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Today is the beginning of Summer 2020. Nike closed at noon this Friday for summer hours. It feels strange to start summer hours and even summer in lockdown.

I worked all-night again. Getting some sleep from 3 to 7 and then a nap this afternoon. I am done with work until after the holiday, India time: Monday night late.

As it was summer now, I decided to cook my lunch. Found pork tenderloins wrapped in smoked bacon in the freezer. Defrost those with running water in the sink. I found a can of baked beans. I fried the fillets in a pan browning each side while heating the beans in a pan. I then put the pan in the oven 425F for ten minutes (too long actually) and then when done (overdone) used the pan, being careful to use oven mitts to hold the hot pan, added butter to the crunches in the pan and bourbon just a touch. I also added bourbon to the beans. I put the pan sauce on the tenderloin and served with beans.

I overcooked the tenderloin, but it was still good.

Susie was up about noon today. She had more scones.

I got out my matt and terrain items with work finishing and lunch baking. I used to play Frostgrave, and so has a collection of fantasy ruins for 28mm scale figures. I set up a “smash and grab” scenario for Pulp Alley.

I was playing by myself just to learn the rules and see how it felt. I had to get some markers for damage. I have some replaced Scythe parts that worked perfectly. I bought more “bling” for Scythe, and the more plain original wooden parts are now extra.

I played my first game. It plays fast, and I had to look up only a few rules. I thought it too simple, so I had my two leagues fight it out. That was a lot more interesting.

I finished lunch, took a nap, and reset the game. I played another game for four turns. It again played fine. The Fortune and Reward cards really make the game fun. I avoided combat between the two teams this time. I rolled more normal results this time–the first game I had unusually good rolls–and the gameplay was better.

I think the normal rules with scenarios with more details would really improve this.

I received my Dangerous Dames cards for Pulp Alley and figures from Canada for the Kickstarter. So more metal figures to paint!

I received an email from Pulp Alley. They have my order for the complete rules and cards, but they need to delay it until more cards are printed. I replied that it was OK and sent them a picture of the set-up. Dave replied and said he loved the pic and told me to email them any questions on how to play. The world of the Internet supported gaming is just so fun!

Dinner is KFC delivered today.

I am still sleepy from the no sleep for three days. So a short set of stories today.

The stock market went up and down and ended close to where it started. The market is up for the week.

(you can see the check-mark recovery in the one-year chart)

The V-shaped recovery is still not happening as the market cannot get above 25,000.

In news to make you purchase a red flag and wave it, Zuckerberg of Facebook is collecting information where employees are now living and planning to cut their pay because of their reduced cost to come to work and the lower labor costs in some markets. So if an employee moves to a rural area to reduce their cost of living–now permanently working from home, they will be paid less now. According to the same report, there is also no plan to reduce executive pay as that would lose their access to executive talent. This does come to mind.

Today it was reported that Oregon has 47 new infections and 2 more deaths from the virus. Also, today more than one-thousand two-hundred people died in the USA from the virus. I found a summer hymn to remember our loss: RUTH-SUMMER SUNS ARE GLOWING.

I worked again through the night with India. It is a bit hard today, and this afternoon I felt unwell and took another nap. I am trying to finish this work, which is on the critical path for the big project I am on. This is the second system for the same upgrade, and so we have fixes for all the breaks. I am doing my all-nighter on the upgrade and then working my regular day taking naps when I slow-down or feel unwell from the lack of sleep.

Last night after I finished the previous blog, I made scones. Before the emergency, I bought a mixed case of scone mix from King Arthur Flour. It is cheaper to buy a case full, and we often would make two boxes a week. The mix makes perfect scones. Now that does mean cutting in cold butter into the mix with a pastry knife (you can use a fork if you are more patient than me). They should be just undercooked with bits of brown.

Today it was a sunny day, but a cold wind from the desert came. I skipped the walk today.

I thought some more pictures of my roses would be a good item for today. I walked around and took a few pictures.

My only surviving David Austin Rose, The Herbalist, is in full bloom and brightens the front of the house.

The moss rose is getting started now.

And finally the Cardinal Richelieu, the bad guy in the Three Musketeers, Rose has bloomed with its true colors. This rose will fade within hours of being cut.

This rose is hidden in my backyard as, for most of the year, it is just a bunch of sticks with thorns. It blooms once at the start of summer.

Here is my theme song: Jimmy Buffett “Pencil Thin Mustache/Grapefruit-Juicy Fruit/Boat Drinks” Live. With the holiday coming…

Lunch was ordered from La Provence again. This time I had the tuna sandwich. I could only eat half of it. Susie’s Tiramisu is still in the frig–she has had a lot of scones!

I watched Bloomberg while working. I keep my own computer on Bloomberg, and I order lunch on it. The Nike computer is the one I do work on. I watched the stock market go up and then down. The discussions now are moving from a V-shaped recovery to a Check-mark-shaped recovery (which is something like not as good as V-shaped but not the dreaded L-shaped recovery). My 401K has improved back to -4.7 percent down for the year. I am hoping to break-even at the 1/2 year. The market was driven up by check-mark talk and driven down by China-bashing from various sources.

