I will be rushing this writing today, as I am time-boxed to meet Barb, Susie’s sister, today in Portland.
I spent Friday not doing laundry and not cleaning the house. Instead, I got up and spent the morning writing the blog and three long emails to folks on the Brazil trip about currency and power adapters. The whole morning was over before I was ready for it to be.
I took all my power adapters, and only one was an N-type for Brazil. My Apple kits didn’t include this type, but it said a European one should work. Hmmm. I went on Amazon, found just the plug adapter for $7, and ordered two. It will easily fit in my PlugBug box.
Between the emails, blog, and my usual tasks, I spent the morning and didn’t get dressed until the afternoon. I ate a leftover Jersey Mike’s sub while doing all these tasks. Another quarter consumed. Again, time was gone.
I looked out my window while I did endless electronic paperwork, but the pheasant did not reappear. Through the day, I did hear the call of committees of geese (I have decided that they are more committee-like than a gaggle). I even dreamed of them as dream committees were heard in my dreams last night. The squirrels are busy searching the backyard for food, and I see them now consuming my apple tree’s windfall. A huge crow was alone in the backyard for a while. The local winter-staying hummingbirds are still whipping around the pine trees.
Our host in Brazil, Gordon G, sent us a note that we can buy some food in Panama, and that it would be best to have a few lower-denomination US bills for this part of the trip unless he said we wanted a lot of Panamanian currency. He also said that, for now, the USD is up about 10% in Brazil. Something we will hopefully enjoy (unless politics or events send the USD tumbling).
I met Joan S around 3ish for appetizers and drinks (water and Diet Coke for me), and we talked for hours. It was fun just to hang out for a while and take a break. We are both retired and yet insanely busy. She had the avocado egg rolls (I had two, so good) and, for me, flatbread with chicken, bacon, and avocado.
Back at the house, I did the dishes, reheated some coffee, and then settled in my chair. I binged-watched the other half of season one of Black Doves, a totally fun and wacky BBC spy story. Recommended. Season 2 was just released. I did not start it, but I finished season one.
It has the same appeal as John Wick: a criminal secret organization with rules and processes that are often calming, explained by their manager, Reed, and played with a force you can almost feel by Sarah-Jane Lancashire. The action scenes are shootouts and fight scenes that, while not as elaborate as in John Wick, are still fantastic.
I also got WhatsApp working with Dondrea, and we set up a shared group for all of us headed to Brazil and Gordon. I tried to get Venmo working, but my existing account has an old phone number and won’t unlock for me without that phone. I may have to create a new account with my alternative email. Hmmm.
I read after that and soon was asleep. Not an exciting day, but with 13 days left before Brazil, it might be good to have a few simple days.
I rose closer to 8 than 7 and was soon drinking reheated coffee and back in my office writing and trying to reassemble the previous day into a narrative. The narrative this time was a bit disjointed, but that was a new way of writing it. It is important to try new things and also to get it done. Writing and publishing every day is not easy, but it has its own pleasures. The mental exercise and writing practice are always good. I only regret the time, as there is always something to do in the morning that gets missed. But still, it is worth it, I think.
Focus was messy, and a pheasant appeared in the backyard. I did not know we had them. Dondrea looked at it after I called her with a what-is-that photo. Yup, the usual pheasant, and they are hunted here. I had no idea and did not expect a pretty male in the backyard.
To me, it looked like he was wearing a collar with a bow tie. A formal affair on the lawn!
I had a few other distractions and was reading more election news. It looks like Alaska, after running voter-ranked updates, will still go blue. I talked to the church, and Wendy was waiting for me. I tried to rush. I got the blog out with a few last-minute inclusions that I pinned at the end. I could not pull on the threads of memory and get one continuous story. Instead, I would find another thread that seemed unconnected to the others. I pasted them in instead of rewriting again.
I published the blog by pasting a link on Facebook and emailing others. Some have subscribed and get an email when I publish. I also have some fellow bloggers who get my blog as a suggestion from WordPress. I peek at their sites. They have excellent sites. I do not see many that post more than once a week. Hmmm.
