February 2024
Summary: Eric's farewell party. Dinner at Piglet & Co. with Chris G and Andy T. Bruce Lee exhibit at Chinese Historical Society Museum. Jade Chocolates. Hang Ah Tea Room. Dinner at Mister Jiu's. Dinner at Dalida. Dinner with Paolo and Lucie at Rustic. Dinner with Remi and Jesse at Eric's.
Dates on this page
Thu Feb 1, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, golden raisins, diced half banana; hot water. Worked from home. Followup on IT requests related to EFD's departure. Met with Joanne C to finalized AICD3 website and news announcement changes in prep for Suzan to post social media push. Lunch at home by myself: leftovers melange, water. Rode Muni to a doctor appointment and back. The appointment took longer than I had expected, taking basically all of my afternoon. Dinner at home with Patrick: chicken parmagiana with creamy polenta, water. Patrick washed dishes. We watched Dustin Nickerson: Overwhelmed on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. Late snack: sourdough toast with provolone, one sumo orange, water. Spam and email filter management.
Fri Feb 2, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half pear; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Helped a student who needed classroom support in a nearby classroom. Handed off Eric's laptop to Richard M for reimaging. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Archived AICD3 in the Wayback Machine. Richard M returned with the reimaged laptop, and I locked it in a cabinet. Listserv ticket followup with Shubhankar C and Erica D: rename and dynamicize. Lunch from Panda Express, ate at desk: bowl with steamed white rice and mushroom chicken. Water from my water bottle. My fortune: Never let an opportunity pass you by. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Mission Bay. Errands. Postdoc Colloquium site build. Rode Muni and BART to Amber and Eric's house for a housecooling or farewell party. I walked from the BART station about 12 minutes with my wheeled bag, and it was only a bit uncomfortable. A sign on the door said DO NOT LET THE DOG OUT. Many neighbors, friends, and co-workers and their partners were in attendance. They served margaritas and tacos and tortilla chips. I met or encountered Lucas the husky (quiet, curious, and friendly), Dominic, Jared, Karen G, Julia S and Grace, Steve, Levi and Naomi, Stefan T, and many others whose names I did not get. Topics of conversation included Magic: The Gathering and Wizards of the Coast, spelling, bioscience, manure, houses and housing, Southeast Asia, work, games and board games, Exploding Kittens, Alameda and island living, German and Germany, travel, and more. Green Post-It notes on objects were clues that you could take something home if you wanted it. A sign on one wall had a QR code which led to a form for sharing current contact info. Karen offered me a ride in to the city, which likely saved me 40 to 60 minutes. She dropped me near Van Ness Station, and I rode Muni home. I think I got home around 9:30 p.m. There was a small earthquake today around 1:22 p.m. I was in S126 and felt it.
Sat Feb 3, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Housecleaning and chores. Lunch at home with Patrick: Patrick had toast with two fried eggs over leftover polenta. I had his leftover pho from yesterday's lunch. We walked to Henry's House of Coffee to buy coffee then around the reservoir for the view. I napped. Dinner at home with Patrick: ground beef patty melt with caramelized onion dip and sliced pepper-jack cheese on sourdough with creamy tomato soup, water. We watched Interview with the Vampire (2022) s1:e4 on SFPL DVD then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I continued watching various YouTube videos. No late snack or small meal. Woke around 2:30 a.m. coughing, the residual part of a cold that began on January 6 that I haven't written much about here.
Sun Feb 4, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Updated Patrick's bookmarks at his request. Nap. Lunch at home with Patrick: baked fried tilapia with leftover salsa rice, water. Today Patrick made s'mores ice cream using our Cuisinart ice cream maker: toasted marshmallow ice cream with toasted marshmallow bits, graham cracker pieces, and fudge ripple. Dinner at home with Patrick: thai wheat noodles with beef, miso, sesame, and red peppers. We watched Reservation Dogs s2:e5 on Hulu Basic Plan. We had watched s2:e4 sometime before today but I now can't recall exactly when. We watched various YouTube videos. We tried Patrick's new s'mores ice cream, and it is pretty perfect and very delicious. Patrick went to bed. I chatted with Lani and Dex on Zoom about issues related to Mom's trust and real estate properties. Late snack: 3.1 chicken nuggets with ranch dip, water.
