September 2007
Summary: Brunch and Stow Lake with Mom Ryan and Patrick. Day trip to Santa Cruz with Patrick. Patrick leaves for China for 6 months, going away dinner at Houston's with Nate, Chris, Drew, Danny, Phil, Quyen, Mom Ryan. Cow Palace home improvement show, In-N-Out Burger, Exploratorium with Leilah, and Cost Plus with Chris and Nate. The Incredible Shrinking Woman and Yentl at The Castro Theatre with Chris and Nate. Dinner at Fuzio with Chris, Nate, Ted, and Emery. Drinks at Badlands with Chris, Nate, Ted, Emery, and sneeper. Lifeforce at The Castro Theatre with Chris and Nate. Walked the Castro and chatted briefly with Brian and Kelly. Dinner at Escape From New York Pizza then saw Starman and Brainstorm at The Castro Theatre with Chris. Dinner at La Med with (Nate's dad) Brian, Nate, and Chris. Folsom Street Fair with Nate and everyone.
Dates on this page
Sat Sep 1, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Spent essentially the whole day working on Danny's website. Lunch at home with Patrick: grilled chicken boob sandwich on Italian whole wheat sesame bread with monterey jack cheese, tater tots. For dinner Patrick walked me through cooking lemon chicken, and Patrick also steamed some yellow squash and Trader Joe's precooked brown fried rice with mushrooms from a bag. For dessert: Boston cream pie. Watched a documentary from the Matrix box set.
Sun Sep 2, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. To celebrate Patrick's forthcoming journey to China to teach and do research, his martial arts instructor Simmone who was instrumental in arranging the trip took us out to dim sum brunch along with Sam, who also studies with Simmone. Patrick and I picked up Sam and parked in the garage under Portsmouth Square—perhaps the least expensive garage parking in the entire city. It was the first time I visited her studio, which faces Portsmouth Square. Inside, the walls were lined with photographs, posters, handbrushed Chinese scrolls, news clippings—memorabilia of Simmone's career and family. In a stand near the wall were stored bamboo sticks and other stick-like objects of various lengths. At the far end of the room lay other equipment including a computer and a TV and VCR on a small cart. The day was exceptionally warm. We walked a few short blocks to a restaurant, and along the way Simmone pointed out the famous streets of San Francisco Chinatown—Waverly, Ross Alley, etc. While waiting in the foyer for a table I asked her the name of the restaurant we had entered since I didn't see an English sign on the way in. She said she didn't know—this was simply the place she came where she knew there was good food. The restaurant was packed with a short line as we arrived. We agreed to share a table in order to avoid waiting. Inside, the restaurant was filled with mostly 10-top round tables, and it was packed with almost all Chinese and Asian people. Chinese women served dim sum from carts winnowing the tight passageways among the tables. We shared our table with 2 other parties—one an elderly Chinese man, the other a party of 3 who mostly said nothing. We drank chrysanthemum tea and enjoyed a delicious meal including shu mai, ha gow, char siu bao, rice noodles, bean curd, rice porridge with egg, black sesame roll (sweet). As we left the restaurant, Patrick and I picked up the restaurant's business card: Y. Ben House Restaurant (415-397-3168, 835 Pacific Avenue). Afterwards on the way back to the square we stopped in at a dried foods store where hundreds of dried shark fins and dried sea cucumbers were categorized and priced in glass jars along the wall. Dropped Sam off at home. Patrick and I tried to run an errand at a drug store in Daly City but we couldn't find parking. We drove to another drug store closer to home and they didn't have what we wanted in stock, and it was around this time I realized I could possibly have better spent my time ordering it online and delivering it fedex even though what I wanted was $3 (decorating clips from 3M so that I can retrofit a small room heater with a filter to keep it clean). Spent the rest of the day working on Danny's website and refreshing website backups. Snack: popcorn. Dinner at Danny, Phil, and Drew's with Phil, Danny, Lauren, and K.R. (aka Katie Rose). Drew was in L.A. Danny cooked a yummy beef stew with French bread and steamed rice. For dessert, Nate made lemon tarts from scratch, garnished with fanned strawberry slices and whipped cream from scratch.
Mon Sep 3, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Worked on Danny's website. Here's a fortune I received recently in a fortune cookie from Panda Express but which I did not eat directly after lunch: Good news from afar will bring you a welcome visitor. Brunch with Mom Ryan at Kate's Kitchen. Afterwards we drove to Golden Gate Park and walked around Stow Lake. Dropped Mom Ryan off at home. Patrick and I got a latte at Peet's in the Castro and walked around the Castro. Home. Worked on Danny's website. Dinner at home with Patrick: roast beef, harvest grains, mixed vegetables. Worked on Danny's website. I only now just realized that years were all specified as 2006 instead of 2007 as stored in the XML files for my journal. Fixed it. I don't think anyone would have noticed anyhow.
Tue Sep 4, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. E-mail accounts for recent grads accidentally got shut off. Troubleshot and resolved. School retreat work: presentation loading. LGBT viz work. Made live about admin changes for Susie. Announced availability of School of Medicine electives schedule. Collected non-UCSF e-mail addresses of recent grads from Joel. Announced to UCSF and non-UCSF e-mail addresses problem of e-mail being shut off. More LGBT viz work. Recent grads e-mail followup.
Wed Sep 5, 2007
Drove to Sonoma for the faculty retreat at The Lodge. There was so much traffic that it took 25 minutes just to leave the city. I took a wrong turn near a golf course but quickly found my way again. Today's a-ha moment: realizing that the Apple Remote is actually quite poorly designed for presenters—many presenters could not intuitively press the intended button and thought there was a problem with the computer when the intended action did not occur. I think the problem stems from the lack of clear distinction between the forward button and other buttons on the remote. Dinner by Executive Sous Chef Bill Holt (The Lodge at Sonoma): arugula and endive salad with pine nuts, figs, goat cheese, and white balsamic vinaigrette; grilled chicken breast with lemon caper sauce, asparagus, and roasted fingerling potatoes; chocolate hazelnut torte with creme anglaise and chocolate sauce.
Thu Sep 6, 2007
Breakfast: oatmeal with currants and sauteed peaches and brown sugar. During the retreat there was word going around that a fire had occurred on the Parnassus campus. Later I chatted with Alyssa on Cindy's cellphone to reset the server but it didn't work—I had given unclear directions. The faculty retreat ended around 2:30 PM. Drove home. Washed the car and the front door. Dinner at Dragonfly: Dragon Taste appetizer platter, ginger ale for me, lychee iced tea for Patrick, five spice chicken, stuffed mushroom, coconut rice, hainan rice. About $45 before tip. The receipt said our server was E.T. Went to work to restart the server.
