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Today started at 6ish with emails and Zoom meetings. Work was a bit confused as so many people are on vacation this week, and our project is in the middle of a restructuring and switching tracking tools. In other words, chaos. So I had some odd crises of the moment to resolve. I will likely have a day full of the same tomorrow before breaking for the holiday.

Mexican coffee, Fairtrade, for the start. I love the taste of boarder-crossing liberal coffee in the morning!

Oregon has strict anti-fireworks laws against mortars, rockets, roman candles, and putting on your own firework show. Also typical at this time is the breaking of all these laws and even some basic common sense thinking by my neighbors and well most of the neighborhood. Yes, explosions are going on starting just about sundown and will continue to about 1AM. I have not watched much tonight, but I suspect some are quite lovely. It is also worrying when a beautiful mortar explodes about ground-level! Those stars look better in the sky and not in our trees. It was damp today, and most of the week, so the chances of something unpleasant being started is unlikely by a stray shell.

Often my local street will be filled with people doing fireworks. I often take Susie out to see some of it. Usually, keeping her with some newly discovered neighbor girls that are too cool or not brave enough to light-off the show.

So starting about ten this morning, the explosions began.

I was called by the doctor’s office and asked to come in for some bloodwork—time to check my sugar levels again. So I agreed to give up my afternoon to see how I was doing. I put my Nike laptop in the car, just in case, and used my iPhone to follow the chaos.

I decided to try Panera Bread for lunch near the doctor’s office and then to do some writing and shopping before my appointment. I use to write there with my headphones. So I headed over there after clearing the emergencies and Zoom meetings of the morning.

The local Panera Bread now looks odd, with all the chairs just tipped for tables that cannot be used due to social distancing rules. I went to a table and ordered using the app on the phone. I heard my name called out, they don’t deliver to your table anymore, so I picked up my order and carried it back. The food is good. The bread is better than good.

I did notice that the staff was meticulous cleaning and social distancing. All were wearing masks, and all were careful around customers, but they were chatting and hanging out and ignoring social distancing when working together.

I stayed for a few hours as I wanted to do some writing and to observe. I started back on my Howard’s Lockdown story I wanted to get going on. This is my version of a Lovecraft-styled story set now in Portland in the lockdown. I managed to add another page as I find my way with the story.

After being at Panera for a few hours, I headed to Blick’s to get some supplies. I did forget to get a new painting tray. I did get some more basswood, pins, and straight razors that I need. I spoke to the cashier, and they are doing a brisk business. Apparently, art supplies are still needed, and the staff wore pronoun pins which helped me avoid a faux pas. This being the Portland area, you try to get your pronouns aligned to the wishes of the folks you are communicating with.

I then went to the doctor’s office. As usual, I was checked-in with questions about my exposure to Covid-19, none, and if I had any troubling symptoms, none, tempure checked touchless, normal, and given a written pass. After a short wait, you don’t want to be too early for medical appointments with the virus rates increasing, I was called in by the nurse. Blood was taken from my finger and was happy to learn I was still holding on my diabetes–again normal! Blood pressure was slightly elevated (reflexing my day at work).

Home, and making dinner and yes more crises of the moment online for Nike. I make tacos for dinner and serve them to Susie.

Corwin is with our friend Mariah. She is moving, and Corwin is helping her. I drive over to help shuffle some of the stuff and Mariah back to her new digs. While waiting for some folks to show up, we play the board game Skull. This, despite its name, is a friendly betting and guessing game made from coasters, or you can purchase a colorful premade game. I teach it to Mariah and her friend in a few minutes, and we play for a bit. Mariah wins.

We shuffle Mariah and various items to her new place, loading up Air Volvo.

No work on the model of the Titanic today.

The stock market went up and down. I am still seat belted in.

Today the reports show exponential growth in infections in the USA, but the death rate remaining about the same rate for the last three weeks, with over six-hundred people dying today of the disease. The death rate lags the increase by about two weeks. It is also possible that healthier people are getting the virus, and treatments have improved. It is also possible that death certificates are being filled out to name the secondary infection as the cause of death and not Corvid-19.

Martin Luther was right for today with the increasing infection rate: Out of the Depth I cry to You. This is Methodist Hymnal #515 from 1524.

Today I started my day at 6 and rushed the morning as we had an all-employee meeting at 7AM. The CEO of Nike told us about their plans for running the company during the emergency and about the upcoming layoffs. It was hard to keep positive with such news as laying people-off during a pandemic.

I had many crises of the moment and had my annual review today. My boss, Brad, was happy with my work for the year and thanked me. Nike has already decided that all employees will get a zero percent raise and 100% of the bonus in August.

