Blog

I was up about 8:30 this morning. Susie had some trouble sleeping, so I am quite short of sleep. I did manage to get started and dressed in the morning. I was tired and dizzy by noon and took a nap in the unused bedroom where nobody would wake me. I got a couple more hours of sleep–the dream of being back at Central Michigan University and trying to find my classes is an old repeat that I think a lot of former college students have. I felt much better even with the virtual college visit.

Susie was up, and I got her started with breakfast, coffee, and water for her pills. I then headed out to write and have lunch. I begged off of Zoom church again (having found the sermon video not something I can invest my time in) and headed to Panera Bread. There I got 1/2 a Cubano and a bowl of broccoli cheese soup. I like the sandwich and loved the Chef movie about what it means to make a great sandwich (here is a clip).

There, I was able to relax and write. I was very happy to have found my voice in writing again in my Howard’s Lockdown story. Excerpt from today’s writing:

“It is hard to believe that you are just going to let us sacrifice you. What are you hiding?” Shouts Mr. Crowley at Howard with some spittle. “Not really proper in my time, you will need a mask,” said Howard to a red-faced he who is known as 666. “Can you sharpen that before you use it,” Howard suggests pointing at the dagger one of the non-descript cultists produces and hands to Alistair. Mr. Crowley checks the sharpness and smiles, “I think it will do Howard. You may experience some discomfort during your sacrifice.”

Last night before I went to bed to get little sleep, I played myself to learn a new board game: Brass, Lancashire. It is a remake of an older game known simply as Brass. There are two versions set in two different areas. My copy is set in Lancashire, UK. Brass plays a bit like old-school board games but with new and better art and a few improvements. The rules style is something I have seen before and it requires study to understand how to win. The players have to learn how to interact with the rules to win and build up victory points. I look forward to playing someday after the emergency and it looks like it has a lot of replayability as the resources are somewhat randomly assigned.

Playing games like Brass give their pleasure from running a complex system and discovering patterns that build engines to create victory points. Most new games dispense with the complex systems and instead have you make a decision that is balancing complex demands. Fewer rules and moving parts than something like Brass, but very abstract. A game like Brass has you run processes that interlock and create new challenges. These are the greatest games, the two Brass board games are highly rated board games, when in the second release or even some, like Twilight Imperium their fourth release.

I hope to get back to games early next year or maybe December.

I took another nap and then made dinner, Pork Vindaloo, again. I usually make it on the weekend. Susie and Corwin like it.

I have been reading Maisie Dobbs a lot. I am read book fourteen.

The local paper has been covering the unique solution Portland’s protestors used when they learned that the Federal forces were detaining people dressed in black. Yes, if you wear black, you are a threat. I know what you are thinking, don’t wear black. Instead, we have naked people in Portland protesting now. Yes, it is Oregon, and public nudity is not illegal as we are the Old West and cowboys out on the range would often use hot springs. We have the Naked Run, the Naked Motor Cycle rides, and Naked Pedal Bike Ride, to name a few. Now we have naked protesting.

More than four-hundred Americans lost their lives to the virus today, according to the reports.

I am repeating some old songs as we face Federal forces and the virus and recession here in Oregon: Old Rugged Cross.

 

 

This morning I stayed in bed until pasted 10AM. Sleep came slow last night and I wanted to catch-up as I had very little sleep over the week. I went very slow today.

(this was where I hope to put my picture of Neowise–so far I can only see a dim dot)

I was out to 1AM trying to find the Neowise comet. It was behind the trees but I learned where it was. Tonight I know where to look and hope to catch it before it hides behind my apple tree again.

Well, until I read the New York Times (NYT) article and then I was going much faster. The pictures and the story of the siege of Portland just put me over it. I wrote an op-ed and snail-mailed it to the NYT. This took much of my time this morning and part of the afternoon. It is time to act. I cannot protest with the virus returning in force to Oregon. I write (I did see some wooden writing in the letter later, but I just sent it anyway hoping the NYT will forgive me)

To the NYT op-ed:

There are days like today when I wish I had the writing chops of a Churchill, but I will have to muddle through.

We here in Oregon, just outside of Portland, are doing that every day. We muddle. We try to stay home, work from home, and keep sane while things we never planned continue to happen. My 401K-retirement account goes up and down, my career at a well-known multi-national company in many ways does the same thing. Layoffs, re-organizations, impossible deadlines, and never-ending Zoom calls over so many times zones are now required to know what time it is anywhere to know how to address your colleagues. Is it a good morning, good evening, or good day now? Of course, you also have to look up the pronoun to use or go with always addressing the team to avoid mistakes using words like friends or colleagues. Yes, I am muddling through the emergency of Corvid-19, running a household, and working from home.

Now, we have to work on race. I have admitted I am so sorry that the work I thought we had been doing from before I was born in 1964 was making it better for people of color. I did not believe we white folks we just muddling through again. I genuinely mean I thought, for example, that Tom Selleck, as the Police Commissioner for New York City on the television show Blue Bloods was what we bought with all those taxes I have been paying for police. From what I can see now, and this example will likely require a Google Search for some, is Archie Bunker.

