I have to admit that today I wanted to read and just fall asleep and forget everything for a while. I am tired as sleep has been hard of late.

Work was a bit better as I think the conflict I had yesterday, which could be described as demanding integrity, seemed to have produced some fruit. At least I thought folks were working towards goals better—no more demands for partial solutions.

I took Susie for a short trip to pick up a prescription, get the bird poop washed off the Volvo at the carwash, and then picking up a few pizzas for dinner. It was good to drive the car and just do something today.

I had lunch today for the first time since January at Old Chicago. They had masks and on-line menus. It looks like finally, the idea of the paper menu is moving into history. You can get a paper one, but you are encouraged to use the Internet to see the menu.

It is funny how comforting it was to sit in the bar and eat the same salad and drink the same iced tea and follow this with a stromboli. I know it is silly, but just doing something I have not done for more than ninety days that I use to do once a week was relaxing.

Today I decided, after reading so much Pro-Confederate flag posts on Facebook, that I know what to say: Life Every Voice and Sing.

Here in Oregon, the largest county, it includes Portland, attempt to reopen is on hold. The virus rate is increasing, and thus it cannot open—prayers for Portland and Multnomah County.

Today we had a Zoom meeting of Theology Pub. We have met for years in a pub drinking and eating while discussing Theology. Justice was the discussion today. Many of us agreed that this quote fits well: “Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public” from Cornel West.

I sent these thoughts to our leader of Theology Pub, maybe you will find them of use:

I was thinking of something like Justice for the topic on Thursday, but something more came to my mind. Divine education….

I have learned so much this year about how wrong my assumptions are. This is looking for an example, the order from the major of Portland to limit the use of tear gas to last resort use—I did not know that we needed a policy change on tear gas–I always thought it was last resort.

Another one, there was a new ruling on the 10-2 convictions in Oregon and Louisiana by the Supreme Court (the lack of unanimity for conviction in these states). I did not know this was a Jim Crow law and that my rights in Oregon were reduced by allowing convictions that are 10-2. I was surprised to see the conservative and liberal justices all lined up on protecting rights to a jury with Gorsuch and RGB agreeing. I would have worked to eliminate that in the Oregon Constitution, had I truly understood it. I also did not know that the 14th Amendment was theoretically limited to only some rights in the 40-year ago initial ruling on this. That with the new decision, the 14th Amendment is not limited; all rights given by the federal constitution now fully apply to the states. Again, I learned all of this.

On the painful side, we learned that training, policies, and organization of police and their use of violence appears to be inconsistent with our expectations. I learned how to kill cold viruses and how they spread in great detail. I have learned how the world’s leaders could not handle an emergency that had unpopular solutions (lockdown). I have seen that lack of transparency could create an apparent Federal Constitution violation by a president by “clearing” protestors. All of this has been a unique experience to me in my life—I have never learned about how much is wrong so fast and how wrong I was about the world—I thought we were better than this.

So my writing mind sees us as a new Job, and we are learning all the things we have wrong. We are complaining, “where was God.” God’s answer this time (and Satan’s) is that that it was you, not us, that the virus was created by the same process that created the last virus emergencies—a human failing. The explosion of a pandemic was caused by a lack of testing and hand washing. “It was not me,” I can see Satan saying to God. “Tear gassing was not our angles pouring out tribulations, but you all doing this to each other,” says God. I can see God and Satan saying, “humans, you are discovering” what you need to do and “stop doing tribulations to yourselves!”

Just some thoughts of my thinking: ”a movie running in my head.”

The stock market crashed today 5%. The reality of The Fed message and the increasing infection rate has thrown some cold water on the market. We will see how it handles this tomorrow.

The deaths reported were over eight-hundred people in the USA today, including two from Oregon. The infection rate is increasing. Here is a hymn I remembering singing: Are Ye Able.

I also found this fantastic hymn summary: Evolution of Worship Music – A Cappella Medley.