Mon Feb 5, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Met Holly L, a new education coordinator for CERSI, to let her in the office. Standup with Suzan. Calendar management. Postdoc Colloquium site followup and notice of draft ready. Long chat in person with Sharon Y about various topics. Followup with Frances about Excel and Teams questions. More calendar management. AICD3 social media followup. Lunch to go from Moffitt Cafe: veggie pizza slice, small chicken noodle soup. Bernard had eaten lunch earlier but accompanied me. I ate and we chatted briefly at the cafe, but after finishing the delicious soup I found that the pizza was cold, so I wrapped it and we returned to my office so that I could reheat it. Gold shuttle to a doctor appointment. Blue shuttle return. Did a bit more work before riding Muni home. Recently we received some mail that was delivered to our address. The address was correct but the name was one we did not recognize at all. A number of careful Google searches revealed that the name belonged to a neighbor, and either they provided an incorrect address to the senders or transcribing errors by the senders occurred. I took the mail to the suspected correct address and encountered a resident of that address. She confirmed that the name sought lived at that address. I explained the situation, and she agreed to take the mail to the person and re-explain the situation. Dinner at home with Patrick: garlic, tofu, and broccoli stir-fry with jasmine rice. Water to drink. Dessert: we shared one sesame ball from Simmone. Woke around 1:50 a.m. coughing. Back to bed around 4:00 a.m. then slept til 6:00 a.m.
Tue Feb 6, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Set up Outlook for iOS. Helped Suzan with many computer issues including getting set up at Alesia's desk. Lunch from Panda Express with Suzan. I got a bowl with fried rice and string bean chicken. My fortune: Your friends depend on you for solid advice. Suzan and I met with Lawrence L for the first time. We'll report to him for the next few months while a replacement for Eric's role is hired. Styling work in Drupal: PharmD 6 boxes. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: skillet vegetarian chili with jack cheese and masa biscuits, water. Installed macOS Monterey 12.7.3 on my work laptop.
Wed Feb 7, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Worked from home. Sent feedback to UCSF Pulse on their new html email template/format. Standup with Suzan. Met with Angela F, Robert T, and Kevin Y from SIS to discuss dynamic listservs for PharmD students. Responded to a question from Nathan D about computer hardware. Lots of calendar management. Lunch: leftover polenta with marinara, avocado toast, water. Troubleshot problems logging in to the Staff Portal. More calendar management. Resolved content metadata maintenance issues for Mitra A. Made live PC-CMP Postdoc Colloquium for postdoc LL. Followup on dynamic listservs with Erica D. Followup with Angelie K about granting her web editor access. (Still waiting for her to log in.) Followup with Vicky V about a data problem with PeopleConnect/EDS. Followup with La'Trece C about my pcard application. Followup with Angelie K about how to include temp workers on our holiday early release emails. She doesn't know how to get those lists yet and will get back to me. Followup with Suzan R about how to handle a dead request. Rode Muni to the Castro, met Patrick at Bonita for dinner: we shared a half chicken which included three tortillas and two sides (we picked rice and black beans) and we added another side (corn). Complimentary chips and salsa. Watermelon aguas frescas for both. This was our first time dining here. Service was friendly and efficient and all food and drink were delicious. For two persons three sides plus chips and salsa and the half chicken resulted in too much food unless you really want the variety; stick to two sides and consider declining the chips and salsa. Afterwards we got one round of drinks at Detour, leaving just before drag bingo was supposed to have begun (but we didn't see any drag queens or even anyone setting up). We rode Muni home. Patrick went to bed. I performed lots of router config, mostly manually assigning IP addresses.
Thu Feb 8, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Worked from home. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Calendar management. Bridge funding followup with Shalimar. Task followup with a task I'm uncertain if Eric had finished: staff retreat headshots. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself a provolone and sourdough grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup from a box, water to drink. Phone call with Michael D from IT about SEP full scan and file scan grayed out. He doesn't know what the problem is and will bump to another engineer. I declined his offer to uninstall and reinstall since we had so many problems with SEP in the past. Doctor phone call appointment. Styling work all afternoon: cards on PharmD home and Organization. Afternoon snack: tortilla chips. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftovers. Afterwards we watched The Marvels on Disney+. Patrick went to bed. I watched more various videos.
