January 2011
Summary: Dancing at Underground SF; GAPA happy hour; GLBT History Museum opening night with Patrick; Testarossa 80s night; Punch Line Comedy Club with Will; Emery's birthday dinner at Capri followed by Shangri La 4th Anniversary at Endup; Steven and Marcio's birthday party at Guillaume's
Dates on this page
Sat Jan 1, 2011
I'm in Tokyo on a layover on New Year's Day following my trip to Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam in December 2010. After the heat of those countries the freezing cold of snowy Tokyo was startling, and I really wasn't prepared for it. I had enough of a layover to take the train to Shinjuku for breakfast at Starbucks (nothing else nearby was open) and some clothes shopping. Lots of stores and at least one very large shopping mall were closed but I eventually found enough stores open to keep me happy for a few hours. There was some snow on the ground and some light snow here and there with very few people walking about. I learned after a few mistakes to remove my shoes before entering the dressing room. Patrick picked me up from the airport. He drove to his place, then I drove home. Shower. To bed. Woke around 7 PM. Unpacked some, cut my hair, showered. Can of minestrone soup, ginger tisane with raw sugar. Veggie pizza slice at Pizza By The Slice. Dancing at Underground SF. Encountered Alex C, Ramy, Matt, Tony, Chris, Christopher, Alex (who has a boyfriend named Sergio but Sergio did not attend), 2 guys from L.A. (Thomas and ?). Home. Late meal: TJ's veggie chili.
Sun Jan 2, 2011
Unloaded photos from the camera. Updated Drupal core for Patrick's website. Parents paid a surprise visit. We ate dim sum at City View, then bought fortune cookies on Ross Alley. They took off. I edited and uploaded some photos. Nap. Woke and had dinner with William at Blue: mac and cheese with salmon for me, house club for William, spicy calamari appetizer. Met Alvin and Drew.
Mon Jan 3, 2011
Breakfast: 2 slices of toast with spreadable butter, 2 oranges from Mom and Dad's tree. To work. Linkchecking. Archived website data to portable hard drives. Caught up on email. Start of day: over 250 new messages. End of day: about 33 messages in my inbox. Online PID registration followup. Minor web edits. Listserv management. Restarted The Archive. Lunch: I can't remember. Reported a problem to ITS about students not receiving confirmation messages for messages sent to listservs. Listserv management. Followup about accidental account closures and expiration dates with Cindy and Mark B. ICRD work: custodian change. PGP installation followup with Sarah M. Helped various students with computer problems via email. Communicators followup: how to reach all PT students. More minor web edits. Dinner at home: leftover dim sum. Weeded and uploaded trip photos and video. Unpacked. Ripped the Cazwell cd that I received in the mail.
Tue Jan 4, 2011
Breakfast: same as yesterday. To work. SCWG meeting. Toured the new 2nd floor of the library. Chatted with Mark B about grads-turned-residents and account closures. Linkchecking. Flickr work. Lots of small web edits. Distributed small gifts from my Asia trip—small handcrafts made from wire and used telephone book paper: Rodney received a rattle for his kids, Shirin received a ladybug, Lisa received a small dragonfly, Lucia received a lizard, Sammie received a butterfly, Carol received a big dragonfly, Don received a turtle, Cindy received a purple flower, Joel received a grasshopper, Eric received a keychain fob and a small basket, Susie received green tea from Laos. Chatted with Lucia about encryption and whether her DVD drive was fixed (she still has to test it). Listserv management. Followup with Lillian W about how to reach all physical therapy students for one of the pages under /comm. Graduation section updates for Cindy. Listserv management. Submitted an email address request for Chris W. Minor link edit for student GG. Listserv management. Resent my November 2010 feedback for MyAccess 2.0 to SCWG for review. Small web edit to the list of accounts after followup with Rodney. Redirected a CLE support request from student XVY. Traded emails with Ena. Helped students EP and MS with a website. Lunch: tortilla chips, mushroom and green onion quesadilla from Carmelina's, water. While eating lunch the plastic fork I was using snapped in two and one of the broken pieces subsequently poked a hole in my finger deep enough for it to bleed - ouch! ICRD work. "Upgraded" Windows XP to Windows 7 on the silver shared office laptop in order to prepare it for installation of PGP whole disk encryption. PGP Whole Disk Encryption (WDE) should not be installed if you have Windows XP on an NTFS-formatted Boot Camp volume. If you do, WDE will not be able to edit the boot.ini file properly. You can either: (1) upgrade XP to Vista or 7 then proceed with installation of PGP WDE, or (2) keep XP but convert your NTFS volume to FAT32 before installing PGP WDE, or (3) keep XP and use a third-party NTFS driver such as NTFS-3G. I chose to upgrade XP to 7 but there is no direct upgrade path. I chose to do a custom installation of Windows 7 and then use Windows Easy Transfer to bring the data and settings over. This worked for me. To home. Dinner at home: organic jasmine brown rice with stir-fried organic tofu and organic mushrooms, garlic, basil; green tea soda. 2 fortune cookies from Ross Alley: (1) You will receive unexpected support over the next week. Accept it graciously. (2) An unexpected event will soon make your life more exciting. Laundry. Edited and uploaded photos. Rearranged photos in sets on Flickr because I realized only now that I forgot to change the clock on my digital camera to match the local time so all the timestamps are off by about 15 hours. Late snack: microwave popcorn, 2 chocolate-covered cherries. Upgraded firmware for my Airport Extreme from 7.4.2 to 7.5.2.
