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I managed to sleep until 6:30 and then a rush to be ready by 7:30AM for the first meetings. It was cold in the house, with the outside cold hitting the house’s floors at 30F this morning. It will be 20Fs on Thursday as cold arctic air be visiting the valley. We have three days of snow coming.

I am tired after working late again last night in India time. I had Zoom meeting after meeting and many crises of the moment. I was online most of the day. I did have a meeting with folks I do not see that often–a planning meeting. It was nice to see them again.

I managed a walk today and walked 3/4 of my long walk today. It was a bit cold, but I wanted to get a walk in before the weather went arctic on me. I saw the crows, a murder of crows as a group of crows are known, in a tree. They were all quiet and bushed out feathers, trying to stay warm while high in a tree.

I also walked by a crushed former container of pot on the street. A terrible loss, I suspect for someone. You can tell it is from a legal state store by the green color and the label. Somebody likely cried over this spilled item.

I made a lunch of Clam Chowder from a can and got Eggo Waffles for Susie at noonish. We thought Susie had physical therapy today, but her regular therapist was ill. We rescheduled with Michelle for Wednesday and Friday.

I had a bunch of questions and more crises of the moment at work. I could not focus on one task as everything is a high priority problem for someone—just a messy day.

I did get Susie to do her exercises as PT was a no-show. I was jumping in front of her while she tried to do her exercises. This was between my Zoom calls. I was doing the “big fig newton” and other stunts to get her going. She got through her exercises, and I managed to not hurt myself.

I took a break at 4ish and rested for a bit. I got going at 5ish, and Mariah called, and I invited her to have some of the jambalaya I was making from a box. I tried to make it not too spicy for Susie, so it just had kielbasa and bacon and added more rice to cool it down a bit.

It was too spicy for Susie, so I got her some cheese and then ice cream. Not a great dinner, but still not bad either. Mariah and I enjoyed the jambalaya.

Mariah is learning chess, so we played a learning game. I explained the rules and a tiny bit on pawn mistakes before we played a game. Somehow I misplaced my queen, and we had to reset a bit–embarrassing. I exchanged out pieces and took her queen, and Mariah gave in. Jeopardy was on.

We watched Jeopardy and Mariah knew many of the answers. I was missing more. I redeemed myself by getting the Final Question. I had lived in Maryland and knew the Chesapeake Bay, which gave the answer right away.

I am rereading Rex Stout‘s Black Orchids. I am still reading Caste and strongly recommend it, but I am worried about reading something that has such an intense subject with all the extra hours and lack of rest. So I am deep in a Nero Wolf’s murder mystery, a brain cookie. It is one of the best detective novels if you like it light, and this one shows the two main characters, Arche and Nero, in a clearer light than you get in some of the other books. I have read it many times and try to spot the murderer, and each time (after a few years), Rex Stout tricks me again. My copy of Too Many Cook is around here somewhere; the best book, I think by Rex Stout, might be next if I keep needing brain cookies. I have the copies with the recipes! Black Orchids and Too Many Cooks are great short detective novels for travel or just to relax.

Note: Nero Wolf and Archie and some of the other main characters never age. The books start in the thirties and end in the seventies. Another author writes a few that continue on. Unlike other mystery writers, his characters do not age. It is a unique and someone refreshing approach to long term characters.

Lastly, we are being swarmed by ants. I have put out the typical plates with ant baits. Soon they will be gone. At least for three or four months. There is an endless supply of ants here. Here is information on ants here.

7,863 people were vaccinated yesterday. A meager number, but these numbers can increase as it takes 72 hours to collect all the data. Our county, Washington, is at 9% vaccinated. The lack of vaccine will delay our chance for a vaccination. It appears we will be waiting months.

3,265 people died in the USA today from Covid-19.

I found a bluegrass version of Blessed Assurance.

Today started too early at 6ish. My first Zoom meeting started at 7AM. So it took great fortitude to get up, make coffee, take my meds, and answer some emails.

I managed to be dressed and ready on time for the meeting. The status meeting was a bit long as it covered the weekend stuff too. I had endless Zoom status.

Susie had an 11AM appointment with Zerida, so I had her rallying at 10ish. I usually go for a walk at 10ish, but today I had to get Susie ready, and I had crises of the moment running simultaneously. I was able to escape for the walk.

I ordered bagels for lunch, including one Nova Lox bagel. I put most of the bagels in a bag and froze them. One bagel, frozen fresh, a morning! Einstein Brothers Bagels are always good, and DoorDash delivered without issues.

I have Dungeons and Dragons tonight, so I spent part of lunch while enjoying my bagel, reading, and preparing for the game at 6:30 today.

Work continued. I managed to get some help on a few items and managed to complete a few tasks. I am setting up automated processes for the new software development we are doing.

