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This weekend I am in an online conference in SAP in Melbourne. I had a visa, flights, hotel, and even flights for Susie and Corwin. The flights are refunded, and the conference has been re-imagined as an online event. The virtual conference begins on Sunday night (Monday in Melbourne). I took a day off Monday; I will be up late both nights and share a panel online with a few others and talk about software late Monday. The talk was recorded about a month ago, so I will just answer questions and then enter a virtual conference room and chat more with people. I did this to help the people who put on the conference because I want someday that there will again be an SAP conference in Melbourne. This is what I can do to help fight the impacts of Corvid-19!

I do not know when I will get back to Australia.

Today started about 7ish. I was able to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes or so. I spent the day in Zoom meeting and reading and writing emails. The work on the project is moving now at a faster pace as we are starting to begin the count-down to the go-live on 27Dec2020. It was nice to see my friends that handle go-lives show up in Zoom meetings now. I have been on this current project for three years and we get to bring in the people who run systems, old friends. It is beginning to feel real.

Lunch was mac and cheese with kielbasa added in. I sliced up some sausage we did not use in last night’s dinner and fried it a bit. I then added the browned kielbasa to Deluxe Mac and Cheese from Kraft. It has that scary orange color.

I also managed to slip out today for a short walk. I finally made the full distance of my usual walk and was a bit tired when I got back. I plan to keep walking now that we have air that is reasonable and it is not hot. Rain is never an issue!

I forgot we decorate our manhole covers and they come with warnings.

We also have instructions for our street drains.

You know that you are in the Pacific Northwest by just looking at our drains. We are serious about not killing trout! Don’t even think about polluting.

I had a few crises of the moment this afternoon and we had to do a few text-only meetings to get those under control.

I found all the figures, 28mm Dungeons and Dragons scale, for Scooby-Doo and gang today in the UK. They are out of Shaggy’s figures but have a special post-apocalyptic version that I think I can modify back and create a normal-looking Shaggy. They are on the way.

I have the Scooby-Doo version of House on Haunted Hill board game and want to replace the paper standees with figures. This is a game with a story, and everyone takes on a role from the gang on the cartoon, but one person is the villain; nobody knows who it is until some events have the bad guy come forward. In this case, it is a cartoon-like story instead of a ghost haunting.

I stopped a bit early today and read some more.

I also saw the last roses before the big rains and lack of sunlight will slow everything down.

Dinner was pancakes, bacon, and scrambled eggs with cheese.

Today nine-hundred ten people in the USA died from the virus.

I turned to Methodist Hymnal #144 when I opened the book, This Is My Father’s World. I know I just did this song, but I like this version, so I decided to do it again.

I find that Thursday is the day I have the most resistance to writing this blog. I want to relax or go out to dinner or watch some shows. Writing just is not that welcome on many Thursday nights. Tonight ended with me watching the end of American Football as it is NFL Thursday Night. Susie and Mariah and sometimes Corwin were watching the game. Today is the second Thursday, and so Theology Pub started at 7ish.

The topic was temperance, and this often morphed into politics as the President in no way could be described with that word, temperance. It was good to get the nine or so people online, most drinking adult beverages, and talk about how to use temperance in our approach to life. We concluded that temperance and virtue did not require sacrifice and are values we have agreed to share and strive for.

We miss going to the bar and having these discussions. Eating and drinking and having the public watch us discuss and often disagree while still happy to see each other was one of the best things. Folks would ask us about our church group, Theology Pub, and be glad we came. Seeing a church group talk about Theology in a bar I think gives people hope and even a feeling of peace. I hope that Cascade Brewery makes it through the Covid-19 shutdown, and we can again meet there in their bar and see everyone again.

Before this, I went to the liquor store and bought some bourbon and some locally made Dead Guy Ale. I wanted this for the NFL game and for Theology Pub.

I made Jambalaya for dinner from a box. I added a cup of rice, can of Mexican style stewed tomatoes, chopped green pepper, kielbasa, ham, and bratwurst. This makes enough for four.

Work finished about 5ish, with a few more meetings and discussions. I also had to do training on how to use OnAir, a platform for online conventions. I am on a small panel this weekend in Australia to talk about software, all virtual now. Originally, I had a paid trip to Melbourne to do the presentations. We are trying to keep the conference alive for next year by doing a virtual one.

I had various status and alignment meetings all afternoon. Susie was up about noon to take her Thursday pill. She then had scones, made yesterday, and a banana for breakfast. I had just finished a can of soup, beef veggie, and made grilled ham and cheese for lunch. I was not paying attention and nearly ruined the sandwich.

While cooking, I found a nice video on how to play the Pax Parmir board game, so I watched that for my lunch break instead of not burning my sandwich (oops). Pax Parmir rules and processes are unusual for most players of board games. I am trying to get them down. The 2020 videos are quite good, and they make it pretty clear now. Someday I will get to play this game again.

