May 2018
Summary: Ashland, Oregon vacation with Patrick; Saint Francis Foundation Presents 2nd Annual Wine Women & Shoes; Eureka at Oasis
Dates on this page
Tue May 1, 2018
Ashland vacation day 1 of 4. rode uberx to pick up a getaround car garaged behind stonestown. breakfast at mcd’s: biscuit meal for Patrick, egg mcmuffin meal for me. Patrick drove us to Ashland, Oregon leaving around 10:45 am. we stopped at a rest stop for a bathroom break. we stopped at mt shasta for gas and to reproduce a photo we took in 1999 and to check out the nearby best western plus as a possible place to stay in the future. (Patrick likes it. I think it looks fine.) we stopped for a mid afternoon snack of french fries at mc’ds drive-thru. the trip took us about 7 hours including rest stops. we regularly encountered roadside construction but little traffic. we arrived in ashland around 4:30 pm and checked in to ashland springs hotel. We’re in room 810, a corner room on the 8th of 9 floors with a 180-degree view of the surrounding mountains and the many trees dotting all of Ashland. Hues of green and brown fill the view. Evenings are cool like San Francisco in the Sunset district. Days are sunny, warm, and pleasant like San Francisco in the Mission. We rested a bit and unpacked before walking to dinner at Liquid Assets, a restaurant and wine bar. We each had the featured flight of three Italian wines: a dolcetto, a sangiovese chianti, and a nebbiolo. We shared a beet salad. Patrick’s entree was fried chicken (breast and leg) with orange slices and a black garlic puree. My entree was a short rib conchigle and cheese. For dessert we shared a coconut stout float with vanilla ice cream and gluten-free beignets with bourbon caramel sauce with two coffees with cream. We enjoyed the dinner very much except for the float. The chicken was perfectly juicy with a crispy, dry skin. The conchigle could easily have been overly rich, but it was perfectly balanced in every way. Stopped at a small convenience store for a few bottles of Fiji water. To bed.
Wed May 2, 2018
Ashland vacation day 2 of 4. Complimentary breakfast at Ashland Springs Hotel. Visited a dispensary. Walked in Lithia Park. Bought sparkling water at Ashland Food Co-op. lunch at The Top on opening day following a name change from Granite Taphouse (510-910-8300, 23 N. Main Street): giant pepperoni pizza slice and salad with italian dressing and iced tea for Patrick, giant mushroom pizza slice, salad with bleu cheese, and lemonade for me. The slices were so big we realized afterwards that we should have ordered only one slice to share between us. The side salads included peruvian sweetie drop peppers, which I had never seen before—so cute. Afterwards we saw an amazing performance of Othello in Angus Bowmer Theatre, part of Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We were impressed by the acting, costumes, seamlessness of the scene changes, and more. Afterwards we rested in our hotel room before dinner at Lark Restaurant. Cocktails and appetizer to start: Main Street Manhattan for Patrick, El Norte for me, bbq prawns to share. Entrees: pork porterhouse and gamay for Patrick, fried chicken and pinot gris for me. Dessert: we shared a pear tart. Double espresso for Patrick, coffee for me. $139 before tip.
Thu May 3, 2018
Ashland vacation day 3 of 4. Complimentary breakfast at Ashland Springs Hotel. We visited Dagoba Chocolates, Branson’s Chocolates, Ashland Shopping Center (but did not stay here long). At Wiesinger Winery we enjoyed a wine tasting with a small plate of charcuterie, crackers, dried fruit, and olives with the charming Felipe hosting. We bought six bottles of wine. Back to the hotel. Ice cream at Zoey's Cafe and All Natural Ice Cream. Nap. Evening performance of Once, The Musical at Oregon Cabaret Theatre, which we both enjoyed very much. We dined at the theatre. Cocktails: dublin mule. Entrees: irish stew and Guiness for Patrick, salmon fillet for me. Dessert and drinks: dick hay pie, coffee for Patrick, irish coffee for me. $112.12 after a $19 tip. To bed.
