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I had strange dreams of looking for people, including Susie in a fantasy version of Disneyland that included endless buildings with corridors that never went where you needed them to go to. I awoke tired from wander for hours in the dream, with a headache and looking for coffee! I started at about 8:30.

I found that the mix for pancakes was twice or larger and bubbling. I had read that I could make sourdough pancakes with my leftover starter. So I followed the recipe, which seemed a means to grow even more starter. I then mixed in oil, eggs, baking powder, with salt. It looked like a heavy pancake batter. I fried it in butter like Dan Gray has me do for the church breakfasts, and they looked good.

The taste is sourdough, which to me did not improve with maple syrup, was well sour. Something should not be messed-with and sourdough and pancakes-ugh! Now, if you added some heavily flavored flour, some spices like curry leaves and onion seeds, and forget eggs and baking powder–it is something I have had for breakfast in India. The taste reminded me of fermented pancakes in India.

It was fun to learn something new. Susie had a pancake and suggested that they were OK. She also suggested that I do not need to make them again.

Susie was still resting when I connected to the weekly church meeting at 11AM today. It was nice to see everyone and chat. This is my first time back in months.

We talked about how to forgive your enemies. I think we thought it possible to have compassion for an enemy; it is hard to forgive or love an enemy. We also talked about how it is hard to love that next-door-neighbor that always bothering you or just being a problem.

Susie was up to watch ice skating this afternoon.

Evan came over for the afternoon. We played two new games and a fav game.

We first played War of Whispers, my newest board game from Kickstarter, the deluxe version. This new version includes all the add-ons and includes some 3-D markers that make the game easier to play. The game is unique in that you play the spies trying to get different factions to win, do ok, ignore them, or help them fail. The game is that each player is trying to do this, and the factions ratings are randomly assigned. Thus both Evan and I, not knowing at first, were against the green faction. We both were happy to destroy it, but the Horse (brown) clan was my fav, and it was next to Evan’s fav clan, the Bears (blue). At one point, I had partial control of the Bear faction and had them make terribly bad attacks and lose half their armies. The Horse faction was no longer at risk from the Bear faction! Evan was wondering why I would waste the Bear faction armies against the Lion Faction (yellow). Thus, is the lives of us sneaky spies! I, having played the game against myself a few times to learn the game, used the special spy powers found in the cards you collect to fight back as, despite my control of the Bears, I was actually on the Lion (yellow) side. Evan will use the cards next time more. This was a learning game, and somehow we managed to tie the score. The game looks rather dramatic. The game is mostly played on the ring and not the cool map inside. It only takes about an hour to play once you have the rules down.

We next played the board game Vindication. We added pets to the game, but in the end, I got one pet, and it was great. Evan had no pets. Evan had some revenge in this game. He spanked me. He took most of the masteries and put to shame my last grab of owning four tiles on my last move on the last turn. It was not nearly enough. I should have fought more monsters; just one actually made it, not a spanking. I was not happy with my play.

We agreed to try yet-another-new-game. Brass: Lancashire is a rework of the old Brass game. I have been playing it as a learning game against myself. This time Evan wanted to try this hard and cut-throat economic game. Brass was one of the first ones made of this type and is the grandfather of other like games. This edition is colorful, and the rules and rule book is approachable. About 3/4 into the game, Evan started to get the rules and put a bit of pressure on me. I managed to just outscore him in this learning game. Evan seemed to like it, but he shared that he thought Concordia a more fun game.

We got Chinese food for pickup from Taste of Sichuan. I used to eat there for lunch, and my friend Will reminded me that their food is good. We picked-up an order. As it was a dinner order, I did not order rice. I quickly made some when we got home.

Evan left after dinner and the last game. I had to log-on to work and look at an emergency SAP Incident tracked by leadership. I am the owner of the ticket. I have been watching it all weekend.

12,781 people were vaccinated against Covid-19 yesterday in Oregon.

1,846 people in the USA died from Covid-19 today.

