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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.

Today started a bit rough. Susie had trouble sleeping last night and was up and down all night. I then woke at 6AM as if it was Monday and time to return to working from home for Nike. It was Sunday, and I need to sleep in. Well, I was wakeful for a couple of hours but did manage to get going at 9ish, which somehow was 10ish, and before I knew it, I was running late. I did slip in a few more shorts from the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival that is still going on today on-line. Nothing as mind-numbing intense as the first ones I saw on Friday.

I headed to Mox Boarding House to meet Evan for our usual board games, drinks, and lunch. I got no return on my calls or text and knew somewhere I must have misunderstood our plans for this Sunday. Traffic was light, it is Sunday, but I did manage to get behind a Subaru with a couch strapped to its roof going slow in the left-lane. It is just an Oregon thing about going slow in the fast-lane.

On the subject of Oregon, Portland will be having a protest event about the new Supreme Court selection to replace the Notorious RBG. There will be a Naked Bike Protest. I am a supporter of the cause, but will not be joining as an active participant. I suspect this will get some unique coverage.

Parking Air Volvo in the parking garage outside of Providence Park, I took the elevator up to Mox. As it is Sunday, Sydney and Tatyana were both on duty in the bar. They were happy to see me on Sunday when they both now service, Sydney no longer does Saturdays. Evan was MIA, so I ordered lunch and played 1 person Pax Parmir. I wanted another try at playing it with the automation, and it is so pretty I wanted to set-up anyway. So I ate my wonderful sandwich and crazy spicy but wonderful carrot mole soup.

Evan showed as I was starting to be crushed by the automation, but I had tied the score at least. So I put it way while he ordered the same lunch–it was so good!

We then played Vindication again. This is our new go-to game for two players, and it plays about the same with three or four. It was designed here in the Greater Portland Area, and I managed to be one of the playtesters, so I have a connection to it. Evan has this game down cold, and I was lucky to win by two points. I thought I had him, but I had not counted on all the areas he had control of. I just squeaked by.

Vindication is one of the most beautiful games I own. The colors and the art is just above the level of most games. The pieces are high quality and the theme of the game is uplifting. It has an add-on now that we use and includes some corrections. I recommend both.

Our next game is Scythe and this time Evan picked Russia and again the Militant mat. I picked the From Afar add-on Scotts. I had not played them before I believe and wanted to try out something new. This game we had no combat and we played about an hour longer. I had the Agriculture mat and used it to create an engine to create points. I built out most of my mechs and then my power. The Scotts with all their mechs are a bit difficult to fight so Evan instead focused on Encounters and spreading out. In the end, I scored 103 points that were nearly double Evan’s score. I just kept doing the farming thing and that worked.

I picked up Harlem Unbound from Mox; they have a gaming store, bar, and tables big enough to play games serviced by waiters. I would usually get the newest Call of Cthulhu book at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival today from the publisher, but at least I got it from Mox. This huge inch thick book is about playing horror in Harlem of the 1920s with over two hundred pages of scenarios. You can also go to their website and get PDFs of items to handout print-out such as maps of the area, tickets to shows, and various clues that will lead the investigators to true horrors hiding in Harlem.

I drove home after that and made a grilled ham and cheese for Susie with peaches from a can. I had 1/2 a sandwich.

Today three-hundred thirty people died from the infection here in the USA.

Today I picked the Doctor Who version of Abide with Me hymn. It seemed the right weekend for a Doctor Who version.

Today I am using the new editor. Grammarly finally works with WordPress again! It still works poorly as each paragraph is now a separate block and must be checked by itself.

Today my lawn service worked all day to clear out the mess that is the back corners of my backyard. The blackberry bushes, an invasive species from the Himalayas of all places, grow gigantic here, the irony of the name is not lost on me, and are quite tasty too, if a bit seedy. The Himalayas Blackberry bush canes dry and build a huge bush with the dead brown canes supporting the live canes. The brown dead canes still have sharp points and, when dried, a fire hazard. Having a huge pile of bushes growing in the pine needles next to my fence in the fire season needed to be addressed.

