Tag: life

Wednesday: Rain and Cold Here

alohawild

I rose around 7 and found the kitchen. It had not moved, and I made coffee. It was still dark. I turned on the lights to be safe and see. I had my robe and slippers on. It was still cool, 66°F, and I must protect my feet, as they are partially numb from diabetes and/or chemo. A cut might go unnoticed. Discipline is important. And to that end, I took my meds before I had any coffee, another rule. One set before coffee, and one set after I put on my PJs.

I then did my usual processes, another discipline, and updated Quicken and checked the status of my money and debts. I read my accumulation of emails, mostly deleting about 100 emails (smirking at the phishing ones), and dipped my mind into the NYT and tried not to become depressed by the latest shenanigans of the President. My bleeding liberal heart is hoping for lots of blue on Tuesday, but we have been surprised and disappointed so many times that I try not to hope.

More discipline. I sent Deborah a good morning as I started my day. We miss each other and have to wait until December to see each other. I am headed to Brazil for a church mission trip as an alternative to Thanksgiving. I try to start and end our days together.

And then, again, a discipline, now more a habit, I started another daily blog and began to reassemble my previous day in my mind and words in WordPress, with Grammarly flagging mistakes and then trying to push AI simplifications that steal your voice but do make the text brief. I resist. And enjoy the process.

It is always fascinating to me, as my mind sticks and squeaks like it needs oil as I try to remember yesterday’s details. Slowly at first, images reappear in starts and stops, and then a flow begins. But there can be pieces missing, and often I will remember something later and return to the early text and insert the lost moment.

I wrote the blog and looked outside my office window. A bird strike surprised me: a loud thump and a small cloud of downy feathers, and I walked outside in my robe; the recently washed outdoors, it had rained all night. No bird was stunned or killed, but a new hole in the window screen and some downy feathers showed where it hit. The house has been here since the late 1970s, but birds still strike the windows. I have another screen to repair. Hmmm.

I finished the blog, my coffee (about three cups), a banana, and a yogurt. I published it (meaning I clicked the publish button, added the link to a Facebook post, and sent an email with the link). Soon after, I showered, applied various creams for skin issues, and all that. Next, I grabbed my almost finished American Civil War (ACW) book, The Demon of Unrest, and headed out.

I met Wendy, Jack, Dondrea, and Ken for a meeting with a new church that is considering renting our church for a Saturday worship. We discovered that the folks we met had worked with Ken before; both were surprised, and the meeting shifted tenor from a meet-and-greet to a how-to-make-this-work. Excellent.

After that, I headed to Shake Shack and had another caloric disaster of a bacon and avocado burger (single) with fries and a Diet Coke. I read and finished the book. It’s always sad to finish a story, and I really want Erik Larson to write a second volume of the first year of the ACW, because his footnotes and storytelling bring everything to life and are based on traceable records. His last chapter hints at the war and its consequences.

The day was escaping me, and I returned home to rest for a few moments. Lunch did not settle well, but it was sooooo goooood. I discovered that Emma and Mariah were headed to trivia again at Lay Days in Beaverton, and I agreed to join them.

Again, time flies, and I headed to Beaverton Old Town, only to arrive too early. I thought it started at 6, but no, at 7. But I could use a walk, and I enjoy the local area and looking at restaurants. I found new places to try, including a wine bar with a local Tempranillo on their glass list. London, the bartender, was friendly, and we talked about their favorites.

There is also an LL (Loyal Legend) bar in Beaverton with German-style food. But there was also a heavy downpour, and soon my coat was soaked and my shoes damp. I headed to Lay Days, got a table for three for trivia, an Old Fashioned, and waited.

Emma and Mariah appeared, and soon we were busy coming in sixth in trivia. I partook of their pizza orders. Detroit-style square pizza with heavy crust. Delicious, I thought. We had a good time visiting, closed Lazy Days, and headed out.

