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We had Easter dinner today with Mariah, Susie, Corwin, and myself. Corwin and Susie both found chocolate bunnies from the Easter Bunny. Mariah got a Covid-19 shot appointment from the Bunny. We then watched the it-is-so-bad-it-good Godzilla vs. Kong on cable; I have HBOMax (and Disney+ and Prime). I was going to watch the new Disney animated movie, but it was an additional $30 to watch it once, and we all decided that was excessive and went with the monster movie.

The movie was terrible. It is so bad it is fun to watch as the movie characters are well-acted, and the lines they have to get out are not terrible. The special effects were fun to watch. I discussed with everyone that if you see light blue to white techno stuff, that means it is some power that works and will not be explained. I am noticing this in a lot of movies and even board game art. The unexplained Tesla-power in the board game Scythe is an electric blue in the art, and I painted it into the figures.

The day started with me getting going about 8ish and finding Corwin up already and making coffee. I got the ham out, unwrapped it, and let it sit out for an hour to make sure it was thawed. This is a Schwann’s ham, the same as Christmas, and my Scwann’s driver Stephane, was happy to sell me yet another ham on Tuesday, and I let it sit in the frig to defrost all week.

I got Wholefood purchased premade raw frozen chocolate croissants and set them to defrost for 30 minutes before making them for about 15 minutes. They were heavenly.

I had a bad sugar crash, and thus the Easter Bunny left me a charcuterie board for breakfast. I had to cut up the meat, and the cheese was already cubed, but it was nice to have something different than American breakfast food. Nobody was up, or hungry meaning the Easter Bunny, and I just enjoyed it.

I avoid any housework or any useful actions by finishing the second 2/3 of the Captain Marvel movie. It is one of the movies I like enough in the series to rewatch.

I cleaned up and then started in the kitchen. I was able to put away things that seemed to have just cluttered my counters. I spent an hour putting the kitchen back to how I remembered it before everything locked down. Too many things were just on the counter for no reason. It is better now.

I then started on for dinner to be ready at about 2ish. I boiled potatoes in their skins to make mashed potatoes. I peeled and sliced carrots into coins to make steamed carrots. I had them in a pan with a strainer to keep them out of the water. I added cloves and pineapple rings to the sides of the spiral cut ham.

By 2:15ish, dinner was ready. The ham was reheated and, while not glazed, looked good. I mashed. The carrots were ready. I also made a salad with iceberg lettuce. Everyone sat with plates in their laps and watched TV together while watching Godzilla and King Kong fight it out.

After the movie, Mariah headed out, and Susie and I watched for fun the short movie A Bug’s Life. It was fun, and I needed a bit more time before I start on auto-pilot to get ready for Monday.

I am painting figures for Richard, and I washed the first set of matching figures.

22,084 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. This number will likely grow as much as 50% when the additional counts are added in. It takes 72 hours to get all the counts in.

Deaths from Convid-19 have fallen to two-hundred seventy today in the USA. The infection rate is also falling.

I went with Sing with All the Saints in Glory, a reworking of Ode to Joy by Beethoven.

I did not get to sleep until just before 2AM. I was late getting the blog done, and so I was up late. I was happy to get going at 9:15ish this morning.

I just spent the morning putting around the house, not doing anything interesting; a good Saturday.

Evan wanted to play some games or at least look for places to play. I was thinking of Portland or Beaverton. Evan came to the house, and we headed out for lunch. We did Wasabi for sushi; I think Wasabi is one of the best sushi places in the immediate Beaverton area. I always sit in the bar as it has bright windows, and the service is always better from a bartender, in my experience. The bartender did splash a bit of beer on our table and even hit my shirt when he set it down as he was buried in customers. He is usually better.

Evan and I shared a medium sushi platter and added one more Lightning roll. As usual, it was perfect. For me, sushi is more an experience than a meal. I never had this kind of food until even after college. I had my first experience in Oregon, and it still all feels exotic to me. I try to keep it always special and never just-food.

