Saturday, December 12, 2009
Brunch at Shanghai Dumpling King aka Shanghai Dumpling Shop (415-387-2088, 3319 Balboa Street, San Francisco, California, USA) with Ryan D, Jason S, Jonathan Y, Adrian C, and Patrick. Patrick and I stuck to non-meat items. Home. A week ago I polished the car windshields front and back and it made a big difference. Over the years the windshields had accumulated tiny scratches, and it made viewing problematic particularly in rainy weather. I had originally wanted to use Bon Ami Cleaning Powder, but it was difficult finding it. I called around to several places asking specifically for the Cleaning Powder item which is different than the Bon Ami Polishing Cleanser. The Cleaning Powder is supposedly safer for car windshields according to net lore that I had found. Cole Hardware claimed to have the Cleaning Powder in addition to the Polishing Cleanser, so I hopped in the car and drove over but they didn't really have it. I was a little disappointed, but Cole Hardware is a pretty good hardware store otherwise. There I found an item called Window Wax glass and metal cleaner which looked like it would do the job, so I bought some. It did indeed remove many of the fine scratches in the car windshield, and I decided to do a second application today since the first one didn't quite fix everything completely. Midafternoon meal: roasted pumpkin tamale with white jack cheese, hot apple cider. Unpacked the tauntaun sleeping bag and took a nap in it. Joined foursquare. Sam recently gave me and Patrick a nice gift basket filled with sweets, and although to me gift baskets can feel impersonal as gift baskets go this one was well-designed. I checked the label for the manufacturer—DesignPac. I visited the website which turned out to be owned by a domain squatter and then I realized I visited designpak.com rather than designpac.com. I visited the correct site and there were a few photos of various gift baskets they produce as well as a page that listed retail stores where you can purchase their products. (They don't sell to individuals.) One place was Target, so I visited target.com and searched for DesignPac—no results. I searched for gift baskets and found a big list, but there was no way to tell which ones were from DesignPac. This is where I gave up trying to find and bookmark DesignPac gift baskets for later purchase. Gift baskets are funny because vendors insert a cardboard platform inside the gift basket so that all the items are visible when you see it in a store. The one we received also had booger-style adhesive globs so that the items would stay in a carefully arranged manner so that it displayed beautifully in the store or upon opening. These are things that people would never do if making a gift basket for non-commercial purposes. (Well, perhaps Martha Stewart might.) Steve D party.