Fri May 4, 2018
Ashland vacation day 4 of 4. Complimentary breakfast at Ashland Springs Hotel. Patrick drove us home. For lunch, we stopped in Vacaville at Sonic Drive-in: chicken sandwich, onion rings, and chocolate shake for Patrick; combo #1 cheeseburger, fries, and medium Dr. Pepper for me. We had a difficult time figuring out the ordering process. At first we drove up to an ordering station in a parking space but then decided we wanted to not eat in the car because we didn't want to get it dirty so we left that parking space and found a regular parking space. Then we entered the building and couldn't find any humans to take our order. There were two ordering machines, but we pressed the button to order and nothing happened for a long time. Eventually a voice answered and took our order but we didn't know how to pay. The machine had a credit card reader, but its display said PLEASE WAIT... or something like that. We later learned that the card readers were out of order. After our food was delivered they took my credit card and processed it. Very confusing, and it's unclear why they couldn't add a sign saying that the card reader was out of order. It's unclear why the voice that took my order couldn't explain the payment process. The food and drink was tasty. Close to home we stopped for gasoline and a car wash before dropping off our Getaround rental about an hour early. Dinner at home: delivery from Ninki via Grubhub: pork gyoza, miso soup, yak-ramen, caterpiller roll, chicken teriyaki with salad, miso, and rice: $48.49 before a $5 tip. I’ve had iPhone X for a little over two months. I have gotten used to it but I don’t love it. FaceID always fails when (a) I wear certain sunglasses, (b) half my face is on my pillow [although in the long run this failure is probably a good thing], and (c) when it’s flat on a table. FaceID also fails when I try to unlock with it too close to my face. This usually occurs when I have none of my corrected lenses in place. My instinct is that if I can’t see it clearly when it’s far away then it won’t unlock, but here it works opposite how I instinctively want it to work. For a long time I thought FaceID was just broken, but really I just had to unlearn my instincts and hold my arm out. Sometimes when it's on a table face up or when I pull it out of a bag or pocket I tap to wake it and am annoyed to find that it’s upside down. FaceID won’t work when it’s upside down, and it’s very difficult to tell which way is up without a home button when the screen is dark. I never had any of these problems when my iPhone had a home button. I might return to an iPhone with a home button if available at my next upgrade opportunity.
Sat May 5, 2018
Breakfast: leftovers. House chores: cleaned the bathtub, vacuumed, cleaned a portable fan of dust. Recharge Medical work: uscis web edits, wedding flyer. Updated medic alert sheets. Nap. Rode UberX to 15th Avenue House. Cinco de Mayo celebration with Danny, Romy, Drew, Phil, Samantha, Luong, Jonathan, Quyen, two kids, Nate, Paul, and at least three more whose names I did not get or which I forgot. Danny prepared chicken and beef meatballs, spinach with garlic, mashed potatoes, shrimp and tapioca wrapped in leaves, another dish whose name I did not know, and a noodle dish which I did not try. We enjoyed listening to Agustin Lara at Paul's request. Rode UberX home. Late meal: vegetable beef soup from a can.
Sun May 6, 2018
Slept in. Breakfast: grilled cheese sandwich. Rode UberX to 15th Avenue House. Accompanied Danny, Drew, Romy, and Phil downtown by car. We attended Saint Francis Foundation Presents 2nd Annual Wine Women & Shoes. Wayne, Steven, Brianna, Amanda, and Jose met us there. Our group stood for a photo. A woman who I think took a photo of either me or my shoes or both asked me for my name for fashion society notes. I wore vinyl mirror sneakers from Asos purchased a few years ago. We were each handed an empty wine glass, and we proceeded to wander amongst the different wine tasting stations, appetizer stations, booths selling goods, and silent auction listings. We were surrounded by society women and their companions, all dressed rather fancily. I encountered Marcus F and met Ashley and we chatted a bit. The mens lounge on the patio included a Glenfiddich tasting station. Afterwards Wayne and I were dropped off at Hi Tops and had one round of drinks before Karl and Paul met us there. Wayne and I ordered food; Karl and Paul had already eaten. Later we all went to Midnight Sun, where we met someone new to us named Eric and chatted on the sidewalk for a few minutes.
