Sorry, more of an outline today. I was busy translating and reading Greek.

I found a recipe on the cornmeal box for Tamale Pie. I made that today for dinner. It is not bad; a comfort food from someone’s grandma I suspect.

Lunch for me was the last can of Chunky Chicken Noodle from Cambell’s. It is of note as the last of the emergency purchases of soup.

I also made cornbread muffins today from Famous Dave’s mix. It is the new go-to for cornbread muffins. Susie approves!

I attended online worship and the group meetings with Rev. Ann Weld-Martin and later at 2PM with Joan Goldhamer, including Susie this time. Susie and I also watched the on-line church service before that with Dondrea giving the sermon.

The scripture got my attention as I was surprised by the variations of translation I heard. Having learned enough Greek to be able to translate it myself, I went back to the Greek and also the old English versions (I keep quite a few old versions on my shelf as I do not trust the Internet with religious texts).

Romans 5:2-5 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

² through whom we have obtained access^[a] to this grace in which we stand; and we^[b] boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we^[c]also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

I decided to translate this section:

 ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

The text according to Wild (reading Greek and acknowledging the other translations):

and events happen⁴, and we are tested, and tests produce hope.

I don’t get to try out my Greek very often! It takes me hours to do just a few words. It is not very poetic, but it fits with the Greek I think.

On the translation, to keep to the original the one word must repeat, in my version, I use “test” while the NRSV went with “character” twice.

I spent much of the day cooking and cleaning and working in Greek. I just could not let it go until I understood every word in Greek and why it was translated the way it was.

Sorry this might not be that interesting–but it was a day to be a scholar for me. I do not get to do that often!

The reports for today have over eight-hundred Americans die from the virus. The infection rate is now increasing. I had to search the Methodist Hymnal for this one and then found it online: Blest Be The Tie That Binds.

 

I took my time writing today, so this is a bit late.

Today I slept into 9ish after waking early and decided that no essential cosmic plan would fail if I just rolled over. The cosmos seemed OK with me, not rushing. I instead chose to learn my new game. I had set up the game last night after finishing my writing. I even tried to play, but sleep became necessary, so I delayed until this morning. Still last night I set-up as a two-person game, rediscovering the special two-person rules, including special stock cards to use (on the reverse of a standard stock card–how efficient).

Back to 18Chesapeake, while I drink the morning coffee and making poached eggs on buttered toast (my favorite), the first auction for private companies that start the game had me worried. Ask any gamers that plays games with me, I am terrible at auctions and always pay too much (i.e., Modern Art a great light auction game). But, this game has special high-pressure rules that trip a cascade of sales. It took me two practice auctions to get it. Instead of a free-for-all auction, the player can buy the cheapest company or bid on another higher value company. This repeats to the next player–a very high-pressure decision. When the player buys the stock, there is a cascading evaluation of bids until a company that has no bids is found, and the next person’s turn to buy or bid or pass is next. Every decision matters. I like games were choices are given. I might not totally hose this!

I then moved on to the stock turn in 18Chesapeake. This reminded me of online train games I have played before and stock market simulation games. you IPO train companies, if you get enough investment, the company “floats” and effectively goes-live. The Par value is set, and the stock begins to trade. All done with a board and markers. Like an 1800s stock board. I really like it now.

Then the operational part started, and then I was lost and have to try again on these rules. Also, laying track was my least favorite part of the online games, and this is part of this. I found running trains unrealistic for online games. I was lost in this game. I effectively had this all wrong and will try again and try to find an 18xx game video online to help me with this part.

I had to pop out to the pharmacy to get some supplies and take Corwin somewhere. I was a few minutes late for my wife’s family Facetime call. We got all connected, including Emma (Susie’s sister’s daughter), who use to beat me at chess when she was just starting high school. Emma just graduated from college and started her career, and then the virus came. She is doing well–saying something about working in pajamas at home.

Matt Vincent called. He is one of the leaders of our gaming groups. Matt is the master of game mastering and dungeon mastering. He has no equal; I once asked him to bring figures for River Dancing Demons in formal dress, and he had them and brought them for my game–he has everything. We all enjoy his company, and he is fun as a player, and when he leads, you are never sure what he will pull out next.