Evan and I then went to find The 649 Tap House. This was reportedly game-friendly and local. We entered, and the gleaming but just slightly distressed tables and walls seemed to say hipster. The bartender was making their Multnomah Mule and was burning a sprig of rosemary set in the drink–screaming hipster now. We did not have a reservation (we were surprised that we would have one) so we could have one of two tables inside. Food and drinks are just ordered from the bar. Games are allowed.

In The 649, the lights are the Edison-styled filament naked bulbs on long cords hanging from the ceiling. Gaming at night would likely require a flashlight! The windows are large, and the place is bright in the day. There is food to order, and it might be good.

I ordered a beer, as did Evan, my second. We just had the beer as I had to go shopping and get dinner going.

Evan borrowed the shower while I went shopping. I picked up various items and many snacks for Susie. Trying to keep things happy and less stressed during the hopeful ramp down of Covid-19 here in Oregon.

BTW: My good friends Mrs. and Mr. Smith are getting their first shots next week! Dondrea had her’s today along with other friends at church.

I did forget the Diet Coke and yogurt. I will try to grab some soon.

I returned, and Evan helped me unload. Evan had terrible allergies, and his eyes looked terrible. So I got him some aspirin to bring down the inflation and Benadryl to take home. We agreed it was a night to watch the Blazer game, and I ordered pizza.

I was going to make dinner, but I was terribly dizzy. The beer and the rice were a bad combination that I should have remembered. I ordered pizza delivered from Round Table, and after eating, the massive sugar crash was solved. I will try to remember to stick to tea next time and beer with food, always. I am not sure an all meat pizza is the best medical treatment, but it works and is excellent.

I do not want to faint from eating rice and cause Susie a horrible panic. I fainted from one of my inhalants once; I was dehydrated from the Sultan’s Revenge from a biz trip to Instanbul, and the panic and the three months of tests to prove I did not have a heart issue was a clear lesson on being more careful. There are a lot of medical tests available, and I am not interested in experiencing them.

The Blazer game was a blow-out, with Portland winning by more than forty points!

The Easter Bunny managed to remember Susie and Corwin, and chocolate bunnies are waiting for them. The Easter Bunny got Michael cheese and meats for a snack before Easter dinner–no sugar for Michael!

I will also go light on the mashed potatoes tomorrow! Salad for me. No more crashes, please.

I have returned to history for reading on my Kindle. I am now trying one of my fav history writer’s newest book–a history of the East Indian Company: The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire. I have read a few books by William Dalrymple on India to better understand the country. I wanted to learn more, and I pledged for The John Company board game, which is based on the East India Company in India. 

28,479 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. This number will likely go up as it takes 72 hours to get all the counts posted.

807 people died from the virus today in the USA.

Today seemed a good day for Up From The Grave He Arose. It is one of the silliest Easter songs, I think, but it is so fun to sing. Here is a fun version from India.

It is already Saturday morning, and I just got to writing. Richard, one of the PDX gaming folks, invited me to play at his house. Usually, I have to turn down his offer as I cannot play with a group. But this was just Richard and me tonight. We kept our distance and masks on the whole time. I felt safe the whole time. Richard had his vaccine; he is a dentist.

I got there in Portland about 6:30 this evening, and Richard and I went over for about an hour painting techniques. Richard has acquired many dudes-on-a-board games that really need to be painted. I had already agreed to paint some for another game Anachrony.  I brought over some near-empty spray cans of primer and other items from the Army Painter method of painting to try out. This, I think the fastest means to get a collection of figures looking great for a tabletop game. Richard will give it a spin on Project Elite figures.

