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It rose closer to 7, then 8, and it was another unrelenting sunny I-cannot-believe-it-is-October weather. LA is looking at three-digit temperatures. A hurricane is spinning up in the Gulf. Climate change has been harsh in October so far. Not that I am asking to return to the endless wet darkness of the 1990s and 2000s.

I recalled Monday on Tuesday morning and composed a narrative. As often happens before my trips, the days are mundane, and Tuesday and now Wednesday are almost boring. I read books and write to add something interesting to my day. I might have to bake something!

But dear reader, do not be dismayed. I have a train ride to Seattle on Friday, then back to Portland later on Saturday. I also leave for a long weekend for Deborah’s Birthday the next weekend. We will be offloading the mundane soon.

I wrote and published the blog before I had to rush. I enjoyed a long, hot shower without rushing, then got dressed and all that. I boarded Air VW the Gray and checked that it was unloaded of games and extras. It is headed to the mothership to be inspected and for the dealership to help me cover their expenses with an investment in my vehicle. I learned that every 10K there is an “optional” $660 alignment process, which does not involve only the tires but involves checking all the radar, vision, and other systems that align the car to the road and prevent it from hitting things. And the tires too. Cleaning the AC and wipers finishes the bill.

I decided to wait for the car, and my appointment is at 10:30; I was 15 minutes early. I waited until noon to learn about these extra items, then headed to lunch to spend 90 minutes on them (it turned into two hours). I decided, based on cash flow and having to get another down payment for a new car, that I would just keep the ID.4. I asked the dealership to sell me the car. The service person, Jenna, added that to the paperwork, and I headed out.

I found wings and potatoes at Prime Tap House and Taylor, getting her graduate degree while doing a part-time bartending gig, got me a red Irish-style ale and my food. I read my book and enjoyed my lunch. It was a good walk there and back, and I felt better.

The EV was soon finished, but no word from sales. Hmmm. Jenna from service, frustrated, grabbed me a salesperson and all but made them sell me my car. I waited two more hours, with the time occasionally punctuated by a form to fill out and sign. Yes, I enjoyed a boring two hours as they ignored me and hoped I would go away. Apparently, they would not make a commission to sell me a car I had already leased, and nobody wanted to do the paperwork (there was nobody there in the sales area but me for most of the time). I was at first amused, then bored, and finally threatening to leave. Finally, a sales manager showed up, told me a five-more-minutes lie, and after fifteen minutes, I got to sign a pile of paperwork and turn down an extra $500 warranty on my EV. I left with an envelope full of paper that suggested I now had a car loan somehow lower than before. I got a discount somewhere that nobody bothered to tell me about. And the payment was lower than I expected. It was with a local Credit Union, and I asked no questions, as I always pay the loan off in a year or two.

The dealership did not wash the car, but they did vacuum it. I was sad to see the dune sand gone, but I know how to get more. I drove home, found the mail, and was disappointed that President Trump had sent only one check to discount my Obamacare health insurance. As a liberal, I think I should get some more money to cover the cost of having to listen to the threats to let Iran bomb us on the West Coast, or turning his golf course into a Presidential Retreat, or other stress-inducing comments for us on the left. I think a check a day would make this relationship work better, say $488, the low-end of a day stay at Trump Hotel NYC.

Mariah and I met at BJ’s Brewhouse and blew the President’s previous check on ribs for dinner. We chatted and talked about travel and cars. I could tell she was disappointed I did not buy/lease an EV Mustang during a midlife-crisis move. It was a nice night. We both, spending the check from the President, took ribs home.

With that, I returned home in the newly purchased EV, read for a while, and then went to sleep.

I woke a few times, and finally rose after sunrise to another bright I-cannot-believe-it-is-October day.

I rose after 7, having ignored my 6 alarm and risen an hour later. It felt like only minutes more. I made coffee and some toast from the wheat bread I made in the bread makers a few days ago. I smeared peanut butter on it and cut it into squares. With that and my meds taken, I returned to my office to watch a gray morning while I typed and composed a narrative for Monday.

Later, I would hear a loud thud. In the late afternoon, I found a small to medium-sized dead bird on the deck. It is always sad to lose one this way, and window strikes are always a surprise. The bay window still gets window strikes after more than twenty years, but this is the first time I have found a dead bird. I can see a few feathers on the glass. It always makes me sad.