Fri Sep 7, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Validated PharmAdMIT databases from home. To work. Reinstalled Nero. InCD burning now works properly again. Completed WeID training (ICRD). Set Alyssa up with stunnel and OLPPS. Set my computer up with stunnel and OLPPS. Reported a Blackberry problem for Joel. Cancelled Joel's ticket because he found the problem wasn't specific to UCSF Exchange. Followup with disconnected e-mail: Joyce A, MH, AM. Lost GALEN password issue for student ZK. Chatted with Nancy about Eric's phone line. Followup notice to Eric. Power outage followup. LGBT viz work: organizing photos from Justin and setting ppi to 300. Finalized and posted style guide and sample 2. Sent out heads up notices to graphic designers. More LGBT viz followup. Listserv followup with MNL. Discovered that network scanning does not work for Alyssa. Posted final fall schedules for Lucia. Helped Carol resolve her full mailbox problem. Sent OSACA reminder about how to handle a full mailbox. Gathered and handed off data for TBS for WeID and ProWatch. Updated PHPM faculty listing to include a new member. Asked Alyssa to add Eric to staff meeting invites. Sent Eric the orientation schedule. Met with Eric briefly, signed his timesheet. Chatted with Susie on the phone. Followup with Mike S about prox lock installation. Send purchases summary and RFOs to Valerie and La'Trece. Reviewed show of hands video from last year. Printed handout and presentation slides for review and editing. Very late lunch: panda express. My fortune: Many people are seeking you for your sound advice. Dinner at Chris and Nate's with Chris, Nate, and Patrick: appetizer: crackers, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Entree: homemade crust pizza with carmelized onions, gorgonzola, spinach, garlic. Dessert: Patrick and I brought Just Desserts chocolate peanut creme cake.
Sat Sep 8, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Patrick and I drove to Santa Cruz to get away for a few hours before he leaves for China on Wednesday. On the way down Highway 1 we encountered bicyclists riding side-by-side and the one on the left was clearly not passing the other. This behavior of bicyclists creates a dangerous situation because it's not safe for our car to cross the yellow line in order to bypass two side-by-side bicyclists. Nor is it safe for us to slow down to their speed when we have a trail of cars following us. The thin lanes of Highway 1 are treacherous enough when cars share the road with bicyclists riding single-file. This is an excellent example of the uneasy relationship we have with bicyclists. We mean them no harm and are as friendly as possible when we see they are riding within the law. However, in San Francisco every day I see bicyclists running red lights and stop signs, riding on the sidewalk, and commiting other acts which are illegal yet I never see policemen stopping them for violations even when I see them observe the violations. To these particular bicyclists on Highway 1, I wanted to yell "Share the road!", throwing a frequent message from bicyclists to drivers back at them. Bicyclists frequently expect friendly behavior from cars but do not always behave within the law or are friendly to drivers. In Santa Cruz, we walked the Pacific Garden Mall and saw how everything had changed and stayed the same. We got a coffee drink at Santa Cruz Roasting Company. We happened upon the 2007 Greek Festival and ate Greek food which was mostly delicious. We listened to Greek music. We watched a young boy try to climb a rock wall which was set up for the event. Patrick's $9 sunglasses mysteriously broke, so he bought a new, inexpensive pair. We watched the surfers from West Cliff Drive. Drove home. I napped while Patrick drove. We stopped to buy some local honey to see if it will help with preventing allergy symptoms. Home. Patrick left to spend the evening with Aaron. I worked on Danny's website and cooked dinner: steamed rice with leftovers. More work on Danny's website. Archived documents. Finished initial work on Danny's website, sent link and instructions to Drew for review.
Sun Sep 9, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Helped Patrick make business cards with his name and title in Chinese. I napped, then cut my hair. Patrick's mom came over and we listened to Terry Lee Ryan's music while looking at photos of New Orleans on Flickr. Patrick's going away dinner at Houston's with Patrick, Mom Ryan, Sam, Danny, Drew, Phil, Quyen, Nate, and Chris. We gave everyone cookies from Pacific Cookie Company.
Mon Sep 10, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. First day of orientation for our new students. I edited tomorrow's handout. Photocopied it. Copier stopped at 38 copies—no staples. Kim couldn't get it to work even after a new cartridge was installed, so I continued copying using the copier in UC Hall. Helped Alyssa reconfigure PharmAdMIT 2007 so she could log in. LGBT viz work. Tried to do some server maintenance but didn't have everything I needed and one part was the wrong size. Checked backups. Answered a question from an applicant about Form E. Free lunch today—students essentially get free lunch all during orientation—was a sandwich and a bosc pear. Set up the laptop for 2 presentations. Dropped off a clipboard for Sue A. Home. Made live Danny's new website: Recharge Spa. Dinner at home with Patrick: lemon chicken. Dessert: peanut butter and chocolate cookie from Pacific Cookie Company. Worked on Danny's website: made live a jobs page.
Tue Sep 11, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Presentation prep. Gave my computer services presentation with Chris - all went well. Small meal: half burrito, water. Watched student skits. Handed off domain reg info to Eric. LGBT viz followup: vinyl banner specs. Closed a preview session for Alyssa. Class list followup with Lucia. Computing services followup with two students. Checked in with Julie about versioning on our web server. Gathered September 4 data for the journal which I need to backfill. New news story for Susie, added RSS feed icon to the dev home page, notified Eric of the changes. Management: 1-on-1 meeting scheduling. Computer services followup with one student. Dinner at home with Patrick: frozen pizza. Watched web video with Patrick: Miss Teen South Carolina and parodies, Sierra's Day at the Beach, Judy Butterfield, clips from Will & Grace.
Wed Sep 12, 2007
Woke up too early, couldn't sleep. Did maintenance on one of our computers. EncryptionError3 (Encryption Error 3) error on September 8 while attempting to back up with MozyHome (Mozy) was resolved on Mozy's end. Telephone services setup for Eric followup with Nancy, checked in with Valerie about purchases, sent the door code to the new students, sent a reminder about Office file formats and compatibility to all students, backed up data to dvdrw, confirmed that I didn't lose the spare batteries for the office camera. Lunch: swedish meatballs with brown rice, carrots, dinner roll and Promise, pineapple chunks, cottage cheese. Dinner at Holy Grill with Chris and Nate. I expected to also see Nate's dad, but he unexpectedly showed up yesterday instead of today. Afterwards we talked for hours at their place. Home late. Patrick left for China today.