At home, I was cold and shivered in bed for about an hour. I must have let my core temperature drop; something I have to watch (a family trait not made better by chemo). I then slept. I woke later, dressed for bed, and took my pills. My legs were stiff, and I was tired from shaking. But I was better. I slept the night away and woke late.

Sunday: Church and D&D

alohawild

I rose in the dark again. I cannot seem to sleep past 7 (until Monday, when I blinked and the clock went from 5 to 8). I am still dragging, but not as bad as Saturday. My left arm is less sore from the COVID-19 shot. I never had issues with the Yellow Fever shot. I’ve also been getting headaches lately and waking up with a stuffy nose, which I think is from the heat running in the house. It is cold out now.

I make coffee, liberal coffee, but I forget to press the bold button, which you can’t change once the coffee is brewing (hmmmm). It is OK coffee. I have a banana with that. I return to the office and start doing the usual morning stuff.

The amount of political (all Democratic) email I get is impressive, with all of it being deleted without being read. I delete lots of things I sometimes read, and I spot one impressive phishing email that I just delete; it looked real except for the strange email address and the fact that I don’t have an account with the company they are pretending to be. I received many emails pretending to be Apple, since the crooks know my storage re-up is in the fall, but I avoided them all.

Aside: I use Apple’s Time Machine and a drive plugged into my laptop for backups. I have images back to February available. I also do an old-school file copy to a solid-state drive I keep in the car and refresh it every month or so. I am not paranoid; four hard drives have failed on my laptops, and I’ve never lost any information. I have broken two screens and replaced the one keyboard.

I update my transactions in Quicken and read the NY Times not so much because it is a liberal paper (they really aren’t), but because of how they tell stories and edit. It is a lesson each day. And no AI-generated content.

I manage to finish in time to post the blog before I have to get ready for church. I manage the rush and arrive in Air VW the Gray, loaded with Brazil trip stuff and updated Dungeons & Dragons (I had to make a last-minute character update). I was giving the Stewardship Minute in the service, and the service is here, and my little speech is at 1:11:03.

My ushering was busy; we had many late visitors, members, and some homeless people parking to get coffee, donut holes, and cookies. I also got my Brazil books to Eric K, and my hard-copy forms to Kathy. One person brought a dog, and the dog made noise while getting a bowl of water and some food. I got a few looks and smiled back. It was a dog, and I had to stop myself from laughing when members gave me the “stink-eye” for doing nothing.

Ken was back, and he was going for broke in length and content. Eric K, who was also the liturgist, read the whole chapter of Isaiah 59, and the congregation called out memorable verses for Ken to focus on. Ken, who had just lost his father, remembered his father at points in the sermon.

With that done, I was tired again. Nothing like standing for over an hour, dealing with people, and then giving a short speech to run your batteries down. I headed home, watched more Borges, and then headed to Market of Choice. There I bought some expensive cheeses, a loaf of bread (I was down to a few slices), bread flour (on special for $5.69 for the good stuff, 5-pound bag), and a few small breakfast items.

I was late calling Deborah back and, at that time, was headed to M@ for a game. We said an early goodnight. We will try to connect for a show to watch together.

The game at M@’s was different. Our group avoids combat and mostly ignores treasure. We are in D&D Hell, the 5.5E version, and trying to recover some lost heroes and destroy an unholy artifact that the leader of Hell, Asmodeus, introduced in D&D in the 1970s, knows the secret of how to destroy it. Thus, the field trip. M@ assembled a different story for us, as we were not going to do the large combat and instead implicated a Pit Fiend with false but very convincing evidence of mismanagement and wastefulness. Pretty much the worst you can be accused of in Hell as a leader. Even consorting with dangerous adventurers for likely “good” reasons. A terrible mistake for a Pit Fiend to be discovered being “good.” The details cannot be covered here, but we managed a whole night of gaming and partying with Devil Lords and not having to roll for combat once.

M@ had acquired some new cloth maps from China and a see-through cloth mask to play some of the characters. M@, unlike me, can do the voices and acting when DM-ing.

