Saturday, December 24, 2005

I started the day off with a salt water gargle—just a small canker sore, nothing much to worry about since they don't bother me much. Afterwards I screamed at an Amazon phone representative (their phone number is 1-800-201-7575). Just before I left for vacation I bought some items from Patrick's wish list for Christmas. The order was to be mailed in 2 days. I didn't have a chance to follow up on it until I returned. Patrick said he hadn't received the order yet—it's been over 2 weeks. I sent e-mail to Amazon and they said that the gift recipient address was hidden from me for privacy and I should ask the gift recipient to contact them. So I tell Patrick and he is too tired to do it, so he leaves himself logged in to Amazon while I do it for him from his computer. He ends up speaking with them today while I'm sleeping in and they tell him that they can't tell him where the order was sent because he didn't place the order and that he should ask the gift giver to contact Amazon. I call Amazon back a few hours later. They finally tell me that the shipment was sent to our previous address from 3.75 years ago and they decide the shipment is lost and they'll send a replacement shipment to our correct address at no charge at the same 2-day speed. This is all fine, as it rectifies the order, but I asked the rep why this had happened in the first place. Indeed, Patrick had updated his default (though non-wish-list) address—why didn't Amazon ask him at that time to make his wish list address the same? The rep said that it was the responsibility of each user to keep his or her address updated, and she suggested that I remind the gift recipient before I make a purchase from their wish list that they should make sure their address is current. However, if the gift is intended to be a surprise, it's no longer a surprise when you have to remind someone to check their wish list address. I claimed to the rep that as she explained it I can no longer have any confidence that when I purchase something on an Amazon wish list for someone that they'll actually receive it okay. I suggested to her that Amazon put the recipient's wish list address at the top of the page right after someone adds something to their wish list to remind them where wish list items shall be sent. It was arduous, but eventually—and seemingly reluctantly—Ruth W admitted that my suggestion was a valid one. It took me several hours to let go of the Amazon grief. Patrick will receive his Christmas gifts hopefully before the new year. Did house chores, document archiving, rental application preparation, organizing paperwork, installed Firefox 1.5 and the Google Safe Browsing extension for Firefox—cool! Met up with Sam, Patrick, and Mom Ryan at Mom Ryan's place, took a few photos in the courtyard. Early dinner at Sumi (415-626-7864, 4243 18th Street) with Patrick and Mom Ryan. We didn't know, but it was a prix fixe meal—$65 per person for their holiday feast. We started with mineral water and champagne. Then came butter and hot bread. Then came a rather large amuse bouche trio: goat cheese, wasabi lime salmon on seasoned toast with creme fraiche, and chicken liver pate on seasoned toast with a baby pickle. First course was pumpkin curry soup (kabocha pumpkin and red curry) for Patrick and Mom Ryan, duck confit (on a bed of mixed greens with pomegranate vinaigrette) for me. A cranberry sorbet was served in between the first and second courses—delightful for the holidays. Second course: roasted breast of goose (sour cherry and ginger sauce, asparagus, Japanese sweet potato tempura) for Patrick and Mom Ryan, Niman Ranch filet mignon (wrapped with proscuitto, shiitake mushroom sauce, wasabi mashed potatoes, blue lake beans) for me. Desserts we shared: peppermint parfait (genoise, vanilla ice cream, candy cane, butter cookie), bouche de noel (chocolate genoise filled with chocolate mousse and creme anglaise), croque en bouche (profiteroles filled with bavarian cream served with egg nog ice cream and topped with caramel and whipped cream). At the end of the meal, our waitron surprised us each with a small cellophane-wrapped envelope of homemade cookies—seemingly a special holiday gift. Service was very good except that Patrick and I were slightly annoyed that our first course arrived before we finished our amuse bouche. The soup was served not hot, but neither Patrick nor Mom Ryan complained, not wanting to ruin our festive mood. The goose was rather tough, and when Patrick mentioned this to our waitron as he removed the second course, the waitron seemed to send the feedback to the kitchen immediately. Patrick described the meal as uneven. The soup and the goose which he and Mom Ryan had were clearly much poorer choices tonight than the confit and filet I had and with which I was very satisfied. I thought it rather odd that they crumbed the table even though it was covered in brown butcher paper—at this quality (and price) of dining, we expect tablecloths, not butcher paper. We talked about Christmases past, gifts we did and didn't receive. Mom Ryan told a lot of jokes, too. Afterwards we walked back to Mom Ryan's place, got the car and drove to the airport to pick up Patrick's brother Kerry who is visiting San Francisco for the very first time. He returns to New Orleans on January 4. His flight arrived about 30 minutes early, so we had some difficulty finding him. American Airlines was unable to get his luggage on the same plane, so it's lucky that Patrick and Sam had found and given him some clothes he could wear before he arrived. On the drive back, he told what he knows of what is and isn't washed out in New Orleans. Dropped him and Mom Ryan off at her place. Home. I edited and uploaded today's photos, reread chapter 27 (The Lightning-Struck Tower) of Harry Potter 6. I can't believe he's dead! (Or is he?) I'm still going through the photos from my trip—there are about 600 of them, so the photo corrections and captions are taking some time.