Defund police? Yes.

What that means is that the old white guys like me are saying find a way to get us a Tom Selleck and dump the old good-old-boys system and cancel the Archie Bunker styled police we now realize we bought. Defund means in the terns I hear at my work, “defective return.” Get me something that will not do the horrors I get to watch now!

You can see this in your story on Portland today, “Federal Officers In Portland Face Rising Opposition On Streets and In Court” by Sergio Olmos and Mike Baker with photos by Mason Trinca of Getty Images and Nathan Howard of Reuters. Mason Trinca’s picture shows the Portland and Oregon we love. There is a front-line of protesters with shields covered with messages and looks a bit threatening until you look closer. The photo shows there is only a single line of defenders. Some of the shields are held together with duck-tape. And, there is a medieval reenactor in the front (yes, it is Portland). They are all about to get tear-gassed and hosed down with pepper spray. The other photo by Nathan Howard in the article shows the ICE and Portland Police in almost perfect uniforms attacking the people who pay for them. It is so muddled!

Us, the old white guys were not expecting this. Close to perfect military-styled policing with Archie Bunker policies and training. We want a Tom Selleck and Blue Bloods for policing! That is why we watch the show. It is why we support the police until now.

Speaking of now, now, we have President Trump sending in more paramilitary police to stop our duck-taping wielding and medieval reenactor protestors in Portland. The Federal police forces are using catch-and-release tactics that any third-class dictator uses. Just stuff the terrified captured demonstrators in a room and scare them into confessing. The arrest’s lack of legality will not matter if the victim confesses. Perfect Archie Bunker police work.

We will survive this, as we will muddle through. We in the greater Portland area have lawyers, a lot of them. The Portland area has raised lots of money to pay for bail and lawyers. We are now, I just got mine, reading the anarchist books on how to resist. The old white guys here in the greater Portland area are not becoming anarchists, but if you want to know how to stay out of federal jail, few have as much practice as they—and they write it down and give it to you at cost. Money, knowledge, and support are what I can offer.

I have health issues, and my wife is ill. I cannot risk the virus, and tear gas will not make my asthma better. All I can do is muddle through and keep working online and write.

I am so sorry that the world I thought I helped pay for with my taxes, votes, and work was not better for Black Americans. We will have to keep working and muddling some more.

My eyes fill with tears of regret.

This is the letter I sent. You do not have to agree (and if you see some typos in the letter, please ignore them and don’t tell me about them). I was just angry. I spent a good part of today just writing and being worried. I include it only because it was much of what I did today.

I went out again, like last Saturday, to The Rock pizza and brought back pizza for Susie and Corwin. I had a salad for dinner. Corwin’s business partner Evan joined me and Julie again–she has been bartender each Saturday–brought us our drinks and food. I did notice more masks and very close attention to wearing them by the customers. The news of Oregon’s increasing infection rate has rattled people I believe.

Susie watched the movie The Thomas Crown Affair (the new one) and then I decided to relax a bit and watch Riddick. Susie did not mind Mr. Diesel in one of his most energetic movies.

The reports show that more than eight-hundred people died today in the USA from the virus, a hundred more than the previous Saturday.

I decided to repeat a hymn (after 125 days I need to repeat) and go with Morning has Broken as it is a favorite, in the Methodist hymnal, and was a song as a solo for my wedding back in 1990, twenty-nine years coming soon!

The news is everywhere that Portland is under siege not from the virus or protestors misbehaving (again), but from an opaque federal armed law enforcement force. Apparently, there are multiple snatch-and-grab actions ongoing with the Federals hoping to scare a confession before they have to perform catch-and-release. That is at least the stories I have read. For the nay-sayers, we have already had to have a judge’s order to prevent the use of tear gas except when needed when there are true dangers or real crowd control issues. I, being naive, thought that was the rules for using tear gas. The Federal forces in Portland are not following this. Again, I was just naive that the Federals would consider the safety of Portland before popping off more tear gas. Very naive, but I am learning.

I am sorry to make what is close to a political statement, but it is not a political statement. I want to remember in this blog how the days feel. I feel under siege.

Returning to today, work started at about 6:30AM this morning. I had a Zoom meeting every other hour or so working from home. I had an emergency at the moment about every hour too. I, as is a whole team I work with, are on call this weekend. I do not expect to be logging on to my Nike computer this weekend, but we will see.

I have known for some time that I am the “keeper of the holy scrolls” on how the legendary (we actually use that term instead of legacy) main accounting and order processing system at Nike. We are now in the process of converting to a new system at Nike (by the same vendor as the previous system, SAP). So I am writing little stories of how the original systems work and how this will now work in the new systems, at least what had been decided and what is agreed too. These stories I then email to the “dream team” as they try to work out how to map the new system to our existing reporting systems. I am also doing this for the data conversion team as they try to understand our legendary system. I am now the “old guy” who the young whip-snappers asked questions of.