I shower and all that. I next head to the garage. Air VW the Gray now under a safety recall and cannot charge over 80%. This cuts my range by 50 miles, to 250-ish on an 80% charge. And while annoying, the 80% charge is faster, as physics means that the next 20% takes the same time and power as the first 80%. The lost power generates heat, and it seems this heat has, in a few cases, been too much. I unplugged it at 81%
Aside: In cases of excessive heat, some batteries in an EV battery pack balloon. This then crushes other batteries, causing them to short, releasing all the power stored in them immediately and starting a fire that cascades into shorting more and more batteries. Kaboom. It is like lighting off a gas tank in a conventional car. Releasing all the power in all the gasoline at once is bad too.
I head to the church, and Wendy is happy to see me. Jack C and I use the cart to move the 4,900+ mass-mailing postcards. The USPS only takes up to 5,000 in a submission. Last time we did this in three batches, but this time Wendy has split it into two uneven parts for the 9,000+ cards.
The cart catches three times, as Jack C and I struggle with the larger mass. We dump them three times, but manage to reassemble them back into the proper batches. We get them to the cargo hold and then out again, but the cart hits a bump, and we scramble. It would have been funny to watch. Like Red Green doing a mass mailing for Possum Lodge; we both had suspenders on (for those who need a reminder of who this is here). While I filled out the forms, Jack explained he was wearing his extra-strong suspenders so we wouldn’t get plumber’s crack. The mail guys were dying laughing. They accepted the mailing, and I took Jack C back to the church, returned the cart, and gave Wendy the receipt. Done!
I headed off to return my shirts at REI and soon was chatting with the clerk about Brazil and our trip. I have found that REI staff love to talk about travel, hiking, and their product. I found three new shirts, light material, for the trip, XXL and a bit stretchy. They fit. Added to my pile of things for Brazil.
I then went to Jersey’s Mike for a sub. I like the Spicy East Coast Italian. I walked in, said I was there to enjoy their excellent sandwiches, and they told me that they were out of lasagne and other pasta dishes (they don’t have them). They offered me a bread-and-lettuce sub to take to a nearby Italian pasta joint for a lasagne sandwich. I chose my usual instead and had it cut into quarters. I ate just a quarter and saved the rest for later.
I returned home and tried to stay calm, as I have a Dungeons & Dragons game, the first one in about a decade at the house, and picked up a NY-style take-home-and-cook pizza with a plain salad. I got the game ready and set up my usual start of a graveyard and did my bad Scottish accent (trying to channel M@’s acting skills while playing DM for our games) when Emma, Mariah, and Joan S showed up at 6:15-ish to play.
Mariah had some basic ideas, and Emma was an expert player. Joan S was new but rolled more 20s than I have ever seen. Emma created the characters for everyone and handwrote all the information in perfect tiny handwriting.
I had my tree collection, and soon the story started with Emma poorly negotiating a price to clear the local graveyard of “shinnagins” from some passing necromancer. They headed there with their 15 gp paid in advance (it was so cheap that even the town leader, Jim, paid it now) and soon discovered an animated skeleton was loose in the graveyard.
They decided to take it from a distance, as Joan was a rogue and was good at it. Also, Emma was playing “laser cleric” and started blasting from a distance. But while Joan S perfect 20s continued on her hide rolls, this left only two targets for the undead, which produced a hit on Mariah’s barbarian orc.
A rush and more long-distance shots, and the undead creature was re-deaded. But more started to crawl out of the ground (I have specially made figures for this look, but they are mummies; still, they looked the part). The battle continued, and soon more undead were popping out of the ground like weeds. The cleric, Emma’s character, tried a poison spell (but failed an intelligence check; these undead are immune to poison, being animated bones). The blasting worked better the next time after the undead missed the second time (I was not rolling the 20s that Joan S was).
Cultists were found to be hiding in the ruins of a chapel (I wish I had taken a picture of the setting). The DM was surprised by how fast they were dispatched; Joan S’s character was unstoppable. With that done, I practiced with new D&D players. It was fun and helped everyone get used to the play and the new characters. Everyone had a good time and got their turn in the spotlight. Prefect.
We started the Caverns of Tracia campaign, an original 1970s adventure that has been converted to 5E, with a fast-forward to the dungeon crawl, as the travel and finding are less interesting, I think, than just walking down steps into a lost complex, the meat-and-potatoes of old school tabletop role-playing games (TTRPG). The adventurers hired someone to carry their light. Joan S has a human who cannot see in the dark. I had a light-bearer figure (another TTRPG, Frostgrave, has special figures, including the cultists and the light-bearer we used).