Mon May 7, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: scrambled eggs, hash brown, toast with butter, 8 ounces of orange juice. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Troubleshot a problem with a package delivery. More markup cruft cleanup ("alt":). Walked to lunch at Eliza's: hot and sour soup, broccoli and cashew chicken with brown rice, orange slices. My fortune: "Things are not always what they seem. It's not that bad!" Walked back to work. Image editing: Craik Lab. Uploaded images to The Archive. Resolved problems with broken images on my local dev env. Rode Uber Pool home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs bibimbap rice bowls with yuba and veggies, red wine, Alta Palla for Patrick. Recharge Medical work: task followup and editing. Folded laundry that Patrick had washed earlier.
Tue May 8, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: oatmeal with fixins. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. On the 44 a seated woman with a loud voice, a foul mouth, and a bottle of vodka created several minutes of discomfort for everyone on the bus. At one point she poorly emptied the glass vodka bottle into a plastic bottle of soda, spilling all over the floor and not caring, then left the empty vodka bottle under her seat. Oddly, however, a few minutes later she had a perfectly civil conversation with someone who boarded the bus after the spill. 1:1 with Eric. Html email template work: resolving issues with linebreaks vs. paragraphs. Lunch at Beautifull!: tuna melt, thai noodle salad, butternut squash soup: about $20 but I had enough left over for lunch tomorrow. Paula helped me solve a mystery today involving a missing package. An additional bathroom cabinet shelf was sent to me with no name on the address label. Paula had had it at her desk and was unavailable yesterday when I looked about the office for the missing package. Styling work: spacing above and below homepage items. Chatted with Eric about the MOC site. More styling work: rotated image credits. Filed pcard paperwork. Built a project charter and statement of work and responsibility matrix for the MOC site project. Rode Uber Pool Express home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs cacio e pepe penne with asparagus and pea shoots. Dessert: Bi-rite malted vanilla with peanut brittle and milk chocolate. Recharge Medical work: three-fold brochure for IV therapy.
Wed May 9, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: scrambled eggs, hash brown, brioche toast with butter, 8 ounces of orange juice. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Microsites work: gallery build for Craik Lab, MOC small edits. Styling work: fixed some pager hover behavior on pharm. Linkchecking: changing http to https as needed. Rode UberX to Urban Putt. Cocktails in the upstairs bar: Fairway to Heaven for Patrick, Grapefruit Daiquiri for me: $30 after a $6 tip. We found the Urban Putt upstairs bar much nicer than Bear vs. Bull because it's not ultra dark and it's a lot quieter. Dinner and 3D Avengers: Infinity War at Alamo Drafthouse New Mission with Patrick. Patrick recently achieved Commandant status in their Victory rewards program and on this visit we benefited from a free popcorn and a 2-for-1 entree discount—sweet! We liked the film very much. After it ended, I thought, "What did I just see?!" Dr. Pepper and triple chocolate shake for Patrick, water for me. To share: brisket burger (which we were surprised to find was a brisket patty rather than shredded brisket which we expected), fennel-sausage pizza. Camila was our server and provided good service. $32.13 after discounts and before a $10 tip based on the prediscounted total before tax. Rode UberX home.
Thu May 10, 2018
Breakfast at home: leftovers. Rode Uber Pool Express to UCSF Laurel Heights. Lunch: leftovers. Rode Uber Pool Express home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs summer pizza with zucchini, lemon, and ricotta. Watched about two thirds of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri on Netflix DVD with Patrick and snacks.