Fri Feb 9, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Followup with Emma G and Beth A about updating pubs on pharm. Followup with Marco S about photos from the staff retreat in October. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Bridge funding followup with Shalimar. Followup with Raul V and Kristan B from IT about unsolicited, phishingesque email from Jordan H. 1:1 with Lawrence L. Followup with Carly S and Dan F in HR and Joana with UC Path Support chat about removing my work phone number from UC Learning Center. Lunch from Carmelina's: one shrimp taco, ate at desk watching various YouTube videos. Followup with Alesia W about orgcharts and staff photos. Styling work: cards on PharmD home and Organization; sent draft for review. Orgchart and related web page work the rest of the afternoon. Rode Muni to meet Patrick for dinner at Chic n' Time: imperial rolls vermicelli to start, taiwanese fried chicken steak and hot black sesame soy drink for Patrick, charbroiled beef with garlic noodles and hot vietnamese coffee for me. Ice waters. The menu here is huge; I don't know how they do it. The food and drink are delicious. Afterwards we attended Paolo and Lucie's Kitchen Table reading series at 826 Valencia: Rocky Rivera, Dena Rod, Denise Masiel with chocolate treats by Topogato. We enjoyed readings and Q&A from all three talented writers/artists and our brief chats with our event hosts. Rode Lyft home. Patrick went to bed. Repaired the Koln bottle opener fridge magnet whose magnet had again come off after it had fallen. Instead of Elmer's I used a sticky dot to reattach it and some black gaff tape to seal the sharp, broken edge of the magnet from fingertips. This repair was quick and easy and seemed to work well. Followed up on blocked phishing threats reported by our router software. It appears that visits to parade.com and possibly people.com resulted in requests to radiantlullaby.com which triggered the blocks. inclineflaming.com and sr7pv7n5x.com were other confirmed or suspicious domains. I blocked all three and saved and archived my router config.
Sat Feb 10, 2024
Had trouble sleeping last night. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana, dried cherries; hot water. Nap. Lunch at home with Patrick. Patrick had hummus toast and a salad. I had TJ's vegetable stir-fry from frozen and also fried some leftover steamed white rice. Cleaned the bathroom. Repaired Sugru falling off our Squatty Potty with black gaff tape. Cut my hair. Cleaned the bathroom. Showered. Cleaned the bathroom. Wrote a recommendation for Eric on his LinkedIn page: "I hired and worked closely with Eric Davila for over 16 years and would not hesitate to work with him again. During his lengthy career at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), he grew and ably demonstrated a wide-ranging skill set that focused on the union of people, technology, and communications. He is that somewhat rare breed who can very, very deeply understand and navigate many kinds of technical details yet also shift gears to interface with layperson or less technical stakeholders with care. I have regularly been surprised at the depths of his knowledge; he carries and shares a vast wisdom. People at all levels enjoy working with him. At heart, he is a fast-thinking problem-solver who is not afraid of a challenge. If you have web, technology, or communications needs, you likely can't go wrong hiring him." Rode Muni with Patrick to dinner at Piglet & Co. Hot tea is served individually in 12-ounce Bodum Pavina double-wall glasses. Andy and I each had alishan tea; Chris and Patrick each had formosa red tea. We shared: turnip cake, pickles, furikake rice, cabbage salad, shrimp and pork toast, chicken wings, pork garlic noodles, mala bbq pork ribs. For dessert: bread pudding. The next morning our stomachs felt a bit uneasy, we suspect from some combination of gas or bloating, eating too much, or eating things we didn't usually eat.
Sun Feb 11, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Walked and rode Muni to 9th and Judah with Patrick. We walked to and visited the Lunar New Year Festival at the County Fair Building followed by a walk through the Botanical Gardens to see the magnolias just beginning to bloom. The festival attracted a large crowd, and while we were there we saw three small girls dressed in traditional gowns dancing on stage. We visited the adjacent library where we encountered Drew and Tai and chatted briefly with them. Lunch at Pacific Catch (415-504-6905, 1200 9th Ave): iced tea and two shrimp tacos with salad for Patrick, arnold palmer and salmon chowder and crispy rice with ahi poke for me. About $48 before a 20% tip. Service by Kat P was a bit slow at times but otherwise good. We ate at table 77 which we liked because we could watch the many dogs and their owners walking or driving by. We also saw many very young girls wearing princess dresses or tiaras. Walked and rode Muni home. After a while Patrick took a nap. I left to take a piece of misdelivered mail to a neighbor and encountered several people in front of our house standing around an elderly man who had fallen. I learned that the fallen man was a neighbor. I provided a chair for him to sit in until a medical team arrived and took him to a hospital for further care. Weeded Instagram followings and followers. Dinner at home with Patrick: Patrick prepared baked tilapia from frozen with coconut-cilantro sauce and sautéed asparagus. Water to drink. We watched various YouTube videos then Interview with the Vampire (2022) s1:e5 on SFPL DVD then various YouTube videos. I washed dishes. Patrick went to bed. I deep-cleaned the dish rack. Hot water with bottled lime juice and honey.