The adventure started with them not scaring the bats (I rolled my first good roll, but it was for the light-bearer). We ended after the players had the crap beat out of them by lizardmen, with one lizardman already injured by a previous encounter. I should have reduced the number to two, as monsters are, despite their low rating, too strong for 1st-level newbie adventurers with 20+ hit points and 20+ attacks.
We stopped with the lizardmen, realizing the puny adventurers weren’t the usual bad guys and might be willing to heal their wounds, and called a halt, as they had bloodied the adventurers.
And with that, the players, Emma, Mariah, and Joan S, headed out, wondering what would happen to them next Thursday when we start again. I put the dishes in the dishwasher and ran it. I managed to resist pizza, but I did have a bit of salad. Later I had some cheese with some pickles, as I seemed hungry tonight.
I started a new spy show, Black Doves, set in London, after hearing Keira Knightley, who stars in it, say in a BBC interview celebrating the release of season 2 that it was a crazy fun show. In the interview, with her now playing a spy and doing fight scenes, she said she was ready to take over the role of James Bond. I watched three episodes and didn’t go to bed until after 12:30. It was fun and recommended.
I soon fell asleep and woke up once. Thanks for reading!
I spent Tuesday evening watching the blue wave of wins wash away years of sin. A new liberal baptism in the waters of change hit the country. It was not mispolling or a blue mirage, but a strong movement back to the left and center. 2014 in reverse (when President Obama saw nine seats lost and Republican control of the Senate).
What I saw were good candidates on the blue side running against weaker Trump-picked candidates who struggled to articulate how they would fix the issues. The personal attacks and the other Bush (the older one) tactics did not play out (also explaining the one-term for Bush Sr.). Less intelligent attacks like “Democrats are Communists” make good slogans and memes but get no votes. To me, it looked like the red side had borrowed the previous failed Democratic playbook and added a Bush Sr. seasoning. Seldom does the “we are not them” strategy work, but it did this time for Democrats with strong younger candidates who were good in front of the camera.
I read more of a Canadian crime novel and waited. At 10, I was tired and had not done much, but decided to sleep. I managed to sleep, but a new issue in my right leg surprised me. Now, when I move my knee in some way (still trying to understand it), it flashes massive pain, taking-my-breath-away level of pain, and then fades. I cannot reproduce it yet. Hmmm.
I slept until the morning, woke around 4, and then went back to sleep. My colon was back to its old tricks.
Tuesday morning started with my alarm at 6:30 in the dark, and I reset it to 7:30 and slept more. I then crawled out of bed, more like Bela Lugosi than me, avoiding the sun and possibly hissing, found the coffee, “I do not drink… wine.” I heated the coffee in the microwave. “Listen to the children of the night!” My robe, more of a cape, armed with my drink, I returned to the office and watched the sunrise while I started the blog.
I wrote only for a short while, becoming more human-like as I woke and the coffee worked. I showered, dressed, dressed all in blue for Election Day, and headed out in the Air VW the Gray to Portland, stopping at McDonald for their sandwich and a burrito for breakfast. I put sugar in my coffee by mistake; for the first time in years, it was sweet. The taste was pleasant. Hmmm, twelve calories of sugar.
I arrived at Richard’s without incident and no shutdown highways. At first, it was a surprise, but then Robin and James appeared. Everyone was running late. We started up the cooperative role-playing game, ISS Vanguard, Jame’s version, a huge investment (I see prices of over $1,000 for all the add-ons and painted figures), and we will likely play this for a year. It takes us until 11 to get to the mission. It is about 90 minutes of ship management, which is also interesting and highly immersive as we make choices and invest in technology and production.
Today’s mission goes unexpectedly; we abandon the mission (no planet book is opened at first) and find ourselves on our ship, ISS Vanguard, fighting a battle against something (again, no spoilers) that fits better with a version of the Starship Troopers movie. It was a close thing, and I am surprised to deliver the winning blow; I play engineering.
Robin is still not getting the team and RPG process. She is a board game person and was trying to win, or at least not lose. Richard correctly determined this was just a desperate fight, no puzzle to solve, and we piled on. It was very intense and interesting.
With that done, I headed out; there was no real traffic. I was quickly home, and soon headed out again. The lawn service was scooping up the mass of leaves in the driveway, and I waited for them to finish. Their truck was stuffed with leaves, but it does not look like the trees have even started. After they left, I watched a slow stream of leaves fall. Soon it will look like they had done nothing.