On birds, I saw a scrub jay and other larger birds I have returned, along with hole-drilling flickers and downy woodpeckers. Fall is here. The squirrels, now that the apples are fermenting, are enjoying the apples. I saw that some of the windfall had been enjoyed by little nibbles. The murder of crows is missing. I do not know what happened to them. When I would leave the car outside in the winter, they would decorate it. I believe their absence has allowed the other birds to return.

I wrote and completed the blog, but I am now running late to travel to Portland to Richard’s for the continuation of the role-playing board game, ISS Vanguard. I was 8 minutes late, with James even later. Robin, a woman who plays and owns lots of games, is joining us:  Richard, James, and me. Robin was not familiar with the game. I noticed that as you explain a game, you suddenly realize how much you have learned and understood. This is a massive game, and it has an app to control it. It fills the table and overflows onto other drink and food tables. We also save the game and leave much of it set up in the pocket under the wooden gaming table cover. We all help Robin play as our new fourth.

The game takes about 2 hours and change to get to the away mission. Many reviewers like this administration, and Robin watches me as I handle the card process for this play. We have many hours of this process now, and I have a handle on which cards are what and where they are in the box they are stored in. Robin, I can see, is not sure what type of game she had joined (endless SciFi administration), but then we put away all of that, and then get out the planet stuff, load a ship, fly down, and start exploring the planet–in effect, a whole other game built inside of the administrative game. This is very immersive, and today’s planet is interesting and full of risks. We have advanced in the game, and the risks are higher. Without going into details, we didn’t finish the whole challenge after discovering a world within a world. We don’t have the supplies to do both. We do finish our objectives and missions. We also have some ‘rare’ items to help with research for the next play. I won’t be in Beaverton until near 4, after dealing with a traffic mess on the way back!

I stop by the church office; I have a borrowed key and now a fob for the door system. My back regrets the four heavy boxes of cards for the church mass mailing. We are trying to re-invite Beaverton back to First United Methodist Church. I carried them into the post office, and the 4,000+ are now on their way to the good people of Beaverton.

With that done and accepted, I headed across Beaverton, thinking about a Ford Dealership, but instead decided to handle my missing lunch, and with dinner coming up now, a burger at Shackshake seemed a good solution. Fries, too. I then watched the Battleship New Jersey YouTube video (I had my earpods) while eating, took a call from Rev. Anne, and agreed to stop by.

At Anne’s place, I replaced the printer cartridges in their HP color printer. There is a trick: you have to close the scanner to open the printer and replace them. They were in the wrong order, and once I corrected that, it all worked. I took out the toner from the other printer, the black-and-white one, and showed Anne how to remove it, along with the drum that might need to be replaced. I found that shaking the toner and the printer would keep it going for another few months; I shared that with her.

The cable was also fritzing. It is Comcast, and I know this one: new batteries in the remote. If you lightly strike dead batteries, they will generate a short-lived charge by reviving the chemical reaction for a moment. I was thus able to bring the remote back to life for a moment and saw the Comcast warning that the batteries were dying on the now-working cable-controlled screen. Anne was relieved not to have to call Comcast, and we replaced the batteries, and all was good again. We chatted about other things for a while, and then I headed home.

I watched more of For All Mankind season 5 and sort of liked it better. I read more new Sherlock Holmes material and soon fell asleep.

Thanks for reading.

Monday is my weekend day. Everyone is back at work, traffic is lighter when I drive, and restaurants, shops, and other services are quieter as crowds fade in a migration back to work. Last week was full of events and challenges, mostly related to church, and my laundry from last week is in a basket next to the laundry machines, ignored. I spent part of Monday adding to the piles, and I stripped and washed the bed sheets and towels, then did a mixed load of clothing. Not enough to split up into separate loads.

An inexplicable buzz fills part of the kitchen, and even killing the mains to the house doesn’t stop it. It is not a fan spinning with an issue. It must be a thermal-caused vibration. I even kill the power near 11, walk outside with a flashlight, and find no source outside. It was gone Tuesday morning when I wrote this. I spent ten minutes with the power out last night to make sure it wasn’t a fire or a spinning part going bad. Nope, it did not change with no power. As I wrote above, inexplicable.