I found a musical version of The Lord’s Prayer.

I do not remember when I got up. It seems to be very bright and very hard to get started. I also remember I started playing the board game Lisboa that I had set-up last night. I had not played many turns when the morning seemed to be over!

I have to admit the massive game was interesting to play, and after two hours of playing, I was not spending half my time looking up rules, definitions and trying to find a strategy. I was playing a special solo version of the rules that gave me more rules. This game does not need extra rules! While I enjoyed learning the game again, I admit that other games on the shelf have fewer rules and are more fun. I was still happy to get it out today. I was almost as happy to put it away. I did not finish it as I wanted to play something else.

I ordered bagels with Lox for me while playing Lisboa. I made Susie a bagel when she got started. This time I remembered to freeze the rest so there can be bagels for breakfast all next week. All of this from DoorDash and Einsteins Brothers Bagles.

I took a break and took a short walk. The local church is leaving Christmas up. I have spoken to many people, and Christmas went up early and is staying. Trying to keep moving and push it. Use-it-or-lose-it!

I purchased some Folio sets from Decision Games on some famous naval battles. I was able to get out my Bismarck and Hood 1:6000 models, painted! The game is not designed for miniatures, but that did not stop me. I am also unsure that the Hood armor number is right, but I decided to play and learn the rules.

I managed to evolve the rules and feel to use my miniatures and make the hex and counter-based game work. I have been looking for a rules-light version for this battle for years to use the miniatures. This appears the answer. More on this as I played it. I also need to get out the smoke markers (painted cotton) and fire (red and black painted cotton). It still looked great.

I made dinner of broiled steak and fresh-made mashed potatoes. Well, fresh in a sense, I mashed them–the potatoes were aging poorly, and I had to peel them! A salad too.

Susie watched ice skating on TV and then read a book. We are keeping to a quiet locked-down holiday so far.

The vaccination rate of Oregon has been revised this weekend. The website suggests that this will not happen on weekends (sort of disappointing to read on so critical an item–but it appears to also be wrong). Thusly, 12,358 people received the shot yesterday. The next vaccine is moving to emergency approval, Johnson & Johnson, based on the successful Ebola vaccine model. One wonders if one could ask for both!

3,377 people died from the infection today in the USA.

I picked out an old hymn I have not thought of for a while. It is more a camp song, but I still like to sing it: I’m Goin’ a Sing When the Spirit Says Sing–Methodist Hymnal #333.

Today started in a rush. I closed my eyes for just seconds, and it was one minute to 7AM! I managed to join the 7AM meeting, but no video this morning! I was happy it was booked for an hour, so when it ended early, I rushed and showered and got dressed in time for the next meeting.

This was an international Zoom call hosted by the company SAP about the software we are installing. I volunteered one of my teams to present in the future on how we are using SAP’s tool to do some data conversions, and I think we can share that.

I had a few more status meetings and a few crises of the moment to work through. I managed to slip out and take a long walk today, use-it-or-lose-it. My breathing and legs are not working quite right. I need to get out more.

I received the price list from the Biltmore Estate today, and they can fit us in on Wednesday 11Aug2021 for a 30th-anniversary party in North Carolina. The price is well what you would expect from Biltmore Estate! It is not that far out of line, about $100 a guest plus some set-up fees. No discounts were offered. This is in the lightest of pencil for now.

I took a couple more breaks and read some more of John Brooks’ book The Battle of Jutland. Jutland is the only great battleship battle and happened in 1916 in the North Sea. I also received from India a printed and leatherbound copy of the Battle of Jutland: Offical Dispatches book (OD). The original was scanned and can now be purchased for about $35 from India, bound with free shipping. The original was published in 1920, and all copyrights (if any) have expired. Many obscure military works can be found now as print-on-demand books, and India has always bound books. The copy of OD has some flaws on some of the maps, but if I need a copy of those, I can ask a library in England to photocopy them and send me the copy. I ordered the book when I read that John was relying on it.