I finished the day with a call with Steve from the event people putting together an online convention to replace the one in Australia. I am asked to be in a panel to discuss how we built some of the applications and how they could now be built with new technology. It is a new format I have not used before, but I think it might be better than a recorded video of me reading slides and taking a few questions—the usual bread and butter of the conventions. Instead, Steve wants to have a short introduction and then a discussion with questions followed by a break-out session. This all done online. It just might be good!

We then headed out to Ceder Hills McMenamins for dinner and beers. We had a nice meal. The staff was quite careful except when they talked to each other and forgot to distance when at the bar waiting for drinks or the bartender. The food was delivered quickly and mostly correct (Susie’s burger came with veggies).

I found the new tile, “Kabab Shop” for Istanbul in the mail-box today; Caitlin from BoardGameGeek brought it by. I really like the change to the game and the look of the card. It is light cardboard, so we will have to set it over the “Fountain” tile. 

Today it was reported that the death rate in the USA from the virus expanded to over seven-hundred sixty. The seven-day average of the death rate shows a reduction, but the three-day average shows a slight increasing pulse in the number. We will know if a few days if the death rate will jump with the growing infection rate.

I found this crazy video of Down By The Riverside.

Sometimes it is a good writing trick to go backward.

The reports show that more than three-hundred forty Americans were taken by the virus today. Today I picked a flash mob in the center of Nuremberg to remember all that we lost and the good things in life like a flash mob.

The stock market went up. It is all over the place these two weeks! My 401K is showing a loss of more than three percent again. I have my seatbelt still on!

End of the Stay-cation.

I took Susie, Corwin, and Evan to BJ’s Brewhouse for dinner. It is the first time we have been able to eat there in about four months. They opened again for dine-on only last week. The place looked odd with the tables and people, so spread-out and no sports crowd in the bar. Monday night football and well any sports were always well attended there. The food seemed better than I remembered it, and the beer was still good. The staff was careful.

Before that, Corwin and Evan were both proud to beat me in a game of Istanbul. I taught Evan the game. The game was close with Evan ending the game by attaining the fifth ruby, but Corwin was able to beat him by getting a fifth gem and more money. I was at four gems and was one move away from my fifth and thus lost.

As I was planning to play Istanbul I got a text from work. I had to approve some access to a server at Nike. The only other person who can approve the access is on vacation, so I handled it, always available. I sent them a text that their access should go-thru and they thanked me.

Before all of this, I decided to watch another opera on the Internet from the Metropolitan Opera, The Magic Flute. I have always wanted to see this opera live, but I can at least see it while I fold the laundry and have lunch. So that is what I did, I folded the laundry and ordered lunch from Gyro House to be delivered and watched and did laundry. This is from another opera house, Dark Queen, but from the same opera.

I discovered that there is an add-on for my newly purchased board game, Istanbul. This is the “Kabab Shop” tile. It replaces the “Fountain” tile and allows you to send your family member back to the “Jail” tile or to recall your assistants like the Fountain. In the normal game, only other players can send you family member pieces back to jail. I found one of the “Kabab Shop” tiles for sale at BoardGameGeeks and was surprised that the person lives in the area and will drop off my purchase tomorrow! The Internet enhances the gaming experience in so many ways.

And before that happened, I worked on the Titanic model and attached all the little buildings and deck houses to the boat deck. I also folded the etched-brass bridge area and attached it. If you remember the movie, the captain stays in the bridge area until it is submerged, and then the windows dramatically break–that area is what I built today. I remember reading in a wreckage account that the bridge roof was seen floating on the sea–it is gone in the wreck. On the model, all of this is glued in, and I should let it all dry before I try anything else, a lesson I was reminded of yesterday–I fixed one window today. I have three more to replace yet.

I started on the model after I finally recovered from and terrible asthma attack and slept in until 9ish. I had breakfast of some chocolate croissants. I was awake at 5:30AM with a nightmare of not being able to breathe and I awoke and it was not really a dream. I got up and took my medications and was better by 6:30AM.

Sunday, I awoke and then rolled over and sent early morning Sunday on its way to people who actually wanted it. I wanted nothing to do with another early morning!

I was up about 10ish. I felt much better. Finally, all the stress was leaving me alone and letting me have a day. So I made some coffee, Mexican and Fairtrade, and I love the taste of liberal board-crossing coffee in the morning. I deleted the Trump and Pence emails asking for money. I instead sent $50 to Biden–it was my first ever gift to Biden’s campaign. It went with the coffee this morning.

I then focused on something more hands-on. I added tiny brass-etched windows to the Titanic model over the poorly cast plastic windows. These windows are for the officer quarters, the grand staircase, and the wireless station. I then added these long plastic pieces to the deck. The pressure I used nearly broke the parts, and the windows I so carefully glued in so many places were damaged. I lost about four. I put the Titanic away after fixing everything I could and let the glues dry. When I make two mistakes, I stop. I also glued a tiny ladder on the side and then damaged it.

