Blog

Working backward today.

I signed-out of work at 9:15ish after started back at 8ish at night. This is working India time. Our team is partially in India, so we are starting in their morning. So far, they don’t need my help.

We ordered from Saigon Bowl some Beef Pho and spice noodle items. Susie was tired, and so I delivered peanut butter toast and a glass of milk on a tray in the bedroom–snack in bed. As usual with Pho, you get a huge soup of broth and meat. The noodles, and veggies, and spices come in different containers to mix and match. We got out our largest bowl and made the usual messy but good dinner. I used Door Dash.

We had tried to order from other places, but they were all closed this Saturday night.

Evan came over, and we played three games. We could not finish Architects of the West Kindom as I had to return to work, and it is hard to eat soup and play a game and not make a disaster. So I surrendered to Evan. I was ahead when we stopped, but Evan has pulled off some sudden extra point combination and taken the game before. We play with the Age of Artisans add-on and a few promo cards too. The revisions make the game just a bit better and more fun to play.

Evan and I played The King Is Dead, Second Edition game twice today. I won both games, but it is a hard game to get your head around. You are trying to collect support for one of three possible pretenders to the throne: Scotts, Brits, Welsh. You try to manipulate the supports in the various areas and France. You have eight actions to take. It is tough to set the stage and then let it play-out while your competitor is trying to do the same thing. We did not yet have a good understanding of the game, but it plays fast, and it is easy to understand. We played two learning games.

Before that, we play Concordia for a few hours. We played using the large Europe and Mediterranean map, adding in the Forum from the Salsa add-on. I managed to pull ahead and stay there. The cloth cities were close to Rome, so I abandoned my normal run away to my own corner plan and instead built-up right in the center of the board. I was then able to easily harvest resources and use them to keep expanding. Evan also had luck as he pulled the Weaver and Vinter card before I could snag them. So it was a busy game of building up trading empires in the old Roman empire. I had some amazing luck on cards and how the board random city assignments aligned.

We had to put Concordia on hold and pop over to Golden Valley Brewery to get snacks for the Super Bowl tomorrow. They also had a special on wines, so I got two bottles of Intrinsic for 50% off. We opened one for tonight. Evan said it was great, and I thought it a very nice wine.

Concordia is a fav, and I thought a link to a review of the game would be good for those wondering: Shutup Review. This group, Shutup & Sitdown, reviews lots of games, and I recommend them–they are fun to watch.

Before Evan got here, I was online in Zoom meetings. We are still having some issues that will run into the weekend. I started about 7:20ish and was dressed and ready for the first meeting at 9ish.

18,895 people received the vaccine in Oregon yesterday. This number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to collect all the data. Our county, Washington, is now above 8% vaccinated.

2,730 people are reported to have died from Covid-19 in the USA today.

Who can’t love a song with a title like this, and it seems to fit my day: New Heaven & Earth – Epic Song of Revelation.

It has been an epic day!

My first meeting is at 6ish, and so I was in my robe talking to folks on Zoom, no video, seeing how the data conversions were running.

I left the Zoom meeting once we started another run to get ready and dressed. The day is hard to remember as I was tired, and we were trying to run the data conversions in various ways and settings.

I also had a caregiving moment for Susie. Had to stop what I was doing and care for her and do some housework. Everything is good now.

So then the status meeting happened non-stop while trying to do the work. I will not repeat the work unhappy story. We are working all weekend now to try to get some of the work done.

I put together a larger breakfast today, European style; I had cheese slices and ham with toast. I thought it might be a bit crazy, and I worked late before, so I knew I should do more than fruit and toast. Lunch today was just yogurt.

Susie was dressed and ready, but I spaced that 10AM was physical therapy with Michelle and a reassessment. Susie was just resting, and we were able to rally in just a few minutes. The decision was that Susie showed real measurable progress and still had some items to work on. Insurance will let me pay the whole amount until we hit my out-of-pocket maximum. I have an account of money put aside before taxes to cover this. As the money is removed from my paycheck, I do not feel like I am actually paying it.

At about the same time, DHL, I did have to go into their website and accept non-contact delivery for each of the two packages, delivering a new board game. This is a Christmas present now getting done from Kickstarter. I have one for me and one to give away for a late Christmas present for Michelle Smith and her family.

Where Am I? is an Alice In Wonderland Tea Party themed guessing game. It was a big hit at the German gaming convention in 2019. The Kickstarter in 2020 was to manufacture the game after it was sold-out. The game comes with a little table, and a miniature china tea set made of china and is adorable. You play by putting dishes on a cardboard table in front of cardboard chairs. Each piece of china is so many victory points. You can instead put a character in the chair; whoever is that character gets the points. Lastly, you guess which player is which by how they set the table. For example, if you put Alice’s marker in a chair with lots of china, you are likely playing Alice. You get victory points for guessing right. You play a few rounds, and the highest score wins.