I did not know that the OD has every last order, including flags, signal light, and wireless radio-issued orders. It also includes the time received, if received, and notes on how the order was executed. John uses the OD and other German sources to reconstruct the battle order-by-order. I have never read this kind of detail before. I have often wondered about certain events and problems, and now this new book from John Brooks covers everything. I am now trying to absorb all this new information and reading the actual orders in the OD.

The first expensive book I owned was a monogram on the HMS Invincible-class ships that famously exploded in the battle. I read about the battle and the famous HMS Invincible in an old book about WW1 when I was a kid and tried to learn more about the ship. Finally, I even had to buy a book about it. This is before the Internet. Here is the link about the ship with the dramatic photos of the end of HMS Invincible.

Would I recommend this book, Brooks’ book? Oh no! This is specialist work and not a narrative. The narrative book I would recommend to anyone is Jutland 1916: Death in the Gray Wastes. If you like your history as a story with details, this is one for you. The best book on WW1 is, I think, The Guns of August.

Returning to print-on-demand, I do have the manual for artillery used in the American Civil War (ACW) that is quite interesting. I found a cheap reprint on the Internet for that. If you are an ACW nut, like me, you need one of these. I have a lot more respect for gun crews and engineers in the war after reading some (horse maintenance got skipped) of this book.

I also tonight set-up the most complex board game (not wargame–WW1 Storm of Steel takes that dubious honor in my collection and comes with spreadsheets to download), Lisboa. It has a solo version that I have always wanted to play. I also ordered the queen variant and coins for the game from the manufacturer to upgrade the game a bit. It seemed time to try it. It took me 90 minutes to set it up for just me and solo set-up.

I will play it tomorrow; I have to re-read the 23 paged and very colorful rule book.

It was a warmish sunny day. Not our usual here in January.

The state of Oregon upgraded its vaccination rate two days ago to 13,100, and yesterday’s is starting at 10,618 and will likely be increased as the data takes 72 hours to be complete. My home county, Washinton, is at just under a 3% vaccination rate.

3,805 people in the USA died from Covid-19 today.

I went with Here I am Lord for today. This is one of the few hymns I can actually belt-out.

It has been a busy day, so I thought I would start from the usual end and work backward.

4,069 people in the USA are reported to have died from Covid-19 today.

10,172 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon, and the number for the day before has been increased to 11,772 as some of the information can take 72 hours to update.

Today’s song is Pass It On—Methodist Hymnal #572.

Susie has ice on one of her wounds. It is painful. This happened last time with the other ones. I hope and pray the pain will leave soon.

Today I cooked Thai styled chicken in the Instant Pot. I used frozen chicken thighs with some seasoning and coconut milk from a can. I made my favorite rice with it, Basmati rice. I did not add the chilis as Susie cannot eat spicy food, but Corwin and Susie liked it.

Susie watched TV while I attended the monthly Theology Pub. This is a Zoom meeting where many folks are drinking, and we discuss theological topics. We, before the Covid-19 lockdown, used to meet local bars to discuss and eat and drink. Now we meet online by Zoom.

Today’s topic was about Doing The Next Right Thing. This comes from a Disney movie, Frozen 2, where there is a moment when difficult choices surface, and the animated story suggests that when the future is unknown, do the next right thing.

We spoke a lot about the happenings in Washington, DC, and about Covid-19.

Before this, I was online all day and did five hours of Zoom meetings. It would have been most of the day, except the computer project is ahead and going well (when was the last time you heard that), and thus all the meetings are shortened or even (!) canceled. I was reviewing and installing a few vendor patches and dealing with the normal rise and fall of emergencies. My daily issues are like the tides here in Oregon–very predictable, and never take your eye off of it unless you to be hit with a sneaker wave.

I got an hour break for lunch. I have an out-of-office meeting on my calendar for lunch-hour. Few people are willing to book over it without talking to me. Corwin and I went to Burger King and McDonald’s and collected a simple, cheap lunch of burgers and McNuggets for Susie. It was a chance to drive the car and get outside!

