Blog

Today started at 6ish. I managed to sleep most of the night; I was ready to start. My morning and part of the afternoon were back-to-back Zoom meetings.

Susie was up early today. She took her Thursday pill, and then I made her oatmeal for breakfast while listening to my meetings. Susie is still covered with the bandages from the skin biopsies on her head, back, and arms. She no longer needs Tylenol to sleep.

I skipped the Presidential non-debates and my former Methodist church’s charge conference for mostly the same reason. I did not need new sources of stress and unhappiness in my life. From what I read, the President managed to flash his white supremacists’ credentials, and the former Vice President did not deny that he will pack the Supreme Court if the majority of Democrats are in the Senate in 2021. The Methodist Church continues trying to deny that it denies rights to gay people. Yes, no reason to show up for any of that.

Our ballets should arrive tomorrow. I have the Scooby-Doo stamps ready.

Lunch for me was Mexican from Victorico’s Mexican Food (Tanasborne); I had it delivered. It tasted better, this time. I was not sure I would get lunch; GrubHub had to switch drivers for my lunch. Apparently, the initial driver did not get the request. I called her as requested by GrubHub and said she had no order. My lunch arrived 30 mins late with another driver, but it was still good.

Today I was reading and replying to emails from yesterday; I was off yesterday taking Susie to the skin doctor. I managed to catch-up as we had changed work increments, and thus I had nothing pending. I did not get through everything until lunchtime.

I took a walk after I cleared the last meeting today. I am stiff, and my legs are not working right. I find if I walk every day, it is less painful and less weird. I still stagger once in a while like a drunk, but I at least don’t fall. I am not dizzy; I just can’t seem to have things move the way I want. Again, I think sitting in this chair for six months is the main cause. Use-it-or-lose-it.

I made dinner today of spaghetti and meatballs—sauce from a jar. Frozen meatballs baked in the oven until good and hot. It was good, but a bit plain.

I finished Journey to the Center of the Earth today. My verdict is to skip the book and watch the movie. The book has aged poorly, and none of the characters are sympathetic–the old movie is campy, dated and predictable, and still better than the book. I do like the devices and events in the book–they are better done in the movie! Returning to the book, I can see that this might be where H.P. Lovecraft got some ideas. I noticed how the narrative matches a bit to Imprisoned with the Pharaohs–a light horror story I would recommend by Lovecraft and Harry Houdini. I could also imagine Lovecraft’s overly long syntax-pushing sentences could be a reaction to the brevity of the translated Jules Verne sentences. I might have to write a Howard story about an underground journey after reading this.

I also bought on the AbeBooks.com website an 1893 guide to the Chicago Fair. I have read about it, The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America, and I wanted to know more. The original guide book was a bit expensive, but it was recommended by the author I just read as a source to learn more about the fair. This is my second purchase; I found another guide for about $40 on eBay that is on its way too. I might have to write a story about Howard visiting the fair or a Call of Cthulhu adventure set in a part of the 1893 Chicago Fair.

We are switching out board games on Saturday. Concordia will now be on the “play-list.” This is a worker placement and engine building game with a deck-building component. It is elegant and plays well with two players, as well as with higher numbers. The game is set in the Pax Roma, and you are running a clan trying to get rich and richer than everyone else. Pronouncing the Roman names is part of the fun of the game. You have to get trade goods and build up. Trade goods can be purchased and sold. You can also improve your options by acquiring more cards to use. This takes trade goods or good timing or special cards that you must acquire. Like all good board games, every turn has decisions to be made, and as a good Euro game, you are always short of resources or options. When the game ends, the cards are grouped, and those groups multiply your wealth (points). The game is interesting and every ever so slightly competitive. I am looking forward to playing it at Mox this weekend.

I went back over the event in Tulsa in 1921 today–reading the history. Tulsa 1921 was the subject of the last episode of Lovecraft Country and made me cry. It is hard to see a full-on special effects recreation. The attempt to find the slaughtered’s mass-grave was in the news today–the archeologists have not found it yet.

Another eight-hundred seventy-four people are reported to have died today in the USA from the virus.

I have done this exact video many times. With all that is going on today, I was thinking of this as the song I would want: Lift Up Every Voice And Sing. Sorry to repeat it again, but it was in my mind all night.

And if the things are getting you down then watch this: You Have A Friend. Also a repeat, but it is still good.

The day started late for me, 8:30ish. I took the day off from Nike to take Susie to lunch and then to her skin doctor’s appointment. So I got Susie going about lunchtime so we could do lunch before the skin stuff.