Fri May 11, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: apple pancakes, 8 ounces of orange juice. Rode Uber Pool Express to UCSF Laurel Heights. Orgchart work and Faculty/Lab Policy Working Group for Web Governance followup. Also worked with Eric and James to improve link hover attr(href) placement inside WebEdit: lower left corner, just like a web browser. No lunch. Rode Uber Pool Express home. Dinner at home with Patrick: tacos with fixins. Red wine and Alta Palla for Patrick, hot water for me. Late meal: Chef Boyardee beef ravioli in tomato and meat sauce (from a can), water.
Sat May 12, 2018
Nap. Lunch at Sushi Raw with Patrick: chicken katsu bento for Patrick, tonkatsu ramen for me, hot tea and ice water for both. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs tortilla española with romesco sauce. Red wine and Alta Palla for Patrick, hot water for me. Finished watching Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Cleaned. Did some catching up on journaling. Recharge Medical work: IV therapy three-panel brochure, editing for new content: The Men's Clinic.
Sun May 13, 2018
Light breakfast: boiled egg, sliced granny smith apple, crescent rolls with butter and jam. Patrick and Sam went grocery shopping then picked up Kerry and Mom Ryan and returned. We celebrated Mother's Day with lunch at home. To start: italian cookies, including Mom Ryan's favorite: sesame seed cookies. Patrick made giant shrimp po boys (giant modifying po boys). It was so big that I couldn't finish mine. Mom Ryan opened gifts: a framed photo of Kerry, her, and Patrick; a jar of Cetaphil, a jar of melatonin gummy bears, and two greeting cards. For dessert: pound cake with strawberries in honey topped with whipped cream. I cleaned. They departed. Patrick returns. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: I prepared a veggie burger on brioche bun with green leaf lettuce and cheddar. Patrick prepared a small butter and almond butter sandwich on french loaf. Watched the Six Shooter bonus short film on the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Netflix DVD with Patrick. I did more editing for Recharge Medical.
Mon May 14, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: scrambled eggs, hash brown, toast with butter and jam, 8 ounces of orange juice. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Created a logo link cheat sheet for Eric and Susie. Sent NMR to final review/approval stage. Followup with Michael N about a network password pilot. Attempted to complete an ICRD request but encountered a problem and reported it to UCSF IT. Unsubbed myself from the OSACA listserv and notified Cindy. Lunch at Beautifull!: three veggie items: kale caesar, mustard-dill fingerlings, brussels sprouts; water from my water bottle: about $10. Faculty/Lab Policy Working Group for Web Governance followup. Helped Grant with a question about how to present a particular chunk of content in an article he is writing. Walked and rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs bbq mushroom sandwiches, red wine. Patrick helped with my catching up on journaling.
Tue May 15, 2018
Breakfast at home: one granny smith apple. Rode Uber Pool Express to UCSF Laurel Heights. 1:1 with Eric. Spent 30 minutes on the phone with UCSF IT resolving a problem with OLPPS. It seems that OLPPS won't work with the latest version of Java, so we installed an older one and I was told to not update it. Completed an ICRD request. Lunch to go from Starbucks: cubano sandwich, hot. Microsites work: small edits for Kim D for MOC, sent Craik Lab to final review/approval stage. Granted web editor permissions to Alexa T. Faculty/Lab Policy Working Group for Web Governance followup. Org chart work: rework school orgchart to include Dean's Office box in preparation for the deprecation of the separate Dean's Office chart. Walked and rode Muni 1 and 28R home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs green goddess salad with summer vegetables, red wine, Alta Palla for Patrick, Hint pineapple for me.
Wed May 16, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: oatmeal with fixins, 8 ounces of orange juice. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Chatted briefly on the phone with Erika C about individual letterhead vs. dept letterhead. Lunch from The View Cafe: tofu and vegetables over brown rice. Began revising documentation for updating the HR mailing list and creating a new project template for it in Asana. Chatted with Grant about his issue yesterday. Snack: Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips. Orgchart work. Walked and rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs quinoa with roasted veggies and charred lemon relish, red wine, Hint blood orange.