I talked to Matt outside on the phone while Susie continued to speak to her family on Facetime. Matt is well and wanted to check in and just chat. We shared how our families are doing (very well) and a few gaming details. We also reviewed our investment results with both of us with our eyes on retirement targets. We also shared favorite view items for binge-watching (I recommend “Project Blue Book“).

It was great to hear from M@ (as he is known) and to know someday we will return to role-playing in person, and hear words like “you find steps leading down into darkness” at a table covered with maps and fantasy figures arranged on little squares on the charts. And there is the other kind of story we could go with, “it is 1926 in Egypt, and there are rumors of strange if not disturbing circles and strange marks left on the banks of the Nile.” We would then get all those cool handouts and some real 1926 stories mixed in with cultist stories and items that never made into the “official” record.

(some of my cool props for my 1920s and 1930s games in black and white to fit the period)

Lunch was from McDonald’s with me having a cheeseburger meal (splitting it with Corwin) and Susie with her Chicken McNuggets happy meal. Unfortunately, the troll count is quickly increasing here at The Volvo Cave! Yes, the Troll movie is sponsoring the Happy Meals (notice I did not include a line to it–“just say no to more troll”). The house is still full of miniature “care” animals from previous sponsors of the same.

Susie and I then ran away. We headed out to The Gorge. I have not been back to Portland for two months. Eliminating unnecessary trips as part of the lockdown. We visited the Gorge last summer. It was time to see it again. Susie asked for munchies, and so while getting gas, the first fueling for The Volvo since February, I procured chips and corn chips and pretzels.

The famous waterfalls blew by. Exits are locked-down. Even the parking lots were closed. Multnomah Falls and the other falls were white with a huge volume of water. They looked awesome for the seconds I saw them in the car. We still enjoyed the freedom of snacks and drinks from yet-another McDonald’s on the road. Hand sanitizer was used often!

(holding the phone and driving and taking a picture of falls at nearly unregulated speeds).

I thought about taking pictures of the speed I was driving. I could at least get that photo. Oregonians have found they like to drive fast again. One interesting change from the emergency: polite but fast driving in Oregon!

It was raining so hard at one point the roads filled with water, and a car buried us in a wash that made it impossible to see for a few very long seconds, twice. Never have I had that happen when I am totally blind, and it goes on for a while. I took my foot off the pedals to let the car slow without breaking–The Volvo can “see” and automatically brakes when traveling below 35 mph. I do not panic behind the wheel of an XC60 Volvo; one of us will figure it out. A few minutes later, the car told me to get a rest. It actually has a graphic of a cup of coffee on the dash. I think it needed a break.

We reached home without, we believe, infections or accidents. It was nice to visit a few places, even if it means only driving by. Even The Volvo seemed to be happy to be home.

Dinner was a snack of Olympia Provisions with crackers. Our next box came today. But, we have canceled the service and, instead, after a few emails, have been declared to live in the Greater Portland area and thus can get direct delivery. It was silly, and expensive, to have the meats Federal Express’d from Portland to Aloha with the fully insulated box with ice packs ($20) when they could just deliver. On Monday, our next order comes with a vegetable box, local artisan cheese sampler, a meat party, and bread and crackers. It again was expensive–but we will see how this compares. I am hoping for a festival. They also deliver beer and wine. Yes, being in “Greater Portland” has its advantages!

Returning to the sad news, today the reports show at least one-thousand two-hundred deaths in the USA from the virus. Some numbers are coming down, very slowly. So I finally went with the Methodist anthem hymn, and this version is quite dressed up: O For a Thousand Tongues. Please use the hymn to remember the people we lost today and the medical workers who are witnesses to their passing and for those who grieve the loss.

 

Well, today I think I will skip anything about working today. I did start at 6ish and finish in the early evening online with video conferences. I did have the migraine headache late this afternoon and had to take a short nap to stop the visual effects. Only a dark room and sleep will stop it.