Wed Jan 5, 2011
To work. Breakfast: leftovers from dinner last night. Linkchecking. Followup with student BS about legal name change and computer maintenance. Continued work on setting up PGP with the silver shared office laptop. Regenerated the academic calendar PDF to resolve a change that took place while I was on vacation. Followup with Eric D and La'Trece C about a warranty action on an external Western Digital MyBook. Small web updates for Cindy. Lunch: used up some Starbucks gift cards to get a mozzarella and roasted tomato panini and a chai tea latte venti. Checked in with David R at ITS, asking when they plan to begin enforcing the requirement that mobile devices must support hardware encryption to connect to UCSF Exchange for which they implemented a workaround in September 2009 to permit older iPhones to continue to connect. He says, "This items is bouncing around the Security and Policy Committee. Don't have an ETA yet." Updated a schedule for Lucia. Helped student SA set up wireless and UCSF email on an iPod touch—it took about 45 minutes—embarrassing. I had forgotten to do the ActiveSync activation, and even then the student's login and password did work as expected so I had to call ITS back. Lots of minor web updates. Preview session edit for Shirin. Installed PGP Desktop in Windows 7 (Boot Camp) and in OS X on the silver shared office laptop. All is now ready for WDE which is to be done in OS X only. Bought light bulbs at Progress Hardware. Installed light bulbs, was happy with 1 out of 3. (2 floodlights did not match the others in the ceiling.) Dinner at home: Starbucks packaged snack called "Protein": grapes, hard-boiled cage-free egg, sliced apples, white cheddar with multigrain muesli bread and honey peanut butter spread; hot water. Realized that although it does provide a lot of protein it's otherwise not a very healthy snack. Folded laundry while watching Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009) on Netflix DVD. I had skipped seeing this film in the theatre. Snack: microwave popcorn, 3 fortune cookies from Ross Alley. 1: Your lucky number for this week is the number three. 2: You will inherit an unexpected sum of money within the year. 3: You will soon be crossing desert sands for a fun vacation. Discovered that Zara has an online store (!). (Later I realized, sadly, that the online store does not let you buy anything.) Began reading a draft of Patrick's new novel.
Thu Jan 6, 2011
Can't remember what I had for breakfast on this day. Helped student VN via email with wireless authentication. Created an org chart for Susie. Website help for students EP and MS. Followup with Jina about a recent legal name change. Updated pharm sci resources page for Carol. Created an announcement regarding end-of-life for Sophos for Windows, sent it to SCWG for review. Resolved a small billing problem with Servint regarding our recent addition of an IP address. Sent a notice to staff about the recent installation of PGP on the silver shared office laptop. Helped student MS with website building in Google Sites. Meeting for The Archive server options with Eric, Susie, Kurt, Michael. GAPA happy hour. Met or encountered Ping, Damian, Alan, Crystal, Trey, Tim, Emery, Ben, Trevor, Perapol, Sammy. Perapol recommended Heaven's Dog, a Chinese restaurant in SoMa.
Fri Jan 7, 2011
Can't remember what I had for breakfast on this day. Sent to students the announcement regarding end-of-life for Sophos for Windows, slightly revised from yesterday's draft. Notif ied Chris W that the email address he requested for UCSF-FDA Transportal is now live. Listserv management. Sent Jon J feedback on the PGP instructions and installation. In particular, the page at https:// pgp.custhelp.com/ app/ answers/ detail/ a_id/ 1697 says: "Warning: Windows XP on NTFS is not supported with Boot Camp," but this issue is not clearly stated, and it doesn't clarify what one should do in this case. I believe that it would be clearer to state this issue as: "PGP should not be installed when you use Windows XP in Boot Camp on an NTFS-formatted volume because WDE will be unable to edit the boot.ini file. If you use Windows XP in Boot Camp on an NTFS-formatted volume, you have 3 choices: a. Upgrade XP to Vista or 7, then proceed with WDE in OS X only. OR b. Keep XP, convert NTFS to FAT32, then proceed with WDE in OS X only. OR c. Keep XP, install a third party NTFS driver such as NTFS-3G, then proceed with WDE in OS X only." Lunch: La Terrasse with Eric and Susie for a special new year's lunch. Web team meeting at Laurel Heights. Shuttle back to Parnassus. Helped student KP with downloading SEP. Supp app project work in Drupal. Stopped at the hardware store, returned 2 light bulbs. Picked up some items at Arizmendi Bakery. To home. Dinner: veggie foccacia, hot water. Read more from Patrick's draft of a new novel. To bed early. Jetlag seems to still be affecting me.
