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I rose after waking a few times and rolling over. I think I still wake to head to work and roll over. I rise with the sun.

Coffee is waiting, now purchased coffee as all the gifts are finished (thanks). The dark, bitter taste reminds me that we liberals have so much work to do.

I spent much of the day reading Hail Mary. It has been a long time since I have found a book so engaging. I spent much time lost in its story. Excellent, and I look forward to the movie.

I started the blog. I am using the cheap Raspberry Pi system I set up as an experiment, and I have slowly learned that having multiple browser sessions open slows my response time. I also learned that Grammarly uses some local processing, which slows down and stops finding things as I go further into my text. Yikes! I believe I need to keep the browser count down. Still, for a few hundred dollars, it is impressive, just slightly slower than a $2000+ Apple and running from an SD Card as its hard drive!

I manage to get a few paragraphs down before I have to break and get ready. I shower and all of that and soon head out the door as Scott W sends me a note that he is already at Jenkins Estate with Loki, their larger and well-mannered poddle. I park next to Scott’s jeep after passing on the far-out parking, and meet Scott W with Loki. I thank Loki for bringing Scott W with him. The estate is owned by the local parks and was the home of a wealthy family from the Gilded Age. This is only my third time here, and it is green and damp, very Oregon. From the old photos, they know the hills were denuded of trees then. All this growth has occurred over the last 100 years or so. There is nothing left of the old forest in my area. It is still lovely; I can see the beginnings of the bulbs, and it will soon be bright in color, besides our usual green.

It is hills, and we climb and descend multiple times muddy paths, with only me once asking to stop. Next time, boots! We meet Michelle V’s husband, Jim, and I get a flyer for an art exhibition he is helping to assemble, March 21-22, at Jenkins Estate. I will be out of town (Salt Lake City with Deborah), but for the local readers, mark it on your calendar, as I am sure it will be great.

We chat and walk, and soon it is nearer 11:30 and time for Scott, also retired, to return to his main job, gardening his mass of now oversized plantings. We will meet on Thursday for lunch with my former boss, Brad J. Air VW the Gray gets me home, and soon I am doing a few chores and then reading again. I head to Happy Panda for lunch and miss Corwin for lunch. I read and have Sweat and Sour Pork with extra veggies, and have to admit, I only like the veggies. The hot-and-sour soup was not served hot, just warm. Hmmm.

I return home, and with some emotions in the wrong place and lunch not settling, I say ‘f**k it’ and pull up the covers and hide from the world. I rise again before 4 when Deborah calls.

My legs are tired from the walk and riding the stationary bike yesterday, and I decide not to do more. I watched some YouTube videos and learned more about marine aquariums, but I believe it isn’t for me. I see another fascinating video about jars used to keep mini environments, and that is fascinating, but while tempting, I will not start more projects. This contradicts some of my understanding of water-based systems, and I find it fascinating.

I have a salad for dinner later with a little cheese and ham to make it more than just veggies. I say good night to Deborah and read. Somewhere, I finish and publish the blog. I read more. I have a few salty peanuts in the shell as a snack. I remember to put out the trash, collect it all, and add it in. The old suitcase is in the trash. It makes me a bit sad, but its time is over, and it is falling apart.

I read, again, do the dishes, and read more. I laugh, enjoy the story, and feel better.

Thanks for reading!

I am reading Hail Mary and laughing as it introduces various characters, including a Dutch leader who is all about getting things done. The description has me laughing, as I have worked with Dutch folks and recognize the behaviors and even hear the accents of the various people in the story. And the glare for laughing too much as an American; been there, done that! With twenty-seven years at Nike, Inc., working on some of the largest IT projects done by a multinational, the characters and their mannerisms seem familiar. It was hard to put the book down when I was in bed reading.