After that, I chatted with Scott C for a while about retirement and health; we often talk outside by our cars after a game. I arrived home tired and read for a while, and somehow it was 11:30 before I was ready for it.

Today the clock got away from me. Thanks for reading!

Thursday Busy Med Stuff and Lunch

alohawild

Thursday started with me rushing a bit to make my 9:20 appointment with Doc M, my usual doc. I reheated the coffee and wrote the blog. I did not finish, headed to the shower, and soon boarded the EV. Air VW the Gray soon had me through Beaverton and to the Doc at Cedar Hills.

Despite my weight gain, he did offer weight-loss drugs; my A1C was down to 5.6, and my last bloodwork showed no issues and some improvements. And my blood pressure was excellent. Doc M was happy, and we spent more time talking about traveling than my health. We did cover the Yellow Fever shot and he got me a list of my vacinations.

My job, without discussion, was not to gain any more weight or mess up our good work on my A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol numbers. I will be back for a physical around April next year.

Next, the EV zoomed, following Nav, to the distant Walgreens that supplies Yellow Fever shots. It is a sunny but cool fall day without rain or Oregon Mist. Thirty minutes later, I am early for my 11 appointment. I get in line, but then I see a QR Code for vaccine check-in. Feeling more like Delta than Walgreens I check-in on the internet.

A few others are there waiting too, and soon a pharmacist calls my name first and has COVID-19 and Yellow Fever (a live vax) for me. We head to a cubbyhole, and I show my passport; he fills out the yellow card (I lost my original, but I’ve never had Yellow Fever before), and he watches as I enter my passport number and other formal details that must match it.

The shots are barely noticeable. I then get back into the EV and head across Portland back to Beaverton. Insurance didn’t cover the Yellow Fever vax, but the pharmacist had a coupon that brought it down to just above $276.

Brad J and Scott W can do lunch today at McMenamins Cedar Hills and wait until 12:15, enabling me to get back, finish another task, and then have lunch with them. Nav gets me back to Beaverton via Highway 26.

I visited Powell’s @ Cedar Hills and got the book I ordered, The Italian Job, not about the movie, but about the author’s time as bureau chief for the New York Times covering Central Europe and the popes. I liked his article about the current pope, Leo XIV, and about how popes face aging and health setbacks.

I also found a book about the American West part of the American Civil War that I only have some vague information on (having played a wargame on the battles in New Mexico): The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West by Megan Kate Nelson. I will try to get to it soon-ish, as I may suggest asking the author to speak in the church’s speaker series, if in the area.

Next, I headed to McMenamins Cedar Hills, and soon we were together and talked about Scott W’s diving trip and Truk Lagoon. The lagoon is full of WWII Japanese wrecks from Operation Hailstone in 1944, mostly transports and merchantman ships. Scott W told us he stays safe by seldom touching anything and staying mostly outside the wrecks. He also does about two dives a day, never risking a buildup of nitrogen in his blood. We also talked about my purchase of the Air VW the Gray; I had leased it for two years. The choice was mostly a financial decision, as I could not get a vehicle for a lower cost; I like it, and it is only two years old. We updated each other on travel and will not meet again until December.

The beer, cup of soup, half-sandwich, and side salad made me sleepy, and I imagine the vax also had me worn out. I returned home and talked to Deborah as her day wound down. I went back to bed and did not rise again until 4ish.

At home, I made Indian-style dinner from a jar. I defrosted chicken thighs, roasted them, sliced them hot, then browned them just a bit in a pan. I added the sauce to the hot pan, turned the heat down, and let it simmer until hot and spicy. I made rice and managed not to screw it up. Just one cup, but it filled the pan. I forgot to make 1/2 cup. I had a few bowls over rice, but I put most of the rice and much of the chicken tikka masala in a container for another meal. I do like rice, but it is bad for my A1C and waistline.

I read more Dungeons & Dragons stuff and will see if I can get a game going soon. I had to rise at 3:45 to take Mariah to the PDX. I also had some itching and took a Benadryl to stop it. I fell asleep by 10:30 and woke to my alarm, wondering why I needed to get up now.