Mon Feb 12, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Standup with Suzan. Team meeting with Suzan and Lawrence. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work all day. Removed EFD from Drupal roles on all sites. Attempted to feed data from our Drupal support form into the new Asana instance that Lawrence had set up. Failed because we did not seem to receive the verification email sent to Asana. Helped Joel with small edits to the reply form and with cleaning up his Windows desktop by removing lots of unneeded shortcuts and software installers. Lots of listserv config to remove EFD and to set errors-to to owners rather than a specific email address. In the hallway I encountered Bernard and met his coworker Karen, and we talked briefly about UCSF buildings and misdelivered mail. Lunch at Perilla with Suzan: we each got five-spice chicken pho. Suzan had tea, I had ice water. The place was packed, and we waited only a few minutes for a table (33?) slightly too small for two persons but we made it work. We talked about the health care system, grocery stores, the mayoral race, Daniel Lurie, Manny's, volunteer trash pickup events, yesterday's Super Bowl, Usher, Beyonce, Macy's, winter coats, and more. We rode Muni: Suzan to an errand and then work from home, me back to Parnassus. Gathered and shared sitemap info for Suzan. Followup with orgchart stakeholders: remove EFD and extract Office of Communications is complete. Followup with Siteimprove about text looking wonky in feedback wysiwyg due to poor styling. Followup with Joanne about the AICD3 homepage image. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: bucatini with cauliflower, capers, and lemon; water for Patrick, pint of hot water with ginger juice, honey, and squeeze of lemon for me. Resolved the support form to Asana problem by adding a root account email address as a member to Asana. We watched Dinner Time Live with David Chang: Burger Time with Nick Kroll and John Mulaney. Patrick went to bed. I washed dishes. I had another pint of hot water with ginger juice, honey, and squeeze of lemon.
Tue Feb 13, 2024
Vacation day. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half pear, dried cherries; hot water. Kerry and Mom Ryan came over for lunch and we celebrated Mardi Gras. Patrick prepared red beans and rice with Commander's Palace garlic bread. We watched a delayed live recording of today's Zulu parade. After several hours, they departed. Just before they left a fan fell from the top of the refrigerator and knocked of I had thought I was ready to nap, but instead I continued watching various YouTube videos. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftover bucatini, side salad, leftover garlic bread. We watched about two-thirds of The Batman on Netflix. Patrick went to bed. Late snack: sourdough toast with provolone and fresh dill, water.
Wed Feb 14, 2024
Vacation day. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water with honey, lemon, and ginger juice. Lunch: Patrick had leftover red beans and rice. I had a grilled provolone and dill on sourdough sandwich, four TJ's samosas (a bit spicy) from frozen. Water to drink. Patrick showered then napped while I washed lunch dishes and showered. Rode Muni with Patrick to Chinatown. We visited the Chinese Historical Society Museum for a Bruce Lee exhibit, then Jade Chocolates, then lunar new year displays. Valentine's day dinner at table 21 (which we have gotten before and is the best two-top) at Mister Jiu's. Cocktails: Wisdom for Patrick, Luck for me. 8-course tasting menu for 2. Sparkling water. Two aperitivo spritzes. We shared: poached steamboat oyster with ginger-scallion and schmaltz; big eye tuna with beets, blood orange, and lanzhou chili; chicken, shrimp, and pig trotter dumpling with preserved yuzu and black truffle; freshwater eel with braised lotus root and bamboo shoot; smoked duck breast with spring garlic, fava leaves, and teocheow olive sauce; braised stemple creek beef shank with 3-year fermented fava bean, cucumber, and scallion pancake; black sesame tong yuen with rose petals and fermented rice; calvin's multilayered jello. Afterwards we got a round of drinks upstairs at Moongate Lounge. The front bar was full, so we were asked to use the back bar tucked around a corner. Wong Kar-Wai's In the Mood for Love (2000) played on a large screen. We used a free photo booth to take photos. Rode Muni home. Continued watching The Batman on Netflix.