Lunch was reheated Chinese food we ordered a few days ago for dinner. It is the last time for it–it is getting old. Nike closes at noon on Friday in the summer. I waited for Susie to get home–she had a eye doctor appointment today before heading out.

I stopped by Rune and Board to buy Brass: Lancashire, a boardgame I saw there last week. I decided to get it as it is a classic. I saw the Sit Down and Shutup video on it last year and have thought about getting it for some time. I have not seen it for sale often, so I decided to pick it up now. Tonight I punched out the game and read the rules.

I was talking to the owner of the store and he told me that my other local store, Rainy-Day Games, was sold to the same owner of Guardian Games in Portland. We were just chatting about games, and he mentioned this. It was a surprise to me, but all the businesses are moving out of the strip mall where Rainy-Day Games and I was expecting some changes.

I took a short nap–I did not sleep well last night.

We headed to meet a friend at Cedar Hills McMenamins for dinner: beer, and burgers (or fish and chips for me).

Today, more than nine-hundred seventy people’s lives ended today early because of the virus.

Here is a sing-a-long version: Song For The Nations Vocals.

 

 

The day started a bit later for me. I was going to get up early to try to see the comet, but the sunrise was too soon, and well, I stayed in bed to 7ish.

I started with emails and trying to get a handle on the outstanding items. I do them while in the various Zoom status meetings. I was busy through the many sessions. We did have another meeting on Race Relations, and my boss Brad had a framework to help.

I received a few packages while the status and various meetings were ongoing. The Anarchist produced a guide for people facing federal charges, A Tilted Guide To Being A Defendant. I am concerned and wanted to be more informed, and this seemed an interesting purchase from Amazon. We have Federal Marshals now in Portland arresting protestors–I want to understand what this means.

I bought a new coffee brush that was delivered with the book–we are grinding our beans, so we need to brush out the dust. I do not know where the old brush went, but I suspect someone found it to be an inferior brush for apply barbeque sauce. So coffee brush for grinding your own coffee and DIY protesting book delivered–things to get a liberal going in the morning!

I also received my new mask from AdaFruit in New York City. It has to be wiped or sprayed as it lights up and recharges.

(I am not a Cylon)

I watched a bit of Bloomberg market news today. The market gave back much of its earnings for the week today. The reporting again had stories related to the floor that The Fed and Central Banks have put in the market. Folks are buying up bonds as they believe the chances of default are almost non-existent at this time. I also heard talk about a tech-bubble. The most revealing information was that the trading houses are making a killing as folks churn the market with buy and sell orders and options contract purchases.

I see if I can find the comet in the night sky.

Today the people killed in the USA from the virus is over nine-hundred ninety, including two from Oregon and fourteen from Michigan.

I thought this would be a good song for today: O DAY OF PEACE.

 

Just a short note. I am unusually tired today.

I made tacos for dinner and then read for a bit, and then we watched Nova on PBS. The show was how North American was created. Geology was my first love of science. Math and Computer Science came much later. Well, there were few computers back in the 1960s.  Next week is the story of life on the continent. It should be educational, and the visuals amazing!

Going backward in my story today, I had to head out to get Susie’s prescription for Thursday before I made dinner. Once-a-week-pill for Osteoporosis was re-filled. Plus, a box of chocolates (Susie is always surprised and happy to get chocolates). I also got some blacksmith supplies for Corwin: Propane and some staps to secure the mini-forge better. Corwin started hammer again today starting on making a dagger-like knife.

Before leaving I was working on-line. I had meetings all day, texts, emails, Teams, and even a call. More challenges. I did slip out at 10:30 and went for a walk. I am very stiff and so I am trying to get out more. My right knee and leg are painful and I nearly fell from the sudden pain and lack of movement in RiteAid. If it gets worse I will have to do something about it.

I found something to look at on my walk.

I reheated the soup and Chinese food from last night for lunch.

It was a very early start.

The stock market continues to go up on optimism from reasonable job numbers and the hope for a vaccine. But, there are issues with the liquidity that was the fixed used to recover from the initial crash back in March. We are seeing the BNY Mellon earning, reported today, going down as the possible excessive liquidity has put a floor under interest rates. I have read reports that hedge funds are also being challenged to make a good return as the floor has made it hard to find good deals. The Fed and Central Banks have created liquidity to prevent the collapse of lending and giving “fallen angels” a second chance. Now BNY Mello and hedge funds cannot find good deals or even good returns. This is the moral hazard we were warned about when we decided to rescue the airlines, travel companies, and so on. I do not disagree with what The Fed and Central Banks did, but we should understand that non-elected officials have picked winners and losers–a moral hazard. Now banks and investors are starting to see negative impacts.

The reports are that more than nine-hundred ninety Americans lost their fight with the virus today. The death rates, infection rates, and lockdowns are increasing again. We did not enter phase 2 in Oregon. We started, as my count show, our 45th day in phase 1 opening. Today the Govern of Oregon’s order that masks are to be worn outdoors went into effect.

I found this version from Medford down south of us: Creating God, Your Finger Trace. It is not polished but I liked it.