Thu May 17, 2018
Slept in a little. No time for breakfast today. Rode Uber Pool Express to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Orgchart work. Styling work. Lunch from The View Cafe: wonton soup with egg noodles. Asana task followup and cleanup. Chatted briefly with Joel about a banana slug pin and about supp app payment gathering. Afternoon snack from The View Cafe: small order of fried rice. Linkchecking. Chatted with Susie about a new Keynote project. Began a new Keynote presentation for Susie: CTT. Rode UberX to the Castro. Met Patrick at R by Rolo where we shopped a few minutes before closing and didn't buy anything. Drinks and dinner at Hi Tops where we arrived a little before they changed the screens from sports to Ru Paul's Drag Race, of which Patrick is a fan and reliable viewer. We encountered Thomas G whom we hadn't seen in a long time and chatted about economics, philosophy, worrying, behavior, religion, Buddhism, our jobs, traveling, Spain, Italy, technology, Facebook, and iPads while eating burgers, salad, and fries and watching RBDR.
Fri May 18, 2018
Breakfast at home: yogurt with granola and sliced dried apricot, scone with blackberry jam. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Keynote work for Susie: CTT. Lunch: leftovers from home, water. Attended a Siteimprove webinar. Did more prep work for the video training project. Continued reading from Richard Rutter's Web Typography. Met Paul M outside of Destino. We walked to the Mission and dined at Hawker Fare (600 Valencia Street) before taking a trip across the bay on BART then returning late via Lyft. The menu at Hawker Fare said the food was Lao Issan but on Google it says Thai Issan. We shared papaya salad (a bit of lingering spiciness), fried chicken with spicy dipping sauce, and an order of jasmine rice. Paul had a riesling, I had a thai iced coffee (super sweet, almost too sweet). Food, drinks, and service were all perfect. $60.78 after a $10 tip. I returned from the restroom and told Paul, "They should have had squat toilets!" and we laughed.
Sat May 19, 2018
Slept in. Repaired my Scotch and Shrunk long-sleeve white t-shirt with a green hawaiian stripe across the chest and back which had developed a hole in the right armpit. House chores: dusting and vacuuming. Rearranged power cords for the dining table lights to be more hidden. Reorganized the speakers and power cords in the living room so that the subwoofer is in the bookcase rather than under Patrick's old desk. Did lots of cleaning alongside that same project. Dinner at home with Patrick: acorn squash, adzuki beans, and tofu in broth over steamed jasmine and forbidden rice; Hint water. Watched half of The Hitman's Bodyguard on Netflix DVD with Patrick, Opolo chamomile liqueur, and microwave popcorn. This action film surprised us with its hilarious scenes.
Sun May 20, 2018
Rode UberX to Upper Market. Walked downhill stopping briefly at Kite Hill then rode the concrete slides at Seward Mini Park. Lunched at Slurp: pad thai with chicken, water. Visited AtmosQueer, Strut’s annual LGBTQ Community Connection Fair. The day was sunny, cold, and very windy. Tables on the rooftop deck were nearly flying away. Afterwards I visited a number of art installations in shop windows in the Castro honoring Harvey Milk. It's part of an art exhibit called Windows for Harvey! Some of the art pieces are really nice. Stopped for a large coffee (New Manhattan with cream) at Philz then walked more to see more art. Stopped in a few clothes stores but didn't buy anything. Rode Muni and walked home. Helped Patrick attempt to resolve problems with an intermittent internet connection. Dinner with Patrick: I prepared Good Eggs one-pan asparagus frittata with creme fraiche. Afterwards we finished watching The Hitman's Bodyguard on Netflix DVD. Recharge Medical work: document edits. Performed maintenance on our iDrive backups.
