Thursday, October 2, 2014
Breakfast at home: Thoroughbread almond croissant. Patrick leaves today with Sam for a trip to Italy. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Calendar management. Chatted with Eric about a fish we have been trying to catch: a problem in which a page request is redirected to the home page whereas the second same request works. Content work, styling work, and asana task followup all day in Drupal. Sent reminders about new website url reviews that are still pending. Lunch at A.G. Ferrari: hot verdure sandwich (peperonata, artichoke hearts, smoked mozzarella on focaccia), water. Afterwards I had a blue bottle coffee Bar Gelato—delicious. About $12. Met with David to build pages for BTS research: therapeutic bioengineering. Rode UberX to BMW SF. Picked up the car, which Patrick had dropped off for service a few days ago. Bought gas, drove home. Used Waze for the first time but didn't follow its suggestions, sometimes by accident (turned too soon), sometimes because it didn't seem like it was suggesting good routes. Early dinner: leftover thai food. Did some testing of the new Black and Decker Flex Vac (BDH2020FLFH). I haven't used a cordless vacuum in a really long time, so it was liberating to use the Flex Vac. I found myself reaching into places for which I would otherwise have had less energy to do so pulling a larger vacuum behind me. It's pretty loud, and it has a high-pitched whine which I found somewhat annoying. The noise changes distinctly when you hold it different ways. I very nearly felt I needed earplugs when using it. The floor attachment works, just not so well as a full vacuum. It does a great job on our marble and linoleum-tiled floors, not as well on our wool-cotton rug. The crevice tool and 2-in-1 nozzle accessory both work as expected. I did not use the pet hair tool. (No pets.) The vacuum is heavier than I had hoped, remembering the light weight of the original DustBuster, but it's clearly more powerful and versatile than a DustBuster. The wrap-around tube and nozzle is a bit awkward to reattach. It just takes a little practice to understand how it works. The instruction booklet is simply awful—a great example of poor communications. Hardly anyone reads two pages of safety warnings in small type, diagrams are far too small, some of the instructions don't work (e.g., removing and refitting the handle), and the instructions aren't written with the customer in mind (e.g., the instructions should first say how to charge the device because one wants to use it right away but it can't be used until it has charged for four hours). Archived documents. Late meal: more thai leftovers, water.