Thu Sep 13, 2007
With Patrick gone, I am now taking applications for the houseboy or sex toy position in our home, so if you know anyone who might be interested, please send him my way. Actually, it would be nice to have a houseboy even when Patrick is here, but I don't know that we would be able to afford such a nice situation. Or if you want to be on the interview team that could be helpful as well. Usual oatmeal breakfast. Partners in D web hosting followup with Eric and GoDaddy. Purchasing followup with Valerie. LGBT viz work: more sending out projects and providing status update, followup with Chelsea. Followup with various student computing questions with students. Could not get FancyIndexing to work for file distribution—will have to think of another solution. Websteering lunch with Erik, Ed, Julie, John, and introducing Eric D (pharmacy) and Amie (sp?) (OAAIS). Cindy forwarded a note saying that Kristina just gave birth to another baby boy. Congrats! Gave Sue the strategic plan URL that Susie had requested. Followup with ITRS and problem reporters of a power strip problem in N-225—IRTS was unable to reproduce. Followup with e-mail migration for employee-turned-student ST. Dinner at Dragonfly by myself: deep-fried imperial rolls, green tea. Home late.
Fri Sep 14, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Set up appointments with students needing help. Installed PharmAdMIT 2006 for Scott, but when we tried to use it it crashed with a type mismatch error and I don't know why. Archived school retreat originals. Loaded USB drives with software in prep for meetings with students. Listserv management: intern jobs. Let Chris borrow our shared laptop power adapter. Handed off the shared laptops to Scott/Joel. Listserv management. Followup with Susie about computer purchase for her. LGBT viz followups. Met with student JP: corrupted TCP/IP stack which I had never seen before in Windows XP. netsh fix did not work. Gave instructions for sfc, dirty reinstall, clean reinstall. Lunch in the work room with Joel, Alyssa, and Scott: salad from the cafeteria. Met with student MC about palm pilot synching. Helped Joel and Scott set up for their presentations. They were in S-18 and S-22. Lucky we still had the old laptop otherwise we would have had to borrow from IRTS or someone else. Fire alarm went off, so we all exited the building for about 20 or 30 minutes. Met with Eric 1-on-1. I introduced him to our website structure and one of our databases. He followed quickly—it was a good geek session. I introduced him to Visibone which he seemed to like very much. Dinner at Thai Chef with Chris and Nate. Watched The Incredible Shrinking Woman and Yentl at The Castro Theatre with Chris and Nate ($10 for 3 films; we skipped The Legend of Billie Jean—too tired). Before the films we saw trailers for The Main Event, Staying Alive, and other 1980s films which all make you say wow! and omg!. This was Chris and Nate's first (2) films at the Castro Theatre. I think they enjoyed it.
Sat Sep 15, 2007
Weight training. (I've been doing it lately but not writing it in the journal.) Computer maintenance. Document archiving. Paper organizing. Bill paying. Usual oatmeal breakfast. Started collecting things that Patrick enjoys but which I don't and putting them in a box for when he returns. This mostly includes decorative knick knacks such as little statuettes or origami birds and pharmaceuticals that he uses and I don't. Recently started using Google Analytics on frankfarm.org and frankfarm.com. I promise to be less evil than Google. frankfarm.org is serving pages very slowly (if at all) as of 11:15 AM today. It's not my problem—somewhere in between. Visited a home improvement show at the Cow Palace with Chris and Nate. it was Chris and Nate's first time to the Cow Palace. The show was largely a dud—lots and lots of scams. Chris and Nate did find some doors which they liked the quality of and took a pamphlet. I was interested in one vendor's woodworking of portable furniture. For example, a hinged box with a handle opened elaborately into a surprisingly solid and functional dining room table. I particularly liked the space-saving usefulness of it, but as I don't have a great and immediate need for it, I didn't bother taking a pamphlet. The sign for the vendor's booth said something like spider legs furniture. Michael O'Brien would love this stuff. Some of the scams we saw: people soaking their feet in (ionized?) water, people sitting in a reclining chair with bright blue (UV?) light shining on their teeth in order to get brighter teeth in only 12 minutes, a swiffer knock-off, rain gutter covers. It took us probably less than 30 minutes to see all of the booths. Afterwards we decided we needed sustenance good enough to outweigh the disappointment of the show, so I took Chris and Nate to In-n-Out Burger where we ate cheeseburgers (no onions for Chris) and fries and drank sodas. Next we went to the Exploratorium. Through Nate's work we learned of a woman doing research involving a handheld simulation game and agreed to help test the game at the Exploratorium in exchange for free entrance to the museum. When we arrived, the people at the ticket counter gave us stickers to get in and (I guess) instructed us to ask at the office inside. When we asked at the office, no one knew anything about it, so we thought "Woo! Free admission!" and continued exploring the museum for about 90 minutes. About 15 minutes before closing, we happened upon the research project which was taking place upstairs. We introduced ourselves to Leilah Lyons, who was conducting the research (IRB#: HUM00005695, and we helped her out with her data gathering. We played a simulation game of doctors attempting to remove cancerous growths from a patient. Each of us was given a Palm Pilot and could choose one of three roles: surgeon who cuts with a knife, radiologist who radiates, and (something else I can't remember). The Palm Pilots were connected wirelessly to the simulation which was displayed on a large flat panel display as a grid of healthy cells and cancerous cells. As the cancerous cells grew, it was our job to remove them before the patient died. The game took a few minutes to understand, but it was fun and very engaging. After we lost and won a few times, she interviewed us to gather data for her research. I thought it was all a very entertaining and worthwhile experience. We left the Exploratorium, spent a few minutes regarding the nearby lake and general landscape beauty of the Palace of Fine Arts, then drove to Cost Plus World Market where Chris and Nate wanted to try out a chair that they were interested in purchasing. They bought the chair, I bought some soup and a candy bar surprise for the next time I see Mom Ryan (Lindt pistachio and milk chocolate) and some wine in case anyone comes over to dinner. Tired and time for dinner, we stopped at Mollie Stone's Tower Market on the way home (my place). Nate and I prepared a late dinner while we snacked on crackers and artichoke dip. Dinner: lemon chicken; roasted potatoes, carrots, and mushrooms; rosemary bread; butter; wine.