Mon May 21, 2018
Breakfast at home: leftovers from dinner last night, fresh cut watermelon and strawberries, one pint of hot water. Walked and rode Muni 28R and 1BX to UCSF Laurel Heights. Delivered a draft of the CTT Keynote for Susie via Asana. Sprint standup. Siteimprove prep work. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Mt. Zion. Lunch at Sweet Lime Thai: beef pad see yew, hot thai tea. UCSF shuttle from Mt. Zion to Laurel Heights. Met with James about Siteimprove. Remastered a new prereqs worksheet PDF form for Joel. CTT Keynote edits for Susie. Walked and rode Muni 1, 28R, and 48 home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs peach panzanella with balsamic reduction drizzle, white wine. Dessert: one meyer lemon shortbread cookie, two small scoops of jasmine green tea ice cream. Recharge Medical web work: made two new PDF consent forms.
Tue May 22, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: oatmeal with banana and fixins. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus, worked from the Dean's Office Administration Office. Handled an urgent request for letterhead. Asana task followup. Followup with Julia M about a CCB request. Siteimprove work. Late lunch at Panda Express: fried rice with mushroom chicken with zucchini, two veggie spring rolls. School of Pharmacy Town Hall. Stopped at the OSACA and helped Joel resolve some problems with address book contact names not appearing and with Apple Calendar not working correctly with UCSF Exchange. Problems were resolved by removing and readding his UCSF account configuration. Attended Sarah P's retirement celebration. Rode Muni and walked home. Quick nap. Rode Uber Pool Express to Smokestack at Magnolia Brewery in Dogpatch for Michael C's birthday party. Met or encountered Ian B, Nate H, Warren L, JY, Adrian, Ray F, Dave and Dave, Ludwig and Kieron, Tim C, Scot B, Brendon, Vernon and Hanson, Ryan and Jason, John B, Scott and Andy, and possibly a few others whose names I don't recall. Ray gave Scot and me rides home.
Wed May 23, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: banana-stuffed chocolate pancakes, chocolate mint tea. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Chatted with Levi about PharmD content possibilities. Followup with Julia M about her request. Lunch at B Star: honey key lime iced tea, I chose two items for lunch on the run: stuffed chicken platha, fresh vegetable spring rolls (2 pieces): $25 after a $5 tip. Completed and committed styling work to resolve issues involving link accessibility and more. More Siteimprove and Asana task followup. Rode Uber Pool Express to Alamo Drafthouse New Mission. Met Patrick. We saw Deadpool 2. We shared popcorn (no butter) and a cobb salad with drinks: $75.07 after a $12 tip. Rode UberX home.
Thu May 24, 2018
Breakfast at home alone: Patrick made me a fruit salad, a chai to drink. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Site launch prep for NMR Lab and Craik Lab. Lunch from The View Cafe: fried rice, egg roll, two ha gow, water from my water bottle. Siteimprove Q&A webinar. Met with Susie to make changes to the CTT Keynote presentation and some Dean's Office web pages. Walked and rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs veggie chowder with sourdough croutons. Installed a magnet strip inside the bathroom cabinet; it works well. Washed dishes.
Fri May 25, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: scrambled eggs with chives, hash brown, brioche with butter, 8 ounces of orange juice. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Siteimprove work. Styling work: table improvements. Lunch to go from Starbucks: turkey and dill havarti sandwich: about $8. I walked to Laurel and Clay and ate on a red bench with a view of the Korean embassy and multimillion dollar homes and gardens. I shared it with a woman resting with a baby stroller, and after a few minutes a man came by to exchange books in the free little library next to us. Walked and rode Muni home. Watched two-thirds of I, Tonya on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs ramp pesto pasta, red wine for Patrick, tap water for both. Afterwards I installed a t-leg storage rack to hang our t-leg ironing board on the back of the office closet door. Similar items on Amazon cost $12 and $6, so I was surprised to find this one by Homz Smart Solutions for under $3 before tax.
