December 2013
Summary: Comm team holiday lunch at The Pelican Inn in Sausalito, Recharge Spa holiday dinner at Upcider, Matt S visits, New Year's Eve with Phil, Drew, Danny, Romy
Dates on this page
Sun Dec 1, 2013
Laundry. Breakfast at home: grilled fingerlings with salt, pepper, and fresh parsley and thyme; two eggs over easy with shredded mixed cheeses, one english muffin with earth balance spread. Recharge Spa web work: responsive review. Vacuumed in the garage and laundry room. Sewing projects: minor fixes on two items, altered three pairs of pants (Bonobos Punxsutawney Shadows, Bonobos Slactus Olive straight-leg, French army pants). Snack: two small pieces of chocolate-covered caramel, fruit smoothie.
Mon Dec 2, 2013
Breakfast at home: one egg cooked in the microwave with a toasted english muffin and mixed grated cheeses, hot water. Rode my bike to UCSF Parnassus. Calendar management. Asana task followup. Management activities. Sent Michelle K emergency contact info. Names and photos meeting. Lunch: free pizza left over from someone's meeting. Calendar management. Asana task followup and work in Drupal. Calendar management. Dinner at home with Patrick: spinach pizza with white sauce, hot water. Nightcap: soy nog with rum. Worked on Recharge Spa website: removed some sections, more responsive testing.
Tue Dec 3, 2013
Breakfast at home: vanilla almond granola with fresh, diced pear, soy milk. Rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Strategy meeting with Eric and Paula. Sprint meeting with Eric, Paula, Susie, and Rodney. Lunch from The View Cafe during the sprint meeting: tofu with vegetables over brown rice, water. Helped Eric with interviews. Transit from UCSF Laurel Heights to UCSF Parnassus. Timing of transit was poor, so I ate dinner at Panda Express: fried rice, honey walnut prawns, chicken mushroom. My fortune: Your most memorable dream will come true. To bed earlyish.
Wed Dec 4, 2013
Awoke without reason at about 3:30 AM, stayed awake for about an hour. Breakfast at home: vanilla almond granola with fresh blueberries and soy milk. Rode Muni to 9th and Judah, chatted with Frances P along the way. Normally we don't run into each other, but her car is in the shop. We were distracted in conversation and boarded the wrong bus at 9th and Judah, so we walked from 9th and Irving. I ran an errand at the bank then took a UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Helped student DC with a question about email setup on iPad. Redirected a student request to the education team. Met with Susan H about some 100 Years documents. 1-on-1 with Susie via telephone. Helped Eric with interviews. Chatted briefly in the hallway with Michael C. Lunch at Artesano: vegetable stew with rice and black beans, water. 1-on-1 with Richie to review his microsites theme work. Did a lot of styling work in Drupal on the microsite. Responded to a new website setup inquiry from Esteban B. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Parnassus. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: soba noodle soup with vegetables. Recharge Spa web work for Drew: updated jobs application email address.
Thu Dec 5, 2013
Breakfast at home: ginger almond cashew granola; fresh, diced apple; soy milk; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Jazzee support meeting. SPS meeting. Web edits for Cindy: grad filing, licensure. Updated the editorial style reference (no Jr. for Joe, other specific name issues). Chatted with Danielle and Lisa about setting up AT&T on Danielle's new iPad. Lots of asana task followup. Lunch at the cafeteria: tofu noodle bowl with peanuts, fish sauce, and ginger dressing. 1-on-1 with Cindy. Skipped the Drupal User Group meeting because I was way too busy. Rode Muni home. Late dinner at home: leftovers. Recharge Spa web work: more responsive testing, checked that the phone number would trigger a call action on mobile, loyalty rewards. Bittersweet news: Shirin announced today that she was leaving our office for a new position.
