Blog

Just a short story today.

So today was another workday at home. I had a couple of breaks but I did not get out of the house today. I was working until about 7PM with a few breaks. The big project I am on had an announcement that they are changing some leadership and processes and goals. Much of the information was too high-level to follow. We will get more detailed information later.

I called Nike support in India about 9:30PM and asked for some more help with an issue. I then made some changes so they could finish their work. I think it is fixed now. The world is flat for me. I am where my laptop and phone are.

Returning to this morning, I ordered lunch from Gyro House. I had a Lamb Gyro, Corwin had an Iskandar Plate, and Susie had soup and baklava. It was delivered without issue today.

Dinner is from Olympic Provisions. I ordered a subscription to their meats. Yes, you can get a subscription and have them sent every other week! We get a chef’s board every two weeks. So today I got out crackers and cut up sausage and other meats and that is dinner. Snacks!

I played more Blitzkrieg in the West today once I could get work to stop. I had to figure out the air combat and bombardment rules! Oh my, that is a lot of rules and complexity. It is also abstract. Once I had the air missions set, I could start the Axis turn. They get “Sneak attack” and other harsh starts to the war for the Allies. I managed to bomb Belgium with some success. I managed to do nothing bombing Holland, which I invaded (it was optional). In my first attacks, I did destroy half the Belgium Army (I had some tanks in one place) and an infantry unit from Holland. My airstrikes eliminated already 20% of the Allies’ air support.

I have learned as I play that the German Army deployment is wrong. I needed to keep the armor and mech units together, and my airstrikes made no sense. The German Army is not breaking through Belgium as fast as I expected. The combat tables want a 4-1 or better to get good results for the attacker. I did not again have the armor and heavy infantry in the right place to get that. I had some “attacker withdraw” results!

(there is a lot less orange on the board now)

The Allies counter-attack will be tomorrow. The French and British west forces (not marked as entrenched) will move into Belgium to stop the German advance. I might play one more turn. I think after that, I will put it away as the set-up is long and without more direction from the game designer requires too much-specialized knowledge to play. I have already learned much from the game on the details of the battle. I might get it out again someday; the detail work impresses me.

But don’t lose heart readers, I have another game that is less complex on WW2 to try out from the same publishers. A lot fewer rules! It is the whole war in Europe in hours of play.

The stock market when up and down today. Nike stock was down today. I read reports that the New York State Pension Fund sold all its holdings of the shoe company. I think I read that the pension fund used the proceeds to buy Über and Lyft shares.

The reports are that more than one-thousand six-hundred Americans died from the virus today. This spiked from the previous days and these numbers are following the same pattern for the last three weeks. Thankfully, the totals are below the previous week’s numbers. The total cases graph has developed a negative slope suggesting we may have passed the peak.

Something bright and fun to celebrate that maybe the USA peak was today: YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND performed by the worldwide cast of BEAUTIFUL (in quarantine) for The Actors Fund. It may not be the peak, but I will take any chance to celebrate!

One of my favorite psalms: Psalm 121. We need to remember the millions ill and slain and all the medical workers who are their witnesses. And not to forget the pain of the families suffering from the infections and its aftermath.

It is a strange day. I took off two days and then the weekend and, otherwise than buy groceries, went nowhere. I then got up early today to not go anywhere and go to work.

This scenario begins when I start with the alarm that I wake up just before it goes off, usually; I wake one hour before the alarm and then awake one minute before it goes off, or it wakes me (this Monday it woke me). I put on a robe and stagger out, trying not to wake Susie. I check the settings of the heat/AC as I pass it in the hallway. Next, I clean-up the previous coffee and make new coffee.

I sit down at the computer and check my email. Get breakfast and the first cup of coffee for the day. Before the emergency, I would write a bit and then stop to shower and then head-out in the car. But now I just grab the Nike computer and read the email there and start work too. I work until I find a point to break and then head to the shower and then return to my spot. I noticed this today more as I had been on vacation for a long weekend.

I have two planned stops. I order lunch or make it and eat it. I try to take a walk and rest a few minutes before returning to the emails, texts, and video meetings with the crisis of the moment. I try to stop at about 5PM.

Today I had to catch-up as I was out for two days and did not work the weekend. I am almost caught-up as I worked through some of the video conferences.

I felt tired and a bit ill all day. It was Monday, and I had stayed up late all weekend. It is hard to switch back to 6AM mornings. I was going to have a salad but instead ordered burgers from Red Robin for Susie and me. I find a burger helps chase away the Monday blues. It was delivered on time and was perfect. I felt much better.

More robot parts came in from Digi-Key. Digi-Key is covering AdaFruit while the focus on helping their home city of New York. I read on AdaFruit’s website that they just got in more plastic to make more face shields!

I also received a new book from the US Naval Institute: Fighting the Great War At Sea: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology. It was referred to in the other WW1 naval books I recently read. It is a giant book with pictures. I was looking for more technical writing, but we will see.

