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Today I started a bit later. I slept in a bit and got going at 7AM; I need a bit more sleep. We still have donuts left from yesterday and bananas. So that was a good start.

Work was more video meetings and emails. The good news is that our part of the critical project was able to complete its first tests.  Again, I still had a few blood pressure spiking meetings. I slipped in the laundry and making cupcakes during the sessions.

I then again slipped out and took a long walk as I am very stiff from days of sitting and working on computers. It helped.

I took off Friday. That will help more, I think.

My gaming friends are playing Russian Railroad on GameArena. I have had enough of computer screens today; I passed.

Today was supposed to be the start of Gamestorm 2019. I was supposed to teach Scythe today. I planned to host four games today. The convention is rescheduled to 2020. I am a bit sad about not having Gamestorm today.

I also learned that SAP Sapphire 2020 in Orlando for May was canceled. I was also going to speak there.

So let us go with this song for the missed opportunities for games and travel: One Night in Bangkok.

Lunch was Beef Pho. Delivered by bike. We continue to support local restaurants by ordering lunch.

Dinner was grilled New York Strip steaks, green beans, and macaroni and cheese–the $3.79 Kraft Deluxe version. Corwin made dinner. He likes mac and cheese. It was excellent.

It appears that liquidity is becoming less stressed. It also appears that some of The Fed actions will allow the investment in junk bonds by experts who can pick the winner from the losers. Sadly, we have new junk bonds (i.e. Ford, Cheese Cake Factory, etc.). It appears the worst of the crashing is over and the market went up again. The market chart looks a lot like 2018 and not 1929. I have for years told folks that the nastiest risk is event risk–we have experienced a new example.

I listened to the New York City doctor at Cornell’s video and how he suggests dealing with the virus. It is 50+ mins long; try this link: Doctor

It was reported that more than two-hundred and sixty people passed away today in the USA from the virus. It was also reported for the world more than two-thousand seven-hundred people passed away from the virus just today.

Here is a favorite hymn done very well by our Morman friends here in the West in Utah: Holy Holy Holy.

Today a short set of stories.

First, I had Krispy Kreme donuts delivered at 8:15 this morning. I even got a thank you on the box.

Work was a lot of video meetings and discussions that are spiking other folks’ blood pressure. The project is moving, and this means that problems and issues must now be resolved. The time for diagrams is over, and we need to actually do the work.

Stopped by the pharmacy to get one of Susie’s pills replaced. This is an over-the-counter product, and I could not find it. While keeping our distance, the Rite Aid staff who knows me, I am there a lot, helped me look for it. At first, we gave up and then I heard my name called and I could not find the gal. The shelves are tall. She called out “Marco” and then I would get closer and say “Polo” from me. After a few “Marco Polo” I found her and she had the pills for me. Excellent!

I then went by the paper products. They had paper towel rolls on the shelf. I resisted the urge to just buy them. Still no toilet paper. At the check-out, the clerked whispered to me, knowingly that “there is toilet paper.” I told the clerk they had already sold out. She was shocked and said, “I am so sorry.”

(just paper towels on the shelf)

Music from Monty Python seems right for this: Monty Python Theme.

I ordered lunch from La Provence. It was brunch still, so I had their corned beef hash, and Corwin had salmon hash. Susie was still sleeping, and nothing on the menu was her favorite, so instead, I ordered her dessert. When she got going, she was happy with the choice. Start with dessert; life is short!

I made dinner and watched the Senate vote on the 2 trillion dollar stimulus package.

The stock market went up again. The liquidity issue is improving, but there is an explosion of junk debt now. Ford’s debt is now valued as junk. The US dollar is losing value meaning the flight (panic) to cash is passing.

It was reported that more than two-hundred forty people passed away today in the USA from the virus. It was reported that it was terrible in Spain today.

The hymn for today: Precious Lord Take My Hand (Elvis).

 

Sorry for a boring day, little special happened today with my first meeting with India at seven. And maybe when you are over 50 with high blood pressure and diabetes (both controlled) and asthma, it may good to have a day without surprises. I have read too many accounts in the news of someone over fifty with health issues dying from the virus. So I am thankful to have an uneventful day.

One of our friends in India that works for SAP had an exciting experience. I am sure he won’t mind me recounting it here. India is on lock-down too. He went for a run. The police stopped him. They let him finish his run after a discussion. We laughed in the meeting that he gets a police escort for a run!

Work was a series of emails and video conferences today. My blood pressure was spiked by only one meeting. It took me an hour to get my frustration under control–I read the book about the gals in 1926 sailing in the crew on a windjammer. I have read until they are more than halfway to Fiji. One of the gals has typhoid and cannot do much. The other gal, who tells the story, loves storms and describes some wild storms in the South Pacific. Drifting into a story of sailing in the 1920s got my mind off of work. I mentioned the book a few days ago: Windjamming to Fiji.