Fri Dec 6, 2013
Weight training: dumbbell curl. Breakfast at home: one egg and mixed cheeses on toasted english muffin, hot water. Edited Qualtrics collaboration permissions for a survey. Reported two scams that I received in email to UCSF Info Security. Sent a request to confirm closure of a legacy web app. Content work in Drupal. Calendar management. Lunch at Chow near the downstairs fireplace: chicken salad sandwich, french fries, chai tea latte. Magic store, didn't buy anything. Chatted briefly with Louis (sp?). Hardware store, bought some 3M command strips to reaffix the light above the kitchen sink. Chatted briefly with JCB. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Chatted in the restroom with student CS about email past graduation. Troubleshot Time Machine error "This backup is too large…" and discovered that my latest and only backup was two days ago. Time Machine was working fine since I set it up in August and now somehow all my backups are now gone. This reinforces my belief that every backup system is unreliable or unsuitable at some time in some way and that you need more than one backup solution if you care about your data. I unhooked the drive from Time Machine, reformatted it, and tried to set it up anew with Time Machine but the drive had only 7 GB available. I had to change it from an encrypted volume to an unencrypted volume, repartition it, reformat it, then it would show that 1 TB was available and Time Machine began anew. The UCSF ITS installation of CrashPlan is available and working on this computer, so I'm covered in case anything happens as I write this. Sent a link to student CS about email past graduation. Content migration work in Drupal: Residencies. Styling work in Drupal: adjustments for callout box panels at browser width 480 pixels or less. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Parnassus. Rode Muni home. Took 70 minutes door to door. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftover noodle soup with fresh noodles. Reaffixed the lamp above the kitchen sink. Dessert for me: one holiday cookie, soy nog. Caught up on email. Recharge Spa web work: rewards.
Sat Dec 7, 2013
Weight training: door pullups. Breakfast: one egg on english muffin with mixed cheeses. Nap. Walked in the neighborhood with Ian. Among other things, we talked about work, Ruby, programming, CCSF, roommates, housing, polished chrome cars, and texting while skateboarding. He left to do other things. I went to Walgreen's for some things we needed. Midafternoon meal at King of Thai Noodle: wonton soup with egg noodles, hot tea. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Chabaa Thai Cuisine. Watched Knowing (2009) on Netflix DVD with Patrick. I thought this film was rather messy in its storyline. This film is not a comedy, and at times I was laughing at it because the plot had holes and coincidences I couldn't overlook (why no times of day?, how did she find him again?, how does he know how to use a payphone? why are are all the death numbers exactly correct when it is far more likely that there should be some slight differences?) and was at times very silly (the "science," the way the police tipoff was handled, the mysterious men, the rocks, the musuem meeting, exactly the right animations on his work computer to explain the plot, the paint-stripping, the kids seem to take the ending in stride—were they brainwashed?, the paint-stripping!). I did not appreciate the heterocentric (or passively homophobic) and religious undertones. In the end, it didn't make sense why the mysterious men did what they did over decades. If that part had made sense, I might have forgiven the rest of it not making sense. I do not recommend it.
Sun Dec 8, 2013
Pre-breakfast: a tiny serving of ginger-almond granola with soy milk. Rode Muni to Powell Street Station: Brunch and Union Square shopping with Danny. Danny called and asked me to meet him at Civic Center Station so that we could eat pho at Mong Thu. Afterwards we shopped in Hayes Valley, stopped at Zeni and chatted with Kanta, Danny picked up a wine red Kangol hat and took passport photos at Walgreens. He went to work. I continued shopping and taking a few more photos. Early dinner at Katana Ya: Katana-Ya ramen. The waitstaff accidentally gave me someone else's order of nearly the same thing, neglected to refill my tea, and returned more change than they were supposed to. I had already begun eating when the error was discovered, so the other person had to wait, which created an awkward situation since she was sitting next to me at the counter. Rode Muni home. Uploaded photos to Flickr. Watched Star Trek: Voyager "Hope and Fear" on Netflix instant watch with Patrick. Weight training: dumbbell curl and dumbbell row.