Sun Sep 16, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Laundry, dishes, organizing. Chatted with Patrick online. He's blogging his adventures in China at The Mode Fascist and photostream on Flickr. Nap. Shower. Dinner at Chris and Nate's with Phil, Danny, and Drew: cheese and crackers, bread, tabouleh salad, (mediterranean taco salad?), syrian cookies.
Mon Sep 17, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Helped Joel with the PharmAdMIT 2008 import update log. Met with student DE about hard drive upgrading. Shuttled to Laurel Heights. Met with Susie and Eric about digital asset management (DAM) and other web issues. Chatted with Susie after. Chatted with Eric and Susan H after. Called Carol to reschedule. Very late lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant. My fortune: Love is the law, love under will. Met with student DN who is unable to install Sophos. Sophos appears to install successfully but no blue shield icon appears in the system tray, and no program files appear in the Sophos folder except for an AutoUpdate folder with 6 configuration files in it. Called it in to OAAIS—they bumped it up to Rick. Stayed late at work trying to beat back the inbox. Did a favor for Joel: paper pushing. Late dinner at Sandy's Cafe & Deli (415-682-9683, 1382--9th Avenue at Judah), a new Vietnamese food cafe at 9th and Judah. The cafe was getting a lot of business even at 8:00 PM that the waitron was simply turning away because they didn't have a large number of items on the menu and they also ran out of a lot of items such as sandwiches. Shortly after I sat down, about 10 customers came in. About half were turned away, 1 was seated, and another 2 or 3 successfully placed and received to go orders. I had the chicken pho with rice noodles, and it was unimpressive. The soup seemed to be seasoned only with 3 kinds of onion: thinly sliced white onion, scallions, and dried onion bits. The chicken was still with skin and on the bone, making eating difficult. Parts of the chicken were juicy and tender, but other parts were tough and rubbery. A piece of chicken wing was not plucked properly and had many strands sticking out of it making it rather unpleasant to look at. I had ordered spring rolls as well, but the very busy waitron forgot to bring them to me, so near the end of my meal I told her to forget it—I didn't need it. She indicated that they were right there on the counter wrapped in plastic ready for to go orders—it would appear that my spring rolls order would not have been prepared to order. My tea pot was filled only halfway, and when it ran out the waitron did not think to check it or refill it even though she had nothing else to do. The prices are very inexpensive, though. I probably won't go back. Sandy's could improve by actually having the items they claim to have on their menu (the to go menu did not match the actual menu of items available), adding one or two wait staff, and preparing pho with boneless meats. If they cannot do boneless meats, they should at least give people a small bowl or plate upon which they can leave the bones. I felt like a barbarian leaving them on an opened napkin on the the table surface, but I saw another customer doing the same and then I didn't feel so bad. Chatted late with Patrick on Skype. We discovered that Flickr is blocked for him in China, or rather, he cannot see images from Flickr. After some searching, I had him install Access Flickr! 1.5 by Hamed Saber and that worked around the problem. Before that, however, it did cause Patrick a fair amount of grief, and I was beginning to think it might make him reconsider his sympathetic position toward China, but I guess not.
Tue Sep 18, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Student computing committee meeting. Julia sent me e-mail about a new position at the library. Listserv maintenance. Arranged to have Eric provide instruction to students for web design. Answered questions from students LN and MR. Discovered a problem with the preview sessions page after Joel and Alyssa reported an anomaly. LGBT viz work. Purchases followup with Valerie. Updated P1 and electives schedules for Lucia. Laptop training with Carol. SSL VPN update for Chris. Lunch: salad from the cafeteria, Odwalla Super Protein Vanilla. Helped Carol set up the laptop for a presentation. LGBT viz meeting (left early). 1-on-1 with Cindy. Dentist: I accidentally broke my night guard a few weeks ago so this visit was to take new molds and have a new night guard made. Got a Jamba Juice afterwards. Back to work. Sent a surplus pickup request to Alyssa. Followup with students KB, QT, and ST. Took the N-Judah to go shopping downtown. It was one of those awful I-hate-Muni-enough-to-want-to-leave-San-Francisco days. When the train arrived at UCSF, the driver of the 2-car train did not automatically open all the doors and she forgot to leave all the doors openable so that we could press the button and the door would open. Consequently, there was a very long line to get in to the first door of the 2-car train because it was the only door you could get in. About a dozen or so people got on before someone told the driver that she forgot to open the doors and so she opened the doors. Since I was closest to the first car, I got on the first car, but of course there were no more seats in the first car but I could see there were plenty of seats in the 2nd car. I was tired from working all day and couldn't bear standing the whole way to Powell Street Station, so at the next stop, I decided to switch to the 2nd car and jumped out of the first car. But she closed the doors immediately after I left the first car and the external button on the 2nd car would not open the door probably because she again forgot to make the external buttons work. She drove off, and I was so mad at her but there is nothing you can do to right these Muni wrongs. I walked to Carl and Cole because I was mad and walking helped with that. I waited for the next train, which arrived in about 10 or 12 minutes. The train took me to Church and the driver said to get out if you were going downtown because this train was a J-Church train. I got out and walked to Market Street. No F cars visible. I went underground. Caught a train after a few minutes, and finally got downtown. I don't remember how long it took; I just remember being mad the whole way. Shopping: The Container Store (3M decorating clips, ironing organizer), mr hana (chicken boob bowl with brown rice substitution: $10.30), Lucky Kid (nothing fit), Lucky (bought nothing), H&M Boys (bought a pink polo shirt, a white knit top, and a brown v-neck sweater), Walgreen's (kleenex). Home late. Prepared the heater for filter retrofit.