The morning was status meetings and some more design discussions. Thursday is a rush of the meeting trying to get everything put away for Friday, which is supposed to be Zoom-free day for Nike. I have just one status meeting on Friday, a critical status meeting that is an exception.

Thursday, like Tuesday and well Wednesday, has early 7ish meetings making it a rush in the morning. I managed to make the early meetings and also make coffee and have a banana for breakfast. The meetings stopped about 10ish, so I slipped in a walk today. My legs are still very stiff, but it seems to be working–it hurt less today and last night.

Over nine-hundred twenty people, eleven in Oregon, were reported to have passed away today in the USA from Covid-19. Today was the second-highest day in Oregon for deaths and new infections.

I turned the Methodist Hymnal pages and found this song again, #375: There Is a Balm in Gilead.

Today was a working day with a few breaks. It started at 6ish, but I decided to make it 6:30ish and managed to sleep an extra 15 minutes. The first meeting was at 7:30, so I had to rush a bit–but that is the cost to get 15 minutes. The sleep is not that important–it the feeling of control I think of stealing a few extra minutes makes it worth it. Thinking all day that “I decided to sleep in” makes the day a bit easier.

I slipped in a banana (I think missed a joke there) and coffee for breakfast, many cups of coffee, while I listened and talking here and there on Zoom calls. I am reading and approving these discussions and documents while listening, multi-tasking with the video off. These are the final choices for Nike’s go-live coming up in a few months and for the big one more than a year away. A year may sound like a long way off. I have waited three years to get to this point, so I had tears in my eyes a few times–it is emotional for me. I know what these mean–we are setting the direction for Nike’s future and the future of the computer systems.

I also completed the initial software install of a system going live soon. We are now installing the customizations and starting up the processes to get the new systems in place this December. This timing means I am working through part of the Christmas holiday this year. Again, three years to get here, so I am excited to get a new system in this crazy year, a system that handles master data (it is boring to most people), for Nike’s new systems. Our master data system has to go up first as it supplies data to all the new systems as they go-live early 2021.

My legs are working better today. I think walking is working. I went for another twenty-minute walk between a few Zoom calls.

Lunch was reheated goulash from a few nights ago. Susie was up late; she was so tired after so many poor nights. I had a break, so I slipped in making scones to my work today, Ginger Lemon, from King Arthur box mix–my go-to–and they came out perfect. Susie was thrilled that I made her scones, and they were still warm when I served them.

I slipped out again and drove to the post office to buy stamps. I needed to pay for the work done on the backyard (a lot of $), and I needed to mail the check today. I also wanted stamps for my voting by mail, something appropriate. I have Scooby-Doo and Bugs Bunny stamps ready now. I will likely use Scooby-Doo stamps on my ballet that way, I can imagine Mike Pence saying, “I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling kids!” Susie will likely use the opera Bugs Bunny stamps.

The mail contained a finish of a Kickstarter project. I received some updated parts for my copy of the board game Pax Pamir 2nd Edition. The game designer has replaced the engraved tribe markers with painted markers that are easier to use. It also came with a few corrections to some cards. The Kickstart process and other like websites have improved board games and role-playing games by providing a means for updates and add-ons to be pre-purchased so the game designer can know the product will be a success. This game is not sold usually in stores. You have to get it through a Kickstarter project, or, as in my case, get the update to my existing copy.

I finished my work at 5ish as I had to make dinner, and I was tired again. I made tacos for dinner and read my new book. Dondrea has recommended it, The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America, and it reads easy, and the story is interesting. I would recommend it too.

We watched the Vice President debates.

Today just over nine-hundred thirty people died from the infection in the USA.

Today I went with one I believe I have sung before, Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. Methodist Hymnal #79.

Today I sold all of my holdings in BitCoins and other cryptocurrencies held for me by CoinBase after learning that the CoinBase company, with a large presence here in Portland, is run by some jerk. I follow Violet Blue and read her Covid-19 and security reports she sends out every week. I support her on the website Patron. By the way, Patron is a means to make monthly payments to artists and writers and bloggers to support them and get their reports. Violent Blue reported about the bad actors in CoinBase as part of her reporting through Patron.

Again, it is very political, so I will not cover most of it here, but I sold out my holdings, only about a thousand bucks, and returned the money to US Dollars and sent all the money to US Bank my bank since I moved here to Oregon twenty-four years ago. I had made and lost money as has most people who dabble in cryptocurrencies. I am about even, but the tax consequences will likely, including a huge amount of documentation requirements, bring my experience of holding crypto to a loss.