Mon Dec 9, 2013
Repaired with hand sewing a broken seam in my gray jacket from Zara Kids. Breakfast at home: fresh, diced pink lady apple with ginger-almond granola and quinoa milk. Was about to ride my bike to work but realized I didn't have a place to park my bike because a student was in my office taking an exam. Rode Muni to work. Maintenance work on the shared office laptop, did some organizing of computer supplies. Presenting on iPad meeting with OSACA staff. Investigated how to get Keynote for our office for free. Bought video adapters for Danielle's iPad. Asana task followup. Microsites theming: layout. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick. Patrick had yogurt. I had leftovers. Uploaded photos to Flickr.
Tue Dec 10, 2013
Weight training: front raise. Breakfast at home: fresh blueberries with ginger-almond granola and quinoa milk, hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Spent nearly all of today scanning historical documents from 1972 for archiving for Susie. Updated preview session page for Shirin. Posted updated schedules for Lucia. Errands and photos. 1-on-1 with Susie. Web team meeting. Lunch: mushroom ravioli with spinach and asparagus, soft pretzel roll, water. More scanning. James J gave me a ride to UCSF Parnassus. Dropped off an item of clothing for donation at Parnassus. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home: Patrick had vegetable soup from a can. I had cheese ravioli in tomato and cheese sauce from a can, hot water. Wrapped a secret santa gift for the office party. Recharge Spa work: more responsive testing and content tweaking. Uploaded photos to Flickr. Read and reread parts of my new camera's user manual, adjusted some settings on the camera.
Wed Dec 11, 2013
Weight training: wrist curl. Breakfast at home: two one-egg-and-cheese and fresh parsley on english muffin, hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Received more historical documents from Susan H to scan for Susie. Spent most of today working on this. Late lunch at Tony's Cable Car: fish sandwich, onion rings, hot water. I liked the fish sandwich. The onion rings were just so-so. Continued licensure edits for Cindy. Met briefly with Susie. Purchased placemats at Crate & Barrel. Rode Muni to the Castro. Dinner with Patrick at Thai House Express. Rode Muni home. Uploaded photos to Flickr.
Thu Dec 12, 2013
Weight training: door pullups. Breakfast at home: two one-egg-and-cheese and fresh parsley on english muffin, hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Calendar management. ICRD work for Rodney. Calendar management. SPS meeting with Rodney and Greg. Lunch at Park Chow. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Content and support queue work in Drupal. Updated the preview session page for Shirin. Calendar management. Submitted a problem to the issue queue for Eric to examine. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftovers. Dessert: TJ's Candy Cane Jo Jo's cookies, hot milk with Frangelico.
Fri Dec 13, 2013
Breakfast at home: smaller-than-normal bowl of granola with fresh blueberries and almond milk. Rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights, trip took 87 minutes. Met with David to resize images for chembio and protein engineering. Comm team holiday lunch at The Pelican Inn in Sausalito. Susie drove David, Eric, and me in her car; Paula and Susan rode in Paula's car. Crab bisque for Susie; fish and chips with peas for Paula, Susan, Susie, and me; Shepherd's pie for Eric; salmon for David. Dessert: lemon sorbet for David, trifle for Susie and Susan, hot almond crisp for Eric. Styling and content work in Drupal, meeting briefly with Susie and David and Eric. Susie gave me a ride home.
Sat Dec 14, 2013
Laundry. Breakfast at home: cheesy egg scramble with parsley and rosemary, two hash browns, one english muffin with earth balance spread, tazo chai. Laundry. Executed an undo (removed stitching) on part of a recent sewing project due to errors found after I finished. Weight training: dumbbell curl. Lunch: leftover crispy tofu with vegetables over rice. Nap. UberX to Upcider. Recharge Spa holiday dinner. Drew drove us to the Castro. Dancing at Badlands with Danny, Amanda, Rene, and John A. After a few hours they left to go home. I stayed, then checked out Toad Hall, but I thought it was too crowded and was tired so I went home via Muni.
Sun Dec 15, 2013
Breakfast at home: blueberry muffin from Thorough Bread and Pastry. Nap. Patrick visited with Brother Tony and his mom today. Late lunch: cheese ravioli in tomato and cheese sauce from a can. Web work for Recharge Spa: made rewards info live, some new site styling fixes. Watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on Netflix instant watch with Patrick. Successfully reset my password for and logged in to the backers-only Art Story WordPress blog. Began migrating notes from Apple Notes to Notational Velocity / Simplenote. Late meal: mac and cheese from a box.
