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I was reading late, and then a headache woke me. I had very little sleep. It was hard to get going with my first meeting at 7:30. I managed to make the Zoom meeting dressed and ready. This was followed by many status meetings and alignments. Being tired and in a bit of pain, it seemed unfair that I had to speak in many meetings and provide status. I can often get away with doing multi-tasking and not have to say anything on most days. I kept going all morning in constant pressure of trying to get things done.

I rested instead of taking a walk today. I had a non-stop inflow of email and Slack messages, so there was no real rest.

Coffee and a just biscuit leftover from KFC were my breakfast today. I ordered the more expensive lunch today, delivered by GrubHub. Lamb kebobs from Gyro House over rice and with a salad. I was hungry when it showed just before noon. It is as good as it gets for lamb kebobs.

After clearing more emails and more Zoom meetings that I could not avoid, I finally got lunch and a real 45-minute break.

I had noticed a board game, The John Company, was going on Kickstarter by a favorite designer. The designer, Cole Wehrle, created one of the more challenging games I have to play, understand, and win in my collection, Pax Pamir. I spent lunchtime deciding if I was interested in the game.

Cole Wehrle does not sell his games but runs a Kickstarter campaign to get orders ahead of time and then fulfills the Kickstarter. This means it is hard to get a copy unless you wait for the next round of Kickstarter. Even though I am happy to have a copy, Pax Pamir, while fascinating to me, does not often hit the table. It simulates the political situation in the Great Game in Afghanistan. The game board is a little carpet map of Afganistan. It has a complex but very fun to play against solo version.

The John Company is another strangely complex game from this designer that recreates the experience of working for the East India Company on the subcontinent starting in the late 1800s. It is for 1-6 players. It is very complex. Your goal is to bring prestige (victory points) to your family by operating the East India Company well but ensuring it helps your family. Other players are trying to do the same. The game allows for limited cooperation between players. You even retire your family members for even more points, but can you keep the income going to keep the retired family happy?

I watched a video on how to play the first edition for lunch while enjoying my kebobs. I ordered the game on Kickstarter as it would make an exciting solo game. I found a few minutes to order The John Company on Kickstarter’s website while Zooming.

I could not even finish my videos and reading on The John Company as I had more alignment meetings and status meetings. I had more Zoom meetings where I needed to fully participate. This lasted until about 3PM.

By that time was really tired, and the lack of sleep got to me. I rested and read.

I baked bratwursts for dinner. I also made popovers from a King Arthur Flour mix. It is a fav of mine. I have a popover pan that makes these perfect. Corn niblets, frozen (Schwann’s), heated in a staining basket over boiling water, make these always seem fresh off the cob. I add salt, pepper, and butter.

I have to admit I had more than one popover.

I fell asleep after dinner watching the news with Susie.

I had a few care giving moments today with Susie and she fell to the floor putting her socks on. She was hurt, but I had to pick her up.

I am now reading the third Honor Harrison novel by David Weber. They keep getting better and harder to put down.

14,312 people yesterday were vaccinated in Oregon. This number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to update all the counts.

873 people in the USA died today from the virus.

I turned to this Charles Wesley hymn, Rejoice, the Lord Is King. This version was just posted, and I like what they did with it.

I had a meeting at 9:30PM at night with my boss, the data conversion team, and SAP folks in India. We have complex issues, and we are looking for help. SAP is the vendor for the software that runs Nike’s accounting and fulfillment systems for the globe.

I got Susie dinner as the meeting was supposed to start at 9, it was delayed thirty minutes. We have KFC, and Susie did not know it. I was so busy on calls and then reading to find my calm place again I did not pick-up on that Susie had no dinner. Susie finally got dinner.

Before this, I had Dungeons and Dragons on Roll20. I do not want to include any spoilers here. The players managed to defeat the big boss and moved on to the next level. This level is filled with insanity. They started to explore it and found some allies that gave them a map. They then meet one of the boss monsters, and I missed almost every roll. They adventurers finished the encounter without my boss monster even doing anything! They continue to explore. The Roll20 content worked well for us tonight, and I did not have that much trouble managing a large but very short battle. The virtual lighting and the hand-out did help to be a bit of immersion to the game.

I had a meeting with China for work today that ran into my game at 6:30. This is the same issue we discussed at 9 with India.