Sat Jan 8, 2011
Breakfast at home: peach praline muffin from Arizmendi, hot Smart Balance nonfat milk. I purchased the Smart Balance nonfat milk by happenstance. It was the last carton of nonfat milk in at the store when William and I went on Sunday, so I had no choice if I wanted nonfat milk right then. Upon tasting it, I thought to myself that it wasn't nonfat milk. But Smart Balance mixes in a wee bit of canola oil and it tastes much richer than true nonfat milk does. Yes, it adds a wee bit of fat, but if you want the benefits of nonfat milk but don't like the watery taste of it, you should try this milk. Continued unpacking. Or rather, I had unpacked long ago but not everything had been put in its proper place. House chores: laundry, vacuuming, tidying. Snack: everything bagel with peanut butter. Dinner at home with William: potato curry, brown basmati rice, shots of banana liqueur, pomegranate juice for William, hot water for me. Watched Romancing the Stone on Netflix instant watch, then watched Cloverfield on Netflix DVD with William.
Sun Jan 9, 2011
Breakfast at home with William: scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns, red d'anjou pear, kona coffee. Chatted briefly with neighbor Ian W. Errands in the Castro with William: Rock Hard, Cliff's, Walgreens. Stopped at Starbucks for a snack. William and I encountered his friend Cloud and her dog Xander, chatted for a bit. Divisadero Car Wash. Dinner at the spa with Phil, Drew, Danny, Romy, William.
Mon Jan 10, 2011
Breakfast: everything bagel with spreadable butter, 1 banana, hot water. To work. Linkchecking. Supp app project work in Drupal. Lunch: leftover potato curry, hot water. 1-on-1 meeting with Susie. Susie drove me home. Along the way we stopped to inspect the construction taking place on her house. Dinner at home by myself: savoury vegetable Chunky Soup. Made madagascar vanilla cupcakes from a mix with fresh, organic blueberries. Continued preparing new clothes for wearing, amputagging, etc. Late meal: 2 turkey burgers (old stock) with Tillamook sharp cheddar, butter leaf lettuce, mayo, mustard.
Tue Jan 11, 2011
Breakfast at home: one McIntosh apple (which I didn't like—good flavor but too soft), one banana, one blueberry muffin. To work. Linkchecking. Followup with student BS about computer maintenance. Helped student BA with an email problem. Ordered a replacement power adapter for MyBook for Eric. Helped student APL with SEP download and install. Modified the graduation regalia order form for faculty and residents. Tested a problem report in which email messages created in Apple Mail 4.4 and sent to our listserv system are delivered as plain text rather than as formatted messages. Sent Orlando L data he requested regarding internally used applications and projects. Snack: 2 oranges from mom and dad's tree. Lunch: Panda Express. My fortune: You are admired for your adventurous ways. Helped student BA with an email delivery problem. Sent ITS the following problem report: "I confirm that the problem described below by Year 3 PharmD student [name goes here] exists when using Apple Mail 4.4 with our listserv system. Steps to reproduce: Create a test listserv. Set up Apple Mail 4.4 with a UCSF Exchange email account. Create a new message in Apple Mail 4.4, address it to the test listserv. In the body of the message, use formatting such as bold, italic, colors, different font sizes. Send the message. Actual: When viewed in Outlook 2010 for Windows, OWA, and Outlook 2011 for Mac, the formatting does not appear in the received message. Expected: The formatting should appear in the received message. Additional information: If you perform the same steps but send to an individual (not a listserv), the problem does not happen. If you perform the same steps using Outlook 2011, the problem does not happen. If you perform the same steps using OWA with IE8, the problem does happen, but I don't know that this ever worked in the past. I am pretty certain that this used to work properly with Apple Mail in the past, but I cannot recall exactly when it stopped working. Workaround: install and use Outlook 2008 for Mac (I presume this works) or Outlook 2011 for Mac (I confirmed this works)." ICRD work. Edited and pushed live changes to the MPH page for Cindy. More ICRD work. Asked DLS to reinstall BigFix on our silver shared office laptop following clean Windows 7 installation due to PGP installation. Helped student HG set up wireless on a laptop. Exchanged foreign currency at Currency Exchange International (343 Sansome Street). The woman who helped me wouldn't take some of my Vietnamese dong—she said it was too old and no longer in circulation. Shopped the boys department at Zara (250 Post Street), bought a black velveteen jacket, 2 pairs of pants, and a scarf: about $90. Tried to help a woman on Market Street near Civic Center who had had no luck getting a cab and had asked for directions to Pacific Heights. She wanted to just start walking in that direction, but after looking at the map route to her destination on my iPhone I told her it was too far to walk. She decided to take her chances continuing to hail a cab. Dinner at Ananda Fuara: samosa dinner, chai. Used a Groupon. Delicious food, a very good experience. In Castro Street Station I encountered Larry, briefly said hi. Edited and uploaded photos. Wanted to buy something from Zara's website but there is no BUY button. I couldn't figure out how to do it! It seems like they still do not have online shopping available despite several pages on the web saying this was expected in 2010. Pushed some journal updates live, still have much work to do filling in the blanks from the Asia trip.