Mon Dec 16, 2013
Breakfast at home: granola with fresh, sliced banana and 2% milk; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Office birthday party for Rodney. I brought Callebaut dark chocolate cornflake clusters. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Comm team meeting with Vice Dean Sharon. Late lunch at the JCC: russian mushroom and potato soup, half turkey sandwich. Took photos in the neighborhood. Content and styling work in Drupal: clinical residencies subsite, issue queue. Rode Muni home. Dinner to go from El Burrito Express at home with Patrick: carnitas and chicken enchiladas dinner plates, negra modelos. Sewing: used a zigzag stitch on the edges of a towel to control fraying. Received my Thermodo today. Tried to set it up but their iPhone app requires iOS 7 and I have an iPhone 3GS and it cannot be upgraded beyond iOS 6. I'm very disappointed and unhappy, sent them feedback.
Tue Dec 17, 2013
Pre-breakfast: Esalen's banana-coconut bread that Patrick made last night. Weight training: door pullups. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Picked up my breakfast to go at the Staff Appreciation Holiday Breakfast at Moffit Cafe. Resolved a listserv problem for James F. Began maintenance on a student's laptop that had crashed and now won't start. Issue queue followup. Dean's Office Holiday Luncheon at the Faculty Alumni House. More listserv management. SPS meeting via WebEx with Eric, Greg, and Rodney. Lots of SPS styling. Dinner at home with Patrick: mac and cheese from a box with fake chicken strips and assorted vegetables, hot water. Wrapped gifts. Emptied the paper shredder. Investigated what recourse I have for a Kickstarter project that failed to fulfill its obligations. Learned that I can change how Apple iBooks 3.2 for iOS 6 and iOS 7 justifies text and that I can change it from full justification to left justification in Settings > iBooks > Full Justification. Learned that Kindle for iOS doesn't permit one to set left justification.
Wed Dec 18, 2013
Breakfast: Esalen's banana-coconut bread. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Continued maintenance for a student's laptop. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Content work in Drupal. Lunch at the JCC: chicken schnitzel sandwich with fries. Content meeting with Millo, Marissa, Jennifer, Susie, Eric, and Paula. Rode Muni bus 1 to downtown. For dinner I met Phil, Drew, Danny, and Romy at 750 Restaurant and Bar in the Hilton across from Portsmouth Square. Drew had identified 750 as a possible place for one of our regular dinners. I thought it was a casually elegant space, but it just wasn't the ambience we were seeking for a dinner. We instead dined at nearby Restaurant Ducroix and it turned out to be a delightful find. It's a small, charming French restaurant with excellent service and very good food. We ordered a few appetizers: french fries, vol au vent, and one or two others. For entrees, Romy had lamb shank, Phil had duck, Drew had salmon, Danny had a nicoise salad, I had sea bass with potato gratin and carrot puree. All the food was very good to excellent except I thought the chicken in the vol au vent was a tad on the tough side.
Thu Dec 19, 2013
Breakfast at home: two egg-and-cheese sandwiches on whole wheat english muffin, hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Continued maintenance for a student's laptop. Styling work in Drupal. Rode Muni with Cindy, Joel, Lucia, Danielle, and Rick to Montgomery Street Station, walked to Salt House for our holiday luncheon, meeting Shirin, Lisa S, and Rodney there. We talked about Saving Mr. Banks, how to eat fried worms (Lucia), Shabu House in the Richmond, Ina Garten's coffee cake with streusel. Rode Muni back to UCSF Parnassus with Cindy. Web team meeting with Lisa K, Nicole L, Lynn O, and Marley Q. Continued maintenance for a student's laptop. Styling work in Drupal. Rode Muni home. Uploaded a photo to Flickr. Dinner at home with Patrick: indian food delivery from Clay Oven, West Portal. Watched 88 minutes of Man of Steel on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Recharge Spa work: small adjustments for the new website.
