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A short uneventful day.

I cannot believe we are on day 33. It seems so long, and yet it is only a month. The days just seem to mush into a stew of terrible news and working from home. The stock market crashes, then The Fed and Central Banks prints so much money I suspect that is why we are short of toilet paper (did I just create another conspiracy theory)! S&P 500 has a terrible crash and one of its best days on record–all in the same 33 days!

Work started at about 6:30 this morning. I rolled over and slept for an extra thirty minutes. It is not so much about extra sleep as having some control over when I start. It is more comfortable when I decide to get up and not blindly following a clock.

Work was filled with video conferences and some reaction to all the panic. We are deciding on “the how” to solve issues now. In one meeting, I was the only person without “director” in their title. I turned off my video and, there was a bit of a surprise. They realized I was going to get all the work, and they were concerned I had dropped off the call. One cannot see the possible career-ending eye-rolling with the video off.

While I was being treated to an unlimited supply of directors, I was also trying to fix a technical issue with an upgrade I am also responsible for. We worked until late on Friday trying various tests to better define the issue. I have to update the trouble-ticket (OSS incident to you SAP folks) with our latest fails.

I made soup for lunch as today was a march of meetings and problems and attempts to fix or at least diagnose issues. Corwin made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner.

I fell asleep right after work. I then wake up and had to head to Safeway to get dishwasher soap. The day seems to have run away and ended without me ready for that.

The Safeway had toilet paper (maybe The Fed did not use up all the paper after all), paper towels, even dried goods like beans and rice, and no fresh garlic bread. Safeway cannot get garlic–their suppliers are out. Apparently, the people of the State of Oregon smell of garlic!

As usual, I take a cleaning wipes at the entrance to Safeway when I take a cart. I then wipe the cart handle and my hands. I try to remember to follow all the directions in the store. We have one-way aisles now, and folks try to stay six feet away while shopping. When I am done shopping, and in check-out, I tell the checkers I wiped my hands before shopping so they feel a bit safer. I thanks them for working. Today the checker, and I chatted almost like everything was normal. The checker had a mask on as I did. 

I watched the first episode of one of the few shows I watch: Most Deadliest Catch. The world looks so strange back in October when the events were filmed. No virus and high prices for crab. The economy was so good that folks were buying lots of crabs and Russia’s Putin had put on curbs on Russian fishing to increase the price. Unreal now.

I am tired and it was a day at work that had me checking my retirement balances! The weekend is welcome. I am trying to work on infrared communication on my robot project, but I am tired and making some mistakes. Saturday will be a better day for that.

The reports have been a bit confused as they have added more deaths that were initially misdiagnosed to the total. But today it was reported that more than two-thousand five-hundred people lost their battle with the virus this Friday in the USA. And every one of those victims of the virus had nurses and doctors and caregiver that felt the loss plus family and friends also to grieve. I will go for words from Revelations set to music to remember our loss: I Will Sing the Wondrous Story. I remember this song as something I could even sing. The lyrics tell a story about us all being together someday, again.

 

 

 

Sorry, I am very late writing today as it is my 56th birthday, and I have been relaxing a bit today.

Starting in the middle, we had a cake that I made the day before. What we call German Chocolate (to the objection of Germans) with pecan and coconut frosting from a box and can. I added Oregon cherries soaked in rum. The cherries are mostly added to the cake with a few saved to put on top. The rum and cherry juice then mixed in the store-bought frosting. Easy, boozy, and slightly nutty and fruited–that is my birthday cake.

Instead of singing “Happy Birthday,” I played on my phone, and we sang along with the Beatles When I am 64. Corwin then played with Louie Armstrong singing: Happy Birthday. I then took on the challenge and found It was a Very Good Year. Corwin noticed I was going for oldies, so he played the Soviet Propaganda: The Battle is Going Again (Happy Birthday Lenin!!). I needed a few songs to counter that one: Happy Birthday Mr. President, and we all sang with this one: If I Were a Richman. We stopped after I played a video we all forgot about that is set of all places on the surface of Mars: Britney Spears – Oops!…I Did It Again (Official Video). Oops, I had another birthday.

I have to admit we all had been drinking for a bit…and have been isolated. Please feel free (with maybe a drink) and play the songs by clicking on them.

I started work at about 6:30 and found that the tasks I needed to do are delayed at least a day, so I took off the afternoon from Nike. I had meetings after meetings on data conversions until I hit noon.