At 11:00AM this morning I was at our church, First United Methodist Church. I have not driven into Beaverton since the lockdown. Strange to see Beaverton so empty and everything closed. Dan Gray was not able to meet me there, so I just replaced the Gay Pride Flag. I also looked at the small amount of graffiti the door had acquired. They look like gang work and the local youth group is already planning to remove it.

I did get a complaint that I put the flag back as it was and did not move the flag higher to put it out of reach. I did not have a ladder, and I prefer not making it a challenge to steal the flag. I can always buy more (I have replaced more than five flags). I find it a version of the turn-the-other-cheek lesson for us and whoever takes the flag. I bought the pole about a year ago when the last one was stolen, and I have a spare flag. I will order a new pole soon to be ready for the next time. I also have a back-up flag holder too.

The flags I buy are well made in the USA. Oddly, the pole is imported from Indonesia (!?). I don’t mind replacing them.

I have a USA flag on my house using the same set-up. One of my USA flags was stolen. One was lost when bad weather sucked it out of the holder and dropped it on the roof. I found it six months later when it finally fell off the roof. We had the same thing happen at the church and recovered the flag on the other side of the church. We extra tighten the screw on the holder to hold the flag in.

I am not political about this. I just like the look of flags. To me, flags are so old school and yet seem to create an emotional reaction still. Put merely, flags are cool!

I went to Giovanni’s in Beaverton for lunch, pick-up. I used my Apple device to just call them and gave my order. I waited in the car listening to the radio and calling friends while waiting for them to make it. I then, following all social distancing process and wearing a mask, went in to pay for my lunch. They make great chicken parmesan, and I ordered chicken alfredo fettuccini for Susie, both with salads and garlic bread. Giovanni’s was full, all the marks for standing six-feet apart were full when I left. We hope they make it through the emergency and at least lunch was busy for them–I like their food, and they are local.

The weather turned nice, and the rains got most of our roses to bloom. Here are my roses, and I have linked them to descriptions in case you have to have one.

This is my first successful Mister Lincoln’s rose. I planted this in the fall, and it is struggling a bit, but I finally get the first rose.

David Austin’s Herbalist rose is one of my most magnificent roses. It flowers early and late and continues throughout the summer. I read it got its name as it looks much like the old rose The Apothecary Rose, a gallica rose that blooms only once a year–mine died a few years ago.

Just behind this rose, and I suspect an unkillable rose (it is ignored and mistreated) is a Moss Rose. It blooms with a beautiful scent and thus is near the master bedroom window. It blooms heavy and then just once in a while after that. It will bloom fully this weekend and next week. I will have the window open!

The once bloom rose is in the backyard as it spends most of the year just being thorny sticks. But it has started to flower and is one of my favorites. This is an old rose and is named for the villain in the Three Muskateers: Cardinal Richelieu. The rose bloom is getting old and has turned pink. The blooms start out purple.

My only Rugosa rose is also blooming. It will repeat bloom. I have few roses that are later than these, and China Rose is in flower, but a bit faded now. It will burst out again soon.

Leaving the flowers, I also received a new game today. I have never done the crazy train board games that simulate the 1800s stock market and robber baron railroad building. Scott Peterson published a simplified version, 18Chesapeake, on Kickstarter, and today I received my copy. I read the rules and am excited to try out a new style of game. There are far more complex and very long 18xx games that include short selling and take-overs, 1817 being the monster version. I will see if I want to dive in that deep after playing 18Chesapeake. Scott Peterson, until now, hand made 18xx train games to order, which were very expensive with long lead times. He is now mass-producing them and sells them on this website.

The stock market was up and down today. JC Penny’s finally went bankrupt today. My losses did increase in my retirement 401K account to -7.5% for the year. Oil futures are back up to $30 plus a barrel.

Following the news, more than one-thousand five-hundred people died from the virus today. The infection reports have increased, sadly. The curve is back on a positive slope. This is one of the new works from the lockdown and from Asia, I think: The Lord Bless You and Keep You (John Rutter).