I did not get back to Pulp Alley today. I did cut out the cards for the game in the free downloads. I just have to put down a matt, some 28mm terrain, and play. I have the little tape measurers for Frostgrave. I hope to play this over the holiday weekend.

(I put in some 28mm Doctor Who figures that never get much use for scale)

Today more than one-thousand four-hundred people died from the virus in the USA. The infection rate is stable but not yet declining. It was reported that the actual stating of infection rates is now a political statement–deep breath required. Today’s song is for those folks we lost today and the medical works which are the witness of their passing and for those who grieve: The Holy City.

 

Sorry, but today’s story is short. I was busy and it was a quiet day.

And then WordPress had a new editor, and all would be good in the world. Now I have no idea how to do anything or edit anything. And Grammarly is not working now! Oh my!

After searching for twenty minutes, I learned two things. The first is that Grammarly will not work with the new editor–I could not find any magic to get it to work. The second is that there is a setting to return to “classic” editing. I tried to make it work and sent a note to Grammarly that they need their software to work with the new editor in WordPress. It appears to not recognize the screen as WordPress. More excitement than I was expecting to just type this in! This is edited in “Classic mode.”

After the panic let me return to the story, work started again 6ish with me discovering that India had things for me to do at 2AM. I was asleep. I worked with India and, despite the four-hour wait, we got all of it done together. Work was more and more video conferences, and there is a planning session, and it is hard to do this by video conference. I was able to resolve a few crises of the moment.

While I am writing this, I am online with India working on a critical path upgrade. So no sleep tonight. I will work around the clock.

So today’s song for fun is All Night Long.

Lunch was from Red Robin today. Susie was up late. She enjoyed her Banzi Burger (no veggies no mayo). Corwin made dinner again. Dinner is barbeque ribs and Corwin’s favorite of Mac & Cheese Deluxe from Kraft. 

I also did some more Python programming. I am getting my time control code a bit closer.

While I was listening to the video conferences I discovered my shoggoth sample (a Kickstarter perk from the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival) could hold my drink’s umbrella. Somehow this just made me very happy and so that is today’s picture.

The stock market reversed and went up. It appears that options and just plain guessing are driving the market. My 401K improved to only a -5.5% down for the year. But the Ford stock I bought, not that much, is now worth about a share or two of Tesla now. It has lost more than half its value. Hmmm.

The USA experienced more than one-thousand four-hundred death’s from the virus today. I found this hymn before I wrote this today: BESY Choir – He hideth my soul.

Today I started after six as I was tired still. Today was hours of video conferences and emails. I am also working yet-another-critical-path-software-upgrade.

On a short break, I slipped out and delivered my ballot. Oregon is by-mail voting that must be at the official site by today. Like many folks, I waited to the last minute, and hand delivered my ballot via dropping in the box. The area was set with tape to separate people by six feet. I parked the car and walked over, there was just me and dropped it in. Done!

The highlight was lunch, of course. I ordered from The Gyro House. A lamb gyro with extra everything and extra spicy. It ain’t right if there is not a bit of burn from the sauce! I suspect my breath after lunch could have stopped a vampire in its tracks (garlic!). Susie had the baklava. The lentil soup is still in the frig.

I had a short break in the afternoon between video conferences and the crisis of the moment (a couple of those today) and managed to get outside and saw all my roses.

The newest rose is one I have tried before to grow, Mister Lincoln. It is a tea rose. It is still small, as this is the first rose for it.

Picasso is now in bloom. It is a “painted” rose as it looks like the pedals have been painted according to the Oregonian who created it.  It is a large bush. I think this one is no longer available anywhere.

The China Rose is always a bit faded, but it flowers early and last and is still in bloom. When a bloom is new, it looks very bright, but they disappear fast when cut, so I leave them on the plant.

Cardinal Richelieu is still not quite in bloom. The purple and intensity of the rose suggest to me the same in its name-sake. This is my villain of a rose bush.

This rose I don’t know its name as it was a nameless rose that was on special from the grower. It has thorns that are sharp like needles and are pointed down and slightly curved. It hurts so good!

The moss rose is now in bloom, and these roses are covering the bush that is larger than Susie. This and the tea rose shape are my favorite shape for roses. This rose scent of this rose is a dream of spring.

Two roses bushes are yet to be in bloom. So pictures of them later. I also did not take a picture of my only surviving David Austin Rose, The Herbalist. Maybe next time.

Dinner was cheese and meat from Olympia Provisions again. This time hotdogs with sauerkraut and various meats and cheese with crackers. Susie had no sauerkraut.

The stock market gave back about half of the rocket-ride of yesterday. Options on the ETFs seem to be fueling the chaos. The mass of fees for Wall Street will break records, I suspect.

I drove Susie and Corwin’s ballets in after dinner. There was a smallish traffic jam of overly-polite Oregonians in the parking lot of the election building in Hillsboro. Corwin went for the ride and jumped out to deliver the ballets. A very unhappy person was stating over and over, “They will not take the box.” She was left by everyone to continue her conversation with the voting box.