Lunch was from Gyro House. I hoped to get what I ordered today. Last time I got someone else’s order. I watch on Grubhub as my delivery person kept driving past Gyro House and then circle back and miss it again. Twenty minutes later, my lunch appeared. It was still hot and was even my order.

I then went out to get our prescriptions. RiteAid is better stocked now. Susie had some meds she needed.

(here I am cruising to RiteAid)

I then went back to reading The Kaiser’s Battlefleet. I bought this from the USA Naval Institute for my birthday. I was learning much about the construction and logic behind the Imperial German Navy and precisely how the High Seas Fleet come into being. I know that World War 1 is not most folks’ interest, but that fleet has fascinated me. It is also telling that this is, more than a hundred years later, the first book on this topic that includes new research and validates the assumptions I have read before. For example, there has been a legend that the German Cruiser Blücher guns were smaller caliber because British double agents convinced the German Navy that Britain was using smaller weapons. The author has found no basis for that–the gun sizes were selected by a committee, and the smaller sized guns were to save money and weight. So interesting to me to learn the spy story is just a good story (oddly, one of the last acts of Sherlock Holms is being a double-agent to do precisely that, see His Last Bow).

I also started work on the Robot again. I was thinking of using LoRa communication to control it. I have purchased the LoRa Gateways from Sparkfun, and these are new style DIY networking for Long Range device communication. I managed to get “blink” working on the device. I stopped when I saw the complexity of the set-up. I might use something less complex for the first time.

Lastly, one of the best BBC old detective shows was on PBS, “Inspector Morse.” I stopped everything and watched it from 9:00 to 11:00 tonight. That is why I am so late today. I truly enjoy that show.

Today’s reports are that the death rate in the USA is more than two-thousand souls lost this day to the virus. I pick the Titanic hymn for today, Nearer, My God, to Thee.

Work included discussions that were not quite shouting matches–odd on video–but emotions were expressed. My blood pressure was quite high, and it was hard to focus after dealing with high-stress conversations. I am more tired now than I was hoping.

The stock market was down just a bit today. My mix of bonds and equities in my 401K is still rising. If the stock market continues to recover, I may fully recover my losses soon!

Today is the USA Tax Day. This year payments and even filing are allowed to be delayed. I paid all of mine and also filed for the government to return some of my money, which they sent already. Today I was surprised to receive our payment for the virus relief. Yes, I even got some of the money.

I picked-up lunch today from BJ’s Brewhouse as I wanted some of my favorite beer from them: Jerimiah Red Ale. I had their lunch spaghetti and meatballs. I had a beer while making dinner. Chicken teriyaki on the grill (Corwin who lives with us did the grilling). Cornbread muffins and peaches, canned. Susie approved!

I was tired, so I did not get too much more. I did make a cake, German Chocolate with Oregon cherries soaked in rum. Tomorrow is my next 29th birthday.

Today is not only tax day but the anniversary of the loss of RMS Titanic in 1912, the year of my grandmother’s birth. I made a small model of the RMS Titanic a few years ago when we did a class on Python Machine Learning using the Titanic victims as part of the data set. I have coal from the wreck. I also have piece of the first-class stateroom paneling from the sister ship of the Titanic, RMS Olympic.

I also today joined the Kickstarter for the last game in a series that I have purchased over the past years: Ankh. I have both Blood Rage and Rising Sun, which is by the same game designer, Eric Lang, and part of a series. These games all feature huge and intricate figures in the 28mm scale. These are “dudes-on-a-board” type instead of Euro or meeple driven. I really like his games. They also are just run to play with you pushing around those massive and/or lovely figures on the game board.

(Blood Rage figures painted by me a few years ago, yes girl Vikings)

Today it was reported that more than two-thousand four-hundred people passed away in the USA from the virus. I picked this one, not one I know, Abide with Me.

A short note for today.

Working from home today and learned that our big project is delayed by six months now. But, my part of the project is NOT delayed. So we push on with more panic today, different panic. So more video conferences. More emails. All a blur now.

I ordered lunch from Gyro House and got two chicken gyros with fries. I ordered a lamb gyro with hummus plate. Never had the chicken before. It was good. I did not bother to call them as there is nothing they can do but give it to me free and have me re-order online and hope it shows up right that time. Whoever got my order, I hope they enjoyed it.