Thu Feb 15, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water with lemon juice. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Reported a problem with Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) failing to work with Office 365 tools in Firefox—a problem that I reported about a year ago and returned for me after SEP got reinstalled due to another problem in which I was unable to execute full scans or file scans. Full scans and file scans are now working, but the reinstall caused the other problem to return. For a more permanent fix, it seems I'll need to upgrade from Monterey to Sonoma, which I'll probably do tomorrow. Lots of calendar management. Followup with Suzan about PharmD home page six tiles redesign. Followup with IT and submitted a new request to end service on the work phone number I have had since 2001 because I seem to get only spam and phishing on it and I don't recall a legitimate work phone call received on it for many, many years. Caught up on email after two days of vacation. Followup with Nicki M about Versa Chat and our research pages. Followup with pcard setup. Followup with Leslie CS about recurring pcard charges. Removed Eric from our third-party bulk email provider accounts and set them so that I would receive owner emails. Lunch at desk to go from Carmelina's: fajitas taco grande, one sumo orange, water from my water bottle. Staff retreat photos distribution. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: butternut squash soup and side salad, water. We finished watching The Batman on Netflix with microwave butter popcorn then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I washed dishes. Late snack: corn-and-sweet-potato chips with carmelized onion dip, water.
Fri Feb 16, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana, dried cherries; hot water with lemon juice. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Styling work in Drupal: PharmD 6 boxes: BrowserStack testing. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. SEP followup: uninstall RU8 followed by reinstall of RU3. Remove Cynthia Z from web. Met with Frances P on Zoom to talk about Excel, Teams, and more. Lunch at Moffitt Cafe by myself: roast turkey sandwich with cranberry dressing, mayo, and mustard; severely overcooked mixed vegetables, too-wet cornbread stuffing, ice water. Changed occurrences of Communications Team to Office of Communications. Drug Research Unit image insertion and followup with Marley Q. Orgchart work. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: mahi mahi burgers with French fries, water. Afterwards we watched YouTube videos about The Batman. I washed dishes. Patrick went to bed. Late snack: four TJ's samosas (a bit spicy) from frozen with sour cream, hot water.
Sat Feb 17, 2024
Slept in, probably due to taking diphenhydramine last night. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, blueberries; hot water with lemon juice and honey. Home improvement: adjusted a cabinet door that grew to become misaligned. Archived tax documents. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself fried rice with vegetables, water. Nap. Rode Lyft to dinner at Dalida with Patrick: sparkling water. Cocktails: Patrick had Dalida Sazerac Magnifique, I had Saturnalia. We shared: breaking bread, midy dolma, duroc pork souvlaki, erishte, half-chicken. Wine: we each had a glass of monastero trappiste coenobium. For dessert we ordered rose tres leches and Patrick had an ottoman coffee and we received a complimentary chocolate muhallebi. All food and drink and service were excellent. Emily was our server. Rode Muni home.
Sun Feb 18, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, blueberries; hot water with lemon juice and honey. Unloaded photos from my iPhone 12 mini to the MacBook Pro. Created a video called Sunset at Table 21 from three photos taken at different times at Table 21 at Mister Jiu's. I used Photoshop's feature called auto-align images then created a timeline giving each photo five seconds then exported as an mp4 video. First lunch: leftover fried rice with vegetables. Patrick napped. Second lunch with Patrick: Patrick had leftover french fries and leftover roast chicken and sesame shrimp toast. I had leftover roast chicken and sesame shrimp toast. We watched Interview with the Vampire (2022) s1:e6 on SFPL DVD. Dinner at home with Patrick: chopped salad with avocado and white cheddar and masa harina biscuits, water. We watched Pete Davidson: Turbo Fonzarelli on Netflix. I washed dishes at a break in the middle. Patrick went to bed.