As I said, I did some presentations on cryptocurrencies a few years ago and thought I should hold some if I planned to write and present on crypto. I have not done anything but watch the ups and downs for a year. I played in small amounts, and my worst mistake was spending a few hundred dollars and then a few more on Stella Lumen only to have the software that controls Stella Lumen vapor-lock and cause a complete loss of confidence in the crypto and a crash in the value of Stella Lumen that never reversed. My best move, oddly, was to buy some BitCoin fraction and double my money. It had bought it just to say I had some. I did not expect it to double–just luck.

Returning to my earlier day, I started at 6ish and had a 7AM meeting including people from India. This was followed by status meetings and planning meetings. This went on for a while all in Zoom. I took a few short breaks as I am very tired and my reaction to the pollen makes breathing harder. Some folks commented that I looked tired in the Zoom meetings.

I slipped out and went for a walk for about twenty minutes between Zooming, use-it-or-lose-it. My legs do not seem to work quite right lately, and feel sore like I have pulled muscles. A sign, I believe, of too many stressed-out hours of sitting at my Nike laptop. More walking and making lunch appears the correct action to take. Get moving!

Lunch was soup and potato salad and corn chips, clam chowder from a can.

The meetings went on, and Susie had some problems that I had to help with, nothing serious. I had to stop and help her and then back to more meetings. I also had a short break and went to read for a bit lying down. I nodded off. I woke in time for my meetings. Doubled-booked and rushing to be late for another meeting. Finally, at 530ish was done. Or so I thought, when my upgrade for the production build completed and I was back online at 6ish finishing up the software checks and green-lighting the next steps.

Corwin took over making dinner. Baked skinless and boneless chicken thighs with Herbs de Provence. This time we used the herb mix we picked up at the Van Gough Museum in Holland and remember our Christmas in Holland in 2019. Mashed potatoes that Corwin added too much salt (oops) and not quite cooked (double oops) and green beans.

I was reading and sleeping while Corwin made and served dinner. Susie enjoyed it–she did not finish her mashed to Corwin’s chagrin.

After yesterday’s rocket ride, the US stock market faltered when President Trump announced there would be no new stimulus package. The market is also starting to price in an increase in inflation, which would happen if the US economy fails.

Just under eight-hundred people died today of Covid-19 today in the USA.

I have done this prayer before, but I found this new version I liked: The Prayer of Saint Francis. Methodist Hymnal #481.

Today I started at 6AM. Susie had late night issues, so I had to take care of them, and then she had some trouble sleeping. Thusly, 6AM came unbidden and unwelcomed.

I started on all the issues and emails and getting my timesheet done. All that needed to be cleared was done by 10ish. Susie headed to hair, nails, face, etc. as usual on Monday. Zoom meetings were ongoing every hour or so.

I did manage to slip out and get some prescriptions and have the car washed.

I did a few more meetings and then slipped into making dinner. I sliced up three onions, tears were shed, and a roast into pieces to make goulash from a recipe I was given by Germans I know. It is always great and cooks on the stovetop.

I had some asthma problems today. I took my emergency inhalant and had to lay down and wait for my breathing to get better. I am short of sleep, the bad air last month likely did not improve my lungs, and there is plenty of pollen in the air–fall is hard on me. I am allergic to Oregon in the fall! Some rest and taking the inhalant usually fixes the problem.

A few more meetings that have spawned into more meetings for Tuesday. I was finally free about 5ish.

I did get a text and an email at 6:15 or so that I was needed again. I put them off until 9ish and just took care of the software install issues and sent the green-light in to continue the work.

Tonight is Monday, and that means Roll20 playing Dungeons and Dragons. We had to skip last week, so everyone was ready to play. We continued on with the Mad Mage’s Dungeon, and the players are in the “lost level,” which appears to be mostly intact or at least only recently pillaged lost Dwarven religious and funeral complex, sort of a mix of Conan and Lord of the Rings and maybe a dash of Monty Python. The adventurers have already found some of the looters, they put them to the sword and some of the creatures that have broken into the level. We had a hard stop time, one of our players needed to stop at 8:30, so we stopped mid-combat. The two hours just blew by.

Evan reminded me that I forgot to mention the Chocolate Bread Pudding with Spicy Chili Ice Cream at Mox Boarding House in Portland we had yesterday. This dessert combines a bread pudding made from a chocolate cake, made and baked to order, with an ice cream that, instead of being flavored with vanilla, is a surprise and buzzes in your mouth with hot chilies. The cake is warm and friendly chocolate with just a hint of custard holding it together. The ice cream is like a cold burn. The chili, the cream, and the cake all mix and complement each other. Recommended, but yea have been warned about the ice cream!

Today more than four-hundred twenty people died from the virus in the USA.

This is not a hymn, but for me, it is the song I think of when I am tired, for all the obvious reasons, and so we will take it for today: Breathe (2AM). It is my hymn for getting through another tough day.

But we need a hymn so I went with this: Marching to Zion. Methodist Hymnal 733.