The Schwan’s truck came, Stephane comes every other Tuesday,  and had pork chops so I got some and made them for dinner. Interestingly, Stephane told me that her truck had reduced inventory–they are selling lots of stuff and could not fully load-up the truck today. I had to take Butter Pecan and not my usual Chocolate Mint ice cream.

I boiled potatoes and made mashed potatoes to go with it and cooked up some green beans with butter. Everyone liked it.

I then went back to my electronic work tonight and managed to get a servo to work in Python on my Grand Central M4. This is a capable microcontroller from AdaFruit manufactured in New York City. AdaFruit is currently building items for the crisis instead of making DIY electronics.

For my DIY work, I could not make the servo work last time as I had an issue with a special servo controlling hardware. I was getting an error in the software that talks to the controller. This time I controlled the servo from the Grand Central M4. It worked without issue. I have to manage getting power to the servo–it is not safe to drain power from the Grand Central M4 for the servo.

I have my bench version of what I am building, a computer-controlled ship, that has flashing lights, GPS, LCD, and now servo control. Getting there!

(me in my safety glasses with 3x bifocals)

That leaves the motor controller left to do. I will try to get that in the next few days.

The stock market went up a lot today. The S&P 500 was flying up. With all the money from The Fed and Central Banks and the direct payments to business and people, the USA market is now in a mood to buy. Bonds and equities are going up together. I will just take the money into my 401K.

The reports show a significant increase in deaths from the virus in the USA today, more than two-thousand four-hundred people.

I went with Here I am Lord to remember all the people we lost today.

 

 

In the USA, Easter Monday is a workday. So it was working from home today, and 6:AM came sooner than I wished. The issues I left on Friday were still there on Monday. Time has moved on, and milestones are closer, and the required tasks are undone. Some panic is beginning.

I had quite a few meetings on-line. I also had the Volvo Valet come and get the car and leave me a brand-new S/60 Volvo as a free loaner until my car was done. It was time for the free 30,000-mile service. Carlos, the guy from Volvo, dropped off the loaner, having driven it with gloves on. It was hard to do the proper social distancing and fill-out all the forms. Carlos and I both must have dropped the pen twice–we both are nervous and jumpy trying to stay safe. He took my XC60 Volvo for service. Oil change, check-up, new alignment, and tire rotation, and I got it back and Carlos took the S/60 back. I will let my XC60 Volvo bake in the sun tomorrow, and then wipe it down inside.

The sparrow nest and eggs in the wreath on the door are good still. The little bird sits on the nest and flies away when we need the door. These are common tiny sparrows. We are happy to support even the local Wildlife.

I ordered lunch from La Provence, a Tuna Melt. It was wonderful. I ate it while online with my boss as we measure the amount of panic we needed. It is a lot.

I received a birthday present I bought myself: The Kaiser’s Battlefleet. This is a book published just a few years ago by the US Naval Institute and is the only book on the old German fleet. I am happy to read it today. It is more than I had hoped, including plans for some of the ships and has references to everything. I have already found some new online sources. I know the rest of you are already bored, but it is fascinating for me.

Dinner was pizza with coupons, so it was not so expensive from Domino’s Pizza delivered.

My sister, Linda, got her necklace. I sent her a lucky four-leaf clover necklace to help stay lucky. She is a nurse in infection control in Lansing, Michigan.

We then played Roll20 Dungeons and Dragon 5e. We play every Monday at 6:30 local time. We have one player that is handicapped, one who lives in Minnesota, and two here in Oregon and me. Today was the first time for a new adventure: The legendary 1970s adventure, revised for 5e rules, The Tomb of Horrors, the original version. This is an online version that runs nearly like the table-top version with all the traps and pictures updated from the line art of the 1970s. The players managed to not get killed off in the first play–The Tomb of Horrors has a very high mortality rate for Dungeons and Dragon adventures.

I needed an introduction to the adventure for my players. I wrote this to them (Acererak is the main bad guy and undead):

 

We got started with the new adventure, and everyone appeared to enjoy the change of pace.

Returning to the reports, more than one-thousand five-hundred people lost their battle with the virus today. We also heard that Oregon, Washington, and California are beginning the planning to start up again. Let’s go with this old song as we remember all who we lost and the hope of an end to this comes: Let It Breathe on Me.