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I was up at 6ish to start this abbreviated workweek at Nike. This week, we are only working Monday and Tuesday with Nike granting a day-before holiday this year, The Day Before New Years’ Eve official USA holiday. All but two meetings today were canceled. I have one so far on Tuesday.

I was happy to see that no panics are going on for our new systems and for yearend. I usually take this week off, but we have a new system starting today, so I worked the week and am on call 7/24 or in Nike-speak 8/24 (includes holidays and Sundays). I do not expect any real issues as this is a well tested and put together computer system.

I just had a few status meetings, reading emails, and listening today.

I did kill the power and replace one power plug in the wall this morning between meetings. I wanted to get it done and the Internet restored before Susie returned, or Corwin was up. I have new ones to install that have USB power plugs too. The receptacle in the living room was original to the house, from the 1970s, and slightly damaged from use.

I have replaced almost all the switches and plugs in the house; I like to update them for looks and be safer. All the switches that were in any heavy use had to be replaced–they all broke over the last twenty-four years in the house.

Susie had her normal spa day with Zerida, and she was going by 8ish and out with her driver by 9ish.

I had lunch from a new Mexican place; I wanted to try something new today, Don Chilitos Mexican Grill. The food was delivered on-time and mostly hot. The food was delicious, chile Relleno and pork enchilada.

I had a few more status meetings, and that was all. I was tempted by my new Raspberry Pi 400 keyboard (the Raspberry Pi computer is built into the keyboard, cool!) delivered today, but I will play with that during the holidays.

I took a short nap. I was tired this morning. I also got back to my Howard in Amsterdam story. It is set in 2019 and I wrote in January 2020. I would like to finish it up before I am in 2021. I am just editing. They story part is done.

I got up and made dinner. I got out the frozen flat-iron steaks I buy from Smart Foodservice (formally called Cash & Carry) and defrost them with running water. I sliced the bread I made into strips and washed them with butter and garlic; garlic bread to go with the steak—a can of peaches as fruit to share. I lit the gas grill, with no surprises, and grilled the steaks. Susie enjoyed dinner.

We watched the old Fantasia on Disney+ during dinner.

1,966 people died today in the USA from Covid-19.

I picked Abide with Me as the song for today.

After about four years, a computer system for master data went live today at Nike. I have been working with the team for about three years. There were no issues. I am so happy.

I have been up early on Sunday and watching the email and notices on Nike all day. This makes it a rather uninteresting day as nothing bad happened. Which also makes it a good day and a short narrative.

Susie was ill this morning, and I had to help her a bit this morning, and she stayed in bed until about five or so. She was tired. I did open the blinds a bit so that she was resting in the lovely bright sun we got today–not usual for us in winter!

I had a cold roast beef sandwich today for lunch and a bagel from yesterday for breakfast.

I made bread from scratch today. I don’t do this very often. I cheat and let the hook on the mixer do all the kneading work. We will likely run out of store-bought bread, and I have all this flour and yeast. Hmmm. I need to figure out how to get the bread to stay taller, but they are not bad loaves.

I have watched now most of the Doctor Who specials from the past years. Getting ready for the New Year’s special this coming first day of 2021. I also love the new Aladdin with Will Smith and watched that on Disney+. I like that dance routine at the very end–some of the actors that played the heavy character get to bust-a-move. They are quite good, and it looks like they really enjoyed the chance to take the spotlight dancing for a moment.

I made dinner from left-over ham and various odds-and-ends. I have orecchiette pasta and alfredo sauce from a jar in the pantry. I fried the ham in a pan, and I added some green beans, first cooked from frozen in a microwave packet, and poured that into the cooked pasta mixed with the alfredo sauce. I added more pepper and some smoked paprika to that. Susie liked it, and Corwin said it was good. Orecchiette is my fav pasta.

We then had a Facetime call with the Smiths plus Jason Tasha’s husband-to-be. They are on the Oregon coast at their beach house, and they opened all the strange unwrapped presents remotely while I supplied explanations. The solar-powered origami camping light (it unfolds) was a hit. The 80s band DEVO produced special PPE using the band’s famous headwear, and that looked fetching on Tasha and Jason–I ordered it early in the Covid-19 emergency when they sold it was their website! I also included a kit to make fortune cookies–we need to make better fortunes for the next year! It was great to see the Smiths plus Jason.

Laundry and dishes were done and need to be done again.

Back to work tomorrow for two days, and then Nike closes until the first Monday in 2021.

1,215 people died from the virus today in the USA.

Today’s song is God Be with You till We Meet Again in Russian.

Today started slow and remained there. I was up at 8ish and was going slow all morning. I use to play Dungeons and Dragons on Boxing Day or meet some folks at a movie or bar and just hangout. There was usually some blockbuster movie to watch. This morning I started working on my Python programs and making room for the possible board game with Evan tonight. I was sort of without direction this morning.

Then, Dan Gray called, and I was told the Gay Pride flag on the church was gone. I got dressed, collected my new flag, a flag pole (my used one from my house), and headed to First United Methodist Church by Air Volvo. “I was on a mission from God!” At least that is the line I remember from the Blues Brothers movie. I put on my hat and sunglasses while I drove Air Volvo.

Getting to the scene of the disappearance, I found no damage and no hint of what happened to the previous flag. The screw that holds in the flag was still in place. I had to move the screw out to put in my old used flag poll. I got out the new flag, commercial-grade and made of sewn different colored nylon stips, not flammable, and clipped it in place to the pole.  I put it in the undamaged flag holder and used plyers to tighten the screw so the pole will resist the wind.