Before that, I was in the office using the Raspberry Pi to finish a very late blog post. I am sorry, it was a bit more stream-of-consciousness than the tight text I try to produce. I was busy on Tuesday, and the new computer is still a learning experience. I am watching my bank balances and letting the lower-valued funds ride without much oversight. I really miss the safety of downloading daily balances and tracking cash against expenditure. I will look for a browser-based replacement for Quicken that offers import and export options. I want to be able to easily switch in and out of something. This is not encouraged by corporate-driven entities and may not exist. For example, banks make it very difficult to transfer large amounts for purported security reasons.

Moving further back, I was in Portland in Air VW the Gray and reading more Hail Mary on my Kindle in my car. There, I discovered I had mangled my meeting with Mariah, and she was not coming at 4ish to Hopworks. I was sitting in their parking lot. I misunderstood the offer to be for a late lunch at Hopworks, not an early dinner during Happy Hour. I then headed to Guardian Games and was tempted by a new 2024 Dungeons & Dragons book. But I was not sure what I would do with it, and I passed on the book. That does not happen often, but I am not DM-ing a campaign; the book, a setting book, was the home to my favorite characters, Howard (the D&D version) and Gray, and I did enjoy looking at it. Though I was never near Bard’s Gate with those characters, but instead near the Sword Coast and Silverymoon fantasy locations.

Before this, I was at Broadway Grill having a Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride beer and a falafel platter for lunch (and thereby missing my chance to see Mariah). I had a window seat, and since I didn’t have my Apple, my Kindle provided a distraction with more of Hail Mary‘s text. I had reached the grill from Richard’s house by the revised angle parking on Broadway. A vehicle nearly backed into me. I skipped that parking spot, thinking it had a bad view or was unlucky (yes, bad Karma). I found another one and walked to the restaurant. Broadway Books is there, too, and I did manage to resist any new books there.

Before that, I was at Richard’s house, having arrived on time because the traffic in Portland was light and Beaverton wasn’t flooded with slow-moving cars. I did witness a few folks break for green lights (I do wonder what color they need to go) in the many lights on TV Highway. It was, despite the fog warning, a sunny and clear morning, and Mount Hood was lovely. I assume the drivers of the slow cars were admiring the view, since the intersection offered a clear view.

Note: Mount Hood is Oregon’s tallest mountain and an active volcano that last erupted during the American Civil War. There are just a few sketches of this, since it was a small-scale eruption with ash, steam, and smoke. May 18th is a free day to see Mount St. Helens. It exploded in 1980, and since then, it has not been visible from TV Highway.

I rose early on Tuesday. I was up at 7, writing the blog and having the last chocolate croissant (I made more that evening—opened the box from Trader Joe’s). I wrote for a while and then dressed and all that. I was soon at Richard’s house in Portland and playing Tainted Grail, my Tuesday game. This is a role-playing and cooperative game, and we had covered the board from one end to another. We had been stuck, and we learned that our decisions in the previous play had left the game deadlocked; we decided to revise them because we had missed one option. This finally granted us, with one more travel across the board, the next part of the story. Yay!

And before this, I was sleeping.

Thanks for reading, and sorry that the last blog was a bit wooden in its wording. I am busy, and blogs are getting done later and later. I always seem to be in a rush.

 

Monday started with me rising around 8, having rolled over a few times when I saw it was still dark. I finally rose with the sunrise. Coffee, new liberal coffee (fair trade), was waiting for me as I had remembered to assemble it the night before. Its bitter taste reminds me of how far we have to go to re-establish law for ‘We the people’ with Justice and Compassion. And that ‘due process’ is losing its meaning in my country.

I find myself without my address lists and certain passwords as the documents are on my broken Apple laptop (still not in repair but in requested status) and cannot be read by a Linux-based system. Hmmm. I will revise my copy process and store these documents in iCloud or another accessible location.

I contact my dermatologist and learn I have refills, but soon I learn I cannot fill them because it is too soon, according to my insurance. Moreover, I have learned from past experience that corporate pharmacies will not fill a prescription, even with an offer to pay $59 (this is not expensive). I spent two hours on the phone with Regence; they approved an override, and I can have them (insurance down to about $12). By 6, I manage to refill my prescriptions and discover that QVAR, my twice-daily inhaler (sometimes $120 a dose at UHC, is $0 on Regence). The people on the phone are friendly and helpful, but it takes hours. I spent 15 minutes on the phone getting Walgreens to refresh the Rx and discover that they can refill it.