Work was interesting in an unusual way, I am very unhappy with the day, and many options are working through my mind that I cannot write here. I can say that integrity is essential to me both in the personal way that most people understand, but also very much in how computer systems are put together that I am involved in. I always remind folks of the famous quote:

“Once you give up your integrity, the rest is a piece of cake.”― J.R. Ewing

I would not take J.R.’s direction for life or computer systems!

Lunch was reheated lasagna as I had meetings through lunch. This was the baked pasta dish I made last week. I cut out quite a few pieces and carefully wrapped them and froze them. I reheat them in the microwave (defrost and then reheat to get it very hot). When hot, the meal is wonderful.

In the middle of total frustration at work, I received a gift from Rev. John in India: The video of my good friend’s funeral. The Bishop Rev.Dr. Yesu was called home last year and I still miss him. I have trouble imagining India without my friend waiting for me there: Bishop Yesu.

(back in April 2010 near Kakinada, A.P., the Bishop helping me with the local customs)

Returning to today, I stopped working on my Nike computer and took a short walk. I noticed that the Reedville Presbyterians had changed their sign. Previously it said “HOPE,” except for the day the ‘P’ fell down after a windy storm, and this allowed for some interpretation of what the local Presbyterians were trying to say. I put the ‘P’ back up when I saw that my from my house that I could read “HO E.” I like the new sign, recycling a few letters.

Dinner was going out to the Golden Valley Brewery as Susie and Corwin had enough of my cooking, and well their’s too. We were more than happy to get a table in the bar area, and most folks had masks and most graced us by following social distancing norms (can we call it that). Dinner and beer were excellent. Susie feels safe there.

We drove back and waved at many more protestors in our area than there was yesterday. We have demonstrators displaying “Black Lives Matter” signs at 185th Street and Baseline. We smiled and waved, trying to be supportive.

Which reminds me, the president found new ways today to inflame the fires of divisiveness–it is aw-inspiring how Mr. Trump can find something to say or texted that I never thought of to piss-off and divide people. It is like a superpower for him. I try not to make political statements here, but truly I was surprised today, again.

The stock market was up and down all day. The Fed did not raise or lower rates today. The current rise in the market was discussed on Bloomberg and how retail investors (someone like me) appear to have timed the market, and the big names are now admitting they were on the sidelines and missed the V-Recovery.

The voting in Georgia yesterday was reported to be a shambles.

The reports show that over nine-hundred eighty people in the USA lost their lives to the virus. I found this hymn, I remember singing it a few years ago, and I think it also is good for Georgia that needs some prayers: Sweet, Sweet Spirit.

 

 

Just a short story today.

Today I went to lunch by myself to the Reedville Cafe. It is a family place that has been around long enough to outlasted Reedville as a town. The food is about average to me, but folks like it, so I was glad to see them open. I wore a mask and only took it off to eat and drink my iced tea. The staff had masks. A few of the other customers were not wearing masks, and one was not respecting social distancing, but I was able to keep to my distance. The food was good, I had the Texas Cob Salad, and it was relaxing to be out of the house.

Dinner was another try at Pork Vindaloo, I cooked. I simplified the recipe a bit, and it still turned out good. It was less spicy, but it again turned out very flavorful.

I am still online for Nike tonight as we are having performance issues in our new servers and our data conversion jobs. I am talking to India and local folks.

Today was an extended mix of emails and Zoom meetings.

I also slipped out to the hobby store. I am running out of white primer. Tammy’s Hobbies now has tape on the floor to help keep distances. Most were following them, and some folks have on masks. I managed to get my brand of primer.

The Titanic model I am building uses photo-eteched brass tiny parts has gone sideways for me. The paint stuck down the brass and when I lifted it, the brass railings for the model, hair-thin pulled away and twisted. I then had some other brass I bought before so I went to use it as a replacement. The white primer paint went on so thick that the brass is now filled in with white paint, ugh! I did not have time to work on the model and see if I can salvage the brass. I see lacquer thinner in the future!

Today was the send-off for Mr. Floyd. I saw this on TV Highway on the way home.

So here in Aloha, Oregon, we are protesting too.