I finally finished the day around 4:15ish feeling really tired. I rested a bit. Susie returned about 3ish. She had her fav for lunch, McDonald’s Chicken McNugget Happy Meal, and then took a nap too.

I made dinner of fried cheeseburgers.

I started the Roll20 game of online Dungeons and Dragons at 6:30. One of the players was ill; we had four players tonight and me. The players decided to use a magical gate they found last time and try the deeper level. It has more danger and more reward. They were surprised that they met a mud creature that gave them a tour and introduced them to two different genies, one water, and one earth. Each genie sang a song and demanded the adventurers destroy an evil undead wizard on the next level and bring back his magical heart to the genie to free the genie. We had the words for the song; Bill and Matt sang it for us. Matt also found an official recording–our version was better. The adventurers agreed to bring the heart back after the earth genie “tested” them by having her allies attack them for a few moments. The adventurers are thinking of taking the treasure for both genies!

Before heading down to find this evil undead wizard, the adventures found a slightly wrecked astral ship in the complex. There they fought terrible monsters that at first appeared to be crew members. They were chaos creatures, they could change their shapes, and it was a tough longish battle. The adventurers managed to kill them, and there we ended the evening.

I went back to work at 9ish. I am writing the blog while in a Zoom meeting and listening to work. We are again running on India morning time to get some work done for our India team. We have a lot of items on the critical path for an important project.

10,515 people were given the vaccine yesterday in Oregon. These numbers will increase as it takes 72 hours to collect all the data.

1,489 people died in the USA today from the infection.

I did not know this song; I thought we will go with it tonight: O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright.

 

Today started at about 8:30ish. I was tired and wanted to sleep in just a bit. I have to admit I was dressed for work at 9 and turned off the camera for the meeting. It was a status meeting, and our weekend 37+ hour running job was finished. I had received no updates, so I logged on and looked at the job. I was told that they had fixed it about 6ish. I was happy they did not need me anymore and so went to work in the house.

I did all the dishes and cleaned the counters. Ants have again invaded the house. I will likely clean the ants soon from the inside with a mix of Boric Acid and honey. The bug people should be here next week, but I am tired of seeing them, and it is easy to commit insecticide! I also folded and put away a giant mound of laundry. I ran the cloth washer and dryer all morning, finishing up the remaining dirty laundry.

The main bathroom received a light go-over, and I vacuumed the carpet in the main areas. It is just that the messes have accumulated when I get these all-weekend and all-nighter assignments. Today was the first day I felt I could do some housework in a long time. It all looks better.

I also stood on a chair and pulled out a light fixture in the hallway. It is flashing, and when I tap it, the light seems to strobe. I thought the cause was a loose wire, but I could not find a wiring problem. I pulled it and ordered a replacement from Home Depot to be delivered. I could get one today, but I am willing to pay $5 shipping to avoid any Covid-19 challenges. I will install it once it is here on Wednesday.

I did take a break and watch the next episode of The Expanse. This is a SciFi show that I cannot recommend more. It also willing to kill off an important character, unlike other shows, and so there is a bit of stress as you watch the show. You do not know if it will be OK or not. I love space opera!

Mariah came over about 3ish. I had the food I ordered and picked-up from Golden Vallery Brewery. They had a sale for the Super Bowl. I had chips and stuff with meatballs, buffalo-meat, and pretzels bites with cheese sauce. I reheated it all.

I got to show off a bit. I got out my big bowls, trays, and plates from the plastic china I use at the house. I put the food on a small folding table in the living room.

I also had the wonderful pork roast from Schwann’s to bake. You must let it defrost before you cook it. It takes 100 minutes to cook. So I had it ready to go in the oven once the game started. The oven was still heated from the meatballs, etc. We had pork roast about 5ish, and that was about half-time.

One event that was a surprise, Mariah spilled her wine on the carpet; we had Intrinsic wine. I have a bottle of “Wine Away” spray, and it reacts with the chemistry of wine and turns it clear. A useful product if you like wine! You cannot see the spill on the carpet. The problem was gone in a few minutes. “Better living through chemistry!”

Mariah was visiting, and the food was our little Super Bowl party. My team won, but Kansan City, I think, has a better team. Tampa just put it better together, again, in my opinion.

Mariah left, and I had to be online for India’s morning, 8PM our time. I spent about 45 mins, but I am tired, and they did not need me, so I went and rested for a bit.

17,940 people received the Covid-19 vaccine in Oregon yesterday. The number will increase as it takes 72 hours to collect all the data. Our county, Washington, has reached just short of an 8.5% vaccination rate.

1,340 people died in the USA today from the virus. This is twice the rate on a Sunday of the summer numbers. From the numbers and charts available, we are still moving through a huge spike.

I like and can sing There’s a Song in the Air. I know it is a Christmas song, but nobody really wanted the Christmas season to end this year anyway.

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.