Wed Jan 12, 2011
Ironed some clothes that hadn't been ironed the last time I did laundry. Tidied a bit. Yoga: standing warmup practice. Weight training: shrug. Breakfast: 1 banana and 1 apple, 2 vanilla blueberry muffins. To work. Linkchecking. Coded the new year card for the dean. Minor update to the MPH page for Cindy. Eric and Susie completed arrangements with ITS to move The Archive to virtual hosting provided by them. Currently we are using an old Mac Mini, so this will be a welcome upgrade. Lunch at Pomelo with Chris C. I had polenta with king trumpet mushrooms, iced lemongrass tea. Online PID reg and payment followup meeting with Shirin and Cindy and then again with Shirin only. Birthday party for Kim B. Followup about the IRC being used for Med Center training. Supp app project work in Drupal. To home. Missed the bus by a few minutes, so I went to Arizmendi and bought a scone. Laundry. Dinner at home with Will: assorted appetizers, turkey burgers with Tillamook cheddar. Watched Star Trek (2009) on Netflix DVD with Will. The gag reel extra is particularly funny. We realize late tonight after talking about John L vomiting from too much alcohol that we were coincidentally at the same Evan Low fundraiser that Travis hosted many years ago. I attempted to find the event in my journal but failed.
Thu Jan 13, 2011
Breakfast: half of a 2-fruit scone (apple and something else—I don't remember), 1 banana, 12 ounces of Smart Balance nonfat milk. To work. Linkchecking. 1-on-1 with Eric D: mostly Drupal work (supp app). Computer maintenance for student LC: problems installing SEP. Sent the following to ITS today: "On the page at http://its.ucsf.edu/ main/ 7-DSY/ InformationSecuritySoftware/ antispyware/ 389-DSY.html the instructions for uninstalling Webroot Spy Sweeper do not account for all installation possibilities. On a computer with 64-bit Windows Vista, to uninstall Spy Sweeper, you must run WebrootClientSetup.exe which is located in C:\Program Files (x86)\SpySweeper Install Files." Websteering lunch with John K, Eric D, Ed C, Todd L, Carl U. IT services meeting. Dinner at Thai Chef with Patrick. Stopped briefly at the brand new GLBT History Museum—it seemed like it was opening night. Home. House chores. Edited and uploaded Asia trip photos.
Fri Jan 14, 2011
1 muffin, 1 banana, 8 ounces of Smart Balance nonfat milk. To work. Linkchecking. Followup with student LC about computer maintenance. Small edits to the PID page for Shirin. Sent feedback to Ann about the TLC program and events PDF. Contacted the Tech Store to get a quote on Acrobat X and InDesign CS5—the others in my office are overdue for upgrades. Convinced Kerry C at DLS to leave Eric off of the support contract but still permit him access to our shared files on the network. Followup and code fixes regarding Susan C and our job postings page. Lots of calendar management. Lunch from Carmelina's: roasted veggie burrito. Snack: seaweed, 2 vanilla blueberry muffins. Supp app project work in Drupal, some with Eric D helping. Ordered a replacement UPS battery for Carol. Dinner at home: garlic bread with artichoke spread, organic spaghetti with TJ's meatless meatballs and organic grated parmesan, hot water. Read more from Patrick's draft of a new novel. Registered as an Apple Developer only so that I can report a bug. Reported bug #8869612. Summary: iCal alarms interrupt movies played with DVD Player. Steps to Reproduce: 1. Create a calendar item with an alarm 15 minutes into the future where the alarm type is "message with sound". 2. Insert a DVD movie and watch it for at least 15 minutes. Expected Results: I'm watching a movie, so I don't want iCal alarms to interrupt it. The Mac knows I'm watching a movie, so it seems obvious that it should do the right thing and not interrupt my movie. Actual Results: The iCal alert interrupts the movie. A dialog appears quite annoyingly in the center of the screen on top of the movie you were watching. Regression: (null). Notes: If you think people really want iCal alarms to interrupt movie playback, I suggest putting a checkbox option in iCal preferences so that people can choose the behavior they prefer. Worked on the Recharge website for Drew.