Susie attended a church class with Joan Goldhammer on how to deal with the emergency using Zoom. This class is on-line and based on Alan Hamilton’s book and videos on Unafraid.

I am reading another Maisie Dobb book. I find these books a mix of the 1930s detective novel with some mysticism and World War 1 experiences. I recommend them but read them in order.

The stock market finally went down today. This looks like profit taking to me. We will see what tomorrow brings.

The reports show that more than a thousand Americans passed away today from the virus, including five people in Oregon. There is an election in Georgia today that is having long lines while trying to keep social distancing and use masks. So let’s go with a song for them: Georgia on My Mind.

It is back to work today here at home. Starting about 6:30ish and it was hard going as Susie had some trouble sleeping and woke me a few times. I also was feeling still a bit off from the bad allergies attacks from the weekend. I stayed at two cups of coffee.

Today was the first day of the big data conversion tests for the new systems we are putting in late this year.

I received a call about 11:00ish that Susie had an appointment with Zerida for nails and so on. So in the middle of various Zoom meetings I was getting Susie ready and going. We made it just in time for her driver to take her. I sent her with coffee, in a paper cup–we have them in the house with lids so Susie can have coffee in the taxi–and a scone in a lunch bag (I made scones on Sunday night).

Zoom meetings went on all day. Email and many crises of the moment kept me busy with the last crisis at 9PM. I am still online with work while typing this.

I was thinking of heading out to lunch, but The Gyro House is not open yet for seating, so I ordered online. Lamb Gyro with extra spicy sauce and baklava for Susie. Always perfect and delivered so fast, I did not know lunch was here. I found it before my lunch got cold.

I managed a short walk to the end of the street. I did take a break and read and a nap.

Corwin made dinner while I handled more crises of the moment for Nike. We had New York Strips grilled, grilled carrots, and potatoes roasted on the grill in tin foil.

I then played for the first time in about a month Dungeon and Dragons online using Roll20. We have changed to the next campaign manually converting the existing characters to the new adventure. Today we get to start The Dungeon of the Mad Mage. This is an old adventure revised for the new rules and reset in the current timelines of play. It is famous for being 24+ levels with each level being the size of some adventures I have run!

Here is a screenshot of our adventures. Mackers has been turned into a t-rex by Cory our Wizard. Our dark paladin, Bill, is sending ready next to the t-rex. We play with live video so we can talk and see each other. The map uses the 1980s style graphics and the huge rooms that we use to draw with graph paper. Apparently, with 24+ levels (depending on how you count them), replacing all the maps with cool art and more compact maps were not possible. I can also tell you that the fluff text and description boxes are missing–something that came out later as a standard for pre-made adventures. When I run this I have to read the room again and then figure out what to tell the players.

We are playing with 9th level characters. The adventure is for fifth level characters and so this level was more of a romp and practice. It will get harder on the next level. The Bite attack on the screen is actually the player’s last attack. It was a critical hit for the t-rex. It brought the target to a crunchy end.

The protests continue, and I attended more discussions about race at work. I learned that Seattle Police have turned on the vest cameras. I did not know they had turned them off for the protests and riots. I am saddened.

The stock market continues its climb today, and from what I can see, the market has completed a V-shaped recovery by reaching levels before the emergency. There are discussions about the dread W-shaped recovery crashing us. There are also some discussions that hedge funds and other equity investors missed the recovery and are not showing good returns. I continue to have faith in the USA economy.

The reports show the active cases rate continues to climb in the USA. The death count in the USA for today is greater than five-hundred eighty. I found this hymn, 601 in the Methodist Hymnal, that I did not know, but I think it well known to Amy Grant fans: Thy Word is a Lamp. I did not know we had an Amy Grant song in the Methodist Hymnal.

We complete our first week in Washington County, Oregon, under phase 1. Today I did not visit any establishments or travel outside of the house. I had Safeway deliver some groceries; now that wearing a mask and being careful is a political statement, I am uneasy to shop in more public places like my local grocery stores. I feel more prisoner of the virus than before.