I had lunch at BJ’s Brewhouse and had their lunch special. I was offered a red ale, but I said I would not drink one on election day and instead selected a Boston Lager, something more liberal. And read my book on my Kindle. I had coffee and dessert.
I tried, returning home, to focus on cleaning or Dungeons & Dragons, but the polls were closing on the East Coast, and I just followed the election and read when it got boring.
I also finally finished the blog and published it late.
And while I am retired, these last couple of weeks feel like I am back at work. On Monday, I was busy closing things out, writing instructions, and getting ready for ten days in Brazil starting on the 19th. I was also working on some church process items. I am also planning with Deborah to be in Michigan on Christmas Day. I think Deborah will be in Oregon again in February. Spring Break plans are not done, but Deborah has a conference in New Orleans in mid-April, and we will be there for my Birthday, April 16th.
I woke up without an alarm, and it was already sunny. I reheated coffee and found that I had, yes, no bananas. I did not sing about it. I found my office; it had not moved, but it was thick with paper that needed to be filed. I started on the blog, called the church to taked to the admin, Wendy, about items to fix after some rough spots in the church council, and did my usual morning items.
I also looked up, later, the church conference vote to increase the Pastor Expenses the church covers by a surprising $2,000, from $3,000 to $5,000. This was also a surprise at the same church meeting. I learned it was voted in at the final hours of the annual church conference meeting. Not sure I understand where the conference expected each church to find an additional $2,000. I am frustrated by it.
I download my transactions into Quicken and check that I understand all of these items. I was surprised to see a seldom-used credit card flash an expense from Costco, and I understood that was my card re-upping for another year. I was already getting ready to report it when I remembered Costco doesn’t take AMEX, and I have the Visa for that. Ok.
I did not find the focus to finish before 11 and finally got the blog out nearer to noon, and finally showered, dressed, and all of that. I then headed out and decided on Pastini in the Cedar Hills strip mall and had their lunch specials. This chain place is better than the usual, and I like their lunch. The wine is overpriced (as it is all over Oregon), and I took water instead. It was an excellent late lunch; I was again after 2 for lunch.
Next, I stopped by Office Depot and got a short case of paper for the printer (but the discount is only when you buy $100 or more) for too much money and a few transparent folders for travel. I often put back the case when they do the bait-and-switch and get one ream of paper, but I liked the box and would have paid the same over time.
Next, I went to REI and found some summer shirts in the back on 50% off. Sadly, I later learned that about 50% needed a larger size. I will return them and try a larger size. All good.
I returned home, having tried to cover my travel needs (but will try again) and my printer. I then finished the laundry, cleaned up the house, and chatted with Deborah. I brought more order to the house and then headed to Taco Bell and grabbed a late dinner of a (clearly neither) Mexican Pizza and some tacos. I took it home and ate it at the house while I brought more order to the house and finished the movie Midway (panned by many, but I like it). I folded the laundry and finished the first season of The Borges (and I think I will skip the rest). I also finished the book Sugar King and found it an interesting tie-in to what I learned from my trips to New Orleans and the surrounding areas.
The family was bought out in a messy breakup of the sugar company in the 1950s, which left the land with developers rather than the sugar company. The land was made into new cities, but big oil and chemical companies also came and poisoned the same places. It is a terrible story, Cancer Ally.
With the laundry put away, the bed remade, and a new book on my now-charged Kindle, A World of Curiosities (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel), I climbed into bed. I set an alarm for 6:30 for Tuesday morning gaming.
At the end of Thursday, after reading for a while, I tried to sleep. My legs seemed tired and hurt. I must have nodded off a few times, but the pain woke me and reached new levels, maybe a six on the scale. I could not sleep, and the pain would not fade. I rose and got two ibuprofen and one Tylenol, a combination that works for me, and the pain receded, and sleep came. I still woke a few times, once for a cramp, but I managed to sleep enough. Not a good ending to Thursday, but with some sleep, Friday should be OK.
I will drink more water and move more on Friday and hope this stops. It has been two nights of disturbed sleep now. I have also spent many hours reading and working on my computer over the last few days. I suspect that is the cause. Not drinking enough water or moving enough.