And that takes us to this song for today: Sailing.

I ordered lunch online from BJ’s Brewhouse. Sorba noodles for me and a full-rack of ribs for Susie and Corwin to share. I had it delivered. Dinner was a sandwich for me and Susie and Corwin shared macaroni and cheese. Corwin also made a hamburger scramble with various veggies in it.

I am still tired and having trouble sleeping.

I started working on my civil war battle figures. I have to glue them together, and the use of slow curing cryno glue makes it a bit difficult. I have to hold the pieces together too long.

I ordered Kristy Kreme donuts to be delivered at 8:15AM Wednesday. Why not?

My employer, Nike, crushed earning today for the third quarter, Nike sales in China were just a few percentage points down. Apparently, customers in China just changed to online ordering during the lock-down. I will let you read about that online. The commentaries suddenly sounded hopeful that at least one company has reported good earnings and reasonably good earning in the emergency.

Continuing with the investment news, the stock market broke a different kind of record. It has not gone up so fast since 1933. The market is expecting a vast stimulus package from the US congress–it is not done yet.

Also in the news, the central banks are still trying to fix the liquidity issues. There is not enough money to loan, especially US dollars. The banks are buying up debt fast to prevent a squeeze on US dollars and a sudden uncontrolled rise in lending costs. Most folks missed in the news that The Fed hired out help to buy debt and that cheap credit lines are being set-up for mutual funds. The banks are worried that another panic to dollars, you can call it flight-to-cash, might happen, and the mutual funds will have to sell at losses that will cause the market to go down and then more selling. By setting up a credit-line, the mutual funds can payout without selling immediately thus causing a spiral down of stock and bond prices. Of course, this means the US taxpayer is now backing all the mutual funds.

Finally, it was reported one hundred sixty-three people passed away from the virus in the USA today. It was terrible in Italy and the infection rate in the USA now that we have testing for the virus finally happening is going up at a scary rate.

This is a hymn for today. It took me a while to find a version that was something I liked (even this is a bit overproduced for my taste): It Is Well With My Soul.

 

Back to video meetings all day for work. The big project continues on, and after some confusion, we are mostly back to work.

I had trouble sleeping last night, so it is a hard Monday. The best song I thing for today: Manic Monday.

While I was working from home, I got a call from Rev. Ann Weld-martin. She was still having some issues with Zoom. So we did a few practice Zoom meetings while I was doing a video meeting at Nike. Sort of biblical as my left hand was on the Apple and the right on the Nike laptop. Thusly, the left hand did not know what the right was doing.

Susie was off to her hair, nails, etc. appointment. Her driver, Muhammad, is out-of-work. He was driving a taxi and taking her to her various appointments. So I paid him directly as he has no cab or even a credit card machine now. Susie is his only customer this week.

I ordered lunch from The Gyro House in Beaverton. A lamb gyro that I paid to have delivered to the house. I paid the make maximum $4.00 tip to the driver. A gal dropped it off, and we kept our distance. It was, as usual, a dream that takes me back to Istanbul.

(an underground Cafe in the famous Cistern, Istanbul)

Work finally stopped, and I took a nap, still tired from little sleep last night.

I put bratwursts in the oven to bake for dinner. Potato salad is still left to go with it. There is also plenty of beer.

Monday is when we return to Roll20 to play Dungeons and Dragon, Fifth Edition, at 6:30. Everyone is there, Bill, Cory, Corwin, and Mackers, and we begin where we left off. We are near the end of the Princes of the Apocalypse. Roll20 has premade content for this premade adventure.

(Screen from the game, DM view)

The store begins again; they are facing the evil air elemental priestess who is trying to summon her master, the air elemental prince. Before she can bring that evil plan to completion she must first destroy our adventures who show up just as she starts to summon the evil air elemental leader. She blasts them with chained lightening and her guards, great wind spirits, also brings some punishment to the adventures. They brush it off, except for their druid who is unconscious, and their anti-paladin shows the priestess no mercy. Their wizard delivers a fireball to finish the work the anti-paladin started. The druid is healed and all is well–Except the elemental gate is open.

The wizard tells the anti-paladin to throw the priestess magical spear into the void. Just as he does this the face of the giant air leader is seen at the gate. The spear explodes as it hit the gate and the air would-be-god is prevented from entering our world. 

There is only fire left to be dealt with. The adventurers rest and prepare for the final battles.

Next, the adventurers descend on a disk that magically lowers them to a lake of lava. They demand to be let into the domain of fire after destroying the domain of air. They are surprised that the evil forces of the fire elemental prince agree and just let them in. A bridge of sorts is created and the brave adventures rush the fire elemental cultists. These fire elemental cultists are strong and hit hard. Soon their transforming druid, usually in the form of a dinosaur, is knocked back down. The anti-paladin is knocked down. The bad guys have a fire giant on their side that hits even harder. Quick and lucky heals are done and a retreat is called. The now conscious anti-paladin says, “we need to be more subtle.” The burned, broken, bleeding adventurers hides in a magical invisible fort while the heal and rethink their plans.