I managed to sleep in today until 7ish. All my meetings were canceled in the early morning. I then awoke to various emergencies from last night. The world is flat for us corporate types.

The morning again started at 6ish, with my first meeting at 8AM; thus, I had some time to read some emails and be a bit more prepared for all the meetings. I was booked for six hours of Zoom meeting already.

Susie and I slept until the alarm woke me, so I had some better sleep. I am still tired as I never seem to catch-up except on weekends. This, I think, is the new world of working-from-home and trying to manage the Covid-19 pandemic household lockdown.

My phone had alarms from the sheriff and county. It is damp. The winds and rains have taken down trees and flooded the streets. Rivers are huge and rushing. The french drain is full of water in the backyard.

The house seems dry, and the water is mostly in the drain or in the street as it should be. We are fine. Friends had been up all night watching closeby rivers.

Susie is “the-blob-in-the-bed” today. Yesterday was PT, and Monday was Spa–she is exhausted. I let her sleep in. It is somehow sunny today; I open the blinds a bit more to let in the sun. She started up in time to watch The Chase game show. This is an import from Britain and fun to watch. I am usually working when it is on, and just like Jeopardy, my attention often drifts to catch some of it between Zoom calls.

I had a coding question at 4ish today in a Zoom call, and we got the old band together. We all worked long hours together to do the initial conversion practices for master data deemed too large to repeat. We were overly successful. It was nice to chat, and everyone was safe from the floods and Covid-19. We agreed on some more code fixes now that the scope had increased.

I then rushed out without my wallet to have beer and dinner with Mariah. You have to sit outside now. We were headed to a pizza place, but Mariah called me, and we agreed that their version of outside, a closed in tight space in a tent, is not really outside and safe. Back to the Golden Valley Brewery. We were outside and cold. We watched the sunset, but there was no wind or rain, and thus we could stand it. Yes, a cold or a slight case of pneumonia for a beer.

Even in GVB, the customers this time was not being as safe as before. We saw folks take off masks and chat as if the mask was just a ticket to get inside.

Mariah and I talked about traveling and books, and art. I was without my wallet, yes I know, so Mariah bought dinner. Sorry, Mariah!

Today I sent into The Biltmore Estate a possible wedding anniversary plan for our 30th. Yes, 1990 was 31 years ago–we decided to count 29 twice. The plan is around 11Aug2021 in North Carolina, near or in Ashville; we will then celebrate the 30th, slightly delayed. The other option is to get a rec-room at Brooks-Howell Methodist Home and have it there. Susie’s family meet there in 2019 for Joyce Hill’s, Susie’s aunt, 90+ birthday. Assuming we will be over with Covid-19 by then, I am planning a party.

I called “General” Glenda, another of Susie’s aunts, that lives there too, to look into the Brooks-Howell options.

We also want to travel to some sights in the area, and I want the little folks that might come to pick some options for us–with their parents’ involvement, of course.

Next, we will travel to Washington, DC, and see the sights. I used to work in Washington. I want to tour my favs, and maybe I can help direct a tour of the more hidden items.

From there, it is Amtrak to New York City. There to see the Smiths and see a show and the city a bit.

We then fly back from NYC to Oregon (or where ever you live). We will try to connect up with folks here and there.

This plan is in the lightest pencil.

I am also planning to be in Rome in October, the second week. Again, in the lightest pencil. I am looking for the Dan Brown tour.

Finally, I did play a bit of Brass: Lancashire today. I managed to get most of the rules right. I enjoy playing it, and it is the 19th best game according to the BoardGameGeek website.

A busy day of working and planning and meetings.

9,071 people were vaccinated for Covid-19 in Oregon yesterday.

4,098 people died from Covid-19 today in the USA.

I went with All Things Bright and Beautiful. Thinking of traveling again and playing a board game set in the UK has me going with this song.