I woke and got out of bed at 8 and walked, more zombie-like than I would like to admit (“Coffee!” I growled). I made coffee and toast from wheat bread I made in the bread machine, carefully sliced it, bagged it, and put it in the freezer. I do not eat bread fast enough; I freeze it. It is also why I pay a premium for shelf-stable milk. It will go bad before I get close to half used in its usual, and cheaper, form.

With toast, peanut butter, and fresh coffee, I return to the office and write the blog. I also do the usual things of checking my transactions in Quicken, reading emails, and checking the news. I tried to focus on the blog as I had things to do in the early afternoon.

I was soon done and headed to First United Methodist Church in Air VW the Gray after showering and all that. There, Wendy had four box lids full of cards for me. Jeff and Wendy helped me get them into the cargo hold, and soon I zipped over to the post office, dropped them off, and waited in line. After a few questions, I left them with the post office. Done. One more set to deliver on Tuesday.

Next, I headed to McMenamins Cedar Hills for a BBQ chicken salad, a beer, and a reservation for Thursday’s Theology Pub. I played with an AI site while I was eating lunch. They produce paintings from photos. I loved it. I bought one (and have a license to the image, now). With lunch inside of me and the reservation done, instead of heading home for a nap and to fold the laundry, I headed to VW mothership.

There, I learned I wouldn’t get a deal to purchase the lease-out for the EV, and yes, my perception was right: I would pay over Blue Book to keep the ID.4 SUV. Hmmm. And there was no deal, except maybe a $3,000 loyalty discount. Also, my belief that any lease would be much more than I am paying now was correct if I leased a new one to replace mine, plus the down payment.

I headed to the local Nissan dealer a few miles away, and after they challenged me to email a pic of my insurance card, I drove a Nissan 2025 Leaf around the block. Too tiny for me, as I barely fit. Also, this one had a range of 213 miles, or what my VW range is at a 62% charge. I thanked the salesperson, Joel, and said I might be back in January for the new models.

Later, Deborah pointed out to me that I was in the small SUVs and that there are other models in the mid-range size. She pointed out a cool-looking Mustang EV SUV. I will try a Ford dealer next time. I am thinking of a lease for two years again. I have enjoyed the Fords I have rented over the years.

I returned home and chatted with Deborah a few times. It is about ten days until my trip to see her for her birthday. Details are still being worked out, but we will be going to the Whitney Mansion for dinner and a ghost tour on Saturday.

I find an unexpected letter from the US Treasury in the mail. Thinking it is some note about my account, I open it with little expectations other than some note about logging in using ID.me, but no, it is from the President. I buy my insurance through Oregon’s website, and the feds know that. The President decided to refund me $500, as I get no help with the bills (I pay the full ride). While I appreciate the cash, I think this is a strange choice given such a large deficit. Before something happens, I quickly use my online banking to deposit the check!

Dinner is baked cod (frozen from Trader Joe’s), pasta with butter, and jarred peaches. I watch For All Mankind season three and watch the clever writers move all the troubles for the Clinton Administration onto a fictional Republican administration. The mix-and-match of technology and rewriting a mining accident to Mars is quite good. I am liking it better.

I head to The 649 for my usual late haunting of the bar, and Lindsey is closing tonight. I get a beer, put in my earpods, and write. I revise my adventure, clear out the initial rewrite, and start reworking 4E stuff into 5E and 5.5E rules. I am on page 20 of 50-ish, so I’m reaching the 1/2 point. It is about ten pages a shortish game session, I find when I DM. I spend the night there, finishing with a coffee and Amaretto. Lindsey gives me a glass of water when I breathe instead of sipping the liquor. I make my place with some asterisks so I can find it again, and pack up.

I return home, try to find the buzzing, make the bed, read a new Sherlock Holmes story instead of the American Civil War, and soon nod off; I turn off the light, sleep, and do not wake until morning.

I am often tired and coughing, which I believe is due to the pollen levels. I decided to take most of Sunday off and relax after church. Sorry, it will be a less interesting story, dear reader.

