Saturday, March 21, 2009
Stretches. Weight training: various lower body. Stretches. Cardio cool-down: 5 minutes. Usual oatmeal breakfast. Helped Aaron with computer stuff: migrated data from old computer to new, hardened and optimized the new computer, wiped the old computer with dban. Lunch: leftover jambalaya for Aaron and Patrick, mushroom risotto and grilled chicken for me. Dessert for me: one tagalong Girl Scout cookie. More work on Aaron's computers. Fussed with the Westinghouse digital photo frame which has grown flaky (or maybe it always was?). The problem was that images were somehow getting corrupted and appear with discoloration or a weird barlike pattern. Data transfer to the embedded 128 MB of storage is extremely slow. I ended up using a 32 MB SD card instead. Used more current photos. For a next one of these I get it will be nice to have wireless. An Apple iFrame? Snack: strawberry lowfat yogurt, one fig newton, one beef tamale, hot water. Nap with Patrick. Dinner at psychobauble and Nate's with psychobauble, Nate, Patrick: mushroom and chicken lasagne, salad, buttered baguette. Afterwards the four of us went to the Tonga Room at the Fairmont Hotel. Muni along Van Ness (bus) and California (cable car) worked surprisingly well for us tonight. It was psychobauble and Nate's first time. The greeting staff at the Tonga Room seemed really disorganized. We arrived around 8 or 8:30 PM and waited about 5 minutes behind a party of 4 before I could tell anyone what we wanted—just one drink each in the bar for 4 people before a 10 PM show—and the man I spoke to said he had to check on availability and walked off. We waited another 10 minutes before we were seated by a woman greeter. We never saw that man again. The drinks were just okay. Patrick had a mai tai, psychobauble had a strawberry daiquiri, I had pina colada, Nate had a scorpion. About $21 per person after tip and $7 entertainment charge. We probably should have just gone to Top of the Mark. Afterwards we saw Justin Bond at the Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko. We arrived at 9:30 PM for a 10:00 PM show expecting to be seated in about 15 or 20 minutes. However, the Paula West show that preceded Justin Bond's show ran long, and the lounge area was already full, so there was no where for us to go. We were forced to stand in line for what ended up being about an hour, and by the start of Bond's show I was tired and annoyed, and I sat on the floor in silent protest. We now know what Paula West's dog looks like. When finally the Rrazz Room man returned to seat us, he took psychobauble and Nate in without asking if we were all together. After a few extra minutes of delay, we were finally seated properly and together. A man dressed as a geisha was one of the guests who was seated before us, and he pleasantly introduced himself as Clayton to our group. Bond dressed in a dress made of fishnet, safety pins, and laminated tranny porn and sang songs and told funny stories. Our Lady J accompanied energetically on piano. Drinks: I had a mint kiss and a hot russian, Patrick had a mojito. We didn't see or hear what psychobauble and Nate ordered. There was some strange, long delay getting their first round of drinks. We were entertained. Bond's honesty, unique perspectives, and creative talents make him an important voice for our world. One of the stage lights in the Rrazz Room over psychobauble and Nate's heads clearly had no safety cable. Whoever ran the light and sound for the show did an excellent job. Afterwards we all realized that we had forgotten to bring umbrellas. We thought about taking a cab for about a minute before just walking to Powell Station and catching one of the last trains back to Van Ness Station. Dried off at psychobauble and Nate's for a minute. Drove home in the rain. Late meal by myself: leftover jambalaya.