Mon Feb 19, 2024
Holiday. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, blueberries, diced half banana; hot water. Patrick and I rode Muni to Civic Center Station then walked to and visited the Asian Art Museum. We saw Taihu Rock—East Wind II; Into View: New Voices, New Stories; Japanese Tastes in Chinese Ceramics; Japanese Ink Paintings; Deities, Paragons, and Legends: Storytelling in Chinese Pictorial Arts. RAD (Research And Development) and East West Bank Art Terrace were closed. Afterwards we rode Muni underground to Powell Street Station then transferred to the T line to Chinatown and walked to Hang Ah Tea Room (1 Pagoda Place), the oldest dim sum restaurant in America. Just before we arrived we saw a large group of women dressed as beauty contestants leaving. While waiting in line we saw employees removing tables from a configuration for a large group which was probably the women we passed. We also saw people at tables who had finished their meals and were clearly waiting for their checks. Some had to get up to ask a server for their checks. Our wait was about 15 minutes. We shared combination A and combination B and an order of sticky rice with pork and chicken. Patrick wanted hot milk tea, but they said they were out. We both had hot jasmine tea. One of the employees took his lunch break at one of the tables. One of our combos was missing an egg roll. We pointed out the error to one of the servers, and it was quickly resolved. A 15% service charge is included in the check. The food is reasonably good, a bit on the greasy side. We ordered slightly too much for two persons; it would have been perfect for three. We ordered the combos because that gave us more variety than if we hadn't ordered them. One of the servers mistakenly delivered our order to the wrong table before delivering it to us. In the restroom the paper towel dispenser was empty and there was no easily available backup; I had to wipe my clean, wet hands on my pants in order to exit. I reported the problem, and the person I reported the problem to resolved it within a few minutes. The food was good as I said, but nothing stood out. The walls and the television included various objectifications of women, and on one hand you could say that this ought to be removed, but on the other hand you could also say that it's important to not erase it and that seeing it in its original context is instructional. It reminded me of the beauty pageant contestants who likely sat here moments before, and I imagined that the group of 20 or so shared only one combination A and maybe some tea. It's worth dining at once just so you could say you did, but otherwise it's not particularly special. We walked in Chinatown a bit before riding Muni home. I napped then rested awake. Patrick prepared dinner: bucatini with asparagus and parmesan, water. Afterwards we watched Oh, Hello on Broadway | Nick Kroll, John Mulaney + More | Talks at Google and David Tennant's HILARIOUS Opening Sketch 🐶 | BAFTA Film Awards 2024 - BBC on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I watched various YouTube videos and then Apple Trailers.
Tue Feb 20, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, blueberries, diced half banana; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Mission Bay. Stopped by UCSF Vision to place an order. Followup with Erica D about email continuation and access for Eric's account. Met with La'Trece and James J about orgcharts for a forthcoming budget meeting. Lunch at Gott's with Suzan: Suzan had the chicken schnitzel sandwich. I had the California chicken sandwich and a small arnold palmer no ice. We shared onion rings. More orgchart work the rest of the day. Replaced an image for Isaac K. Work related to dynamic listserv setup. Dinner at home with Patrick: New York strip steak with baked sweet potato and a side salad, water. We watched David Tennant's hilarious opening monologue | EE BAFTA Film Awards 2024 then Interview with the Vampire (2022) s1:e7 (season finale) on SFPL DVD. Patrick went to bed. I watched various YouTube videos. Late snack: butter on poppy seed sourdough toast, water.
Wed Feb 21, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Work related to dynamic listserv setup. Team meeting with Suzan and Lawrence. Inle, You See Sushi, chirashi bowl, tuna sashimi bento. Workflow and tools 2 meeting with Suzan. Walked and rode Muni and walked with Suzan passing her home then I continued to Kerry and Mom Ryan's place to meet Patrick. We visited with her briefly after Patrick helped her clean her home a bit. Patrick heated her dinner, then we departed as she began to eat. Dinner at Gai with Patrick: we each had lean gai with complimentary broth and a thai iced tea. Afterwards we walked to Blush! to enjoy a set by Americano Social Club. Pinot grigio for Patrick, mulled wine for me. Rode Muni home. Patrick went to bed, and I joined not long afterwards.
Thu Feb 22, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, cacao nibs, toasted sliced almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Worked from home. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Orgchart and related web page and people pages work all day. Lunch: falafel in pita, water. Patrick and I walked and rode Muni to dinner at Rustic with Lucie and Paolo. We shared: sparkling water, fritto misto, and tuna tartare. Lucie had orecchiette bolognese and a glass of orange wine, Paolo had oxtail with gluten-free penne, Patrick had fried chicken with delicata squash and a Venetian spritz, I had fried chicken with delicata squash and a glass of grillo. For dessert we four shared an order of marash ice cream. All food and drink were delicious. The marash ice cream was particularly interesting. Served with finely chopped pistachio, it has a thick, mochi-like texture that has the faint mouthfeel and smell of something cheesy. I don't think I've had anything like it before. Throughout the meal Paolo took photos of the dishes with his phone and accepted my offer to provide a second light source from my iPhone 12 mini. We talked about Ireland, Cork, Dublin, language, learning, SF State, Washington (state), Italy, New Orleans, Katrina, Tom Fitzmorris's Hungry Town, their Kitchen Table food-related reading series, Dalida, Traci Des Jardins, Arguello (which was the restaurant name I couldn't recall and which was formerly in the space now occupied by Dalida), SF Eater, and more. There was a small but noticeable service delay early in the meal after the fritto misto, and consequently our excellent server Dario T graciously comped the tuna tartare. A fine evening with fine food and fine friends. Patrick and I rode Muni home.