Wed Sep 19, 2007
I think for a long time I have in my heart known this to be true: Most Science Studies Appear to Be Tainted By Sloppy Analysis, and I am patiently awaiting the followup study performed by computers with artificial intelligence which says that this particular study was tainted by sloppy analysis. In truth, I believe some truths can be known, and some cannot be known, and that humans cannot always know exactly which truths fall into which category even though they frequently pretend to. I feel much better now knowing this to be true. Usual oatmeal breakfast. Telecommute day. E-mail account migration followup. Account services extension followup. Door lock problem report. Mission update for Susie. Lots of followup: Eric, students LN, MMC, MOK, TA, DTN, graduate CN. Weight training: reverse incline crunch. Lunch at home by myself: leftovers. Submitted a network port activation request for Susie. Visibone purchase for Eric. Network connection speed problem followup for Eric. Attempted to order green mounting rails for a Dell computer but couldn't figure out what the part number was, so I e-mailed Dell sales and a Dell dealer. Did the heater filter retrofit—all works as expected. Dinner with Mom Ryan, Quyen, Paul, Phil, Drew, and Danny at Danny, Drew, and Phil's: Vietnamese chow mein, wintermelon soup, egg pancake with meat bits, soy sauce eggs, steamed rice. Dessert: sorbet, yogurt, and ice cream. I gave Mom Ryan her chocolate bar gift which she seemed to very much enjoy receiving. After dinner we read Patrick's blog and viewed his photostream on the big screen in the living room.
Thu Sep 20, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. LGBT viz followup. Helped student QT with a computer problem. E-mail migration followup for student ST. Ordered Visibone stuff for Eric. PharmAdMIT 2006 troubleshooting with Scott and Scott. LGBT viz followup. E-mail migration followup for student ST. E-mail migration followup for student ST. Tried to register for my free Macworld exhibit hall pass, but the server was so slow I abandoned my 6-step (!) registration form. Notified sysadmins of account closures and extensions. Helped student EG. E-mail account mixup followup for student CN. Account extension followup. Discussed e-mail preferred name change issues with Doug C. Sent John K suggestions on a wiki implementation he's working on. Dinner at Cybelle's: turkey salad which turned out to be spicy even though the menu didn't say anything about it being spicy so I sent it back. They resolved the problem, but could have been smoother with the initial handling of it. Home. Ordered my Macworld free exhibit hall pass. Let me know if you want to go, and I'll send you the offer. Reconnected with Eric S after a long while. He and Maia have Griffin Jack and Violet Jade (cool names!), now live in Lake Forest Park on a half-acre, and he recently passed his 10-year anniversary at Adobe. Tonight I learned via experimentation how to right-click Windows system tray icons using only the keyboard. Well, that as well as everything else in the Windows toolbar. My solution is only 3 keystrokes or keystroke combinations. There's a longer solution but it requires you to press Tab a variable number of times. MozyHome quit unexpectedly today with an unhandled exception most likely because my C: drive ran out of disk space. I found a Chronicles of Riddick trailer that we taped from TV and moved it to another computer and then all was well.
Fri Sep 21, 2007
Lately I've been reading 3 books: 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina by Chris Rose (I'm on page 58), an advance uncorrected manuscript of Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger (My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated into What America Eats) (I'm on page 36), and the University of California Personnel Policies for Staff Members (July 1, 1996) (I'm on page 14). Brief comments on these, in order. The story is interesting and touching and brought tears to my eyes, but I got tired of Mr. Rose's voice after about page 30 and Bodoni is a very difficult typeface to read for body text. Every time I open the book I want to put it down because my eyes hurt. I thought it hypocritical that early on Mr. Rose said that if he could he would hurt all the looters, but then mere pages later goes on to express indignation when he was caught looting mouthwash by the police. On Twinkie: I've been reading this book out of a desire to find out what America—my friends and family—was, is, or will be putting into their bodies. I'm still undecided on this one. The story is much longer than I might have expected, and I do not think I have the desire to read this the whole way through. I would much rather have preferred to read this information in properly written web-style where the author actually answers the question of from where polysorbate 60 comes on the top-level page and you can click deeper if you want more information. You can't skip to the end of the chapter to find the answer—it's a narrative rather than a reference book. I guess it's a little unusual to read a narrative about the production of an unhealthy snack cake—perhaps a stringently edited film might have been a better communication medium, but I suspect the author had a hard enough time doing his research without a video camera. I don't have time now to talk about the policy manual. Maybe later. Usual oatmeal breakfast. The cdrom for Retrospect 6.5 is annoying in that it has separate partitions for Windows and OS X so when I inserted the cdrom into a Windows computer I could not copy the Mac installer to a server location for a Mac user to use. If I didn't have a Mac handy nearby, it would have been very difficult if not impossible to complete such a simple task. I know they do that so that Mac users don't run EXE files and Windows users don't click on Mac installers, but I think there are other ways to resolve this without having to have separate partitions. Carol, Lucia, Alyssa, and I have been receiving the Software Update Failed and General Failure error messages when starting Firefox ever since the 2.0.0.7 update was released a few days ago. This problem is very frustrating because the workaround which works for us now involves an admin having to manually remove files and folders from each computer which has the problem. Met with Mike S from the police department to discuss forthcoming door lock changeovers. He's appropriately sensitive to our needs (as we are to his), and we completed our business efficiently and with candor. Maintenance for Chris's MacBook Pro: installed VLC update, resolved Software Update Failed for Firefox and updated to 2.0.0.7. Next was the more mysterious problem of what was happening in Windows. He reported that the error message "VPU Recover has reset your graphics accelerator or it was no longer responding to graphics driver commands" would appear when the computer was idle and that it was happening frequently lately, starting about 2 weeks ago. Stuff on the web pointed to old BIOS, heat problems, and bad hardware, but this is a relatively new MacBook Pro which recently had a new fan installed and has OS 10.4.10. I tried starting up TechTool Deluxe by holding the C key on the keyboard while powering on, but the computer started into Windows. I thought I must have missed the C key, so I shut down Windows and repeated my steps but again the same result—it started in Windows. Next restart I held the Option key and then chose Macintosh when the menu appeared then quickly held down the C key but this time it started in OS X. Repeated as before, thinking I just had poor timing - same result—it started in OS X. I logged in to OS X as local admin, downloaded Boot Camp 1.4, burned a new Boot Camp cdrom. Tried to install Firefox 2.0.0.7 for OS X but it wouldn't let me due to a permissions problem—I must have previously installed it as domain admin but I didn't understand why it didn't simply prompt me to authenticate. I logged out and tried to log back in as domain admin and got the "You are unable to log in to the user account [accountname] at this time." Logged back in as local admin. Turned off FileVault for the local admin account. Logged in as me. Turned off FileVault for my account. Logged in as Chris. Turned off FileVault for his account. Logged in as local admin. Installed Office 2004 updates. Deleted the domain admin account from OS X. Domain admin account now works again. No more FileVault for me! Restarted in Windows XP. Met with student SA: Sophos installer appeared to complete successfully, but Sophos failed to install. Windows Vista Business, 2 GB RAM. Ran Norton Uninstaller successfully. Reinstalled Sophos - same problem. Downloaded fresh Sophos installer - same problem. Restarted in Safe Mode with Networking - same problem. Asked him to call OAAIS for resolution. Very late lunch: New York steak sandwich, fries, Dr. Pepper with a splash of Coke. Met 1-on-1 with Eric. Left work, chatted with Eric on the way out and met Amber. Took the N-Judah to Duboce Park and walked to the Castro. Met with Ted and Emery just outside of 440 Castro, and they introduced me to Kyle. Ted, Emery, and I walked to Castro Tarts where we planned to meet Chris and Nate, but Castro Tarts was closed or closing, so we waited outside. Chris and Nate showed up. We tried getting dinner at Harvey's, but it was too crowded, so we went to Fuzio instead. After dinner, we went to Badlands where sneeper met us. We had drinks for about an hour or so. Chris, Nate, and I left to watch Lifeforce (1985) in 70 mm at the Castro Theatre; the rest stayed behind. Lifeforce is an amazing film in many ways, and this original print was in surprisingly excellent condition. I cannot properly describe either this film or the experience of watching this film. There might be words, but I would not be able to sufficiently corral them in the proper order to do the film the justice it so rightly and wrongly deserves. It's awfully amazing, original but mostly unoriginal, B-movie and yet not B-movie. It's particularly fun to see Patrick Stewart in this film. Chris and Nate drove me home.