 

 

 

 

It is day sixty. The lockdown seems both longer and shorter than forever. Many discussions are not about how we look forward to the end of the lockdown, but now about how everything has changed. Some of the changes are improvements. The air is better. The reports I read say that the majority of the USA’s electricity is now from renewable sources. I read that coal plants are being taken off-line sooner than originally planned and most scrapped. We might never return to coal being an important fuel for electricity in the USA. I have heard people tell me and I too think the animals look healthy and happy outside. There are more of them. The grass seems greener and the flowers brighter this year. Of course, we see this from inside or just in our own backyard or while we are on a walk.

The lesson that is appearing all over the world is that the planet can do great without us. A tough learning I think. It seems the earth can be saved by just locking up the humans.

Being more positive, the lesson might be kinder than that. Maybe a better finding is that the enviroment we live in would be better if we minimized our pollution by changing our approach from ownership to being stewards of the land. Stewards do not own the asset (in this case, the environment). Instead, they manage the asset, trying to increase the value of the asset, planning for the future use of the asset, and finally to return the asset to the true owner improved. For some of us, this true owner is God and for other The Land or Our Father’s Land or The Future. I think the true lesson from these terrible events is that we must become good stewards of our environment.

One can be bold and even say the lack of stewardship produced the virus and turned it into a pandemic. Reminding me of that dark statement from a favorite movie (paraphrasing): “You are the disease and we are the cure.”

Leaving the musing, today started early, and I did more than six hours of video conferencing. I had to fix some computer items while doing the conferencing. It was a chaotic day.

I had to slip out of all the calls for work to get Susie’s prescription–it ran out. I was surprised to see all the police. The car that has been on our street for quite a few number of months that we thought was yet-another-abandoned car was actually stolen. In our defense, over the years, we have had more than four abandoned cars and car “projects” removed from in front of our house. The police, with just a tiny hint of “are you people stupid” in his voice, told me to report cars that are suspicious to the police. He politely pointed out that Honda and Toyotas, the stolen car is a Honda, are prime targets so if I see another one just show up on my street again, please ask the police to look into it. The car was hauled away.

I did more meetings and more discussions. I went out to get the mail and saw my neighbor. I told her about the car that was being hauled away. She then pointed out that the van on the street was flagged to be hauled away as it was too close to a mailbox. It was her son’s, and she needed to move it. It had a dead battery.

I drove the Volvo over and got the cables out and jumped the van. No good. So I returned to my video conferences with my car running on the street with the cables charing the van’s battery. My neighbor was worried that someone would steal my car now running on the road with the hood open and wires running out of it. “I would just get a new one,” was all I said–believing irony would not make an example out of me today.

More meetings and with a few stressed moments. And then out to the car and the van started and moved. Back to more meetings and two phone calls.

Again, Corwin made dinner as I was late starting it. I went to read and fell asleep to wake after seven.

Today is Theology Pub at 7PM. I was late. We spend one evening drinking and eating with a small group discussing theological topics from a Christian perspective (mostly). Now, this is a drink and eat at home and attend a Zoom video conference. Out theme was Humility, and I was humbled by being thirty minutes late.

We spoke about the topic and also about each other and how we are all doing. Susie and I got a beer from the frig and spaghetti that Corwin made. Corwin joined in a few times.

The baby birds on the nest on my front door in the wreath flew away today. We took care to not hurt them. We can see the babies still. They are flying, poorly, in the backyard.

Susie is still riding her bike. It is in the living room almost in the way of the TV. It cannot be avoided.

Back to the musing, to paraphrase the late comedian George Carlin, we cannot save the planet–but the earth does not really need us. I believe we all need to be better stewards.

The US stock market went down and then back-up and recovered some of the losses from yesterday’s 500 hundred point crash.

More than one-thousand seven-hundred Americans passed away from the virus today. The infection rate still appears to have peaked in the USA. The hymn took some searching to find. This is from 1906 and Methodist Hymn 522: Leave It There.

 

I had my meeting at 7AM for a council I help run for software development in the USA. That is a chance to do the Powerpoint presentation and work with my very talented friends from SAP, Peter Keller, and Goodyear Tire’s Todd Lutz. We talked about test data–are you still awake reading this? I then had endless video conferences in the afternoon, but before those started, I had two more hours of video conferences on mostly status. I managed to actually get work done while the status conferences were running. I had a short break and slipped out to do some grocery shopping (I used up the coffee today).