Erik Larson writes history with footnotes and quotes that become page-turners, and that is true of this American Civil War book, The Demon of Unrest, which covers the causes and start of the war. I decided to read at the end of Sunday, and I read about three hours of the story. And while I have read this story before, Shelby Foote’s version comes to mind — this one, with the footnotes, quotes, and fast pace, is excellent. I stopped a few times and went online. The ten-volume history of the Lincoln administration published within a few years by John Hay (here) has my attention, but a smaller book of John Hay’s writing is now on its way to me.

I also started a wheat bread in the machine to run overnight. I make one loaf, slice it, freeze it, and then use it for a month. I do not buy bread. Instead, I make it in a cheap but functional Amazon bread machine. I have learned to toss and buy new yeast after making a brick once.

With the bread machine running, I added a bit more water, as the wheat flour seemed to drink it all up. I returned to reading, and as midnight neared, I put the book away. My sleep was difficult until I took my inhaler. I then drifted off.

The day started with me rising closer to 8 than 7, my new time for waking after waking first at 6ish, falling back to sleep, and rising later. Gravity, unlike the previous day, was not overly strong, and I was able to assemble the coffee and use the last of my frozen French Bread-style loaf to make toast without issue. With the toast cut into small squares —never triangles — and covered with peanut butter — smooth, not the abomination that is crunchy — I enter the office to start my morning.

US Bank refuses to send transactions during its Sunday window for limited access, but I can get a few other updates done from other banks and credit cards. The house payment, insurance payment, and my payment to AMEX from all the travel cleared, emptying my banking account, as planned. I prefer to make money on my money, and my old checking account, opened in 1996, is a no-fee, no-interest checking account. A good deal from the days of high fees, failing banks, and paying to deposit a paycheck. They also pioneered connections to MS Money (which was discontinued in 2009) and Quicken.

I manage to check my finances, read my email, and check the news. I also read the political polls on a right-wing MAGA website, RealClearPolitics, as it has a good list of polls. I ignore the articles, as it has collected more strange sources. I do notice that their polls are missing many that I used to read with care. It is becoming an echo chamber, and I will have to find a new site. Hmmm.

I skipped the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival again and saw some notes about it. I hope it went well. I did see that some gaming is back, and I might fit it in next year. The first weekend of October has many claims on it.

I wrote the blog and rushed the last bit (later I removed the boring section about car prices), and soon was dressed in a dress shirt and vest (I forgot the tie and had to turn around and get it) and headed to First United Methodist Church. I reached the church in Air VW the Gray on time, at 10:30 for the 11:00 service. I ushered for Dondrea.

We had some chaos, as Pastor Anne could not make it for communion and Pastor Ken was out on leave for a family issue. Dondrea declared a love feast, and the regular service words were not used; Dondrea did not, as the lay pastor, participate. It was a volunteer come-and-get informal process. Michael showed up late, but took over the sound and graphics, freeing Z and Dondrea to do what needed to get done. Z was the liturgist and also ran hospitality.

Dondrea was a solo act again and did the sermon on the difficult Philippians 3:4b-14. Paul words in his letters are often harsh. Dondrea took the text to mean that the past haunts us too much, and that good work remains to be done now, with people who need us. That past failures, and Paul, then Saul, had a long list of failures, but he had to focus, he wrote, on the future and the goal. Dondrea took this to mean that we must not forget the past, but we cannot let past traumas control us. That we are forgiven, and each day is a new chance to be in the present and walk into the future. The past is garbage — failures or accomplishments — according to Paul (and Dondrea said that translation was too kind; Paul’s word in Greek was much more brazen); the present matters.

I was busy and only heard some of the sermon. We had multiple visitors during the service, some to just use the bathroom, and others stayed for the whole service. During the Lord’s Prayer, I walked one child over to get some donut holes before they left. I am always watching for trouble, as the US is in an election year and both extremes are attacking the middle, which is where United Methodists are found. So far we have been safe.

I leave after most folks are gone after the service. I return home, take off my tie, and heat up Costco Irish Stew, which is somehow tasteless (Deborah and I both agree it is missing something), and watch a bit more of For All Mankind, and then rest for a while. I nod off but can’t sleep for long.

I rise and start editing my Dungeons & Dragons adventure I want to play soon. I convert it to 5E. I am making my second or third edit (I have lost track) of the first part. It is over 50 pages (and I shortened it). I invested the evening in this work until I tire of it and start to read.

And that takes me full circle. Thanks for reading.