Sat Sep 22, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Today I felt like doing nothing, so that's mostly what I did. I stayed home, cleaned and did other house chores, worked on some home improvement projects, cut my hair, chatted with Patrick online, removed uncanceled Star Wars stamps from (an envelope with card?) that Sam had given to Patrick thinking he was going to mail it but changed his mind. I realized today that the Ryobi HP721K cordless drill I bought a long time ago now feels sticky wherever I touch its blue rubber-grip handle. My hand feels sticky even after I let go. It's annoying, and now I don't feel comfortable using the drill without wearing a rubber glove. Goo Gone does not help this situation, and using a soapy sponge did not help, either. Installed a Rubbermaid ironing board holder and an iron holder that I got for $10 at The Container Store. It works; I like it. Put super glue on the velcro in the bathroom cabinet to make it stick better. I forgot to mention from a few days ago that Danny has a short mohawk now. It looks really good. Lunch: beef stew with rice and vegetables. Dinner at home by myself: cow burgers, corn off the cob. Weight training.
Sun Sep 23, 2007
Slept in. Very late breakfast by myself at home: oatmeal. Grocery shopping at Safeway. It's been a long time since I went to Safeway. Patrick had been doing all the grocery shopping for a while now since it's not something I enjoy very much. Safeway remodeled their produce section and improved some of their display cases, rearranged some other parts of the store. I noticed they are cautiously trying to go upscale by introducing a small organic produce section and organic brands throughout. I appreciate the changes, but I agree with Patrick that the quality of their organic produce is still not as high as at other places. I think I spent 2 hours shopping for food, and part of it was just getting reacquainted with so many choices and part of it was taking in the things about the store which were new to me. Of course in the checkout line I realized I had forgotten some things (e.g., lunch meat). Home. Chatted with Patrick online. Prepared dinner: shake and bake chicken tenders, curly fries, steamed carrots, fried brown rice with mushrooms. Dinner prep took just under an hour, and I got everything timed to finish correctly. While preparing dinner, I cut and separated meat packages I bought into single-serving portions and put them in the freezer. Worked on print materials and website for Recharge Spa. Added a link to Yelp on the website, added a privacy policy page. Arranged with psychobauble/Chris to see Starman (I have never seen it) and Brainstorm (I saw it once a long time ago) tomorrow night at the Castro Theatre. Call me or send me mail at work if you want to go with us. Weight training. Chatted briefly with Drew on the phone. Dessert: Breyers blueberry lemon ice bar—delicous! I forgot to mention that sneeper explained on Friday what interregnum means, in the context of the two reigns of Steve Jobs. I had never known that word before and found it interesting and useful.
Mon Sep 24, 2007
Met with Susie. Installed SilverJRunner aka ASSIST for Joel. Tried to find out if I could save an InDesign CS document as an InDesign 2.0 document. A nearly-4-year-old thread on typophile (to which Thomas Phinney contributed (!)) explained that this was not possible. I created a sample layout and distributed it to our volunteer graphic designers, but one of them had InDesign 2.0 and could not open the file I provided. Certainly after working at Adobe for so long, I realized why they made the decision they did, but nonetheless I was amazed at how long the long tail really is, and I think software developers never truly have a sense of it because these things will likely never get reported because software companies have no interest in creating such feedback loops. Alyssa reported a problem in which a file on the server was accidentally overwritten several days ago with data from a similarly named file. My task was to see if we could restore the data. I went first to Mozy Pro. Mozy Pro found only one copy of the data. I did the restore—the whole process of searching and restoring took under 2 minutes. But this file was too recent—it contained the wrong data. I then turned to Retrospect, which had 5 versions of the file, and one of them turned out to be the one she needed. Total time to restore for Retrospect: about 6 minutes. This experience reinforces my belief that one really needs more than one backup system. Recently I have been trying to order green plastic hard drive rails to install a hard drive into our Dell SC420 server. The online documentation does not indicate what part number to order for this, so I submitted an inquiry via their website to their sales team and was later told I needed to submit an inquiry to their technical support team which didn't make sense to me but I didn't bother asking about that—I don't have time for that. I asked them to submit the request for me since I've already wasted time on the telephone navigating their voice jail only to reach the end—a recording: "We're closed!" They obliged, and technical support eventually delivered me a part number: 21TUG. I submitted a quote request for 3 pairs of rails (6 rails total), and a Dell Parts & Upgrades Online Sales Representative named Yessenia responded with: "We regret to inform you that, to ensure availability of these hard drive carriers to all of our customers, we are not allowed to sell empty hard drive carriers. In order to get them you will need to purchase the complete kit, which consists in the hard drive itself, the carriers and the screws. This will maintain a balance in stock availability and will ensure compatibility with your Dell server. If you still need the empty carriers, please contact your account manager or sales representative for further details in this policy." So it would seem that if you wanted to install a hard drive into any Dell computer, you now need to buy the hard drive from them. I went to eBay and in about 10 minutes I had rails ordered. (Sigh.) Pre-lunch: 2 peanut butter sandwiches from home. Organized computer hardware drawer a bit. Labeled shared laptop components with our office phone number in case they are lost. Ensured no Firefox software update failed problem on the shared laptop. Wrote a tiny script to ensure permissions are set correctly on our website, scheduled it in cron to run nightly. Made live new profile numbers for Susie. Submitted reimbursement requests to Lucia and Susie. Wrong e-mail address followup with Lucia. Made live pharmacy information day updates. Met with student LN: Palm Pilot does not synch Lexi-comp. I could not figure it out and referred