Sat May 26, 2018
Resolved network connection problems for Patrick's computer. He encountered "share does not exist". Restarting the computer did not help. Restarting the server did not help. I eventually resolved this with lots of futzing involving turning wifi off and then on and then reopening the volume from Finder and reentering correct credentials. Breakfast at home with Patrick: oatmeal with fixins, 8 ounces of orange juice. Cut my hair, showered. Rode Muni to the Castro. Met Stephen at Philz for coffee. We walked in the Castro to see the various Harvey Milk art exhibits in the shop windows. We chatted about Gay Days at Disneyland and Disneyworld, silent auctions and silent auction strategy, dogs, Segways and new Corvettes, theatre and musicals, sports, and more. Patrick joined us after some time and he wanted coffee so we returned to Philz and walked more. Stephen left us at Market and Castro. Patrick and I stayed to watch a free concert by the Alpha Rhythm Kings. Afterwards Patrick and I brunched at Botellón: Harvey's Punch for me, Smokey Pimms for Patrick. Garlic fries, burger, ribs, spring bake. The modern decor is rather exquisite compared to other restaurants nearby. The drinks had way too much ice and didn't pack a punch. The ribs were tougher than we had expected and did not fall off the bone. The rest of the dishes were sufficient, but there are similar ones elsewhere in the Castro that are prepared better. I was fine with the service; Patrick thought our server seemed inexperienced. $71.44 before a $15 tip. A stop at Cliff's Variety for some hardware supplies before riding Muni home. I repaired a brown long-sleeve waffle-knit shirt with my sewing machine. I resolved a noisy kitchen sink drip by taking a 26.5-inch length of copper wire and bending it into a tight U shape and inserting it into the drain to be held up by the (grate?) near the top. I tightened a limiting wire on our swing-out bathroom mirror. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftover mac and cheese and recooked ribs. We finished watching I, Tonya. Nap. Rode UberX to the End Up for Heroes & Villians—optionally come dressed as your favorite hero or villain. I hadn't been to Shangri La in a really long time and enjoyed catching up with many and meeting new men, including Adolfo. I thought that the best costume of the night was Hella from Thor: Ragnarok. Rode UberX home.
Sun May 27, 2018
Slept in. Breakfast: leftovers, water. Recharge Medical work: edits. Snacks: sesame-glazed almonds, cheesy crackers, water. Nap. Rode UberX with Patrick to the Castro. Walked in the Castro. Dinner at Finn Town: cocktails (? for Patrick; da mayor for me), wedge salad, roast half chicken, fanny farmer rolls: about $100 after tip. The tavern with a twist provided many delights on this visit. The fanny farmer rolls are served in a small cast iron pan and in the shape of a donut with an herbed butter in a stainless steel cup in the center. The buns tasted a tad dry to me, but the salted egg wash and almost-pull-apart donut presentation easily made up for it. The wedge salad is not a wedge at all but rather delightfully a horizontal slice of iceberg topped with green goddess dressing, pecan, bacon, date, blue cheese, and (we think) pea shoots—an atypical combination of flavors that works really well. The result is a circular slab of lettuce about an inch tall, and when I first saw it, I thought they should have given us a pizza cutter with it and laughed. The roast half chicken was also perfectly prepared—crispy and dark golden outside, tender and juicy inside, on a bed of pureed potatoes with swiss chard and jus. The thing that makes Finn Town an instant gem is its inventiveness on top of excellent quality. As far as we know, no one else in San Francisco serves rolls this way. No one else serves a wedge salad quite like this. The chicken is achingly perfect at first bite where elsewhere I might not feel the same way. Too full for dessert. About $100 after tip. Afterwards we wandered the streets looking for a bar that wasn't too crowded and ended at Blush where we enjoyed two glasses of wine by the glass and the company of the two bartenders. Tried again to find a bar with something interesting happening but was not too crowded and failed. Rode UberX home.