I am looking forward to playing this quick adorable game someday post Covid-19!

Work went on late. I did manage to break away to make dinner. Pork chops baked. I made orecchiette pasta (little ears) with bacon, capers, green beans, with Alfredo sauce (from a jar). I made more coffee. I am living pot-by-pot now. Susie thought dinner was good.

We watched PBS news for an hour while eating. I try to stop and spend time eating with Susie. We do not sit at a table but balance our plates while sitting in the living room. No food mishaps of late!

Back to work again at 9 tonight and again at 9 this coming morning. Tonight is the data conversion team. Tomorrow is data conversion of master data.

My haircut for Saturday was canceled. Zerida had some events and is recovering. We are happy to hear that she is doing OK, and I rescheduled my haircut until next Saturday.

I spoke to Evan, and he will likely come over and play some board games on Saturday.

12,897 were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. This number will likely increase as the data takes 72 hours to be updated. In our county, Washington, the vaccination rate is 7.88%.

3,572 people in the USA are reported to have died from the virus today.

I Stand Amazed in the Presence is a hymn I think I have sung before.

Today is crazy, and I am still online at work. This will be a short blog.

I stayed in bed until about 7ish. I was working until about 11PM-ish last night. I am online again at 10:45PM at work. We have some hard deadlines and lots of folks working late. I am on multiple teams with issues. I seem to be on early and late and all the times between 😉

I got up and was ready for my first meeting at 7:30ish. I had not brushed my hair well and got some comments on the Zoom meeting. But nobody was on video at 7:30!

I had about four hours of Zoom meetings until I got a break.

I managed a short walk today between Zoom meetings. I made a sandwich, cold roast beef and cheddar cheese, that I ate while in Zoom meetings. Susie was up early, and I got her breakfast while having non-stop Zoom calls.

The rest of the day was a rush of status meetings and crises. We have hard deadlines, and data conversions are going a bit side-ways. I was needed to help here and there. I was in a meeting all later afternoon into the evening—all Zoom. I was called in as the “wizard” for performance fixes.

In the mail, Mom Wild sent Susie a penguin stuffed animal. The purchase of the stuffed animal supports penguins in the wild. Susie has been tired and a bit down. She really brightened up when she saw the penguin! It is nearly full-sized!

I made chicken soup from a can and Kraft Delux mac and cheese. I also cooked up some bacon to dressing up the food for dinner. Everything is better with bacon!

I actually did the dishes with folks online with the mic turned off. They could see me watching a pan and filling the dishwasher while we worked on the problems.

So a very crazy day today.

11,516 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. These numbers should increase as it takes 72 hours to get all the data. Our county, Washington, is at 7.6% vaccinated.

3,523 people in the USA lost their lives to the virus today.

I went with the hymn I turned to when I opened the Methodist Hymnal, It Is Well With My Soul.

Wednesday started as most of my workday at 6ish, but I decided to take that extra 15 minutes. So I made coffee, read emails, looked at the daily news, and then hurried to the shower and dressing to make the 7ish meeting. This was the All-Employee Monthly meeting. I will not share most of the content here, but it was much better done this time and only overran by ten minutes with the CEO telling us to stay for the finish. It was not bad after that status meetings started again and some small reviews. I also got a few emergency requests today. So it was a rushing day.

I took a short walk today. I am stiff, and my legs have some pain. I might have overdone it or slept funny last night. I took it easy today.

I decided to order out for lunch from Ma-Now, Mussaman Curry. I was having more breathing issues, so I wanted something nice. Thai food always seems to make me feel better, and breathing gets easier from the spices.

I started looking at how to do change control processes on a new platform for Nike. I was mostly reading and talking to folks about how to set up the processes. I will have to code some of it too in a programming language called Groovy. I spent the afternoon reading and getting ready for this work.

We had a problem when Susie decided that it was the Publishing Clearing House prize team on the phone. They had us drive to meet people. It was obviously a con when they asked for us to pay them $300 tax for Oregon on the prizes. It at least got Susie a nice drive.

We picked up KFC on the way back to the house.

Mariah came over to visit and chatted with Susie while I had some more meetings on data conversions. Masks on.

Mariah and I dueled over Jeopardy while enjoying KFC. Mariah got almost every answer in the first round. I managed to get some of the high-value obscure ones right in double Jeopardy. I also knew the final answer about French kings; I remembered the “Sun King” and got the answer. We did OK.

Wheel of Fortune was a total fail for me. Not my kind of game, letter games. Mariah was also having some trouble. We had the chocolate cake from KFC during Wheel of Fortune. We will need more practice!

I rarely do TV, and Susie is usually watching Mash. It was nice to watch Jeopardy today.

I had another meeting tonight, still ongoing, as we try to start the data conversions. I am writing this while we have Zoom on, hoping to get a fix for an issue so we can finish tonight.