the student to Rodney who agreed to have a look. Lunch: chinese chicken salad from Safeway. LGBT viz followups. Purchase order management for purchases for me and Eric. Left work. Chatted with Jen C (OET) on the N-Judah about creative writing; Oakland; cultural, political, and sexual enlightenment. Walked from Duboce Park to Bearbucks in the Castro. Got a caramel frappuccino, waited for Chris. He didn't show after a while, so I found a payphone (there aren't many left in this neighborhood) at IDG (formerly known as Cala Foods)—he was arriving soon. I returned to Bearbucks to find him. We got pizza at Escape From New York Pizza: a quick dinner. We needed to resolve his parking problem—he had to move his car or risk getting ticketed—and on the way someone yelled my name from across the street. It was BK ("I'm a gorger") and Kelly who walked with us to the car chatting the whole way. They were just returned from Seattle and remarked how much it has changed. They had just seen Mikey who now has a motorcycle named Bikey and a dog named Bubba. (I knew about Bubba, tho I don't recall the motorcycle.) Chris moved the car about 3 car spaces over, and he was set for parking for the night. Brian told me his real work address: 564 Market Street—I had gotten it wrong somehow on a previous attempt to visit him. We returned to the theatre and said goodbye to BK and Kelly who hadn't made plans for the evening after eating at Catch and did not care to join us for the double feature. It was great running into them. Double feature at the Castro Theatre—$9 for both films—Starman and Brainstorm, cheesy fun. Chris drove me home. Logged in to work: software update failed fixes for Carol, Lucia, Alyssa. Update XML File Malformed problem with Lucia's computer—unresolveable even with suggestions from the net.
Tue Sep 25, 2007
Weight training: reverse incline crunch. Usual oatmeal breakfast. At work today I skipped all my Workrave breaks and microbreaks, which is something I don't usually do. I feel I don't have time at work to take breaks anymore. Wah! Course website link update for student DM. Installed InDesign and removed Firefox software update failed problem for Cindy. Prepped pharm sci pathway requirements web updates for Cindy, sent them to her for review. Met with Susie, Sue A, and Barbara S about the School's self-study. Met with student KB about various computer problems. Helped Chris troubleshoot a computer problem; his USB hub was accidentally unplugged from power. Late lunch: Panda Express. My fortune: Be innovative, take charge of new ideas. Various LGBT viz followups, chatted briefly with Kevin on the phone. E-mail and name change followup. Listserv management. Helped Carol with the list of listservs. Purchases work: asked companies if they'll accept purchase orders with net 30 terms. Finalized my revised spreadsheet of cdwg orders and sent it to Valerie. Followup with 2 students about wireless. Responded to a student who needed advice for a virus-infected computer. Installed PharmAdMIT 2006 update 11 from Scott H for Scott E. Helped Chris troubleshoot a hibernation or standby problem. LGBT viz followup. Tidied e-mail folders and archived messages. Resolved a problem with our website in which newer versions of Opera received a text only version of the site—oops! Sorry, you 3 people who use Opera! It's fixed now! Dinner at home by myself: yakisoba stir fry with cow, baby bok choy, onions, garlic, and grated carrot. I used packaged noodles because I thought I would enjoy the convenience, but they smelled rather strange when I finally sat down to eat it. I ate it anyway; I'm forgiving sometimes that way. Dessert: Breyers strawberry orange ice cream bar. Worked on Danny's website: edited new services list, prepared a new gift certificates publication. Halloween costume research.
Wed Sep 26, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Sent Outlook tip #4 to Eric. Followup with student KB about sound, hibernation, and virtual memory. Purchasing followup. Made live updated pharm sci pathway requirements for Cindy. Fast lunch: peanut butter sandwiches from home. Preferred first name change followup with student MR. Met with Kevin, Justin, Margaret, and Christina about LGBT viz actions. Prepped pathway declaration process web pages, sent them to Carol and Cindy for review. Purchasing followup. Chatted briefly with Sue A and Robert S (CTSI) about response pads needs. Helped Lucia with InDesign. Chatted briefly with Eric. LGBT viz work. Dinner at La Med with Nate's dad Brian, Nate, and Chris. Chicken cilicia for Nate, chicken kabobs for me and for Chris, ? for Brian. For dessert we shared a pistachio nest. Brian is in town a short while to do some technical training in (San Leandro?). Bought lunch meat at DeLano's IGA #2 (formerly Cala Foods). Took the train home. Created a sample product grid for Bob Stein at Visibone.
Thu Sep 27, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Made live pathway declaration process changes for Carol and Cindy. Installed Netscape 9.0b3 for Carol, got a software update error right after installation: "AUS: Update XML File Malformed (200)." This is the same problem that was unresolveable with Lucia's computer, also running Netscape 9.0b3. Updated supp app workshops to indicate all full for Scott. Opening the URL of about:config in Netscape and finding app.update.url and setting it to either http://www.mozilla.org/index.html or https://aus2.mozilla.org/update/1/%PRODUCT%/
%VERSION%/%BUILD_ID%/%BUILD_TARGET%/
%LOCALE%/%CHANNEL%/update.xml did not resolve the problem. This is not the same as the Software Update Failed problem I have been seeing recently in Firefox 2.0.0.6 and 2.0.0.7. I could not easily find a solution to this "AUS: Update XML File Malformed (200)" problem so I uninstalled Netscape 9.0b3 and installed Netscape 8.1.3 which does not have the same problem. Some of our office workers need Netscape because the website provided by another administrative office only seems to work in that browser. Prepped Lucia for the same change to her computer. Retrospect maintenance. Chatted with Dick S about his need for a secure file sharing space for student grades—currently UCSF does not have a solution for this kind of information technology need. OAAIS followup—slow network connection for Eric. Chatted briefly with Carl T about Dick S's needs. Helped Cindy with InDesign. LGBT viz work. Lunch: two pastrami and fat free cheddar sandwiches, Triscuit crackers, whole wheat fig bars. Home. Dinner at home by myself: shake n bake chicken tenders with marinara sauce and a little shredded monterey jack cheese, carrots, fried brown rice, garlic toast. Rewatched the last episode of season 1 of Heroes. Weight training: reverse incline dumbbell press.