Sat Jan 15, 2011
Pre-breakfast: 2 oranges from mom and dad's tree. House chores. Cut my hair. Breakfast: 2 vanilla blueberry muffins, organic lowfat vanilla yogurt with granola and organic sliced banana. Mailed a small package at the post office. Got a prawns burrito at El Burrito Express. Edited and uploaded photos and video. Will came over. Nap. Dinner at Okazu Ya: ebi nigiri, california roll (with real crab), tuna roll, another roll that I can't remember now, gyoza: under $20 before tip (!). We had planned to go to the Adonis dance party at 550 Barneveld but changed our minds at the last minute and stayed in playing Telltale's Wallace and Gromit's Fright of the Bumblebees. Even with the hints at maximum and my previous knowledge from playing this with Patrick, it was difficult and frustrating to get through. Installation and performance in Windows 7 was much better than my previous experience playing this with Patrick when it was first released. No screen resolution problems, we were able to view in my iMac's full native resolution. Only problem was that the mouse behavior was sometimes slow or wonky, but part of this was due I think to frequent context switching with VMware Fusion.
Sun Jan 16, 2011
Slept in. Skinned my knee in the bedroom. Breakfast at home: almond pancakes topped with sliced almonds, Tazo Awake hot tea. Did a lot of catching up on journaling for January. (Still need to do December.) Edited and uploaded Asia trip photos and video. Lunch at home: rice noodle soup with soy sauce, organic miso, organic broccoli, organic green onions, white onion, cabbage; Tazo Awake hot tea. Edited my haircut, cleaned up pulled weeds that leftover from yesterday, showered. Tidied. Resolved OS X error found in Console "unable to create user DBs" by deleting the offending folder from /var/folders and restarting. I tried restarting in Safe Mode and then restarting normally but that did not fix it. Upon restart following the folder deletion from /var/folders, OS X prompted for the location for Installer and System Events and I pointed to /System/ Library/ CoreServices/. Restarted once again just to be safe. No more errors. Dinner at Specchio with Will. He had spinach salad with mozzarella pancetta, fettucine with spicy salami, sweet sparkling white wine. I had the Dine About Town prix fixe meal: warm beet salad with walnuts and spinach, fettucine with truffle oil and sundried tomatoes, rock cod fish special with potatoes and spinach, tiramisu, organic chardonnay. Ernesto was our server. Service was excellent as usual. Again the owner (?) came by at the end offering a complimentary drink—very sweet.
Mon Jan 17, 2011
Pre-brunch: one granny smith apple. Dim sum with JY at City View followed by one tart each at Golden Bakery. So full of delicious food! Dropped JY off at Costco. Bought a gift at Swirl on Castro. Grocery shopping at Safeway. Home. Edited and uploaded photos. Called sonic.net about the poor speed after switching from headless Fusion to Fusion + Voice. Sonic today says I have a defective modem and is shipping me a replacement at no charge. The rep said after my Fusion + Voice switch my connection would have gotten progressively worse until the line died (!). I'm not far from the central office, so I should see a significant increase over the 6000/1000 I had before. Dinner at home: butter leaf lettuce salad with alba clamshell mushrooms and lowfat parmesan ranch dressing, grilled jumbo sea scallops with coriander, sparkling green tea ginger ale. Nap. Dancing at Testarossa 80s night at Trigger. Encountered or met Emery, Marc C, Stephen Z, Matt V, Tara, Chad, Stephen D. Learned what Emery's Kryptonite is. Late meal: my favorite breakfast.
Tue Jan 18, 2011
Breakfast: one organic d'anjou pear. To work. Picked up sparkling water and Odwalla tangerine juice at the corner store. SCWG meeting. Attended the Teaching and Learning Center's grand opening program activities and dedication ceremony. Ryan and Mary gave Eric and me a tour of the Tech Commons lab. Lunch: 2 half sandwiches from Palio. 1-on-1 with Cindy. Helped student AB with CLE authentication. Birthday party for Don K. Snack: one organic navel orange. Missed the bus by a minute. Dinner at home: leftover burrito; mung bean noodle soup with miso, brown clamshell mushrooms, cabbage, baby bok choy; hot water. Watched Star Trek (2009) on Netflix DVD (again).