Susie had the second half of her burger for dinner. I made myself Chicken Soup from a can and a grilled cheese sandwich. The cheddar was almost beyond saving, so it was an excellent time to finish it.

I liked this song and was listening to it today. Hope you like it: The Shape of My Heart.

I completed the deployment of the armies on my board game, Blitzkrieg in the West, that I am playing against myself. Usually, I play online on Monday nights. I put off online Dungeons and Dragons for a week. I wanted to get this wargame done, and I have not taken the time for the roleplaying game to get ready as we are starting a new module. On Blitzkrieg set-up, I stopped at the deployment as I tired tonight and did not finish up the deployment until 8PM. But today, I did finish re-reading all the rules and checked a few things and made a few corrections in the deployment and order of battle (such as the strategic reserves were deployed by  Germany too early).

(this is from Germany looking France–blue troops)

My initial impression is that the German Army is smallish for the job. The Luftwaffe is five-time the size of the allies’ airforce. That will have an impact! The Germans also have specialized units to break the fortresses in Belgium (the Belgium fortresses quickly fell to these special forces in the actual war and are relegated to footnotes on the war). I have tank,s and motorized infantry pointed at Belgium. I will begin tomorrow and see how it goes. The French are entrenched on the East. I am interested to see how this simulation goes.

The stock market went up and down. The technology stocks are up. The experts are looking for another dip. My 401K recovered to now less than -6% loss for the year. I am expecting to do more than break even this year. I am just below, I believe, the maximum contribution. Obviously, I like long positions and enjoy dips. I like buying low.

The reports are following the same pattern for the last month. This Monday was higher than Sunday, with just over a thousand deaths in the USA from the infection. Here is a huge pipe organ version of Come Thou Almighty King arr. Samuel Metzger.

Today was a relaxing day. I missed church at 10:30 and then did make the Zoom call at 2 PM. Susie got up very late. I decided again to try the game Blitzkrieg in the West again. The game set-up has taken me all day. With the regular interruptions of laundry, dishes, getting dinner made, and all the rest.

I was also surprised to see that the set-up for the game did not come with any plan. I had to figure out the deployment of the order of battle on my own. I got maps from Westpoint for the initial fight and found a more basic map that showed the army general placements.

I first had to get the set-up on the scenario cards, all the pieces representing the troops and forces involved in 1940. Filling in the cards took some care and more time than I usually give to a game. I finally got them done by the later afternoon.

(all those tiny squares!)

I then, after dinner, started to deploy the forces on to the hex map. I stated with the British Expeditionary Force and later on to the allies. France was a lot, and finally, after reading the force breakdown in the first battle, I got something that looked about right. I admit the weaker forces are on the east as I started with the more interesting items first. I already know the Germans are not going for the fortress cities of 1940 France.

(the German armies are missing, but all the rest are on more-or-less as they were in 1940)

Dinner was New York strip steaks and rice pilaf. I browned the steaks in butter and finished them in the oven. Corwin used up the gas for the grill, and I was not in the mood to enjoy everyone that discovered they had not propane on Mother’s Day. They were good.

The mother to the little birds in the nest on the wreath on the door was singing outside. I walked out, and she was singing non-stop. I went back inside, and she started to feed the baby birds.

For the game, I will have it set-up soon. It is slow going so far as I have to stop and read the rules or look up the history of the 1940 Battle for France a couple of times. Canvas Temple Publishing has a lot of typos in the rule book, and I could use more clarity on how to set-up, but this is a unique game, and I forgive them a lot. I am interested in getting to play a turn someday!

The deaths from the virus in the USA slowed to more than seven-hundred today. The hymn for today is a prayer: Evening Prayer.

Today was a gaming and cooking Saturday. I started by putting away everything on my table so I could play games again. I am stopping the electronics for a while to write and play some games. I have some very complex two-person wargames that can be played solo, and I want to learn the rules anyway. There is also some writing I want to do, and I do that better in a neat setting. So out with the wires and boards and cool stuff and the chaos they bring.

Moving to lunch, I made bratwurst and baked beans from a can for lunch from what I already had. I fried the brats in a pan to get them brown and then finished them in the oven. They came out the way I like them, browned–not burned, and cooked. 

I also went shopping and got groceries at Safeway. I picked up enough stuff to make Chicken Vindaloo from Cook’s Illustrated magazine current issue (it uses pork but that is difficult to get now). I ordered the special India chilis already. Excited to cook.

I first tried to get into Trader Joe’s before ending up in my local Safeway. I have not been to Trader Joe’s since the emergency started. There was a very long Oregon polite line that went nearly around the block. Every person six feet apart most with masks. I like their stuff, but I don’t need that kind of wait and stress. So off to Safeway where everything was easy and social distancing is working without long lines.

I bought Susie flowers at Safeway. They had a person to put on ribbons and add baby’s breath. I did not want the flowers anymore manipulated before I brought them home. I always try to remember to bring Susie new flowers when I am shopping (even before the emergency). I put them in a vase, and Susie just looks at them. We don’t usually handle the flowers much, and now we handle them even less.