Fri Sep 28, 2007
Usual oatmeal breakfast. Preview session form edits—the form still wasn't perfect so I went in to change the code, ran into a scope problem, resolved it, tested, made live. Walked Eric's Visibone order over to his office. Laptop setup with Alyssa for Marilyn S, Jim L, and Leslie W. Met with Sue A and Robert from CTSI about response pads and PowerPoint and Turning Point. Lunch: two turkey and fat free cheddar sandwiches, triscuit crackers, whole wheat fig bars. Shared dried tropical fruit with Joel. Chatted with Joel and Alyssa over lunch. LGBT viz followup. Electronic paper pushing. Slow network connection followup with Robert W. Chatted with student SH about preferred names in e-mail addresses, filed a change request. Chatted with Susie about purchases—one batch got delivered to the wrong location. 1-on-1 meeting with Eric. Student photos followup with Terence. Linkchecking. Retrospect troubleshooting: Cannot see Eric's computer. Inbox has been hovering just under 30 messages lately—getting better. My brand new Apple Mac Pro arrived today. Woo! This one is for work, not for home. Haven't had a chance to crack the box yet. Maybe next week. Dinner at home by myself: cracker and roasted garlic hummus, butternut squash soup, lemon and pepper pappardelle with shrimp, garlic, and onions in marinara sauce. Read blogs. Halloween costume research and shopping.
Sat Sep 29, 2007
Slept in. Cut my hair. Took a shower. Repaired the light over the sink which had come loose over time from it screws. Usual oatmeal breakfast. House chores and home improvement: more velcro work, vacuumed in the bedroom especially under the bed and in the closet, let the sheepskin rugs hang in the sun for a while, collected my dress shoes and stored them in shoe boxes, changed t-shirt folding methods except for long-sleeve t-shirts. Planted expired narcissus bulbs in the back yard, did some weeding and removing of cobwebs. Pre-lunch: butternut squash soup. Packed a lunch to go. Went to Baker Beach to sunbathe and eat a picnic lunch: two pastrami and fat free cheddar cheese sandwiches, triscuit crackers, whole wheat fig bars, water, dried tropical fruit, Sun chips. The water was brown-green and ugly to look at, but I made the most of relaxing in the sun with the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and not a cloud in the sky. A funny moment: a giant seagull began to succeed in taking away a long baguette in its paper bag from inattentive beachgoers until it was chased away. I prepared notes and ideas for the volunteer website project I agreed to take on for Kevin S: LGBT viz. Shopping at Safeway. Weight training: reverse incline crunch. Worked on Danny's website: put Google map in iframe. Dinner at home by myself: boboli mini pizza with mushrooms, tomato sauce, monterey jack cheese, chives, grilled onions, garlic. Started work on LGBT viz website. Chatted with Patrick, who just returned to Handan from Hong Kong to get an extension for his visa. He had some difficulty with the trip, and we talked a little about it. He plans to write a blog entry soon about it. Bed.
Sun Sep 30, 2007
Breakfast at Chris and Nate's with Chris and Nate. I was surprised to find a parking space at 10:00 AM on Townsend Street, but it would appear that parking is not a problem in their neighborhood on the morning of Folsom Street Fair. Nate made perfect waffles, which we ate with syrup and butter and with jams his parents (his mom) made—raspberry jam and pear ginger jam. Oh, yes—sausage, too. Chris stayed home while Nate and I went to Folsom Street Fair. Actually we went to Ted and Emery's Folsom Street Fair party—their condo happens to be just inside the fair boundaries near 11th and Folsom. We were second to arrive (after Boman) and the policy of whether shoes should be removed or not removed had not been decided, so Nate and I waited in the hallway for a minute while a meeting was held between Emery and Ted. Nate brought a bottle of wine; I brought family size boxes of Triscuit and Wheat Thins. Their place reminded me of the place Steve Miles had in Wallingford except it was more floors (5 if you include the roof and garage) but each floor was a smaller size than each of Steve's. Emery showed off the 3-week old Mini Cooper—white and blue, I think—and my favorite part was the tandem sunroofs, sort of like the California Edition of the BMW 318ti but all glass, two pieces, and more sophisticated opening and closing options. Emery went through the choices and I was thinking nothing but, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" The party was a huge success, and yes, the floor was in a pretty sorry state at the end. People contributed to and partook of the giant liquor collection as well as the food spread, much of which was from Costco, and tasty. Many people arrived and left; I could not possibly name them all, but they included Ted, Emery, me, Nathan, Scott and Andy, Stephen F, Tony A, Jordan, BK, Kel (Dr. K), Bucy, Jonathan (JY), Galen, Yuki, ynotswim, Jeff and Dan, Joshua and Joe, Greg and Antonio, Mozilla Paul, Efram, Alita, Mike B, Bruce, Phil, Drew, Danny, Quyen, Devin, Chris (with the Powershot A85), Todd, Chris and Andy, Will W, Harrison, Moo Moo Bryan, DaveR, Eric (the neighbor in 18, I believe). I met Paul who is on the Mozilla team and when I told him about my Software Update Failed error message woes he seemed really interested in gathering data from me about it and gave me his business card. At 2:45 PM Nate and I essentially fastwalked through the fair (stopping briefly for Nate to say hello to Todd) to get to the other end at the 7th Street stage where Kimo was performing The Career of Madonna in 20 Minutes (or something like that) which Nate had never seen before. The crowd was huge—the performance is so popular now—that it was very hard to see. I felt even sorrier for the man next to me who was perhaps 5 feet tall and probably saw nothing. We walked back to the party more slowly going back, then stayed at the TedEmery party until around 6:30 or 7:00. Stephen F told me salacious stories from his life (New Orleans, calfs, homophobia in jail, Will and Grace), which I enjoyed very much. I was getting tired around this time, though. I walked back with Nate to their place, picked up some things I left at their place, and drove home. Made scones for tomorrow. Dinner at home by myself: boboli pizza essentially same as last time. LGBT viz work.