We headed to the Beaverton Cedar Mills Mall and Powell’s. Powell’s is only open until 4PM, and they are limited to 70 people, including staff. We got there just about noon, and they were still letting people in. Susie wanted some more books to read. We were able to find two for Susie. I forgot my Kindle for the doctor’s office wait; in its place, I picked up a cheap copy of Voyage to the Center of the Earth to read while I wait.

We then went to Panera for lunch. We did wait in line for more than ten minutes while a person ordered lunch for a whole office. I could have used the app, but I was not that much in a hurry. Technology is cool until you mess-up your lunch and your only option is to call some helpline. I waited for a human.

I will not admit that I might have experienced flaws in my ordering from the app before. How I can get a cup of hot water instead of tea is still a mystery to me.

Susie had baked potato soup, and I had pick-two, selecting a half chicken salad sandwich and a cup of broccoli cheese soup. That all worked, and we had a nice lunch.

Next stop the doctor’s office. I had to drop off Susie and parked, and then went to find her. I found her after having my temperature taken and got her to the right office. It was my first time at St. Vincent Hospital since Covid-19. You have to wear a sticker with the date on it after being cleared at the entrance. Elevators were limited to standing at the opposite sides and only two groups.

The visit was for more than ninety minutes. Seven biopsies are a lot, and we are back next month for more. Susie is covered with small bandages on her head and arms. The results will be known in a few weeks.

Susie took a nap, and I headed to The Rock to meet Mariah for pizza and a beer. We talked about her Zine; she is publishing with a friend and a bit about writing. I needed a short break from everything.

I brought back some pizza for Susie.

The Internet reports that more than nine-hundred seventy people died today from the virus.

I do not know this rock version: Days of Elijah.

I managed to see the last few minutes of the conference in Australia. I had to make dinner and do my regular job. It was nice to be part of a three-day technical virtual conference in Melbourne.

The day started at 6ish, and it came too soon. I feel like I only slept a few minutes before it was time to start my day. It being Tuesday, I start with the first meeting at 7 and so a rush. I got going, made coffee, took my meds, and then rushed off to shower and all that. I was ready with coffee, bagel, and banana for my first meeting at 7.

This was followed by meetings after meetings. I also had documents to read and agree to. So if it was a status meeting, I was busy reading and texting. I also had a few crises of the moment to deal with. It was a busy, but very uninteresting morning. Most issues were just catch-up or final approvals needed.

I had not gotten much walking over the weekend, and Monday, I had a break, which allowed me to slip out between meetings to walk for twenty minutes. I forgot my mask, I did not go far.

It has been raining, and the air smelled clean, and everything sparkled. Even my roses are still flowering and looking fresh. The wet and dark often fade the roses before they are even open, but today everything was bright.

I am still stiff and my legs do not always work quite right. I am also getting pain like I have pulled muscles that is tiring me out each day. I am going to keep walking and hope this clears up. Just another 2020 thing!

I had more meeting and more documents to read. I also had to send some items to the team as I am unsure the vision for some of the items. Nike, and I suspect most companies, love to just upload Excel into their systems. This usually causes audit problems later or worse requests to version spreadsheets and mark them, somehow, as uploaded. I asked the team to think about this.

We had a few more meetings and finally, the day came to an end. I started on dinner. I made grilled chicken with Alfredo sauce with couscous. I used the newly upgraded gas grill. Apparently, I put in all the new parts as there were no explosions or other first aid requirements. I also did the mass of dishes that had stacked up and focused on getting the kitchen back in shape.

This did mean I missed the last day of the conference except for the very ending. The time difference is hard to manage today. I just was over with the dinner and noticed the time was already at the end of the conference!

I did make Pineapple Upside-down Cake today. Just yellow cake mix poured over brown sugar, pineapple rings with cherries in their center, and lots of butter bits. I remember when I was a little kid watching my father and grandfather making it in a microwave when they were new at the Laingsburg Homeshow. Mom would also do the same routine, I remember. It was one of the few cakes one could make in a microwave. It was one of the selling pitches of Wild’s Furniture and Appliances, “You can even make dessert.” Back in those days, the whole family would do microwave pitches at the Home Show!

More than eight-hundred forty people in the USA today died from the virus.

If you are walking or riding a camel from Persia to Bethlehem and want to get there by about December 24th, you would need to leave soon, so I pick my favorite carol as the journey would have to start soon: We Three Kings. I like this new take on the song. There is a little commercial at the end. This is another group that uses the Patron.com website to fund their work. So this version was crowdfunded!