While I write this, there was a thump; Susie fell. Somehow she leaned too far over to get her coat and just kept going. Being an ice skater, she landed between her bike and the chair next to it. Perfectly safe and only need to be helped up.

A crazy day!

12,167 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. This number will be revised upward as it takes 72 hours for the data to be collected. Our county, Washington, has reached 7.4% vaccinated.

3,999 people in the USA died today from Covid-19.

I picked I love To Tell The Story for today’s song.

 

Tuesday started at 6ish.

The first meeting was 7ish, of course, so I was rushed in the morning. Status meetings and issue meetings all morning. I had to pick them as I was often double or even triple-booked for meeting today.

The day was full of meetings until lunchtime. I met with my boss and have a new assignment. A more technical challenge that I think I will enjoy.

I slipped in a full walk today. It was a nice morning with sun breaks. I saw the crows, a murder of crows, all in a staff meeting a few streets down. I do not know what the subject was, but it was loud.

I remembered to take a picture of the creek I walk to on the full walk. Two ducks enjoy the creek on the other side, and I thought it would be a nice photo. The ducks objected to my attention and started to swim away.

The local elementary school, Reedville School, posted a message that they miss everyone. It seemed a bit sad to me. It was a good walk, sunny, ducks, crows, and sad schools.

Returning to work, I also had some solutions to review and point-of-view to give. It was a busy morning. It ended with a one-on-one meeting with my boss and a new assignment for me. We also did my review for the last six months. It was fine.

Lunch was reheated chili and a cornbread muffin. I also have to admit that the girl scout cookies were too close to me and have gone missing. It is not likely the last three cookies will be missed, I hope.

I had already blocked my calendar as I had to do some head-down work. It is unusual for me to do that of late, but the work I have now is very detailed and requires close attention. The new assignment will also require the same heads-down and likely headphones–it is very technical.

I got started just in time for Clare to get here. This is possibly Susie’s last Physical Therapy appointment. Another month just flew by. Susie is doing much better, and we hope we can continue. Clare and Susie went over a lot of exercises, and Susie was quite tired after Clare left.

Clare was ill and missed the last appointment. Apparently, the second dose of the vaccine gets a strong response. You are miserable. Clare is now fully vaccinated.

After PT was done, I went back to work and sent my finding to the wider group; we meet again to review soon. I signed off.

I made dinner; it is a repeat of last week. Steak from Schwann’s, thawed mostly, with baked potatoes (put in the oven at 400F for an hour this time per Mariah) and corn steamed on the stovetop also from Schwann’s. The steaks are cooked on the stovetop in a hot pan with just a bit of butter to get them a bit brown and then finished in the same pan in the hot oven. I, remembering to cover the metal handle with an oven mitt, make a quick pan gravy with butter, water, and corn starch. Slice steaks thin and cover with a bit of gravy.

I watched the BBC news on our local PBS channel with Susie while we had dinner. No sitdown dinner in this house. We eat in the living room, watching the news or other shows.

I then set up a new board game, The King Is Dead, Second Edition, that I purchased this weekend. I saw a review of it on youtube that gave it top marks, so I wanted to try it–one of the best games of 2020. It was not expensive and smallish–I can slide it into a spot on the shelves. So little guilt for buying just one more game…

The King is Dead, Second Edition is set in medieval Britain (gold) and Scotland (blue), and Wales (red), plus a bit of France (black). You are trying to have the most support for the new King, either a British, Welsh, or Scottish king, or the widest base of supporters if the French invade. You have eight cards, just eight, that allow you to take only eight actions for the whole game! You can use the cards to manipulate the supporters or the order of power struggle. Once you and your opponent, who also is trying to win, have stopped the manipulating, a power struggle for a province happens. The province supporters throw their support behind one of the would-be kings, either British, Welsh, or Scott, or they cannot decide and are marked as undecided–black–(you just count them; they are different colors). If three provinces go undecided, the game ends with a French invasion. Assuming the French stay away, the manipulation starts again–plots are hatched and ruined. Once this stops again, more power struggles. This is repeated through eight providences or until the French invade.

I gave it a try playing against myself, and it plays fast, and I have no idea what to do. I will need to do more videos on How-to-Play. It seems that you need to plan and plot and find combinations. All this would be easier, but most of the supporters are assigned randomly, including your first two! Each game then is unique. Also, the order of power struggles is random, but you can manipulate that, but only once in a game! It seems fast and hard not to shoot-your-wad or hold out too long for that perfect play and face the French. I think I like it.

10,712 people received the vaccine in Oregon Yesterday, and this number will likely increase as the data takes 72 hours to collect. Our county, Washington, is now at 7.2% vaccinated.

3,633 people in the USA today lost their lives to Covid-19.

I went with a newish piece that sounds like it fits the game I was playing: Agnus Dei – Samuel Barber.