I spend the morning writing and trying to get some medical paperwork done. I cannot work on my taxes as my Quicken information is on my broken laptop, and Quicken does not run in Linux, and my version is not browser-based. Hmmm. I did not think to take a current backup of it when I copied my files, an oversight. I paid all the bills and have kept a higher checking account balance. US Wealth Management (after fees) has more than 14% return, despite the chaotic mess that is the markets under Trump.

Lunch is a Trader Joe’s frozen entree of Butter Chicken with turmeric rice and naan. I slip on the pan holder and grab the 350°F metal tray required for these. I got a blister for that. It has been a while since I burned myself. I could hear Susie admonishing me. I was much more careful after the reminder. There were no more direct experiences of 350F.

I had a video doctor visit with my primary care doctor, and we went over the results. He agreed with my decision to send the results of my neck scans to an ENT. We were both disturbed by my weight gain (he said, “Check my scale”). I later discovered the scale was misadjusted, and once corrected, I am back to 240, with only 5 extra pounds for Christmas, at worst. Doc has ordered the updates on blood tests. The tumour in my salivary gland is meeting with the ENT surgeon next week.

I finished this season of Pluribus after wishing Deborah a good night. I liked the show and was always surprised by how it unfolded. Dark, but recommended. I look forward to the next season.

I picked up my prescriptions for $12. For all the trouble, it seems a small charge. I applied the cream again later and can see signs that the rash is fading. Better.

I found the fish sticks and potato pancakes and baked them together for a lighter dinner, just one serving. No burns were experienced. I returned to Foundation on Apple+ for the start of the second season and used the stationary bike for 15 minutes while watching the show. I decided to ride for this show, but I need to get back into it. My legs hurt and did all the next day. I liked the second season and the first two episodes.

Instead of cleaning the house, I headed to the movie Dracula, now playing (yes, there is a new version released in January). It stole and rewrote every bad movie, even some makeup and costumes. Even dipping into Anne Rice. It was played seriously, but there were moments that were insane and funny. It moved the story to France (I guess BREXIT includes Dracula) and turned it into a fight movie. I laughed through the whole thing. It was fun. Dracula decides not to kill one person because he made him laugh. I loved it. Perfect with popcorn.

Still laughing and smiling (no fangs), I returned home and soon was sleeping. No bad dreams, and my neck unmarred.

Thanks for reading!

Sunday was dominated by the loss of my Apple Laptop and thereby a change in plans. I could not use Quicken to start on my taxes as that is based on my laptop’s local version. But iCloud enabled me to use my email and to provide a camera and screen for any online meetings. I am making it work. The keyboard for the Raspberry Pi 5 I am using is taking some getting used to. Having a mouse back is interesting after years of using a trackpad. I do like having a mouse again, and it is a USB-A mouse made for a Raspberry Pi. I have better screens, but again, this one is designed for this machine and works.

The $130 machine is built into a keyboard and boots from an SD card running Debian Linux on a Raspberry Pi. The 8G Memory, four-core ARM processor, built-in separate processor for network and WiFi connections, and a decent, no-frills HDMI screen. I have noticed the screen refresh can be slow, and clicks can take a moment. And somehow the screen text is smaller than my laptop, so I have to keep my glasses (new to me) in the right place to avoid blurry text.

While writing this, I wanted to check an address, but my copy of my Apple files is in Apple’s file system format, which is unsupported by Linux when encrypted. Ugh! I did not think about it at the time I formatted the drive. Hmmm.

Sunday started with me having coffee waiting for me, liberal coffee (fair trade), and I then used my laptop to write all morning. I did my usual things, including downloading Quicken transactions, reading my email (mostly deleting), and viewing the news, but avoiding any details, as it hurts too much. The screen on the laptop was fine. I would carry it with me and not see the break until later. I have no idea why it took a day to be pronounced.

