Saturday, June 7, 2003
Exercise. Breakfast at Tennessee Grill. Picked up a razor at Walgreens. Picked up a book at the public library: First Meetings by Orson Scott Card. Tried to find Office Depot in Potrero Center but couldn't find it—if only Patrick had been with me! Groceries at Church and Market Safeway. Sandwich at home. The woman who bid $46 (or was it $42?) asked to let me cancel her bid because she mistakenly thought it was for Mac not Windows. I guess I didn't have to let her out of it, but I did. So my auction is back at $15—the starting price and with one bidder who bid $15. Oh, well! Sent feedback to Office Depot: "The map to store SAN FRANCISCO #946 is very misleading and caused me to not find your store. I found out after I got home that if your map were accurate as drawn, your Office Depot store would take up 4 city blocks (from Shotwell to Florida). I got in my car thinking "Okay, it's not far from 16th and Mission"—got to 16th and Mission, drove past the intersection a while, and couldn't find it. Kept driving 2 more blocks, couldn't find it. Your map would be a lot more accurate if it said Bryant instead of Mission (and I don't know if the Costco would then remain on the map). Or better yet, partner with Mapquest or someone else who can provide more accurate maps that are interactive. Please send my feedback to the supervisor of the person or team that designed your maps. Thanks!" Spent the afternoon putting listings on eBay for ink cartridges from our now-dead Lexmark 5700. It's a tough market for ink jet cartridge sellers! Packed up for mailing the sandwich bag and ice pack that Lani had let us borrow. Fondue party at Randy's place. I arrived at 7 PM—1 hour late—but only his co-worker Irene was there. We waited another 90 minutes or so and Jamie and Aaron showed up, too. Randy's other friends who said they'd come all flaked—poor Randy! The fondue was a lot of fun. He had two fondue dips—one plain and one with shrimp, both based on Swiss gruyere. There were 2 kinds of meats, pork and lamb, which Aaron cleverly called "oink 'n' boink" ("boink" coz some people boink sheep, I guess). The meats were cooked in a hot oil fryer right on the table. 3 dips: chipotle, mixed spices, and mint vinaigrette. Vegetables: roasted potatoes, roasted (or sauteed?) mushrooms, broccoli, bread. After the savory course and a bit more cooking and cleaning (while Aaron and Jamie retired to the deck to smoke - ha!), we enjoyed the dessert fondue: one of chocolate, one of mixed berries. An entire jar of Nutella was also available for room temperature dipping. The sweets were: pound cake, strawberries, bananas, and pears. Yum! Jamie passed out for a while partway through. Around 11 PM it was time to end the party. Randy and Irene walked me back to my car, we ran a tobacco errand for Randy, dropped him off at home, and I gave Irene a ride back to her home on Nob Hill.