Mon May 28, 2018
Memorial holiday. Slept in. Low energy today so remained home despite it being a warm and sunny day. Lunch at home with Patrick: ramen with mushrooms, greens, pickled onion, poached egg, Nona Lim noodles and broth. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: I prepared Good Eggs Korean yuba noodles with lettuce cups. I think this was the shortest actual preparation time of any Good Eggs meal—about 30 minutes, most of it spent prepping the lettuce, which had turned out worse than the usual high quality of produce we receive from Good Eggs, but there was enough good lettuce that the meal was not ruined. To drink: Opolo petit verdot, Hint pineapple. Afterwards we began watching our DVD set of Showtime's Twin Peaks: A Limited Event Series, which we purchased months ago and only now have found time to watch. We got an hour in, and we like it so far. While watching we ate dessert: one small scoop each of Humphrey Slocombe peanut butter fudge ripple ice cream. Reattached the bathroom cabinet knobs that I sugrued yesterday—fix is complete and works well.
Tue May 29, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: oatmeal with fixins, 8 ounces of orange juice. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. 1:1 with Eric. Microsites work: Wells Lab. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Mt. Zion. Lunch at Yum Yum Hunan: mushroom beef lunch special, hot tea. My fortune: A diet is a selection of food that makes someone rich. Walked back. Styling work. Pull quotes meeting. Pull quotes styling work. Errand: grocery. Rode Muni and walked home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs mushroom tinga tostadas, red wine, Hint blood orange. Installed a wooden hanger for Patrick's headphones. Compressed two pillows for storage using space saver vacuum bags. House chores: dishes, folded laundry that Patrick had washed earlier.
Wed May 30, 2018
Breakfast at home: leftovers with a tiny nectarine. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Styling work: pull quotes. Opted out of Comcast mailings, phone calls, and in-person visits via a link to a form provided by Dane J from Sonic via Twitter because Comcast has been sending me notices in snail mail that say URGENT - DATED MATERIALS when I have never been a Comcast customer. The mail items are offer notices from Comcast Business pretending to be something more urgent. I opted out of mailings by telephone but months later I continue to receive them. Lunch: leftovers. Worked with James on an issue involving homepage event names and locations. Reviewed a new html email draft for the PharmD Education team. Microsites work: Wells Lab build with Kevin L. Asana task followup. Siteimprove work: linkchecking. Rode Uber Pool to the Mission. Met Patrick at Alamo Drafthouse New Mission. We had a drink at El Techo: sangria for Patrick, house margarita for me: $19.13 before $3.50 tip. Back to Alamo: dinner and Solo: baby kale caesar salad, popcorn, Dr. Pepper for Patrick, themed cocktails.
Thu May 31, 2018
Breakfast at home with Patrick: oatmeal with fixins, chocolate mint tea with a touch of honey. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Styling work: homepage fixes. Microsites work: sent Wells Lab for final review/approval. Met with Eric about the web editor video training project. I prepared an invitation for a retirement party. Helped Susie with final touches on a Keynote presentation. Continued homepage improvements styling work. Rode Uber Pool to SoMa. Met Patrick. We walked around SoMa a bit before dinner at Don Ramon's Mexican Restaurante: two-item combos and drinks for both. Patrick had a beef taco and a chicken chimichanga with refried beans and rice. I had a chicken enchilada verde and a beef chimichanga with black beans and rice. $58.59 before a $12 tip. Afterwards we browsed for 7 minutes at City Lights before a drag show at Oasis featuring Eureka and hosted by Honey Mahogany. We had purchased VIP tickets because we wanted the front row reserved seating but we were told upon arrival that it would be standing room only contrary to what was advertised when he had purchased our VIP tickets—disappointing. Mark Leno campaigning for mayor was a special guest and threw drag compliments and told us the alternate, bawdy lyrics to an old song. Jane Kim arrived later; I was in the restroom line and missed what she had to say. Rode UberX home.