Fri Feb 23, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Upgraded iOS on my iPhone 12 mini from 17.2.1 to 17.3.1. Orgchart and related web page and people pages work all day. Lunch to go from Panda Express: bowl with half chow mein, half mixed vegetables, terikayi chicken. My fortune: Your sensitivity is an asset. In the afternoon I briefly helped Frances P with an Excel question about autoresizing rows. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: linguine pomodoro, red wine. Patrick washed dishes while I prepared documents for tomorrow's meeting with our new tax preparer. Patrick went to bed. Wrote a long email to Chris D. Late snack: one sumo orange.
Sat Feb 24, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. Wrote feedback to ARAG Legal about the incorrect instructions for their DIY doc for standard will. Their instructions say three times that it must be signed before a notary public, but for California this is incorrect. In fact, you should not go to a notary public. All you need is two witnesses of your choosing who otherwise meet the requirements. So much time and a bit of money wasted. Housecleaning: dusted and vacuumed, washed dishes, spot-cleaned parts of the kitchen floor, cleaned inside the fridge. Patrick napped. Lunch at home with Patrick: from our leftover fried chicken dinners two nights ago we made fried chicken sandwiches with a side of delicata squash. Water to drink. In the afternoon we walked and rode Muni to the Castro. The weather had turned notably warm. Many other were dressed in shorts and t-shirt or less. Because we came from the Sunset District we were of course overdressed. We got iced hazelnut latte (Patrick) and iced chai latte (me) at Sisters before visiting a professional tax preparer referred to us by Suzan R. Our visit went very well, I thought. Afterwards we visited Mom Ryan while Kerry was away playing darts. We talked about her memories and she shared stories from her past decades. Patrick and I departed to dine at Warakubune (307 Church Street). We hadn't been in many years but one of the staff seemed to recognize us. We sat at the counter, enjoying the many boats passing with delicious, serendipitous sushi and other delights. We separately ordered a soft-shell crab (spider) roll. We shared a large sake. All food and drink were delicious, and service was very good. We were told there was a problem with their credit card reader and a 15% tip was included automatically. (?) We added a $5 cash tip. Afterwards we walked in the Castro and observed from a distance a person at a Muni shelter who had started a small fire that lasted several minutes. We continued walking and encountered Timmy D and stopped to briefly say hello. He introduced us to a friend named Frank. Later Patrick and I ended up at Swirl where we each had a delicious glass of gamay. I don't know that I've ever tasted gamay before. It was our first time sitting in the parklet booths, and we found it quite comfortable as the day's warmth dissipated. Rode Muni home. Patrick went to bed, and I joined a bit after journaling.
Sun Feb 25, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana; hot water. In-depth toenail care. Cleaned the bathroom. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself ramen with Momofuku noodles, chicken stock, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, fire-roasted corn from frozen, mushrooms, spinach, soft egg, and furikake. I forgot to add TJ's langostino tails; next time. Cut my hair, showered. Cleaned the bathroom. Patrick and I watched and fast-forwarded through the three hours of Screen Actors Guild awards aka the SAG awards on Netflix, breaking for dinner in the middle: baked cod with tomatoes and potatoes, water, red wine.
Mon Feb 26, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana, blueberries; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Upgraded from macOS Monterey 12.7.3 to Sonoma 14.1.1; no immediate issues. For lunch Bernard and I walked to Luke's Local for sandwiches. He got a #960 and sea salt vinegar kettle chips. I got a horsey roast beef and a tall chai tea latte. We sat in the parklet in the sun, he took a short nap without fully being asleep, then we walked back to work. We talked about how I cut my own hair and the rare injuries that I incur from it, the cost of Invisalign, his Arnold weekend, The Port Bar and its last day, Paul M and Sean and Richie, Superstore and the character of Matteo, Cazwell, and more. While almost-napping, Bernard played music from Everything But The Girl from his phone, and he permitted me to shoot a few photos of him just for fun. We walked back to work. Chatted with Jacqueline F about the QBI orgchart I am preparing for James J and La'Trece C for a forthcoming budget meeting then sent them all a final chart. Rode Muni home. Confirmed my suspicion that today's upgrade from macOS Monterey 12.7.3 to Sonoma 14.1.1 resolved a problem in which reminders marked completed on my Mac failed to also mark as completed on other devices. Dinner at home with Patrick: falafel and veggies in pita and a side of creamy tomato soup, water. We watched Reservation Dogs s2:e6 then Nai Nai & Wài Pó on Hulu Basic Plan.