We then played a game of Project Elite. This is a cooperative dudes-on-a-board game based on the spawning endless monsters. You and the other players try to complete an objective before you are overwhelmed by the auto-spawning bad guys, or the monsters reach some objective, and you lose. I have a couple of these, and I find them either light games in the beer-and-peanuts style or endless frustration. Project Elite had a new mechanic I had not seen before. You roll dice as fast as you can for two minutes following the rules and try to take out as many bad guys and achieve objectives on the map. I don’t care much for race-against-the-clock games–it feels like I am back to work, but just two minutes and then continue with the game turn worked really well. I found I liked the game, and we managed to win the first scenario.

We went for another game. I had read about the board game The Lost Ruins of Arnak, and I even watched a video on it. Richard got it out, and we played the advance board (I did not know it had two sides and Richard was shocked about 1/2 into the game that we play the hard version). The game is about archeologists exploring the ruins of the fabled city of Arnak. The game mixes worker placement and deck-building to produce an enjoyable game. You can explore, get resources, purchase better cards (equipment), and prune your deck—all the time building up the understanding of the ruins on a science track. Richard did outscore me, the science track is worth many points, and I neglected it. I look forward to playing it again and might have to add it to my collection. It seemed that good.

As it is already late, I will not recount much of the workday before heading out to Portland. I slept in a bit, 7:15ish, and then had crises of the moment all day. Even earning a meeting at 4:30 on a Friday to discuss the solution to one of the crises. It was a busy, crazy day at the shoe company.

I had a late lunch with Mariah between meetings. She can over to use our laundry. That was fine, and I had to leave before she finished. I brought Susie a cheesecake from Reedville Cafe and made Susie a grilled cheese for dinner before I headed over to Richard’s.

29,325 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. This number will like increase as they get all the counts in for the next 72 hours.

1,001 people died in the USA today from Covid-19.

A Closer Walk with Thee is not a bad choice for Good Friday 2021.

Today I saw this video on Facebook and had to put it in the blog. I think of my friends Peter Keller and Jan Poepke sitting in all the hotels over all the years we have worked together. I could just see them start dancing like this when nobody is looking. Missing you! Video: Fat Boy Slim: Choice of Weapon

The morning started at about 7:30ish. I first was up at 6ish and saw I had no meetings for a bit, so back to sleep. I was out the moment I closed my eyes, and poof, it was 7:30.

The chaos continued at the shoe company, and I was busy listening to meetings and having to stop multi-tasking as I often had to supply some information. Corwin was up early and made some breakfast. He made baked eggs with just a bit of shredded swiss cheese, buttered the glass dish, some milk, and no stirring to keep the yokes whole—just a sprinkle of Herbs de Provence. The eggs could have used a bit of salt but were great. Susie only wants her eggs scrambled, and thus I never bake eggs, French-style, and I forgot how good they are. Corwin said he is not frying an egg again now that he has discovered baked eggs.

I had a bagel too that I made before Corwin cooked.

The morning was full of meetings; Thursday is usually packed all day with Zoom conferences.

Susie was up about 11ish, and I got her food, Eggos with peanut butter.

I slipped out for a few minutes and drove to Popeye’s for a Spicy Chicken Sandwich. I called Dondrea while lounging in Air Volvo enjoying the perfect weather and told her I felt guilty today. Global warming has given us a lovey spring in Oregon. Other places, like the Pacific Islands Nations, are facing being drowned by rising seas and the loss of their reefs from climate change. We in Oregon have wonderful weather now. It should be gray and raining sideways with floods and building snowpacks. I should feel bad, it is so nice!

One of my Portland-based gaming opponents, Richard, texted me this afternoon, and we agreed I would come by and pick up some figures that were delivered today to paint for Richard. I showed up today, but he meant Friday and that the figures were delivered today. Oops. Richard is a local dentist and has his Covid-10 shots. We have not seen each other for over a year. I won’t play games in groups until Susie and I both have had our second shot.