I was at Richard’s house at the usual time of 6, but there was no answer. I finally called Richard 10 minutes later and discovered, as I had suspected. that my text saying I would miss next weekend was taken to mean I meant it for now. Oops. Laura and Richard had the board game The Lost Ruins of Arnak (the basic version, but with the final components from all the updates) set up for a Sunday game, so we played it. This is a favorite of mine, but I played poorly and didn’t gobble up the resources available on cleared sites like Ricard and Laura. I reached the top of research first, but then stalled there. Richard’s play was masterful, and he doubled my score at the end! I was seven points behind Laura. Still, it was an enjoyable game, and Richard schooled me again on how to win (I have won this one before).

The Lost Ruins of Arnak is recommended, but it is not an easy game. It came out just before the pandemic, and many played it throughout the pandemic. I played it at Richard’s as the pandemic started to fade and got my own copy. We played for about two hours in a three-person game wtih no misplays or any significant take-backs. It was just a joy to play.

Next, we played a fast and fun game of the card game CATAN: On The Road Card Game. This is loosely based on the board game but is fast and easy to understand. I won my first game, but this time my hand was filled with sheep cards instead of a useful mix (Deborah is laughing, “sheep!”). I managed, like Laura, to get three points in buildings, but Richard, like my winning last time, got the roads built fast and used that to build more and more.

We chatted for a while, and then I headed home. Traffic was light, and I was home soon. I watched some late-night comedy shows for my news updates. I did not get to bed until almost midnight. I also did the dishes and looked at more car information. Air VW the Gray lease is over in Jan 2027. The last payment is in sight, and I have to decide.

I looked at Car and Driver magazine recommendations, and it is a GM Bolt, but it can’t do CarPlay, which rules out all GM vehicles. The Nissan Leaf is their second choice (it has longer range!). It is cheaper and fits my price thinking. A nice two-year lease would be great; I wonder if I can do that again. Hmmm.

It was nearing midnight when I returned to my latest book, The Demon of Unrest, on the American Civil War. I love the short paragraphs and complete a few before I discover I am not reading but dreaming words. It is really strange to realize you are asleep and not reading. I sleep through the night, and while there are dreams, none are remembered. I wake early, prove hydration, and can’t sleep for an hour. Just as I’m about to give up, I wake up closer to 8 than 7. Again, surprised that I was asleep when I woke up.

Saturday starts with me realizing I blew off laundry yesterday. Laundry will be Monday, I guess. I reheat yesterday’s coffee, have the last banana, and start on the blog.

I call Deborah all day and often talk about cars. Deborah is more detail-oriented than I am when i t comes to large purchases and has strong opinions that I respect. The car discussion goes all day.

I get the blog done late morning, having been less focused on writing and investing more time in cars, expenses, reading the news, and getting my Quicken correct. I am hungry.

The day is already into the afternoon by the time I have got all this done, plus dressed, and boarded Air VW the Gray. Traffic is a bit snarled into Portland on the main highways but not unusual, and it seems we are not used to having I-5 South closed in part of Portland. I was unhappy to see that the OMSI ramp is also closing, but I can circle back if needed.

There is parking at Lucky Labrador off of Hawthorne, always a nice surprise, but it is not a good sign for downtown Portland. I have not had to park on the streets so far this year. Hmmm.

I did bring my laptop, but no books. I spent the afternoon updating a Dungeons & Dragons published adventure I wrote to the new 5E and sort of 5.5E version. I want to DM again, and I need something to start with. This is the same adventure I used in 4E (it was published after I played it in 2009). Here is the original version for sale on Amazon for more money than I ever charged for it. I have seen a signed copy for sale at Powell’s.

The wording is old and stilted, my write-a-manual style that is mostly gone now, and I do let Grammarly loose on it, as it is not how I would word it today. Still, I often undo what it does, as the gaming context is unknown to Grammarly. I am about 1/4 done, and when I reach 1/2, I can try to get a gaming group together and see if it works for them.

As I covered, I look at cars too, get a BLT after my bowl of peanuts, and a beer infusion for me for editing the D&D stuff. It is a first-level adventure, with this one trying not to kill too many nearly helpless adventurers.

And that completes the circle, dear reader (I saw this in capitalized again, but the standard manual says no), thanks for reading!