Tue Feb 27, 2024
In the morning Patrick called me to the window to observe two raccoons in our back yard just hanging out. They disappeared after a few minutes to the jungle that is our neighbor's back yard. Patrick had noticed they had grown larger than he remembers, presuming they are the same two he saw in the past. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana, blueberries; hot water. Worked from home. Resolved a work credit card problem with the help of Carlos Z and the bank. Upgraded from SEP 14.3.3 RU3 to RU8 following upgrade from Monterey to Sonoma in attempt to resolve problems with Office 365 in Firefox failing to behave correctly all the time. Lunch at home by myself: double order of Momofuku soy and scallion noodles (no soup) to which I added spinach, TJ's langostino tails, mushrooms. Water to drink. Dinner at home with Patrick: red beans with smoked sausage and rice (from frozen) with warm bread, water. We watched various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I washed dishes. Uploaded photos to Flickr. Late snacks: banana chips, candied ginger, one chocolate-covered espresso bean. After recently upgrading macOS from Monterey to Sonoma, I was able to use Sidecar with my iPad Air today without it freezing within a few minutes.
Wed Feb 28, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana, blueberries; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Only one bus on my route was running today, so I had to take an alternate route. Orgchart and related web page and people pages work. Met with Lisa D and Jeff P about an email newsletter that Jen C is asking for. Benet Symposium work for Lawrence. Lunch by myself at Subway: 6-inch veggie delight, harvest cheddar Sun Chips, large lemonade with a little bit of ice. I sat in the sun in front of Kalmanovitz Library. The day was warmer than expected; the forecast predicted midday rain, and that never occurred. Followup with Teams and SEP issues. More configuring of Gmail-to-Asana gateway filter settings following a suggestion from James H. Encountered a problem in which in Photoshop the neural filter menu item was grayed out. I fixed it, but I don't know how. Installed app updates following macOS upgrade from Monterey to Sonoma. Upgraded Docker from 4.23.0 to 4.27.2—no problems, and I am surprised because my last Docker upgrade did not go smoothly. I walked and rode Muni to Kerry and Mom Ryan's place where Patrick had already arrived about 90 minutes earlier. Kerry was away playing darts. We watched an episode of To Tell the Truth together. We walked with Mom in the hallway on her floor. Afterwards Patrick and I walked and rode Muni to dinner at Eric's with Remi and Jesse, whom we hadn't seen since February 19, 2019. We shared one appetizer combo order, walnut prawns, asparagus with black bean sauce, five-taste chicken, steamed rice, hot tea. Food was very slow to arrive at the start. Service was middling (orders or checks delivered to the wrong table before being quickly resolved) but we tipped generously anyway. We talked about Oliver, geneology, New Orleans, New York, the pandemic, art, drawing, painting, sculpture gardens, my mom's passing, and more. Fortune cookie fortunes: Remi got: Good thoughts make life better. Jesse got: The most direct approach isn't always the best. Patrick got: You will be rewarded for being a good listener. I got: You will be rewarded for being a good listener. Afterwards Remi and Jesse gave us a ride home in their rental car. A fine evening.
Thu Feb 29, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted slivered almonds, toasted shaved coconut, diced half banana, blueberries; hot water. Worked from home. Benet event web work beginning work on web pages for pipeline programs for Lawrence. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Lunch at home by myself: leftover baked cod with tomatoes and potatoes, water. Styling work in Drupal: restored button styling for links for Lawrence. Emergency-edited and published a news story for Suzan. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftover linguine pomodoro with side salad, water. We watched The Brothers Sun s1:e1 on Netflix with popcorn from the microwave silicone popcorn maker with King Arthur Better Cheddar Cheese Powder and a cocktail that Patrick made up on the fly. We also watched half of Taylor Tomlinson: Have It All on Netflix. I washed dishes. Patrick went to bed. Cutting board wood butter treatment.