I awoke way too early. My ears plugged, and my allergies in full diving mode. I feel like I am underwater. I could not sleep, and so I was up on a Sunday at 6AM, ugh! I felt ill all day as the lack of sleep, asthma, allergies, and total frustration with the world fell hard on me today.

I also followed along on email for work. We have developers working all weekend, and they have managed to write a fix we needed this Monday.

Groceries showed up at 9 this morning delivered by DoorDash via Safeway.com. Only the ground lamb was out today. New York Strips, pork shoulder, coco for a cake, potatoes, instant oatmeal with brown sugar, yogurt, corn chips, pretzels, and so on were all delivered this morning.

As you can imagine, I tried to take it easy and binge-watch some shows, I am up-to-date on “Deadliest Catch” and have seen more Alaska gold shows now. I managed to relax a bit.

Lunch was hot dogs with the end of sauerkraut from Olympia Provisions and some chips. I might have to order again from Olympia Provisions–it is high quality and long-lasting. Corwin was out, and Susie was up late today–so lunch was just me. Dinner was microwaved leftover lasagna and for Susie was breakfast.

Finally, I returned to the 1/700 scale model of the Titanic with the lighting built-in. I had to feel better as you cannot become impatient at this scale–you will break things.

Model builds are always strange as you seem to spend forever preparing and painting. I had to paint everything that is made of white color plastic well white primer. I find the white plastic is too shinny and does not match the paint color so I paint it. I paint it on the trees as I can now touch up any with paint. I managed to get the decks all white that is made of brown plastic. This is a no-paint model and so the model has any part that has a wood deck made of light-brown plastic–Usually, Titanic models are all white. But, the kit has the side hull shafts for the large propellers in black while the hull is a perfect rust-red color. Not sure why they did that and means I have to paint the hull or try to match the shade for the shafts. So hours later, everything was now white and ready for work.

I finally started on the roof for the wireless room, captain’s quarters, gym, and grand staircase–if I remember correctly the Titanic’s layout. I wanted to practice on one deck, and this is the smallest with some intricate work. First, I have checked the decking fits and it is perfect. I purchased an add-on of a thin wood fiber deck that is laser cut to perfectly fit the model. You don’t paint decks anymore–you adhere to the plastic deck light wood that is cut with fine lines to suggest decking and other items. This is one of the new things you can get now from the Internet.

Next, I began on one of those long preparation steps. I gave purchased photo-etched brass replacement parts for this model, and they come as small sheets are about twice the size of a credit card and are fragile and flat. I washed the sheet with alcohol, dried it, painted it with two thin coats of light white primer on each side. Yes, that is four spray painting jobs.

Once all that was done, I then cut the dome of the grand staircase (you can click on that for the pictures of the original) brass attached to the roof piece. It is a bit recessed as I wanted a bit more space for it to make it a bit more splendid. I managed to scratch the paint as often happens with metal tweezers. I just will touch up the paint as the primer white easily lets me hide the scratches. This is all done within a tiny scale, the dome is smaller than an American dime, and I am wearing 3x bifocal safety glasses.

The next item is the small building that covers the dome on the Titanic. On the original ship, this building was to keep the seawater and weather off the dome. The model had one molded into the deck. The instructions had me cut it out, and that is the hole the dome brass piece is now filling. I cut out the brass and then use my brass bending equipment: specially made tiny vice and a straight blade. I manage to assemble it and hold it together with G-S Hypo Cement. This is a product for jewelry and watch crystals. It hardens slowly but holds quickly and once dry is strong. It works on metal, glass, and plastic.

I have set it on the Titanic model setup with just the desk sitting on the hull.

I stopped there as I was happy to get that far, and I had chores to finish—dishes, laundry, blogging, and preparing for online Dungeon and Dragons on Monday night.

I will put on the railing next that follows the white edge that stands out now.

I watched little news as I was not feeling that well.

The reports show that the death rate for today fell to just over three hundred from the virus, including one death from Oregon. The active infection cases rate is again increasing. I went with a short hymn of the navy for today: Eternal Father, Strong to Save (The Navy Hymn).