Thanks for reading!

Wednesday Home and Busy

alohawild

I am again using the standard editor and working my way through the new tooling.

I am also rejecting many of Grammarly’s suggestions now. I like my own voice. And yesterday it did scramble the meaning of a couple of sentences that I corrected after posting the blog. Hmmm.

The words ‘so’ and ‘actually’ are still not used by me. I do not like ‘because’ either, but it floats into my writing when Grammarly points out in blue highlighting that the meaning would be improved if I used ‘because’ and not some other word.

I rose early on Wednesday as my breathing was tough and my tummy unhappy. I also needed to prove hydration and thus started at 6. The time changes also had me up too soon.

I started the day early. It was the deep dark of predawn. I had to turn on the lights. I started my adventure of using WordPro and Grammarly to tell the story of my travel day, Tuesday.

At one point on Wednesday, I opened the garage door, and a red-and-green hummingbird flew down and looked me over. Deciding, I assume, that I was not a source of food, it flew up. It did hover and then left. I am not sure my neighbors are not teaching the birds to land on their fingers.

The backyard had three flickers that were eating the windfall apples. I have not seen the downy woodpecker return. There are fewer crows (they often drive other larger birds away), and I am not sure whether the birds are staying or passing through for the winter.

I spent the morning writing and doing the usual tasks of checking all my transactions in Quicken. I also checked, and my weight is up to 244, so it will be back to salads and less beer soon. Email is usually just deleting them. I have also seen more official-looking phishing emails, which I delete without much more than looking at the obscure email address that sent them.

I did get an email from the Social Security Administration that was official but led to nothing more than reminding me I get a cost-of-living adjustment at the end of the year of 3.6%. I logged on and confirmed my number matched theirs. Yup.

I reviewed my United Methodist Volunteers In Mission for, printed it off, and put it with my other papers. I am using a green mailer for my Brazil trip (19Nov to 30Nov2026). I later updated a health insurance reimbursement form for the trip. UMVIM is covering the trip for health trip (and less happy events) for a few bucks each day. Dondrea and I are the official and trained UMVIM leaders for the trip.

With the blog done, I showered, and all that, and dressed. After putting around the house, I headed out to the nearby UPS store in Air VW the Gray. After a short line with folks there to drop off various packages to be scanned and accepted, I was up. A very young woman then got out her stamp and notarized all the UMVIM documents she watched me sign. It was $10 a stamp (two needed), and a few bucks for a scan of the documents on the USB-A drive. Done!

Next, I was going to stop at the church, but Wendy called, and the internet access was out (a frayed cable, according to Jack C), and she was working from home, and various meetings were moved out, too. Instead, I headed to Portland.

I took the usual 26, crossed over Beaverton to Portland, and headed to the Cosmic Monkey on Sandy. There I got the newest Doomquest, #5, from Marvel. I have enjoyed this series. I also found #3 of Dungeons & Dragons: Total Party Killers and ordered #2, which was out of stock.

Ignoring the information above on my weight, I headed to Grassa and ordered a lovely salad (which would be wonderful with a little chicken for another visit for fewer calories) and a vodka pasta dish I previously enjoyed at the airport. A glass of house wine in a small juice glass went well with it. I read the comic books while eating and enjoying everything. An excellent meal and read.

This is too much food but so good; I finished it.

I also stopped at the 1960s-70s retro lighting and furniture store, Lounge Lizard, and managed to resist going retro.


Wendy’s update was a no-go for our meeting, so I headed home by the river on Highway 5; it was a lovely day, and the mountains were out. It added ten minutes, but the trip was enjoyable.

I managed to sit in my comfy chair after getting the mail, after returning home, and nod off for 5 minutes. Wendy called and was happy to meet at the church. I got up, put on my glasses and shoes, grabbed my laptop, and headed to church.

It was a short trip, and I joined Wendy, and we worked out cleaning plans for the church, mass mailing holiday info, and a few other details. We called Dondrea and talked with her too to get things moving. Busy. Busy.