Fri Dec 20, 2013
Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Checked on laptop maintenance for a student. Holiday breakfast and white elephant aka secret santa gift exchange. Cindy received a sea creatures blanket-comforter from Rodney. Lucia received a neck massager styled to look like a dog from Don, Don received a book called The Essential Scratch and Sniff Guide to Becoming a Wine Expert from Rick. Rodney received aromatherapy slippers from Lisa. Lisa received a set of assorted teas and coffees from (Rick?). Rick received three DVDs (Mean Girls, Wedding Crashers, Eat Pray Love) from Shirin, Joel received a book called Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book from (Cindy?). Shirin received a movie night popcorn and seasoning collection. Danielle received assorted gifts from Trader Joe's (candy cane joe joe's, assorted scented french soaps, dark-chocolated-covered peanut-butter cups, Grifone Primitivo zinfandel) from me. I received a nonstick, square KitchenAid griddle aka frying pan from Joel. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Lunch from The View Cafe to go to eat during a meeting: veggie california on multigrain with pickle slice. Encountered Michael C who was leaving for Costa Rica in an hour. Comm team meeting. 1-on-1 with Susie. Susie gave me a ride home. Weight training: dumbbell curl. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Seniore's Pizza: combo special, small salad. Finished watching Man of Steel on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Upgraded Fusion from version 4 to 6. Set up Modern IE VMs in VMware Fusion. Weight training: dumbbell curl.
Sat Dec 21, 2013
Stopped at the post office. Very crowded, probably a 90-minute wait. I abandoned. Visited my sister's family, they gave me some muffins and cookies to go. Stopped at the nearby post office. Only a 5-minute wait—nice. I visited two camera stores not because I needed anything but so that I could get a sense of what each sold. San Jose Camera and Video followed by Keeble and Schucat. Dinner at Santa Ramen by myself. When I entered about 20 minutes after opening, the dining room was essentially full, about 25 people were waiting, and there was no obvious greeter or sign-in sheet. Even after several minutes no greeter or waitstaff appeared, so it was very confusing to figure out how to get in line to be seated. Finally I figured it out: there is a line that zigzags across the entry but it's not easy to see. When I discovered this, some people in line laughed and said, "Back of the line!" or "The back of the line is over there!" I said nothing. I waited only 5 minutes before being seated—single rider's luck—and was seated long before those who had laughed at me. Justice via luck. I ordered pork cheek ramen with soy broth, not spicy, no extras. Hot green tea appeared to be included. The chicken karaage appeared to be a popular selection, but I did not try it. The ramen is perfectly satisfying, and I feel it is better than the ramen at Katana-Ya primarily because the broth is more flavorful, more complex. Wait staff is friendly and efficient. Customers are sometimes a little rude. Drove home. Late meal: nonfat yogurt with pumpkin flax granola, two small muffins, one cookie.
Sun Dec 22, 2013
Breakfast at home: 2 hash browns, 2 slices of toast with earth balance spread, 2 eggs over easy, hot water, Santa Cruz Roasting Company sweet italian coffee via Bialetti. Patrick and I drove to Thorough Bread and Pastry to pick up bread and a cake. A little bit of work: listserv management, followup with laptop maintenance for a student. Prepped for a dinner party. Patrick prepared fingerfood assortments: cornichons, red-pepper-stuffed olives, winter gouda uniekaas, somerdale wensleydale with blueberries, quicos (aka corn nuts); cream of pumpkin soup with toppings: julienned sage, blue cheese, bacon; beef brisket with roasted root vegetables and sauerkraut; mixed greens salad with candied pecans, aged cheddar, boiled egg, ham, dried sweet cherries, raspberry vinaigrette; Thorough Bread semolina loaf and pull-apart buns; chocolate layer cake from Thorough Bread and Pastry with Three Twins vanilla bean ice cream.
Mon Dec 23, 2013
Breakfast: leftover pumpkin soup with sage. Washed dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Nap. Lunch: leftover salad. Washed dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Nap. Dinner at Pasta Pomodoro Noe Valley with Ian.