Wed Jan 19, 2011
Yoga: standing warmup practice, strength practice. Breakfast: lowfat organic yogurt, granola, 2 slices of toast with butter, hot water. Lunch: Panda Express: fried rice, honey walnut prawns, hot and sour soup, water. Bought organic oatmeal at Golden Produce. Picked up Will at work. Taxi to 444 Battery Street. Dinner and drinks at Punch Line Comedy Club with Will for the Fags 'n' Hags show with Nico hosting: Loren Kraut, Chris Burns, Mary Van Note, Jonny McGovern, Guy Branum plus special guests Ali Wong, Marga Gomez. There might have been others but I can't recall their names. Taxi home. Unpacked my new DSL modem.
Thu Jan 20, 2011
Breakfast at home: 2 slices of bread with organic peanut butter, 1 extremely sweet and crispy honeycrisp apple, chai tea with McLaren Park honey and French vanilla nondairy creamer. To work. Laptop maintenance for student BS. APEX meeting. Attended an emergency room simulation in the new Teaching and Learning Center in the library. WCWG meeting. Laptop maintenance for student BS. My fortune from yesterday's Panda Express: Be daring. Try something new. Made some edits to the admissions reply form for Joel. Snack: one organic navel orange. Laptop maintenance for student BS. Dinner at home with Will: miso noodle soup very similar to before, apple juice for Will, chai tea with McLaren Park honey and French vanilla nondairy creamer for me. Watched The X-Files: Fight the Future (1998) on Netflix DVD with Will, liked it.
Fri Jan 21, 2011
Breakfast: one Pacific Rose apple. To work. Computer maintenance for student BS. Supp app project work in Drupal. Lunch: one very delicious Kara's gourmet cupcake from a box set brought by student SK. Supp app project work in Drupal. 1-on-1 with Eric. Supp app project work in Drupal. Dinner at home: veggie stir fry with brown rice. Tried on and prepared new clothes for wearing. Late meal: leftovers from dinner.
Sat Jan 22, 2011
Woke at 3 AM, couldn't sleep. Washed dishes, made my favorite breakfast. Edited and uploaded photos. Back to bed at 7:40 AM. Woke at around 11:30 AM. Housecleaning. Breakfast: organic plain yogurt with vanilla extract; one fresh, diced organic d'anjou pear; cinnamon. Rode the bike to and through Golden Gate Park: 10.8 miles, somewhere between 2 and 3.5 hours non-continuous. I don't recall ever seeing Prayer Book Cross and the nearby waterfall. Stopped at an Annie's Hot Dogs stand for an organic veggie dog with red onion sauce, salted hot pretzel, xxx vitamin water—yummy. Emery's birthday dinner, mostly appetizers and pizza, at Capri on Market with Emery, Ray (met), Patrick C, John B, Ben, Pang, Dave R, Dave M, Eric N, Herman, Scott T, Andy M, Ben L, Tim C. Emery wore a t-shirt that said, "SO FAR THIS IS THE OLDEST I'VE EVER BEEN." In figuring out transit to our next destination, Dave R, Dave M, and Eric N wanted to get some dessert from Sweet Inspirations, so I told them I would get my car and pick them up in a few minutes. Dropped them off at Emery's then continued on to Endup to get a good parking space and get in line early. Shangri La at Endup. It was Shangri La's 4th anniversary as well as birthday parties for Tita Aida, Emery, and DJ Jay Santos. A bisexual woman chatted with me in line about her very recent unpleasant experience at 1015 Folsom. She could not let go of it but as we were in line I could not get away from her negative aura or persuade her to talk about much of anything else. DJ Jay Santos opened. Big Kid from Singapore spun after hours. Robin S sang several songs including "Luv 2 Luv" and "Show Me Love." Met or encountered everyone who went to dinner at Capri, Greg and Tim, Joseph, Danny, Ryan and Mark, Joe and Duy, Rob, Apollo, Hershey, Matt, Ryan, Jason, and many, many others. Dropped off Ryan and Jason at home. Accidentally took the wrong route home, got lost a bit, unpleasant. Late meal: leftover veggie pizza.
Sun Jan 23, 2011
Laundry. Breakfast at home: my favorite breakfast, mixed in some frozen basil with the eggs. Recently I bought some Dorot spices from Trader Joe's. I like the spices, but I dislike the packaging because it's not easy to open and close and it's not easy to remove the spice cube. I added a frozen cube to a hot frying pan and the moisture in the cube made it spatter small bits of basil all over the range and wall—a big mess. So now I know these might be better defrosted in the microwave or on the counter before using for frying. They are very convenient especially for single people who cannot use large bunches of herbs before they rot. Web work for Recharge. Edited and uploaded photos from Asia trip. Lunch: tortilla chips with hummus with roasted pine nuts, leftover veggie pizza, hot water. Read more from Patrick's draft of a new novel. Folded laundry. Nap. Dinner at home: mostly organic rice noodle soup with cabbage, broccoli, trumpet mushrooms, miso, soy sauce, black sesame seeds, sesame oil, ginger, garlic. Watched Cazwell videos from Watch My Mouth on DVD. Edited and uploaded photos. Read more from Patrick's draft of a new novel.