After this, I headed to Ava Coffee and got a London Fog and an apple strudel, cut in half (Emma got the other half). I did more paperwork again and enjoyed my snack.

Next, Lay Days, a brewpub with good pizza, is not far away, and I walked there, got a table, and waited for Mariah and Emma, who showed up just as Trivia for Geeks started. We had pizza and drinks while trying to answer trivia questions. We managed, after an hour of coming in 6th. We had blown a few questions, and some music questions left us lost. Still, it was fun, and the Detroit square-cut, too-much-crust pizza was great (and again a bad plan for my waistline).

After trivia and closing the place at 10ish, we talked about role-playing games, and Emma and Mariah agreed to D&D on Thursday night or another gaming system. We will start with 5.5E D&D and see if we can make it work.

I found my copy of the Kickstarter rework of the AD&D adventure from the 1980s, Caverns of Thracia, to 5E (which is close enough to 5.5E for adventures). Maybe we can use this material to give me a break on writing until we see if this works. I remember the material was fun to play way back.

I got home, read more American Civil War history, set my alarm for an easy 7 since I had a 9ish visit with Doc M, and soon fell asleep.

Tuesday Yet-Another-Travel Day

alohawild

I am using the standard editor for WordPress now, as they seem to be phasing out the “classic” editor. Each paragraph is a separate block of text, and various tags are available to help search engines. I can also code the HTML if I wanted to go more high-tech. And while I could complain about change, as an IT professional, even retired, exploring quantum computing, and having taught AI Python coding, I will try to accept it and even enjoy it a bit.

I am also using Grammarly, and it keeps an eye on my spelling, missing plurals, and misplaced commas. I also pay for the extended version, and Grammarly often wants to rewrite my text. I find the voice it uses interestingly brief (it drops many of my words); I also play a game of finding which word I missed that trips Grammarly into changing my meaning. I often mix ‘what’ and ‘which,’ and I liked the change, for example (BTW, that scrambled sentence is my usual mistake). But the ‘accept’ option often carries forward voice-changing updates I do not want. I often hand key some suggestions.

Dear reader, I was practicing with the editor above, covering my thoughts on these tools and writing in the standard editor. Please let me start the narrative of my return to Oregon from Michigan now.

I rose too early at 4:45 to make my 8:50 direct flight back to Oregon’s PDX airport. I had mostly packed (I did forget a book that got mixed up with the bed sheets) and was dressed and out the door around 5:10. A sleepy desk clerk checked me out. I grabbed a coffee from the machine and saw a light on in the breakfast area. It was being made, but it would not be ready until 6. I would be at DTW by then.

I texted Deborah that I was headed out and took to the fast roads of the greater Detroit area. Unlike Portland, I am always trying to keep up with the 70s, 80s, and higher-speed vehicles. I saw a motorcycle that might have a red shift.

I arrived at the confusing signs and streets of the DTW rental car return process, with construction. It was dark, but I was familiar with the area (I’d been lost here before). I soon spotted a familiar blue sign and found the correct street. I pulled in; Hertz was not too busy, and I soon collected my belongings (remembering I forgot the book, The Heart of the Matter, a gift from the Crescent Bookstore in New Orleans, but I did not like it much). I had filled the tank the night before.

On the bus to the terminal, we were reminded of the $500 charge for taking the keys with us and warned to check that we had our phones and wallets. About twenty minutes later, the bus was about 60% full, and we got off the bus and scattered. I headed upstairs, printed my tag, left my phone, then recovered it, and saw more folks running to find theirs (it seemed like a lose-your-phone vibe on Tuesday morning). I headed into security on that floor. As a Silver Medallion Delta passenger, I can use the line upstairs. I waited in line for a few minutes before they approved me. This time I took off my suspenders, and my backpack and I were approved without extra attention.

