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Yesterday was actually 128th and not 127th day. A standard mistake of off-by-one-error from a computer person.

Today started at 6ish, and I got to enjoy problems all morning and part of the afternoon that required frequent trips to the restroom. Not the kind of day I wanted!

Work was filled with more Zoom calls and many questions. I applied a fix to some software and then sent it to the next environment. With sudden brakes and rushing off to the loo.

So work was Zoom and talking and applying fixes.

I then had to stop for a while and enjoy the discomfiture of intestinal issues. This is a side effect of one of my drugs, and I must have had too much masked (mashed) potatoes and got me out of sorts.

Lunch was from Gyro House and a bit heavy. I figured I might need some food with the other issues.

I took a nap or two and then helped with a fix at Nike again.

I made dinner of pork chops fried in butter with Herbs de Provence and then baked in the pan for twenty minutes to finish them (and it goes without saying that one must not grab the metal handle of a pan that was in a 350F oven). I made couscous with almonds, cranberries, and raisins cooked in butter with cinnamon, and a touch of cardamom finished with chicken broth. I did run my hand under cold water–no damage just a reminder. Canned peaches were also served.

So just a dull day.

I thought I should show the Volvo Cave without protestors, teargas, or naked people. We are not sure if there are any secret Federals agents–the squirrels do look a bit guilty. The crows are watchful.

So far, the only protestors we have at the house are very small. The problem is that ant-man came and sprayed, and now we have twice as many pissed off ants in the house. Our pests are running around very fast and look very unhappy.

One of my favorite figure companies, Antideluvioan miniatures, they still only do metal, has the old Dungeon and Dragon Cartoon characters as grown-ups in 28mm metal back in stock. I got the figures in a Kickstarter, which included Dungeon Master (I am currently using the DM figure as I am playing a gnome wizard in the currently on-hold Sunday game) and others.

(here are a few)

The market was up again in hopes of a solution to the virus, and maybe Washington D.C. might do another stimulus package. The EU managed to settle on a stimulus package that is long term. Also, Elon of Telsa got a multi-billion dollar bonus. My 401K has again entered positive territory for the year.

The reports show, and this saddens me, that the deaths in the USA for today broke above one-thousand one-hundred.

I found the author of the hymn singing: Soon and Very Soon. I think we need a happy song about things getting better.

 

Today I returned to the original number count, I changed to the new numbers thinking that phase 1 would actually be followed by phase 2, and we would unlock. As we are now under a Federal siege too, it is time to believe we will do this lockdown thing until next year, and thus I have returned to the total count.

Out naked protestors are at least making international news. Portland, and the greater area where I reside, is not just weird. It is hot! The medieval reenactor protester photos also got some play.

Please understand here in Oregon, we believe in publishing all the bad news. It stops people from moving here. Remember, in the 1980s, the unofficial motto of Oregon was, “Come, Enjoy the Great Pacific Northwest, GO HOME.”

I should also point out there is at least one End-of-the-World book set here in Portland (In the story, Portland vegans are left fighting the last battle against the meat-eating zombies, are you not surprised). I even wrote a Call of Cthulhu adventure in Portland, where the players are trying to stop the End-of-the-World Mayan Calendar (remember that). Portland is where to be at the End-of-the-World.

Now, the Federal End-of-the-World style intervention starts here. This is not really a surprise as Oregon has legalized weed, used only by-mail elections, and is part of the liberal triangle (Washington and California being the other states) where Federal authority disappears like a lost plane in a SciFi picture. I like it here.

Leaving our dystopian holiday and turning to my day, it was hot today, and this Monday, I slept in until just before 7. I started with emails and text and just helping and listening all day. It seemed to be an endless status day on Zoom calls. I just did work while I heard the status reports.

I once again forgot it was Monday, and Susie has an appointment for hair, fingers, toes, and various other items at Zerida. Her driver called, and we had 15 minutes. My colleagues on a Zoom call got to watch me, there were a few laughs, run past the Nike laptop a few times while we got Susie ready. We made it, and Susie was whisked off for her appointment taken by her driver. All masked and careful.

After Susie headed out and I cleared a few more Zoom items, I ordered some Vietnamese soup to be delivered. Taking a short break for soup (extra meat) and then back to enjoying more Zoom, emails, and texts.

I made dinner tonight. Schwan’s Chicken Cordon Blu with freshly masked potatoes and canned peaches. I made Hollandaise sauce to put on the chicken. It seemed good.

Returning to the dystopian bad movie we seem to be in here in the PNW, so far Arnold has not appeared at my front door saying, “Come with me if you want to live.” Or Bruce Campbell showing up naked with a chain saw. We do dystopian weird here and all those actors do live on this coast. I have high hopes for more weird.

Obviously, it is time to find some non-political or upsetting news or weird. Lets look at some pictures from the backyard.

My apple tree is huge with fruit. It is a bumper crop. Usually, I give the apples to a friend to change them into wine. If things continue on the dystopian track, I will be buying fermenting and distilling supplies from Amazon!

My leeks and onions, I let go to seed. I discovered too late that I like leeks, and they grow here in the winter. Hmmm maybe.

And a view of the deck is not too bad. It is currently Corwin’s blacksmithing lab.

Not in the photo are blackberry bushes that are massive. I suspect I will have to get rid of them someday.

I fell asleep as I am still tired from some lost sleep, but woke in time to write.

The market was up. The virus inoculation companies flying high. Much of the discussion on Bloomberg, I listen to Bloomberg between calls, and while I work from home, it was about new stimulus packages and going-back-to-school issues.

The reports are that more than five-hundred forty Americans fell to the virus today.

I am repeating some of my favorites: In the Garden. It is a good match for all the news today and the pictures.

 

 

 

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.