Tue Dec 24, 2013
Breakfast at home with Patrick: pastries from Peet's, rice nog. Recharge Spa web work: browser testing in Firefox for Mac. Drove to the Mission. Lunch with PDD at their place. Drew and I left to shoot photos for the spa. We returned to their place. I drove home. Uploaded photos to a private set on Flickr. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftovers. Watched Elysium on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Great special effects and sets, awful story and writing. Disappointing overall, recommended with reservations.
Wed Dec 25, 2013
Slept in. Brunch: leftovers. Wrote and mailed a card. Mom Ryan and Sam arrived with Patrick. We saw Saving Mr. Banks at Daly City Century 20. I liked the film and recommend it. Dinner: leftover cream of pumpkin soup. Dessert: leftover chocolate cake. Weight training: door pullups.
Thu Dec 26, 2013
Patrick brought home a box of Noah's bagels. Breakfast at home: salt bagel with cream cheese, hot water. Lunch: leftovers. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftovers with chow fun. Watched 50 minutes of Flash Gordon (1980) on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Recharge Spa new website work: setting min-height on nav.top resolved so many problems. Patrick gave our punch bowl away today.
Fri Dec 27, 2013
Breakfast at home: two eggs over easy with grilled mushrooms, two hash browns, two slices of toast with earth balance spread, 8 ounces of orange juice, hot black tea. Recharge Spa new website work: Mac Safari subpixel rounding is driving me crazy. Chrome, Firefox, and Opera on Mac do not have the problem, so I'm letting this go unresolved. Lots of browser testing including iOS Simulator in Xcode. Found and resolved lots of small problems. Dinner at home with Patrick: chinese food delivery from Tsing's via Eat24. Patrick's fortune: One that must have the fruit must climb the tree. My fortunes: (1) Happiness is enjoying what you got. Never from what you want. (2) Of all the things you wear, your expression is the most important. Watched Flash Gordon (1980 remastered version) on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Upgraded and set up Steam on Mac and Windows. Checked work email and took care of a few things. Recharge Spa new website work: browser testing, added a skip to main content link. Played a round of You Don't Know Jack by myself. Pulled an allnighter in the zone with Recharge Spa new website work: browser testing, print stylesheet, went to bed around 5 AM.
Sat Dec 28, 2013
Slept in significantly. Recharge Spa new website work: browser testing, print stylesheet. Holly, Matt, and Will picked me up. Matt gave me a small gift: a five-ounce tin of A L'Olivier lavender-infused olive oil—very sweet! The four of us ate dinner at Straw, suggested by Will via a coworker. The theme of this restaurant is carnival, and as you might expect, carnival typography and artwork and a few objects comprise the restrained and tasteful decor. One of the tables has a tilt-a-whirl car for its seating. They were out of 3 dishes when we arrived at 7:00 PM. We ordered. Drinks arrived within a few minutes. We were busy chatting for about 30 or 40 minutes before the appetizers arrived with a quickly delivered apology for the delay. Nearly another 30 or 40 minutes passed before three appetizers arrived, then another delay before Holly was apologetically informed that the dish she had selected was no longer available. The replacement dish she ordered did indeed come out very quickly (perhaps 7 minutes?) as the server had promised. Moral: do not eat here if you have a show to catch afterwards. We ate: potato chip nachos (house-fried potato chips / cheddar bechamel / diced tomatoes / sour cream / scallions: $7.50), elote (grilled corn-on-the-cob / garlic aioli / cotija cheese / chili powder / cayenne / lime: $5), satchemo [sic] (cheesy grits / andouille sausage / prawns / green beans / cajun butter dipping sauce: $15), where the heart is (hand battered and brined buttermilk fried chicken / scallion mashed potatoes / gravy / citrus slaw: $15.75), the ringmaster (ground chuck burger / home-made glazed doughnut / cheddar cheese) with sweet tots (sweet potato tots / blackberry bbq sauce): $12. We drank: lemonade (Holly), big dipper (Matt, Sabe vodka infused-sake / lemonade / strawberry compote / basil / fun dip rim: $8), cotton candy cocktail (me, Sabe vodka infused-sake / champagne / seasonal cotton candy / poured table-side: $8), orange cream float (Will, Sunkist orange soda with vanilla ice cream). We were all too full for dessert. It's pricey for what is mostly ordinary food prepared properly according to a theme (carnival). The potato chip nachos are very basic nachos with housemade potato chips instead of tortilla chips. My veggie chili had crispy (tortilla?) strips that had turned completely soggy by the time I received it, and it was more of a soup than a chili. My cotton candy cocktail arrived with a large wad of cotton candy in a small cocktail glass and the alcohol was poured on top, melting the cotton candy and turning the alcohol a deep blue. The drink was strong and tasty but gimmicky nonetheless. I knew going in that I was eating what I called "upscale carnival junk food" (hopefully not a new category of restaurant), so although I was disappointed it didn't change my mood. The kitchen was clearly not prepared tonight, and the front-of-house staff seemed under strain to keep service together. Straw is basically what its theme represents: a novelty for temporary amusement, and I would not be surprised or disappointed if it soon disappeared with the morning as carnivals sometimes do. I had said in the car afterwards that I would return to try the 4-person cocktail, but having had more time to reflect, it is no longer a desire. When we left, it was 8:30 PM. During dinner we decided to catch the 9:00 PM showing of American Hustle (2013) at Four Star Theatre, my first time to this tiny venue. While watching, I didn't like the film that much because I thought it took too long to get to its denouement, it unnecessarily favored female nudity over male nudity, and except for the saving plot twist at the end it didn't seem that intelligent. It is very well-acted, the story is told with care, and its dragging plot redeems itself somewhat in the finish. Holly loved the costumes, and I did, too. I found it unsatisfying overall, but others might like it. Said hello to an upstairs neighbor. Late meal: leftover mac and cheese with leftover beef brisket that Patrick had made earlier.
Sun Dec 29, 2013
Slept in. Drove to 5th and Mission Garage, met Danny at Union Square. We walked to City View for dim sum brunch. On the return walk through Union Square I taught him how to use the panorama feature of his iPhone 5S and we also set up his fingerprint ID. He bought cookware at Macy's and returned an item. At Armani Exchange we bought identical charcoal Ponte Knit Blazers in XS for 50% off. Danny also bought a black merino wool sweater (but they called it a shawl). I dropped him at home, then stopped at Walgreens for some items before returning home. Patrick and I drove to Kabuki Theatres to watch The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, my first time to Kabuki since the remodel many years ago. Upon exiting the film, I encountered a few Villagers who were in the same showing: Josh A, Rob C, Jeff N, and Chris N. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftovers. Weeded browser bookmarks then synched. Recharge Spa new website work: validation. Installed Validator S.A.C. and found it didn't do what I needed (validate an entire site), trashed it. Purchased Total Validator Pro for home.
Mon Dec 30, 2013
Slept in. Brunch: leftovers. Recharge Spa new website work: validation, accessibility review. Laundry. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Sushi Raw. Listened to Sandra Bernhard's "Without You I'm Nothing."
Tue Dec 31, 2013
Reported the Recharge website down to Bluehost. Brunch: leftovers. Laundry. Bluehost resolved the service outage after about 4 hours. I left this feedback for them: "most of the time you guys do great work, but when you fail it's a big problem. today's outage was about 4 hours as far as i can tell, and on a working business day that is unacceptable. also, every time i have checked the page at https://www.bluehost.com/cgi/serverstatus/ it always tells me my site is up even when my site is down. i have learned to stop checking that page and just using twitter to check status. even help.bluehost.com was down during this outage! if you continue having outages like this one and the one in august, i'll be migrating my sites to another provider." Lunch: leftovers. Did some cleaning of a desk drawer. Nap. Picked up Matt S at Holly and Will's. Dinner at Source with Matt S. Drove to Shotwell Street. New Year's Eve with Matt S, Phil, Drew, Danny, Romy, Anita, Dave, Quyen, Dong-Yi, Paul M, Chi, Coung, Lil Richard, Tim, Purty, and more whom I can't remember.