I managed a bit more Python coded on my control programs. I am working on the time-check portion. I am trying to update the code a bit with a more Pythonic style, Ernest (our head of the local Python Meet-up) would be more pleased with the newish code. I think I also spotted a flaw in the older code that will have me revising the older programs. So more nights of coding and writing to come. And that is alright with me.

I joined a Kickstarter for one of my favorite metal figure makers, Bob Murch (if only we could get him to do plastic!) for the 1920s and Pulp-styled adventure 28mm figures. They also have a Pulp Alley role-playing game for these figures; I just received an email with a link to it–I had not noticed before (2nd Edition).

I just printed out the “Quickstart” rules (a free PDF) and ordered cards that match the figures in the Kickstarter (which is shipping) for about ten bucks–it has pictures of each figure I can match my painting too. These rules are a reworking of Savage Worlds without the exploding dice, and each player gets a league of characters to play. You play against other leagues to get plot points. It is another no-Game Master game with a generator system for adventures instead of having a person run an adventure, a Game Master, or other names. This is a Frostgrave and Savage Words mix from what I have read so far in the rules. There is also a fortune deck (something you have to buy) that gives you special random benefits–this is much like Gloomhaven.

The combat system and damage systems are all simplified and close to Savage World (my favorite part of Savage Worlds). They have content–premade adventures and card packs. You play it on a 3′ x 3′ surface with some terrain to match, again like Frostgrave, but no points for killing the other wizard! It also seems to have gone with the minimal design of adventures from Savage Worlds. I am intrigued.

(here are some of my painted figures from Bob Murch on a copy of the rules)

I also slipped in the laundry today but not putting it away or folding. It is on hangers and in piles that will wait another day.

The reports are sad, but the numbers have slowed again, with only just over one-thousand five-hundred deaths today in the USA. Here is an old one: God be With You Till We Meet Again.

Today is one of my favorite numbers, sixty-four, the number of squares on a chessboard.

I did walk to the end of my street today. I was a bit ill today and stopped working at 3ish today and took a nap.

A song from the musical “Chess” referring to 64: Björn Skifs – The Arbiter “From CHESS.”

Corwin cooked a fantastic dinner today. Wilted lettuce with bacon and root veggies hash and grilled bread slices. We were excited to get our order today from Olympia Provisions. Lots of meat and a box of local veggies–many different types of lettuce–and bread and crackers. We Olympia Provision sauerkraut to try. All the new food inspired Corwin to cook.

I had more meetings late tonight. We have a new shoe company employee based in India, and we wanted to welcome her and talk about what we are doing and how she can help. She was happy to actually head to Nike office in India to get her laptop; India is coming out of lockdown too.

I also started some Python programming tonight. I have a system of control programs I wrote many years ago and I think I would like to use them to control a process of music playing (call “Space Lobster”). This would work for something like the bells at our church. I started revising the code and I have my Raspberry Pi Zero W out to run this on once I get further. Today I was looking up how to get official time. NIST has the time. I just have to write a program to call the time in. Can’t reply on the computer time–need good time. More on that later.

I am still very tired.

Returning to the beginning at 8:30 this morning, I went to the dentist (As usual, I started at 6AM with emails and Zoom calls). The dentist’s office people first used a device to take my temperature, and I signed a form that I was well and not showing Corvid-19 symptoms. I was there for my six-month cleaning, delayed by the emergency, and all the staff had face shields now. That went as normal. They also did Xrays as I had pain and lose teeth. Dr. Pakum concluded that the stress had me clenching, and I had changed my bite and caused the pain and lose teeth. A bit of quick work, and that is solved by Dr. Pakum. The pain is mostly gone, and the funny movements are gone. No charge for that.

The dentist’s office seemed a bit stressed and taking everything very seriously. Good.

I also talked to Dan Gray today. He is head of the Trustees for our church, First United Methodist Church, Beaverton. Trustees and the pastor are trying to reopen the church. Dan explained to me that there are three guidelines to follow, CDC, Oregon, and Beaverton. Washington County is not ready to restart yet, but it is time to talk and plan. Dan and I see this as an experiment with the chance of death, and thus caution and a “dry-run” may be needed. He will discuss this and other concerns with the church leadership to find a path forward. It is scary and stressful.

Here is the official stuff: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/index.html

Today the stock market went straight up as if on rockets. The experts on Bloomberg were suggesting that it was premature to price an inoculation for the virus into the market. Oil is also increasing in price as, finally, production cuts are realized. My holdings did not go up as I managed to be balanced between equities and bonds–hmmm.

The reports for the USA are showing a slow increase in death and infection rates. It is difficult after three weeks of decline to see a reverse–tears in my eyes tonight. Individual states, such as my state of Oregon, are showing lower rates, and we are beginning to find someway to restart without killing a lot of more people. Today it is reported that just over one-thousand people in the USA were killed by the virus.

Today’s hymn is one I had forgotten, and I found a big sign version! SHINE, JESUS SHINE BIG SING at ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON 30 12 2012