporate while Discord is so hacker! There were just three of us, but we have presented together for a few years and were happy to just chat. We decided to meet every month and to keep talking. If we can get an interesting hack done, we might call a presentation meeting.

I managed to play the automata for the board game Scythe last night. I stayed up to 1ish to finish the game. I just managed to squeak by the automatic player with a score of 60 to 56 on easy mode! I wanted to learn how to use this; I had known it before, but I could not remember all the rules. I also purchased the consolidated rules that were published and then republished after complaints. I just got the fixed copy, and thus I recycled the faulty copy. I re-reread much of the rules over the last two nights. No surprises in the rules–I am playing by the rules. I did learn that there are a few scenarios that I did not know. There is a cooperative version that looks like fun!

I went online and purchased some additions for Scythe. I am missing a few bonus cards, I learned, and I could get a few more automata decks to run some multiple automatic opponents in the game. That sounds like fun, and Evan and I could then play a four-person game with two automata!

Just an update: The ants are mostly gone. Apparently, the ant baits worked, and I suspect the survivors did not enjoy the 20s weather. I did run into two ants in the kitchen. They will not be returning to warn the tribe.

I did dishes and laundry today. I also cleaned the snow off the car by running it and then removing much of the ice from the now warmed car. I want it ready. I also have some de-icer, and I sprinkled it out on the ice. I then went over to the neighbors and did their walks too. I ordered some more on Petco, which had the lowest price and shipping costs.

Returning to breakfast, I made Susie scrambled eggs with cheese, and I cooked maple sausages for breakfast. I had poached eggs with a bagel with a banana. Susie got some links, and I had to freeze the rest as I enjoyed them too much!

I took it easy and tried to relax. It is still difficult not to be checking email and Slack channels non-stop (If you don’t know what a Slack channel is–be happy in your ignorance). I am practicing being a regular human today.

I made angel hair pasta in the sauce from a jar with rustic meatballs from Safeway’s meat case. I find that Susie can enjoy this if I bake it a bit. So she managed a bowl of pasta and 1.5 meatballs.

I tried to watch the movie, The Dark Tower, a guilty pleasure but started to fall asleep. I then went back to Scythe.

11,783 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. This number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to collect all the information. Oregon has vaccinated more than 10% of the state now.

2,272 people in the USA died today from Covid-19.

There Is A Balm In Gilead has been on my mind as we continue to see hope in the vaccine. It is hard to wait for us to reach 1B Group 4 in Washington County, Oregon.

It is reported that we have all the snow and ice we get in a year now for this weekend.

The snow and ice started on Thursday afternoon, but it seemed to fizzle-out. This morning the slush was freezing, and the sleet more snow. Air Volvo had some ice in it, but not too bad.

I slept until 6:30ish and then rushed like a madman to make the 7:05 meeting. This was a demo of the software we have worked on for four years to get to this point. Our colleague, a recent hire in the new facility in India, did a brilliant demo and the users, with just a little grumbling about a few bugs we have on a fix list, accepted the software.

Much of the day was paperwork and process to sign-off the software and get it installed. We were all tired as we have worked weekends and India time and Portland time for more than a week.

I did a bit of groovy coding to install some software for a change control process.

Lunch was re-heated German-style goulash with veggies—sort of a stew. Breakfast was a bagel, from the fresh bagels I had delivered from Einstien Brothers earlier this week frozen and then toasted today with coffee. I drank almost the whole pot myself–I am tired from all the long hours these past three weeks.

Susie’s physical therapist came, despite the snow and ice, this afternoon and worked with Susie. Susie did a bit better today. They worked on improving Susie’s posture and strength. Susie still had trouble at first getting up and down from a chair, but she got back to almost normal by the end of the session. So better news this time.

Mariah had texted me, and we would meet for dinner. In the morning, I had started Air Volvo to run the defrost to melt the first ice on it. Just in case I needed the SUV. It was worse now, another 1/4 inch. I had to defrost it for 15 minutes again.

Aside: Just before the Covid-19 mess, I had put some stuff in my garage much that was to be junked. It has stayed there until this Covid-19 is over again. I am not going to risk people’s lives over junking some house items. This means that Air Volvo sleeps outside now and is getting iced this weekend.

Mariah and I both finished work 4ish, and I picked her up; Susie stayed home. I did fishtail once with Air Volvo, and Mariah made it clear that I was not to repeat that. We drove in the snow and ice to The Rock Wood Fired Pizza for beer and pizza. I ordered a large pizza, I brought the rest back to Susie. In Oregon, you can now order mixed alcoholic drinks to-go. Susie would also get a “bucket” of their version of a huge Long Island Iced Tea. Today, we officially move to lower virus risk in Washington county, and we can now eat inside a restaurant again. We are now “dangerous,” not “highly dangerous.” There is something oddly Douglas Adams about this.

Mariah and I talked, and the staff at The Rock remembered us. They asked about Susie and told them we could not get tiny chains for her walker. They thought that funny. We told them we wanted to bring a drink back to Susie with the remaining pizza. They made an excellent drink to-go. It was a lovely time, and I was so happy to see the bartender Eric again, and I think I have had Courtney as a waiter before.

16,877 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. The number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to get the final numbers.

2,098 people in the USA today died from the virus.

I picked a communion song, Let Us Break Bread Together, an Afro-American spiritual. It is my fav for communion songs, and I sing it to myself once in a while. This is a more political version, but I like it. I was singing along when I played it.