Still going backwards, I ordered KFC for dinner as I was meeting right into my Roll20 game. Susie was resting at the time; I just put the dinner on top of the stove.

In the afternoon, I took a few breaks to read between status meetings and alignment meetings. I put in another vendor patch (SAP note for those who speak SAP) needed ASAP and handle a few crises of the moment. My work and day are much more chaotic as the projects start headed into critical deadlines.

Lunch was Don Chilitos Mexican Grill’s Mexican food–delivered from GrubHub, and I read to try to get the adventure I need to run today at 6:30 into my thinking while eating. I discovered that I needed to bring a little bit of creepiness and madness into Dungeons and Dragons today. I spent all of my lunch preparing for today’s game.

I spent the morning, starting at 6:45ish, doing non-stop status and alignment meetings. I did not get my walk today, and I was ordering lunch in moments between calls—just crazy Monday non-stop Zoom meetings. Susie had Zerida’s spa today. Susie was ready at 8ish and left with her driver at 9ish. Susie got her nails done and other treatments. She picked up a McDonald’s Happy Meal with apples (yeah!) for lunch.

Morning came too early, and I blinked, and it was 6:45!

10,067 people were vaccinated on Sunday. I hope this number will be increased as it takes 72 hours to get all the counts posted.

Five-hundred ten people died in the USA today from the infection.

I turned right to Are Ye Able in the Methodist Hymnal #530. A good song for Holy Week Monday. I like singing this one.

I was up a bit late this morning; I slept in and watched part of the second Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back. I had stayed up late last night and finished my book, On Basilisk Station by David Weber. It got to the final fight, and I could not put it down. It reminded me of the C.S. Forester novels I have read, space opera instead of Napoleonic sailing ships this time, and this book is dedicated to C.S. Forester. I noticed the similarities in storytelling and some characters you find in C.S. Forester’s novels. That must be why I liked it. I started the next one, and it is flowing better, and I might keep going in the series.

Mariah asked if we could meet for lunch. Susie decided to sleep in late. So Mariah and I headed to the Rock Wood Fired Pizza. I had a pizza, with extra to take home, and a salad. Mariah had a pizza for herself. I also had a beer, and we just relaxed a bit.

I got home and started laundry and watch the rest of the movie and started, yes, you can guess, The Return of the Jedi. And we got to hear the immortal words, “It’s a trap!” I do not like the teddy-bears in the movie as it looks silly to me, but it did create a well-loved animated series. I try not to cheer on the Empire when they are hunting the little fuzz-balls. I made it to the end with the teddy bear victory.

We had re-heated left-over meatloaf and pizza for dinner.

I did not do any gaming stuff or figure work today. I just read space opera and watched Star Wars. Not a bad weekend.

Oregon is opening up two weeks early for more people to get the vaccine. IT folks are declared essential, and 5April2021 starts for IT. My second shot is on 9April2021.

16,680 people in Oregon were vaccinated yesterday. This number will likely increase as it takes 72 hours to update the website with all the counts.

Five-hundred ten people are reported in the USA to have died from Covid-19 today. While the death rates are coming down, we still are witnesses to the folks we lost today.

I picked Shalom Aleichem for this Passover and Holy Week.

Today I planned to play some games at Mox in Portland. But things went poorly there today, and I will not be back. I will not go into the details, but it ruined my plans for today, and I was a bit upset.

Evan was disappointed that we could not play today.

I returned home and read and tried to forget what happened. I got Susie lunch from McDonald’s, a Happy Meal with apples, and I stopped by Wendy’s for chili and fries.

I then spent the day reading. I did not work on any figure painting or making today.

Susie spent the day watching skating on NBC. Mariah asked if we could get a drink. Susie stayed home to watch skating. I brought her home a meatloaf dinner from Golden Valley Brewery. I had fish and chips, and Mariah had the chicken salad–it looked terrific!

Mariah and I left after the band started in the bar. I did not know GVB had bans in the bar. GVB is very careful, and nobody left a table without a mask on, and I saw them carefully clean every chair and table after someone left.

Susie and I then decided to watch an old movie tonight, Star Wars. We watched it on the Disney channel as Disney is now the keeper of Star Wars. This is the remade version with the improved special effects a few extra scenes.

20,559 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. These numbers will likely improve as it takes a few days to update all the numbers.