Today started at 830ish as I took the day off as I had to present in a virtual Mastering SAP conference in Melbourne Australia–I was invited, flight and hotel included, but this all went the way as all travel has in 2020, nowhere. Today I had about seventy people at my little panel discussion about how to build applications. We talked about software. I did this to help the Eventful Group, which needed the virtual conference to work, and I wanted to experience how to do this.

My last panel was at 9 at night, and that is why this is a bit late. It will also be a bit short as I am tired of looking at screens all night.

Returning to about 930ish, I helped Susie get to Zerida today for hair, nails, face, toes, etc. Susie has this every week.

Today, I was having trouble with the pollen and woke tired. Susie had trouble sleeping and kept me up late too. It was good that I decided to take the day off when I had a presentation, even just a panel. I was extra tired today. I went slow all morning.

I ordered lunch, I could not face making lunch and doing dishes, from Gyro House–lamb gyro. It was delivered before noon and was good. I felt my mood lighten a bit with some good food.

Susie returned and had a Happy Meal, her fav, for lunch.

I then headed to the Rune and Bone gaming store in Hillsboro. It was immaculate and smelled of cleaning supplies. The carpet was perfect, and every game in its place and orderly. Clean smelling and neat is not the usual as you can imagine for gaming stores.

I picked up a Call of Cthulhu role-playing game adventure The Shadow Over Providence. I like to buy at least something when I visit a store. I resisted the buy-2-games-get-third-free special and purchased a $10 adventure.

Corwin made dinner, Jambalaya made without seafood, and I went back online as it was now morning in Australia. I listened to more presentations and chatted here and there with other folks attending the virtual conference. Mostly just texting, but here and there on camera. I used a lot of “Just Do It” to describe some computer issues to the smiles of most and a few groans. It was fun, polite, and informative. The best you could hope for a virtual down-under conference. Susie watched NFL Monday night football.

Today we witness that over three-hundred people are reported to have died from Covid-19 in the USA.

Again, I went with something a bit different: New Zealand’s National Anthem.

The last presentation for the conference this evening was about Artificial Intelligence (AI), discussing Machine Learning, a branch of AI, and was being given in Paris, France, for the Melbourne, Australia virtual conference. Instead of me and other flying and meeting, we met at the virtual conference powered by software called OnAir. It mostly worked.

Before this, I visited a few other presentations that led to a meeting of ten people who wanted to discuss the subject more. I met the West Australian Police who would love a demo of our use of reporting in our system at Nike–I will try to get them a demo. I also discussed other details of reporting with Australian based electric utility companies. We were all wide-eyed as we tried to use microphones and cameras to create a presence in the conference through the OnAir software. We were all learning and a bit nervous.

It was not perfect, and Steve, who I have met only on-screen and by phone and runs the conference, kept using a broadcasting ability to talk over the conference to give us some direction, and I think a bit of courage. I had to mute him once to hear a speaker who just ignored the interruption. Steve was just telling us to talk to each other–software developers can be a bit introverted. The conference was strange, sometimes boring as the recorded sessions were sometimes too long, and it was wonderful to meet and share this weird experience with so many people across the world.

I am part of panels that discuss software development using old and new tools on Monday.

I slipped out and made dinner. I made Chicken Kiev (frozen from a box) with green beans (also frozen) with rice to collect the butter from the Chicken Kiev. All simple, and I could do that while I was listening. I was talking on a panel when the groceries were delivered. I ordered from Safeway.com and had them deliver late tonight. Corwin put away the items while I continued on with the virtual discussions.

I started the morning sleeping into 930ish and then caught up on some Bering Sea Gold reality TV. It is one of the few shows I watch now. I started laundry and got dressed late. I then relaxed and read and finished The Devil in the White City: A Saga of Magic and Murder at the Fair that Changed America that Dondrea recommended. It is a great book, and I knew some of the fair’s stories–it is good to learn some more. I ordered an original 1893 Guide to the fair from eBay for about forty bucks. I wanted to see the original as I might need to include this in some stories I might write.

Aside: I have been to Jackson Park, the site of the Fair in 1893, as it is where the industry museum was built after the fair. My father and I went once by train to Chicago to see King Tut and the industry museum. There is a captured WW2 U-Boat there and a simulated coal mine.

So my day was slow with laundry and reading until the conference hit. Then I was back to the corporate guy and trying, like all the other computer folks, to make the virtual conference worth the investment.

I had one other adventure today, I received a carton of replacement parts for the gas grill. The Corvid-19 emergency meant it took six-months to get the parts. So I pulled, broke out, or simply replaced the burners depending on how corroded the originals were in the grill. The grill is now ready for another couple of years of use.

Today the reports record three-hundred twenty-five people died from the virus in the USA.

Today’s song is not a hymn, but the National Anthem of Australia.