After unloading the groceries, I set up and punched my Kickstarter game that I have never had time to play before: Blitzkrieg in the West. I needed the whole table for it. This game simulates in the old school hex and paper counter-style the 1940 battle for France. The game is a simulation to allow the players to try their hand at the campaign and try to do better. It is a fascinating idea to me. It also comes with variants to try different plans. I very much want to try it out, at least as a solo play. It is only this one titanic battle and not the whole war, as you find in various other games (some simple and some beyond complex). The same publishers did produce a WW2 high-level game–I have to get to that one someday.

Corwin’s biz partner came over, one of the few other people allowed in the house now. He makes drinks and works out the biz plans with Corwin when he comes over.

I put away the WW2 game, I was still working out the French order of battle set-up, and got out Blood Rage instead. Blood Rage is a multi-person game and more fun than a WW2 wargame. This is a dudes-on-a-board style game with a Viking plundering theme. This is a game I got a few years ago and painted everything last figure. So many Vikings and related monsters–it took me a long time to paint them all. I finished the last ones up just at the start of the emergency. We forgot to take a picture of all my painted figures when we were playing.

We played after I got dinner started. Dinner is like most India styled food for me: a complex mix of spices, chicken, process, and finally rice to go with it. Everyone thought it was very good, but not really spicy enough. More chilis next time!

Corwin pulled off a 13 point win in Blood Rage. I remembered Matt Vincent winning with a Quest play and I nearly pulled that off. I blew a quest in the mid-game that cost me the game. Next time!

It felt good to cook something new and Indian style and to play a game. A good day!

(the blown-up kitchen after all the cooking, BTW the blue door goes to the garage and is Tardis Blue–we had that mixed at Home Depot–as the garage somehow fits all that stuff in it and sometimes even the Volvo)

The reports are that more than one-thousand four-hundred Americans were slain by the virus this Saturday. Included in the recent death count is Roy from the Siegfried and Roy show. He died from complications from the virus. Little Richard passed away from cancer. Here he is singing a hymn: Need Him.

Today I did not log on to my Nike computer, and I did not pay much attention to my email from Nike. This is the first Friday without Nike in a while. Usually, something slides in, and I have something to take care of even on my day off. Today I managed to stay away.

Last night I stayed up late installing the operating system on a Raspberry Pi Zero W. I was surprised by how much updating the OS needed and it went beyond 1:30AM. I always buy a kit for Raspberry Pi computers as there are so many little extras you need. The kit was under forty bucks an,d the computer itself is $10. It is also must faster than most of the cool Python and C microcontroller, runs real Linux, and has true multi-processing. They are also much harder to make work and are not tolerant (1.8V). I did get it all running this morning. The Go programming language I was trying to use failed. Not the first time that I have had issues with Go. I put it away for a while as I wa,nted to do some other things today.

(The tiny computer is in the plastic box to make sure it not damaged)

It was a clear sunny and windy day. Many roses decided it must be time to show their stuff. I was happy to share them with you.

I watched Doctor Who at the 2013 Proms on YouTube today. It was fun to go back, now two doctors ago, and hear the music and see all the events.

I ordered breakfast from La Provence today, corned beef hash with poached eggs. Plus a croissant. I ordered a dessert for Susie, tiramisu dessert.

I solder together a few parts and tried to write some code today. My heart was not into the coding today. I did build a 20W stereo amp, a real-time clock device, and added headers to a few items. I have some speakers I am attaching to a board to build a speaker box. I will those to test the amp. I ordered some more hardware on the Internet from Digikey. They are open still and are covering for AdaFruit products while AdaFruit supports their home of New York City with masks and other emergency equipment.

Susie got a fruit bouquet from her mother Leta today. Leta wanted to make sure we were getting enough fruit.

I made dinner. A creation of cornmeal around chili from a can. A sort of tamale casserole. It was not bad. I think I will go with more tamale insides next time.

I find myself feeling a bit better today. Getting to decide not to do something was refreshing.

I watched a bit of the market. It went up again. The experts are still concerned it will go back down again. The alphabet soup of ‘V’ and ‘U’ and the feared ‘L’ recovery are starting to be discussed. I stopped watching.

I also saw reports that the president’s and vice president’s staff have a bad case of irony: The virus is showing up in their staff. I have little to say other than I hope everyone will get well and not spread the infection through-out Washington DC.

I watched some of the Royal Opera’s free showing of La Traviata. I could not finish it as I just watched last week the same opera done by The Met Opera. It is just too depressing to do this twice–there is no happy ending. Renée Flemming is in the Royal Opera’s presentation and I like this better than the more modern sound and look of The Met Opera’s version.

This is the drinking song from the Opera and likely a song many would recognize. I was singing along with this song while making dinner. My Italian was terrible. I really liked this version of the Internet. The sound is good; the video is a bit compressed. It is still good!

I am listening to some more opera while I write this.

The reports are that the USA lost more than one-thousand six-hundred souls to the virus today. I found this new music that worked I think: Be Not Afraid.