I had hours more reading design documents and providing hopefully meaningful feedback and more status meetings on Zoom. I even tried to put in an official defect for our project when access to all SAP systems broke (for those who speak SAP, SAPGUI global setting were lost, and SAPGUI just stopped), but I have no access to the defect tracking software. There is some irony there that would fit Douglas Adams. The problem was resolved before they discovered I could not enter the ticket, more irony.

I then slipped out again and picked up Susie’s prescription at RiteAid and got her a McDonald Happy Meal with apples. I had a two-cheese burger meal.

QQ: When did McDonald’s stop having salads? I was going to have a Crunchy Chicken Western Salad, but they don’t have that. So two-cheese burgers meal instead.

I read another document and asked for a meeting. It has problems. I read more emails and sent and read some more messages.

Finally, after five, I then headed in error to Richard’s house. I was there at 6:20ish and discovered my mistake–I was thirty minutes early. It was great to see him, and he was upset I got the days mixed up as I had driven to Portland. It was a perfect day, and the traffic on the bridge let me enjoy the view of Mt. Hood. I was also surprised by my emotions; I nearly cried when I saw Richard.

Tomorrow we will meet, and just he and I will play a game. My emotions should be back under control by then, and I hope to crush him–I seldom beat Richard. I will pick up the figures.

I drove back, enjoying the trip. I did stop by Guardian Games in Portland. No game or brushes got my attention.

It was a wonderful drive and the sun above the Coastal Mountains was breath-taking on Highway 26 also called the Sunset Highway.

I had some caregiving moments this later evening so all of this is running a bit late and rushed. Sorry!

29,262 people received vaccinations in Oregon yesterday. The previous counts also increased into the near-record levels. It is likely this value will increase as it takes 72 hours to post all the counts.

The deaths in the USA today are 952 from Covid-19. I remember my shock a year ago at the huge spike we had in 2020 in March-April-May, double the current rate of deaths. Let us hope that this rate will decrease.

I went with All Creatures Great and Small. I liked the theme version.

 

 

 

In the Pacific Northwest, it rains. It rains from November until July 4. My first year here, 1996, it did rain every day from November to July 5. My memory was not seeing a single clear day except for a freezing day in January. I remembered it being 5F.

Today, it was a perfect blue sky day. It was in the sixties. I went for a walk, and we went out for dinner and ate outside. Dry and warm–they had propane heaters for everyone. When you sit and drink beer, the 60Fs are still a bit cold.

It almost feels like 2021 is trying to be a record good year.

The day started at 6:45ish, and work was a constant source of eMail and Slack messages. I managed to step out and get showered and dressed before my first meeting at 8AM. I had meetings all day, many meetings popping into my schedule without warning, and ran with only a few breaks until 4ish.

I managed to get a walk in despite the rushed day. I did my Tuesday 1/2 mile walk.

I managed to order lunch eating while working through much of lunch. I had a massaman curry with beef and ordered some spring rolls to go with it. I split it with Corwin as he was up today. Susie was up a bit later and had Eggo Waffles with peanut butter.

More meetings and more discussions. I did manage to slip in a video on The John Company, 2nd Edition board game. I am really like what they have done with the game. There so many options I do wonder what the strategy should be. The game designers are updating Kickstarter and Youtube with new information. This game is a novelist version of the East Indian Company, where you help run the company to your family’s advantage. The family that can do it best wins.

As I said before, we met Mariah and her dog at McMenamins Cedar Hills and had dinner and beer in the wonderful weather! Our waiter was new to Oregon and McMenamins. She is a Native American from North Dakota from the tribes by Spirit Lake. She had been in Oregon for a few months with her spouse-to-be.

Susie donates to the schools for the tribe.

BTW: Oregon’s minimum wage for waiters is 11.25 plus tips. Not that this wage in Oregon will make you rich, but it is better than 7.25 in North Dakota and many of the central states.

23,834 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. The number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to update all the counts and post them.

1,115 people died in the USA from Covid-19 today.

I went with In The Garden by Johny Cash.