It was fun. The players earned a new level for their characters. We will play next Monday. I suspect something less direct will be attempted on the next game.

Bill Bulter also looked at my test Roll20 game for Call of Cthulhu role-playing game (CoC). I have purchased all the material for CoC and he agrees that it a good implementation. I might get a CoC going on Roll20. Also, the system is easier to build material for so I might be able to write my own adventure. We will see.

Lastly, I have started on my American Civil War figures. I have “Battle in a box” to build, a small army to build in blue and grey. There are hard plastic 28mm scaled from Perry Miniatures in the UK. I have to assemble each soldier by selecting arms, hats, and flags and horses for some. It takes a while, but it produces a realistic-looking set of troops. I used these figures for a Civil War chess set I created as a Christmas present for David Smith–I like working with them. It is a treat to assemble each solider and produce a unique army.

Today the death rate for the US grew to more than one hundred a day.

The stock market continues to crash. There are more flights-to-cash, and liquidity issues are starting to create concerns in the market. Central banks are rushing in to buy up bonds from corporations. USA congress is deadlocked in a fight on a massive stimulus bill.

And today Oregon’s governor ordered everyone on Oregon to stay home and to leave our homes only to get food, exercise, and other necessary reasons. Food can be delivered and made in restaurants to-go.

I think it is time to think about the future: All Things Bright and Beautiful.

A short story for today. Dinner was delivered from Wild Buffalo Wings. Susie got a kid’s burger with fried cheese curds. I had Asian Zing traditional wings, my usual order. Corwin had Caribbean Jerk on traditional wings. I wanted to help our locals. So wings and I had it delivered.

After that, I popped off to Ann Weld-Martin’s house to help her practice using Zoom. She needs to do online meetings now for various churches and other groups. I then returned home, armed with more books, Wayne borrowed two of my greatest WW2 books, The Reluctant Admiral, and Queen of the Flat Tops. The libraries are closed. I have a lot of books folks can borrow.

Back to the Star Trek figures. I have been trying to finish them all weekend. I just finished the light shading. They are finally drying.

The day started with me sleeping in a bit and getting up and getting back, you guessed it, to painting the figures. No news. No virus. Just paintbrush and 3x bifocal safety glasses. Yes, I use 3x to do these and a paintbrush called “Insane Detail” by Army Painters. I have a chrome pen that lets me draw bright chrome on to a figure. It looks really bright.

Star Trek Theme

(This morning’s state of work with chrome on the phaser)

Our pastor Jefferson did his sermon online. I watched it this morning at about the normal time for the sermon at church, 10:45 AM:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yolGeZOX7Cc&feature=youtu.be.

I also got a note from Golden Valley Brewery that they raised $4000 for their staff with the car wash! Music for that: Car Wash.

I got Susie started about 1PM, and we connected into Zoom to have a small group church meeting. A few issues with folks learning what to do. It worked well enough and, people were happy to see each other or, for those who never got the camera to work, hear each other. We had a pleasant meeting, and I believe everyone felt better after.

I did the laundry and then decided that Wild Buffalo Wings were better than making dinner.

I have scheduled my Roll20 game for Monday night. We are playing Dungeon and Dragons online, and the adventure is supplied by the makers of D&D, The Princes of the Apocolypse. We have been playing this one for about a year. We have been at this for a few years now. We have done three sets of adventures now.

I also have been reading a book published in 1929, WindJamming to Fiji. The book is written by one of the two gals that decided to sign-up as crew on an old iron sailing ship for its last voyage to Fiji in 1926. I found it in Powell’s for less than ten bucks. It goes day by day, an original blog! So when I am tired or stressed out, I pick up the book and see how the gals are doing. It is September 22, 1926, and the gals’ ship is just off of Washinton State, waiting for the winds to change. I wonder what they will be doing next. They brought a typewriter, and one of their duties is to keep the log. So they are typing the record instead of handwriting it. I shall be following their story, a non-electronic blog.

Back to work tomorrow. That is working right here on my Nike laptop.

Here is the final work on the figures, finished just before midnight:

Our famous bookstore Powells is closing down on Monday because of the virus protections being required of businesses and the family that owns it is laying-off all the workers–no more pay for the workers. They claim they cannot afford anything else and that they might not have the resources to re-open. As you can imagine, this message hit some sour notes for people here in Portland area.

The death rate of the USA is going down while the infection rate is increasing. It was a somber day in Italy as hundreds of people were reported to have passed away from the virus. I was thinking of something like this for all of us (yes, it is Luther): A Mighty Fortress is Our God.