The TSA PreCheck person asked why, if I travel so much, I do not purchase their pre-checked process. I replied that I don’t want that much attention, thank you. Dear readers, while friends have it and love it, it seems a bit 1984 to me, and I prefer to be gray with the other passengers. I also fear, yes, that is the right word, adding more of my travel information to security corporations. At the 2600 conference, I heard hackers say the only protection is to be gray and not be noticed, rather than to hide. And once you hand over information (or they just steal it, like Flock cameras), you have no way of knowing who will use it or how much you have endangered yourself.

I may change my mind someday as lines get longer and events force me to other choices. Of course, the T-shirts and hat make me less gray. But they help me look friendly and harmless. Which I am.

Breakfast was at a taphouse with an excellent pancake breakfast and bacon. Too many carbs, but still delicious. It was near my gate and was open. Breakfast was under $30 for one at DTW, not terrible this time, and, like I said, good too.

I rewatched the movie Pressure (a recommended WWII movie), and then napped for a few minutes before watching Mortal Kombat 2 wtih Karl Urban, who made the movie for me. While it is hard to recommend, I enjoyed it, especially Karl Urban’s character learning that his superpower was to ‘act,’ and then fight like a super wirefu character: “I am just an actor.”

The flight wasn’t memorable, and the seat next to me was empty. The aisle person put on a Central Michigan University, class of 1982, and we chatted for a moment. Her son had moved to Portland, and she visits now.

I soon was off the plane, found the restroom, found my bag, and then got on the TriMet MAX to Beaverton. About an hour later, and after some miscommunication that we resolved, Joan S picked me up at Beaverton TC.

I got to the house cold, with the heat still on Vacation setting; I turned it back to the usual heat and set the water heater to the usual setting, too. I went through the accumulated mail, found various notes from my health insurance, Regency, rejecting my CT scan to prove the cancer had not spread–an annual fight, with American health insurance deciding that CT scans happen too often now. I see that I have to schedule my CT in a message from OHSU MyChart, and the appeal went through, and it is now covered.

I unpack (missing the forgotten book) and decide that the house is cold, as is the water, and lunch sounds like a good idea. I head to BJ’s Brewhouse (the food at the local one is better than the ones I have tried elsewhere) for warmth and food. I take a seat at the bar. The cheap options do not appeal to me. I order a large chicken-and-bacon pizza, a calorie- and cholesterol-heavy dietary disaster. I also get a salad (with stupidly high-calorie, high-fat blue-cheese dressing).

I call Corwin, and he agrees to join me for a late lunch. He must walk the dog, Hank (still banned from the house), but arrives after I have already had too much pizza. The red ale was wonderful too. We manage to get 3/4 of the pizza inside of us. Corwin harvests the remaining for future meals. We headed out well fed.

I am surprised to not need a nap. I talked to Dondrea about church things and getting more paperwork done for the trip to Brazil in November. I called Deborah and texted her through all my transitions. It is hard to be separated again, but Christmas is coming soon.

Deborah will likely visit in February 2027. Although I thought about traveling to New Orleans in late January to enjoy the local parades (Krews), I’ll skip that since our trip is booked for April 2027. But, dear reader, NOLA is wonderful in late January before the crazy hits in February: Mardi Gras. Deborah may attend another conference in Orange County in June (back to the Mouse!). In light pencil, for a redo of our July Michigan trip for July 4th-ish timing (our plans were upset by the smoke this year). I also want to consider a new South Trip for the church now that we have done it. More to come.

A Church Council meeting and paperwork fill my early evening. Deborah sent me a goodnight text; we are back to trying to start and finish our days remotely together. I get a few to-dos from the meeting, but it goes well and but eats 90 minutes. While I guess it is good to have a meeting, I always regret the time spent.

The rest of the evening is doing laundry and watching the conclusion of a less-than-satisfying season of Slow Horses. It was more of a Jason Bourne chase than the usual slow spy stories. Still, I look forward to the next season (already planned).

With the laundry done, I read some more American Civil War and then went to sleep. Thanks for reading. I did have a bowl of jarred peaches as a snack.