Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Stretches. Weight training: superslow dumbbell press. Stretches. Breakfast at home by myself: one clementine, black cherry yogurt. To work. I forgot to mention that yesterday at work I upgraded VLC to the latest version on the Mac side. Lately at work the UPS under my desk has been beeping occasionally. It's a solid beep that lasts about 4 seconds and then stops. It goes a long time between beeps. I didn't have time to check it out until now. I've probably heard it beep like that about 5 times now. Today when I heard it beep I looked in the dark space under my desk and saw that the red overlord indicator was on. Wait, no, that label must be overload, not overlord. I got my flashlight and checked. It's an APC Back-UPS RS 500, and the only things plugged into it are the Mac Pro and my Samsung SyncMaster 940T. I removed the monitor and plugged it into another nearby UPS. Removed the webmonkey tutorial wiki from my RSS feed. It was a great idea, but it never had or gained momentum, and now with their December 3 announcement of a restructuring, it's not likely to improve anytime soon. I still have a warm spot in my heart for Webmonkey as a brand because it helped me out a lot in the early days of the web. Maybe someday it will return to its former prominence. UCSF communicators network work: survey. Office lunch at Scala's Bistro. I've been here I think twice before for the OSACA holiday luncheon, and this was yet another excellent meal with excellent service. Scott ordered a hot chocolate. One or two people had an iced tea. I had hot water with lemon. We started with a deep-fried assortment of calamari, rock shrimp, and vegetables; bruschetta with carpaccio, matchstick pear, and balsamic vinegar; assorted breads with balsamic vinegar. Eric D, Scott, and I each had the filet mignon sliders with watercress salad and pomme frites. Eric V and Carol each had a pizza. Lucia had orecchieti. Cindy had a caesar salad. Joel had (a salad? someone deleted the photo I took!). Two sides: pan-fried spinach with garlic, brussel sprouts. For dessert, we ordered Tina-style: 1 of everything (but not the cheese plate—too much!). List of desserts: chocolate i.v. (milk chocolate mousse on chocolate pecan crust with chocolate gelato and chocolate sauce), bostini cream pie (with creamy vanilla custard, chiffon cake, chocolate sauce), apple crostata with salted caramel gelato, huckleberry pear tart with mascarpone, steamed persimmon pudding with creme anglaise, meyer lemon sorbet with cookie, pumpkin gingersnap gelato with caramel sauce. I'm not a fan of tarts, but the great flavors in the huckleberry pear tart made my eyes grow large with pleasant amazement. Although I liked the flavors in the bostini it was a visual disaster—just a hodgepodge clumpy sea of yellow, white, and brown. The meyer lemon sorbet was tasty but really nothing special—you can buy lemon sorbet at the grocery that tastes just as good or better. The persimmon pudding was special to me because I think it's not commonly found on dessert menus and because the dried persimmon slices on top were a delightfully artful touch. If I were to return to Scala's soon, I would try the duck confit and for dessert I would consider the apple crostata, the tart, and the persimmon pudding. Executive chef today was Jen Biesty, whom we were told just started about 2 months ago. Executive pastry chef today was Tim Nugent. Photos to come. Scott told me how to get to the secret restroom—nice! I wanted to go back to work but Cindy insisted we have the rest of the day off—so sweet! Downtown shopping: bought some clothes at H&M boys. Dinner at Daphne's. Secret Santa gift and grocery shopping. To home. Patrick and I unboxed the MacBook that Tina bought me for my birthday. I didn't want to keep it at first, but she insisted. She's only getting me back, anyway. Bought 2 tickets to Sandra Bernhard's "Without You I'm Nothing" on Saturday, January 17, 2009. We're in orchestra left center if you want to try to sit near us. Stretches. Weight training: advanced plank (5:00). Stretches.