I read more Maisie Dobbs today. It helped me relax. I am on the tenth one, but there are fifteen at the moment, so soon I will have to read something else.

Lady Ada in New York City started their Halloween eye hardware for sale. I ordered one and another Grand Central M4 board with headers this time. The Grand Central M4 is my go-to board for Python-based robotics.

I also watched the rest of the movie Dune. I had purchased the movie yesterday on my Mac and finished it today.

I spent the afternoon watching the complete Metropolitan Opera of Massenet’s Cendrillon on the Internet. It was fun to sit back and enjoy a few hours of opera, something I do not get to do very often. They have one free opera a day.

I made Pork Vindaloo today. I was wrong with the spices, and so it is a bit tame. I will go back to the original mix next time. It was still good.

I played more Istanbul board game today. I learned the Coffee and Baksheesh addition. I just played against myself with a two-person set-up. I liked the addition of bags of coffee (liberal?), but the larger board made moves more complex. Planning had to be done with more care. I liked that!

Today the reports show that nearly three-hundred people died in the USA from the virus. I found this blessing in Hebrew and thought we could use it to remember all the people we lost.

 

 

The morning started too early. I could not sleep and so I was up at 6:30 AM on a Saturday! Corwin, apparently looking at a new workout plan, was up early and was just finishing bacon and eggs, enough for two! Well, my timing was better than I expected.

I had left my new game, Istanbul: The Big Box, out and we reset it for two players and played a game. I had to teach the game, but I played it against myself yesterday and had the rules and even some of the strategy down. The game is an award-winning design that has your merchant touring the markets in Istanbul with a cart trying to attain the right resources to trade for more resources or rubies. The player with six (or five for more player) rubies ends the game and likely wins. The game is light easy to learn and has a strategy that become apparent even in your first game (like you need your wagon to be bigger), but you seldom interact with other players. This means you are not actively completing and keeps the game happy.

Aside: I have played it before, maybe once before using Guardian Game’s copy from their library. The game store has an impressive collection that is available to play-before-you-buy or just to play. You can also get a beer or other snacks and drinks there. We often rent a room there to meet and play.

I punched and assembled the game yesterday and put the stickers on the wrong piece for the player’s merchant (it is thicker than the assistant pieces, I discovered later). I went to the website to see if replacements were available. I had to switch to on BoardGameGeek to the Istanbul game and found alternatives for the stickers–all women. I liked that. So I scanned in all of the pieces. I then removed, destroyed, the stickers from the assistant piece and then cut out two women colors and three men colors and used school water-soluble glue to attach the new paper printed replacements this time on the correct and larget merchant disks. My cutting was not perfect circles, but they looked good enough, and having the white and yellow merchants now be women, one with her head covered, really worked for me.

I then scanned in two images from the board to see if I could make two more unique men from the game itself. The art was just a bit too dark and did not add as much as the women merchants, so I left the game as is. Only make changes that improve play or the comfort of the game.

I am not feeling well today. Could be the lack of sleep and stress (more layoffs at Nike) and Susie is still a bit confused, and this makes it a bit hard on me. She did ride her bike today.

I went, for the first time since February, to Wholefoods. I wanted some Mexican Fairtrade coffee. I have vowed that I would drink coffee that the President would not approve of since his election. I have had to use Duncan Donuts coffee when ordering from Safeway. I drink overpriced, fair trade, border crossing, and liberal coffee! I picked up a selection of cheese and meats for a cheese and meats tray for dinner tonight. I was, as always, surprised the bill at Wholefoods.

Everyone had a mask and the store seemed very careful to keep everyone safe. I chatted with the checkout guy. He suggested ordering and delivery services, as I was still nervous about being in the store. The cheese seller told me that Wholefoods has never slowed down since the lockdown (there is a sad sign that says no free cheese samples to protect us).

After I put away my new items, I took another long nap. I am still tired. I played myself again on the game Istanbul, such an excellent game it is fun to just play.

I received today the new metal masts for the Titanic model. The plastic one often breaks when you are working on the model and are out-of-scale to make them stronger (out of scale by 2x). These new masts are from on the web from Master Model of Poland and are made from brass and machined to scale. The Internet creates a market for all sorts of unique items for models and gamers like 1/700 scale masts for RMS Titanic–I ordered the masts from eBay and took a week or so to get here. The gaming and modeling and model train folks now can have impossible to get items. Previously, I ordered metal propellors for HMS Dreadnought and gun barrels. They look perfect on my version of the battleship!

I put away the games and got back to the Titanic model. I am mounting replacements for tiny windows and door frames.

Today the reports show more than five-hundred Americans were slain by the infection. I found this church’s version: Stand Up and Bless the Lord.