The flag usually disappears around Christmas and Easter and when folks are on vacation. I believe some people find it provocative to have a Gay Pride Flag on a church in the heart of Beaverton. I am always surprised when someone believes they can just take it, but I have decided that God needed them to have it. I just buy more. I have two more flags on the way, commercial-grade, and two more poles.

After I replaced the flag, I stopped by Einstien’s Bagels in Beaverton and picked up my order. I had sat in the car in the church parking lot and used their app to put in an order. I paid for it on my phone.

I felt a bit sad when I stepped inside of Einstien’s Bagels in Beaverton. I had not been there since last year. I am used to it being a loud, busy place. Now, the tables and chairs are stacked together–there is no seating. While friendly, the crew is very young–not the older folks I remember, there is no barista, the counter is empty—no piles of bagels, and no long line of rushed but friendly customers. It is quiet now. There is a feeling of desperation in the air–the last try to keep going and outlast the disaster of Covid-19.

I drove home with my bagels, having completed my mission. I had my Nova Lox bagel and headed out again. I stopped by Ace Hardware to get some new power socket replacements that include USB. Time to modern-up our plugs in a few places. Susie was up when I got home; not the time to be killing the power! I will install them on Sunday morning before anyone notices!

Susie had 1/2 of a danish and a cheese potato cake that Einstein’s Bagels added to my order.

Evan texted me that he would be free, and he came over for a board game. We played two games of Architects of the West Kingdom, including the Artisan Add-on. This is a newer style game and one we play often. It is an efficiency game of resources management and worker placement. It also allows your fellow players to suddenly grab all your workers and have you ransom them back. So there is some interaction. We tied with Evan and me, both winning a game.

The Smith family delivered a present for Susie, a warm Disney blanket. I sent them with my “care package” of strange things I found for 2020 for folks.

Evan, Susie, and I then watched the Blazer game. I am not usually a fan, but Evan is, and Portland Trailblazers often play well, so why not? It was a close game with the Houston Rockets not able to tie the game again in overtime in the last seconds.

One thousand four-hundred eight people in the USA died from Covid-19 today, Boxing Day 2020.

I found our own George Fox University, Joy to the World version.

Today started about 8ish with me making breakfast of scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and crisp bacon. Susie’s fav. I made myself toast with Orange Marmalade, my fav, but I do not have a low sugar version, so this is a once in a great while treat.

Susie was up in time to talk to her sister’s family and mother for Christmas. We then found all the presents and opened them. All the gifts this year were well thought out and useful. Thanks!

I made Christmas dinner while Susie watched a musical. Mariah came over, and we put on masks, and she helped me make dinner. We had an early-ish dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, and that green bean-soup-onion topping side.

We watched Wonder Women 1984 while having dinner. I will not say anything about the movie as others will want to watch it today. The Doctor Who special is New Years’ this year.

Susie was feeling better today. I am tired as I have slept poorly these couple of days. Mostly staying up too late reading or talking.

Scrooge is playing now, out third movie today! I also received a book for Christmas, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by a fav author from the Smith family and I started. I find these books hard to put down.

Susie is watching James Bond movies. One of the channels is running them without commercials.

The day is already fading, and like all Christmas, it disappears fast. I have not much to say other than…

Merry Christmas from here in lockdown in Oregon!

2,835 people died this Christmas day in the USA from Covid-19. The terrible surge in deaths and new cases in Oregon is now on the way down.

Silent Night, played by John Nilsen, is the music for Christmas.

Everyone is resting. I am in the living room sitting in front of the TV playing a DVD of a fire burning in a fireplace while jazzy carols play. It is Christmas Eve 2020. The Belgium Beer has made me a bit tired, and I have a slight headache for it too, I believe.

Dinner was just crackers and sausages and cheese. We watched the movie Frozen and Frozen 2. I had just seen Frozen a few days ago and wanted to watch them again.

Work started with me working from home at 6ish. I also was making No-Knead bread that I let to rise all-night. I then took out the dutch oven baking dish and oiled it, and sprinkled it with cornmeal. I know that later the bread was stuck, so I did not do enough oil or cornmeal. The cornmeal seemed to use absorb the oil and fall down the sides. Not sure what to do next time but use lots of oil.

I stirred the mixture once in the bowl and then poured it into the dutch oven backing dish and then let it rise for another two hours. You then make it at 450 for 45 minutes with the cover on. You remove the cover for 5-10 more minutes. Then pop it out of the dish (or, in my case, beat it loose) and let cool.

The bread was good, and the crackle real good. The extra salt was not noticeable. I put in 1/4 teaspoon too much salt.

Work was a few emails, but mostly it was quiet and waiting for our big go-live this Sunday. I was done about 3ish.

I slipped out for laundry supplies at Safeway.

I took a nap and then got a call from Wayne Weld-Martin that he had goodies for us. He delivered them, and I added the chips to our plans for tonight.

We had, as I said above, goodies for dinner. I cut up everything and delivered them to Susie. Corwin and I helped ourselves.

I put on the DVD of the fire in the fireplace with Christmas music and fell asleep in the chair after Susie decided she was tired and went to rest. We removed Susie’s bandages today from her Tuesday Mohs surgery. She has little pain today.

Not a bad Christmas Eve for 2020.

Today Christmas Eve, we lost another 2,835 people in the USA to the virus.

I picked our friend John Nilsen’s First Noel for our song today.