Mon Jan 24, 2011
I'm finally back to eating oatmeal after a long respite. The best place I found to get organic oatmeal is Golden Produce, but as it's not close to where I live or on my way to and from work, I don't find it easy to get over there. Today I had organic oatmeal with a fresh, diced granny smith apple; sliced almonds, cinnamon, and Smart Balance nonfat milk; vanilla chai with California sage honey and french vanilla nondairy creamer. Did some ironing and tidying before breakfast. To work. Answered an authentication question for student JB. Followup with an email address request with ITS. Followup with Paul C at CDWG about a purchase order (we went with SHI which was slightly less expensive). Minor web edit for Cindy. Laptop maintenance for student BS. Lunch: everything bagel with soft cream cheese. 1-on-1 meeting with Susie at Rigolo. Web team meeting with Eric and Susie at Rigolo. Shuttle back to Parnassus. Worked for about another hour. Troubleshot a wiki access problem for Susie and Eric. More web edits for Cindy (graduation pages). Sent Eric and Susie my recipe for how to cook rice in a microwave oven. To home. Dinner at home: organic shells and white cheddar with Dorot parsley, organic garlic, and peas; side of organic corn off the cob; hot water. Added a journal entry for my trip to Asia for December 16. Read from Mark Lauren's You Are Your Own Gym, which I am enjoying very much, especially after finding a number of exercises in it which I had improvised years ago on my own based on my own knowledge of weight training. The book is published by Light of New Orleans, and it is somewhat poorly edited. For example, it uses loose where it should use lose and principal where it should use principle. Will learned today that his cat died. He took Muni over but the train frequency lateish was not to our liking, so I picked him up near Safeway in Deliverator and I bought groceries while he picked up some food to eat for dinner: one packaged sandwich; one large packaged salad; one meat, cheese, and crackers snack tray; two Pom juices.
Tue Jan 25, 2011
Breakfast at home: 2 slices of bread with spreadable butter, one pink lady apple. To work. Small web edit for Cindy. Laptop maintenance for student BS. Followup with Tran L about a network problem that I could no longer reproduce. Forwarded a problem report from student JD to CLE. Asked David K about a disappearing news story (Lovotti). Listserv management. Began work on a new congratulations poster for the hallway for Cindy. Restocked paper in the IRC, could not find new toner cartridges. Lunch: Panda Express: mixed vegetables, honey walnut shrimp, chow mein. My fortune: You will travel to many exotic places. Prepared and sent Scott N new connection information for his website. Followup with ITS on the creation of a new email address for the supp app project. Began troubleshooting a listserv web archives problem with graduate Catherine T. Met with Eric to discuss technology improvements to the dean's conference room. He asked how we got stuck with doing this, and I gave him an answer that seemed to satisfy him. Troubleshot a lost leading zeroes problem with CSV files in Excel for Claire. Dinner at home: teriyaki noodles from a package with the package's sauce, extra firm tofu, cabbage, basil, organic garlic, organic ginger, soy sauce. Weight training: door pull ups. Read chapter 6 from Patrick's draft of a new novel. On January 12, I sent feedback through a form on zara.com: "your website makes it look as though you have online shopping but there is no BUY button - i can't figure out how to buy your clothes online. is it possible? if yes, how?" and I received this response today: "Dear Mr. Frank Farm, We would like to thank you for the interest shown in our company and for contacting us through our web site. Regarding your message, we must inform you that Zara has gradually started to introduce our Online Shop to all the markets where Zara is present; however, the purchase online (or other similar option) is no possible in your country for the moment. Kind regards." Read chapter 7 from Patrick's draft of a new novel.
Wed Jan 26, 2011
Weight training: door pull ups, bam bams. Breakfast at home: 1 pink lady apple, 2 slices of toast with spreadable butter. To work. Sent feedback to UCOP about their web newsletter. InDesign poster work for Cindy. Did lots of digital and meatspace housekeeping. Helped Dick S with a problem with a corrupted mail store in Thunderbird. Helped Cindy with some photos of a banner. Student BS picked up the laptop today, we set up UCSF wireless. Restocked paper in the IRC, resolved a printer jam, attempted to resolve toner problems, looked in other locations but still could not find new toner cartridges. Quick lunch during web team meeting: leftover teriyaki noodles with stir-fried vegetables and tofu. Our web team today purchased a 3-month business account with hitask.com to manage our task assignments on a trial basis. It has a visual design with rounded corners and lots of AJAX goodness. We are optimistic. To home. Weight training: door pull ups. Snack: tortilla chips, hummus with roasted pine nuts. Made corn muffins with blueberries. Dinner at home: homemade wine cooler, cheese tortelloni, side of corn off the cob (from a can) and peas (from frozen). Read chapter 8 from Patrick's draft of a new novel. Weight training: door pull ups, hanging leg lifts. Late meal: Chunky vegetable soup.