787 people died in the USA from the virus today.

As we are headed into Holy Week I picked All Glory, Laud, and Honor for today.

I started this morning after a difficult night. Susie could not sleep, and I was kept up with only a final few hours of sleep when Susie finally settled. The alarm went off at 6ish, and I then rolled over at got going almost too late, 7:15ish.

I joined the team meeting at 7:30 without a video. I wanted to be supportive, we have some much critical work to do. It is important to attend one of our few all-team meetings with much of the team present in the Zoom meeting (only two members out of the 25+ members were missing). It was a good meeting and very positive.

I then logged out of Nike’s network and put away the Nike laptop. I will get it out on Monday. I took off today.

I then spent hours and hours masking bases for Scythe mechs. These are solid-colored plastic and work well just as they are, but they just don’t look cool. I painted my own game’s copy, and I liked the improvement. I am painting now a set for a friend. I like to leave the original plastic on the base. You can repaint it, but I think it matches better unpainted.

So far I have painted three factions; each faction has four matching mechs in the board game Scythe, black and then with white overspray, to get a 3D look. This is my new painting process. I will wash out the paints a bit so the colors will be dark in shadows and bright on the light hit surfaces. I then touch it up a bit. Before the colored painting, they look like an x-ray of the figure.

The masking and the special 10mm Tamiya tape I learned to use building static ship models. You have to do a lot of masking on naval WW1 and WW2 and modern ships models. This tape cuts well with a scalpel. You can press it around something that is sticking up and then cut around it. This seems to take forever, but it is part of the painting process. I use an airbrush for ship often to keep the paint layers thin.

Susie was up in the morning, she got some sleep, and joined me to drive to Burger King for burgers and cheese sticks (no terrible Burger King Fries!). I had spent the morning masking and spray painting.

I also started to fix up the terrain items I got from California. They are 3D printed and the printing delaminated in a few places. Also, there are tiny whisps of filament everywhere. I will wash them tomorrow in soap and water after the filler and other items harden up. I will be painting them plain gray for now.

I went to Hillsboro to walk and shop a bit. I parked the car on the street and saw most folks were masked, so I felt better. I went to Hobbie Shop, I think that is the name, on Main Street. John, the train guy, helped me find some etched brass figures and promised if he found some windows for me, tiny, he would put them aside for me. John is older and gray and was not wearing his mask right, and social distancing seemed impossible for him once he got excited. He did find a huge source of etched brass for me for plains, trains, and ships (mostly WW2 750 scale), but not what I wanted.

I usually am worried when someone can’t get masks and social distancing right. John shared with me that he is battling cancer, and I think he was just happy to have a fellow model builder talk to him. He showed me what he was working on when the shop was not too busy. He is building a rig painted the same colors as the one he drove when he was a trucker.

I bought the tape and a steel set of tiny figures for something else I am working on. The figures are from Eduard. I plan to put them on my Scythe factory I am also painting. It will create a scale on the figure.

I walked a full circle of Hillsboro buying coffee at Bennett Coffee Roasting Coffee. The walk was more than I usually do while working. It felt good to get a long walk in. My feet hurt by the time I got back to the car.

I returned home and took a nap. I awoke and started on dinner. I made pork chops and green beans (both from Schwann’s), trying to put a dent in our vast supply of frozen items. I found a box of cornbread muffins, Dan’s, that is easy and tastes great and made those too. I put butter, salt, and almond slices in a pan and heated that. I put the beans in that from the microwave. It jazzes them up just enough.

I continued to mask the figures and apply black and white paint to the masked Scythe mechs. I have two factions to prime with black and white paint and two factions to mask. Almost there. I will finish this part on Saturday morning.

I continue to read On Basilisk Station by David Weber, and it is getting better. The writing, I think, has started to work better about half-way through. There are often transitions now, and the story is not having strange pace changes.

25,541 people were vaccinated yesterday in Oregon. The numbers are going up again, and these numbers will likely increase as it 72 hours to get all the numbers posted. Like many states, Oregon is expanding who can get vaccinated starting Monday.

1,289 people in the USA died today from the virus. The death rate is no longer going down. The infection rate is also not going down anymore. We are now at the level of our first spike in June 2020.

I picked a Jewish prayer for tonight. It seemed to fit a Friday.