I wrote for most of the morning. I got about 3/4 done before I hit the time box for church. I showered and all of that. Skin rash is slowly improving. I need to re-up the prescription, but the dermatologist had multiple refills.  My other long-term prescriptions were handled by UHC and now need to be filled locally, and that is requiring intervention by the doc. Someday, the paperwork will slow. I sent the doc a message to get the first one refilled nearby.

The church is bustling, and I arrive 15 minutes before the start. The tables are set up, and any invasion is handled (though we did see one scout who did not return with new directions to the donut holes). I ushered and listened as Michael R gave the sermon, drawing on Joseph’s being sold to Egypt and his later acceptance of his brothers as an example for us to follow. He covers the terrible American use of convicts for labor, a still legal form of slavery in the US (now banned in Oregon and other states, but not all). Michael R shared that this is a billion-dollar industry and leaks into the American supply chain in agricultural products. US slave-labor products are difficult to identify, and the process is opaque.

Pastor Ken expanded on this, noting the people we met on the southern trip who had been exonerated after more than a decade in prison. He then called me up, and I described, witnessed, to use Methodist words, my experience in a jury in Oregon that convicted 10-2. This is a Ku Klux Klan law that was overturned by the Supreme Court later, which allowed for 10-2 convictions, and I, at the time, did not know we were using that. I would never have been party to this had I known. I apologized for unwittingly using a Klan law to convict someone (the guy was a bad dude, and he went away on other charges). Here is the video of the service with me about 43 minutes in.

We sang songs I knew, and the choir did some Bach. A nice service.

I was out at 1, talking to Deborah while driving, and soon home, where I discovered, as I covered yesterday, that my laptop was dying. I made a quick salad for lunch. Backed up my laptop by hand. Corwin found the leftovers (he stopped by). I got it to Best Buy, then off to Apple service ($99 fee for breaking a laptop while under warranty; the $700 repair is covered by AppleCare). I returned home and finished the blog on my Raspberry Pi 500 setup.

I watched another geology lecture on YouTube by Nick Zenter. Deborah has rebooked her trip to 16Feb. I am so looking forward to having her here.

I made dinner/lunch with a New York strip that I had drying and salted in the frig over a day. I roasted it in a cool oven (200°F), and when it reached 120°F internally, I finished it in a smoking-hot cast-iron pan. I made polenta with some cheese and steamed carrot slices for sides. It was excellent. I remembered to cook 1/2 of the recipe for polenta. It was still a lot.

Deborah was in bed early as she has an early morning on Monday. Corwin stopped by, raided my leftovers, and brought the new dog, who seemed to like to hide out under my legs and chair. The pug-like stray was still scared and jumpy, but it seemed to enjoy the house and my company. We watched the next episode of The Agency (the second time for me), and I was picking up things I missed the first time. I saw the first three episodes on a plane and then watched the rest later. I was a bit confused a few times, but now I am getting it. It is a dark (really dark, a few times) and slow-moving spy story. Recommended if you liked George Smiley stories (this is not that and set in the current world).

I did the dishes, ignored the laundry folding, watched more geology (started to nod off), and got into my PJs and read. Using my reader and turned to Hail Mary as the movie is coming out soon, and Deborah loved it. She thought it was better than Martian. I manage to read for a while, but soon sleep takes over.

I remember no dreams, but I did prove hydration twice.

Thanks for reading!

 

I am afraid Saturday’s story will not be very interesting. I was feeling blah on Saturday, with signs of a light flu. I fought nausea all day, but managed not to re-experience any food by reverse. Subsequently, little of interest was done on Saturday. We also learned that Deborah has new family obligations, and her trip here to the Pacific Northwest (PNW) will be shortened; we are still working out the changes.

The rains returned, finally, on Saturday, and the morning was gray. The sunrise was only recorded by the gray getting brighter. My neighbor’s lights were on by 3:30 as the sun approached setting. At least the periods of bright gray are getting longer.