Thu Jan 27, 2011
Breakfast: 3 corn-blueberry muffins, 1 pink lady apple. Rode my bicycle to work. Followup with Joel about spam. Followup with Eric about security issues. Followup with Scott N about SSL. Small web edits for Cindy. Found abstract photos Eric asked me to find, sent links to Eric. Lunch: leftover tortelloni and organic marinara sauce, water. Asked La'Trece how one of our PID transactions was accepted without any shipping or billing information. Followup with Eric, Sarah, and Jon about PGP instructions. Supp app project work in Drupal. Left my bike at work, took Muni to the Castro. Met Will at Café Floré. Dinner at Bombay Indian with Will. L train home. Will stays over.
Fri Jan 28, 2011
Breakfast at home: organic oatmeal, fresh diced pink lady apple, cinnamon, California sage honey. Supp app project work in Drupal: began coding the review and submit page. Listserv management. Lunch: quick slice of veggie pizza from Cafe Bellini. Supp app project work in Drupal. Small web edits for Cindy. Without Eric, I would be using my USB microphone backwards. Snack: one navel orange. Rode my bicycle home. Dinner at home: an improvised dish of organic rainbow orzo served hot with artichoke pesto, squeeze of lemon, evoo, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, fresh basil, Dorot cilantro; homemade wine cooler. Worked on the Recharge Spa website. Read chapter 9 from Patrick's draft of a new novel. Edited and uploaded photos. Late meal: veggie chili from a can.
Sat Jan 29, 2011
Breakfast at home: my favorite breakfast, with some Dorot cilantro in the eggs, glass of Odwalla tangerine juice. Errands: Walgreens on Taraval, grocery shopping at Trader Joe's Stonestown. Hot lemonade with California sage honey. 15-minute nap. JY's farewell party at Lookout with everyone. Met Ken, Simon, Aaron, Vincent, Christo, Josh, Chris, Laronne F, David (Alan's cousin), Keith. Sandip's farewell dinner at PDDR's. Nap. Steven and Marcio's birthday party at Guillaume's. Janelle sang a cheerworthy rendition of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In." Met Mariah, Gina, David, Greg, Jonathan (Marc's bf), Mark, Matt, Jens (Steven's bf), Philip, Tyler, Rob, Gregory, and two others whose names I forgot shortly after repeating them several times. All night I received compliments on my Macomb Mountain sweater in heather gray from a&f kids. Marc and Jonathan gave me a ride to Market and Castro. I had trouble getting a cab home from there. Instead took the L-Owl. Quick meal at home: veggie burger with Tillamook cheddar, mayo, ketchup, butter leaf lettuce. Started feeling a sore throat coming on.
Sun Jan 30, 2011
Sore throat is definitely there. Canceled my attendance to the dinner tonight that I had planned with Melissa H. Edited photos from yesterday. Breakfast at home: organic yogurt with Mad River Farms wild huckleberry preserves, fresh blueberries, fresh sliced organic banana, apple-cinnamon granola; hot water. Edited and uploaded photos. Prepared butternut squash gratin. Snack: an orange. Late lunch: Ate butternut squash gratin. Read chapter 10 from Patrick's draft of a new novel. Nap. Supper: butter leaf lettuce salad with grated carrot, pepper ranch dressing. Made and ate rainbow orzo salad, this time with heirloom cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and basil, sea salt, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, black pepper, green onions, chopped white onion. Geotagged and described a lot of photos in Flickr. Late snack: tortilla chips, hummus with roasted pine nuts, water. Opened snail mail that had piled up from the Asia trip.
Mon Jan 31, 2011
Resolved CrashPlan error "Destination unavailable. Backup location is not accessible" again. Called in sick. Breakfast at home: blueberry pancakes, one small organic granny smith apple, hot water. Read chapters 11, 12, 13 and the prologue from Patrick's draft of a new novel. Rested. Snack: rainbow orzo salad. Lunch: organic miso noodle soup with baby bok choy, grated carrot, organic basil. Weight training: door pull ups, pec crawl, beat your boots. Sore throat is not too bad now. Dinner at home: leftovers. Will came over. We watched video from Red Bull BC One from the web.