Safeway had new challenges. Meat is becoming expensive, and only two packages are allowed for purchase per customer. There was toilet paper (we have not yet exhausted our supply) and I picked up a double set of paper towels (we have exhausted our paper towel supply). Back months ago, I bought toilet paper in each of my three orders online to Safeway before the lockdown. This was when the virus was beginning to hit in Oregon (the first cases were here in Washington County). Then, I just repeated much of the order not even noticing I was starting a trend on toilet paper purchases. Safeway online stopped having delivery windows and I have not been back to the online website, but we were full by then.

I picked up some ribs, Korean Cut (as I call it) across the bone. I got milk, eggs, butter, and so on.

Lunch was from BJ’s Brewhouse. Sorba noodles with chicken for me. Potato skins with cheese and bacon (I removed the green onions before Susie saw I forgot to exclude them, again). It was delivered on-time and without error.

The meeting and video conferences ran over until almost 6PM. The last was ninety minutes on a discussion (argument) about interfacing data. I had a beer after the workday ended. I will be checking my retirement balances again.

Corwin did the teriyaki soak and broiled the ribs. He had to start dinner as I was stuck in the argument and could not start dinner. I had to put the arguments on mute a couple of times to talk to Corwin about making dinner. I do not think anyone noticed.

Susie was happy with dinner. It was quite good.

Corwin discovered Olympic Provision‘s subscription service after we had our first delivery yesterday and convinced me to put it in a larger order. I agreed to invest some of my grocery money into their website to have more food sent. Corwin thinks we can have a couple of dinners from the package. It is a good experiment for the times. We may eat very well, it appears not to be that expensive.

I did put away Blitzkrieg in the West today. Here is a summary of my solo game.

I managed to get through two turns. The Allies’ counter-attack after the initial Axis attack had not done much. The German Army crushed the Belgium Army, and the armor and mech units encircled the French that had reached the front, and much of the French 2nd Army was destroyed. The Luftwaffe owned the skies. The unprotected Allies’ airbases were destroyed by airborne units and special forces. There was a four-kilometer hole in the Allies’ front. The last of active resistance ended in Holland, too, with the encircling and crushing of the Dutch forces. 

And then luck turned on the Germans. The French heavy infantry reached the front with the light armor. The combined arms blew out the German best infantry. Feeble attacks performed miracles and sent the German units flying out of Belgium and back to Germany! The German forces were on the run!

And there I stopped. Germany would be not break-out as the deployment was just wrong from the start. It would be a slugfest with France attacking everywhere in two turns to find the weaknesses in the German lines.

(the die still shows the five that is the number of hexes to retreat the German stack of armor)

My conclusions follow.

The game was hard to learn, but the turns play fast. The rules begin to make some sense to me after a few practice turns. The combat tables require 3-1 and 4-1 odds to have a great result. The result that has you roll a die and retreat that far is rather shocking and undoubtedly unrealistic. Units do not retreat twenty kilometers through a forest! The stacking rules are too crazy, and I just set a two-unit limit except for minimal units that could be added in. Encircling is required to crush the other army.

Every unit lost is a shock point, two for armor and mech. Losing cities and fortresses are more shock points. With the loss of cities and army Belgium would fold. I think the Dutch would also fold (collapse in the game turns). I learned a lot about running the 1940 front. The shock rules are an exciting new idea.

But, the set-up is long, and I still do not know how to deploy the armies. The rules are very complicated, but that is the nature of this type of simulation wargame. Not sure I could find anyone to make the investment to learn and play the game. I have better games, but nothing that is such a good simulation of WW2. Hummmm…

The stock market crashed more than 500 points today. The Fed said more needed to be done. Yup!

The reports have more than one-thousand seven-hundred Americans killed today by the virus. The charts are still showing a reduction in infections and deaths.

The song I picked is from the Sacred Harp and is from Charles Wesley. This is a very old style singing with shaped notes and not for everyone: Sacred Harp Singers – Idumea (with lyrics).