We did salvage the rhododendron and apple tree and trimmed the now large pine free that looked like a Christmas Tree when I moved on October 31, 1996. The apple tree is from the original farm from what I have read. The pioneer family needs a cash crop, so they planted apples. The home was built in the old farm fields, and some of the apple trees were kept. You can see a few of them left that are spaced out, still like an orchard. The apple tree fell-over when the rains and water turned the earth to a mush a few years ago. The apple tree arrested its fall with two of its heavy branches and survived these last couple of years growing sideways. Today we removed all of that and saved all the branches growing up and recovered a huge section of the backyard again. I hope that we can keep the apple tree growing.

Today is also the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. I usually spend today in Portland at the Hollywood Theater watching scary films, eating popcorn and drinking a beer while watching, playing board games and role-playing games based on what we call the Mythos, and seeing old friends. Usually, I can buy some real creepy items: pages of the dread Necronomicon, specimens in bottles, woodcuts from the medieval times clearly showing Mythos creatures, and items made of bones. All fake, of course, but well-executed. Dinner would be pizza or a local food place suddenly full of friendly but very odd people talking strange topics. I really miss it today.

I watched about three hours of feature-length horror and hours of shorts, my favorites. I have to stop and relax and start again. My imagination is a bit too vivid for some of these. This year’s selection is well done and often just one actor due to the emergency.

Susie missed breakfast and lunch today. I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I used Ragu from the bottle. I poured it on pasta with meatballs, frozen that I had baked with bacon (which I saved for cooked tomorrow). Everyone was surprised at how good everything was. Ragu, the original, appears to have been improved. It was a bit bright, but I thought it good. I think not cooking with the meat in the Ragu helped.

Today, more than seven-hundred fifty people in the USA, including eight in Oregon, died this Saturday from Covid-19.

I found this nice video My Father’s World.

Tonight I had time to watch a few horror films. In 1996, the same year I moved to Oregon was the first H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, and this week is the 25th festival (the counting is a bit off, I think, as I am in my 24th year in Oregon, but it is likely non-Euclidian counting). I have purchased my pass to everything and shirt and pass for the weekend on Kickstarter. This is all on-line this time, and so I have been watching here at home. I have been watching the shorts, my favorites, and a few of those are intense!

I will be watching more tonight when it is dark, and more films over the weekend. I miss having a nice chair in the Hollywood Theater in Portland, eating popcorn, and seeing all the folks. Getting a pizza slice from the “pie hole.” I miss playing a round or two of Cthulhu Wars with my painted set. It has huge six-inch figures, painted in all their horror glory, that are so satisfying to move on the board. Also, there is usually someone with a scenario of Call of Cthulhu to play. I miss the experience.

Less missed will be the stupid long lines for the men’s room and to purchase beer and food. Then there is the slight mildew smell and the uneven floors, including the crazy dangerous steps in the upper theater where usually I spill popcorn when I trip. It is a bit of a dive.

Next year had yet-another-thing to do when things get back to normal! If there is a normal next year.

Today started at 7ish, as I needed a little more sleep. My first meeting was later, and I had emails, text, and some reading to do. This went on as we tried to get some items finished today. They will spill into next week.

Lunch was reheated Chinese food from earlier this week. I then decided to make cupcakes using German Chocolate Cake mix and coconut pecan frosting. I started on the dirty dishes from the previous day, and the dishwasher was full of clean dishes, so I quickly cleared up that mess. I found all my paper cupcake liners and my cupcake pans and got them made. I frosted them after they cooled.

I went outside and gave away cupcakes to the neighbors who were all out doing things. Reaching carefully not to break social distancing. It was nice to see them.

I finished work with more emails and more thoughts about software installs.

Dinner was pork chops, frozen from Schwans, leftovers. I had one bone-less, one bone-in, and a pork tenderloin wrapped in bacon. I defrosted them in water and then marinated the chops in teriyaki sauce, next frying them in a near smoking hot pan with light oil, then putting the pan in the oven to finish.

Before that, I made corn muffins from a mix to go with the chops. I also found mixed veggies in the freezer and got them into the hot oven too. It was a good dinner. Susie had three muffins!

I watched more shorts from the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, setting up my new monitor on my Apple. It is a bigger screen. Nothing was as scary or intense as the first two shorts!

I have paused the films to order groceries on Safeway.com and then to write this blog. I will be back tonight to watch more.

I was shocked to see the President enter the hospital. Again, prayers go out to the Whitehouse folks and the First Family.

More than eight-hundred sixty people died from the virus today. The death rate has slowed as treatments have improved. The death rate is 3-4% now.

I decided on something for the President and the Whitehouse folks: God Be with You Till We Meet Again.