I finished off the coffee from Jeanne (thanks!) and needed to get more or go instant. I planned to do some grocery shopping as I was out of veggies.

I am headed to Michigan for my birthday, April 16, as shows are in Lansing (Liam, Deborah’s son, has a show there) and Suff is playing in Detroit, and Deborah, Jeanne, and I already have tickets. This is a long weekend visit, as Deborah is still working and will be busy. I am thinking of heading to St. Louis to see the Sugarloaf Mound, the nearby Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, and some museums. More to come (looks like a complex train trip or driving, as planes will only get me close).

I spent the morning writing, and it was a struggle to keep my focus and to find my way. I did more laundry after I spilled chicken stock all over the kitchen floor, and the towels needed washing. I made a simple lunch of bacon I had made a few days ago and a can of large beans from Trader Joe’s. I was dragging.

I sent a note to my primary Doc that one of the prescriptions is going to be out, but it is now coded to be refilled by my previous insurance, and that will not be good. This is more of the paperwork for the new insurance. My anti-rash meds are running out too, but Goodskin Dermatology is not open on weekends, and I will reach out to them on Monday to get that resolved. There is no end to medical paperwork.

The final bits of the 2025 Tax paperwork have arrived, and I will begin preparing the totals that my CPA at Cornerstone requires. I withdrew from my IRA but then gave the money away. This should count as income and then as gifts. I am hopeful. I paid for my medical insurance too, and that is after taxes and should also count (after an adjustment from a percentage of my income). Again, I am hopeful I got all this right in my mind, that the CPA agrees, and the IRA and the State of Oregon Revenue agree. This is also a year for the Kicker (a special refund of tax overage in Oregon that is returned every other year), and my Oregon tax payment from two years ago should be included.

Despite feeling unwell, I headed to Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. I will switch out Whole Foods, where I buy mostly meat, to Market of Choice, as I am not happy to support the murders of The Washington Post. Liberals have long memories. I managed three bags, one from Whole Foods and two from Trader Joe’s, with my favorite frozen items.

(Broken screen)

And then my Apple laptop broke on my return to finish this post. Ugh! Yesterday I backed it up to a new drive, and when I returned from church, the screen was damaged (likely from a drop to the floor with a delayed impact). I soon had an appointment with Best Buy, and they sent it (after $99) to Apple to repair it. This is my Raspberry Pi computer (here, but not the + version). I have the official screen and mouse too. WordPress runs in a browser, so I don’t need an expensive Apple to do this!

(My new desktop set-up)

I am now picking up where I left off before church, and now that my usual laptop is in the shop. I am using a mouse and a tiny, unfamiliar keyboard, and I miss many keystrokes, but I am getting better at this.

I unloaded the bags (back to my narrative) and put things away. I then reboarded Air VW the Gray and soon picked out veggies and some coffee at 185th Corner Market. They were happy to see me, and I managed to find everything I needed. I returned to the house, picked a pork chop, and put it in a bag with teriyaki sauce. Later, I would cook mushrooms and onions in a cast-iron pan with the chop. I would finish it in the oven for 15 minutes. It was great. I microwaved a potato and steamed fresh carrots as sides.

Deborah and I watched another episode of Elsbeth and enjoyed it. I also watched before Deborah called another episode of Pluribus. We talked and started revising her visit. It was nice to just hang out together, even remotely.

I had informed Richard and Kathleen that I could not make the games. I was not feeling well, and it’s best not to expose them if it’s the flu or something else (I was better on Sunday).

Deborah rang off and went to sleep, and I read for a while and did the dishes, finished the laundry (except the folding), and assembled the coffee. I read more of Eric Cline’s book and then slept. I managed to sleep until 4ish and then rose to prove hydration, and then managed to sleep until 8ish.

Thanks for reading this multiple computer edition. This is about $130 worth of tech (plus screen and mouse) I am using, including 8G of memory on a four-core ARM processor running over 2G and even faster independent internet connection.