Returning to the beginning of Thursday, I woke again with leg pain and rose very late, as I had trouble sleeping after 8. The day then got away from me, and I wasn’t ready for lunch until after 2. I managed to get the blog out at 11-ish and handled a half dozen items for the church and the Brazil trip. Both of them tried to fill my day.
Two books filled my day: one on customs in Brazil from Culture Smart!, and The Sugar King by Peter M. Wolf. The first reminded me to carry more dress clothing to Brazil, and the latter is a family-told story about the late Sugar King: Leon Godchaux. I learned from the author’s opening that Leon Godchaux bought up the sugar plantations, but those who bought out the family later sold them, turned them into suburbs and chemical plants, creating Cancer Alley. The author is clear that the family had nothing to do with the destruction of the sugar fields.
I have to admit, I only started The Sugar King because it was larger print than most books, but I was disappointed it did not offer footnoted references; it does name its sources as it goes, and it has an index and bibliography. The story was magical and clearly drawn from family sources, most of which are named as the story goes on (and many are recorded and available). Also, I know the area well and can imagine the streets and places as the story goes on. I also know the plantations and the River Road covered in the story.
The story also covers the American Civil War and its impact on the Godchax family, including how Leon moved to New York City to establish a firm there (which they will eventually close) and to place the family wealth in NYC and in gold at the start of the war. Leon and family survived the war with minimal losses, unlike many who ended up with their wealth lost in valueless Confederate money. The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution forbade adopting the debt or giving the currency any value. It was interesting to finish reading Erik Larson’s story of the start of the war, The Demon of Unrest, yesterday, and then read the same story from the family’s perspective in the South, but not from the elite’s perspective. I have already finished 1/3 of The Sugar King. I am halfway through Brazil: The Essential Guide to Customs & Culture.
The book describes the details of slavery as the family buys slaves to rescue them and also as a necessity to help the family (getting freedom for all). It covers the exact laws, how they apply, and what they mean for the family and the slaves. That alone is almost worth the read. Recommended.
The family is Jewish, from France, and came to the US with little more than a few letters of recommendation. The story is told in the first person by Peter M. Wolf, who often comments on how he is connected to a person in his story. This is very much a family member retelling the family history and not willing to cover the dark processes like buying slaves. He also corrects the record of previous historians and published stories. Again, Sugar King is recommended.
I complete all my tasks, finally get dressed, and head out to find a nice lunch. After all the noise of paperwork, calls, church items, and blogging, I felt that a nice stop at the wine bar in Beaverton was a good idea. Alas, it was closed and not open for lunch. Lots of places in Beaverton only open for dinner. Hmmm.
Loyal Legend was my choice, and there I read more and had lunch. My food, ordered at the bar and then delivered, wasn’t memorable, and the beer was strange (seldom is there bad beer, but this might have been it). I also thought fries and one brat with the house beer for over $30 was really pushing my tolerance; maybe if it were two brats and the fries were included, it would be more reasonable. I will not be back except for drinks, something with whiskey, I suspect, or gin.
I returned home, feeling the pain and strange exhaustion of late, and sat down and read more. I also arranged for the new car payment, via OnPoint Credit Union, for Air VW the Gray to be included in Quicken. A new asset of the ID.4, too. I valued it the same as the loan (rounded up to the dollar). I also get an account with OnPoint and may transfer some cash there (once I figure that out, and their website does not, like US Bank’s, allow for direct connections to transfer money). I tried to set up a payment on the US Bank side, but I had trouble with the account number, and then I manually set it up. Hmmm.
Aside: I have avoided Credit Unions over the years, since they are never as flexible as US Bank, which is not great with technology but tries to improve over time. For example, US Bank gave me my first copy of MS Money for free (a long-forgotten product when MS thought it could be Quicken too). I looked at CUs then, since US Bank still charged high fees, but the connections to CUs were all manual uploads. I stayed with my bank. Over time, US Bank has improved, reduced fees, and even sorted deposits before presenting checks, stopping random check bouncing. Don’t even take me there on that one.
I returned to the new season of Ted Lasso and watched the first episode. It is marvelous. I had a snack of some favorite chocolates and then later some cheese and my fridge pickles. It was all good.
I decided not to spend hours sitting and writing and just enjoy Ted Lasso. I found again that time had slipped away from me, and I was in bed nearer to midnight than I like. The rain was heavy, and the gutters were loud. I seemed to be trying to sleep next to a brook!
Sleep was rough as I covered before. Thanks for reading!
