September 2017
Summary: New Orleans Southern Decadence vacation ends, Healdsburg weekend with The Group With No Name.
Dates on this page
Fri Sep 1, 2017
Trip planning for Anaheim in October. Gym then light breakfast in Melrose Mansion. Rode UberX to Uptown to Domilise's Po-Boys. Walked around for a few minutes because we arrived earlier than we expected. Stopped at Walgreen's (5518 Magazine Street) for some toiletries. At Domilise's Po-Boys (5240 Annunciation Street), Patrick and I shared a large roast beef po-boy, dressed, and two Barq's, bottled. We both were disappointed by both the bread which was not crispy and flaky enough on the outside and not soft enough on the inside and whose texture seemed staleish. The quality of the roast beef was fine, but there was not enough roast beef and gravy. Rode UberX to Creole Creamery. We arrived earlier than we expected and walked in the neighborhood a while. At Creole Creamery, Patrick had one split scoop in a cup: (a) red velvet cake ice cream and (b) smoky, salty chocolate almond. I had nektar sherbet in a cake cone, and this mysteriously named flavor seemed cherry-almond (exactly like one of the workers suggested), with more almond flavor than cherry. We shared a bottle of water. Our desserts were excellent. Rode UberX to the New Orleans Historic Collection for the free Storyville: Madams and Music exhibit which told the story of Storyville, the fabled red-light district of New Orleans from 1897 to 1917, interwoven with that of the birth of jazz. We walked through the French Quarter zigzagging towards Melrose Mansion, and stopping at various shops, to and through Jackson Square (Plaza de Armas), stopping for an iced coffee and an iced tea at CC's Coffee, stopping briefly at an intersection related to Patrick's family history at Bourbon Street and Governor Nichols Street. At Melrose Mansion I napped while Patrick showered and researched the exact addresses of his family's history related to that intersection. Wine and cheese happy hour at Melrose Mansion, meeting the lively bunch of Ricky, Mike, Tony, and Allen. Walked to dinner at Trinity, with service by Joanie. [dinner details] On the walk back to Melrose Mansion it began to rain. Changed clothes. Went out, walking the Fruit Loop. To bed.
Sat Sep 2, 2017
I slept in while Patrick went to the gym upstairs. We walked through Faubourg Marigny to light breakfast at Cake Cafe & Bakery (2440 Chartres Street): chocolate-almond croissant and coffee with chicory for Patrick, ham and cheese croissant and hot chai for me. Water for both. Returned to Melrose Mansion, and along the way Patrick stopped to buy more bottled water at the corner store. Patrick napped; I rested. Ran an internet speed test at Melrose Mansion at 12:25 pm on a Saturday. It's crazy fast for a hotel: 82 Mbps down, 54 Mbps up. Rode UberX to drag brunch at The Country Club (634 Louisa Street) in Bywater. I had wanted to come here last year but didn't get the chance. We were seated in a room with two large all-female bridal parties, one mixed-gender bridal party, and one table of four young gay men, one of whom wore a muscle tank that said POWER TOP and another of whom wore a muscle tank that said POWER BOTTOM. A host explained how it worked: basically get drunk, eat, have fun. Another employee came around with small bills for people who wanted change with which to tip the performers, which was a popular thing to do, and we joined. Three drag queens performed in sequence with multiple outfit changes so that at first we weren't sure how many of them there were. They were all loved by the crowd. Aside from drinks, Patrick had polenta and eggs, and I had the fried green tomatoes benedict; the tomatoes were particularly crisp. Our bill: $66.50 before a $13 tip, and this doesn't count the small bill tips for the drag queens. Afterwards, upon our request, a hostess gave us a brief tour through the pool area, which was packed with guests and quite noisy. We weren't dressed for the pool and only wanted to see what that area was like. We walked back through the Bywater and the Marigny to Melrose Mansion. Patrick and I visited the Melrose Mansion pool, which was much quieter than the one at The Country Club. He rested while I took a quick dip then rested. Showered, dressed. Walked through the French Quarter toward an extravaganza but decided to not stay because we were overdressed. Stopped at Antoine's Annex for two large iced chais and saw a very short second line pass on the street. Visited the Carousel Bar at Monteleone, but it was too crowded, so at Patrick's suggestion we visited the Black Duck Bar upstairs at The Palace Cafe: Planter's Punch for Patrick, Nola Pilar for me. This location used to hold a longtime music store called Werlein's. We walked closer to the river along Chartres and encountered a bridal second line with all white people. We browsed at various stores facing Jackson Square until our 8:30 pm dinner reservation at Sylvain. Sparkling water, a glass of Pipeno, a glass of Nebbiolo, soup, shoulder, and a burger. $81.03 before a $16 tip. Walked to Melrose Mansion.
Sun Sep 3, 2017
Gym. Rode UberX to brunch at Antoine's. Appetizers: crawfish bisque for Patrick; strawberry, walnut, and blue cheese salad for me. Mains: shrimp and grits for Patrick, eggs sardou for me. Dessert: bread pudding for Patrick, cheesecake for me. I had the three-course special menu for Sunday Jazz Brunch. Free glass of mimosa each. Jazz was provided by two men playing instruments and a woman singer singing songs like Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans and Fly Me To The Moon. We walked through some of the other rooms, examining the collected artifacts over the restaurant's grand history, including a large ashtray collection. Walked back to Melrose Mansion along Royal Street, stopping here and there, including Savon, where a salesperson treated my hands with magnesium and some kind of cream which I didn't like because it made my hands feel greasy. Encountered and stopped to listen to Bon Bon Vivant, a gypsy jazz band, playing a great rendition of Robyn's "Dancing on My Own." Rested and changed. Walked to CC's for a iced tea for me. Continued walking to the Decadence Walking Parade, eventually stopping to watch at Dauphine and St. Ann. We enjoyed seeing all the different groups and the grand marshalls. Walked Dauphine to Melrose Mansion, stopping for iced teas at a corner grocery called Matassa's. Rested and showered. Walked along Rampart, which has improved significantly since Patrick's childhood, including the Rampart street car line. Dinner at The Bombay Club: Drinks: Sazerac for Patrick, Swizzle It for me. Appetizer: we shared a boudin scotch egg. Mains: papparadelle with cauliflower and a glass of malbec for Patrick, gulf fish with dirty chorizo rice and broccolini. No dessert. Walked back to Melrose Mansion.
Mon Sep 4, 2017
Breakfast at Melrose Mansion whereat the staff reheated my chicken leftovers from Trinity, and I ate them with a biscuit and cranberry juice. Patrick had yogurt, grits, scrambled eggs, biscuit, and coffee. Walked to St. Roch Market. Ginger-basil iced tea (free refills!) for me from Fete au Fete, horchata for Patrick from La Mezcla Mexicana. Mains: shrimp spring roll from T2 Streetfood for me, red beans and rice with biscuit and sausage from Fete au Fete for Patrick—delicious; he could eat only half. Fete au Fete seemed to me to be a remarkably good value, especially with the free refills. Rode UberX to St. Vincent de Paul Cemetary and Mausoleum where we wandered through Cemetary #1 before attempting to visit the nearby cemetary office. Patrick was searching for the resting place of ancestors on his dad's side—his grandmother, great grandparents, and great great grandmother. It took a while because the various cemetaries weren't well marked or cared for, but we eventually found it in Cemetary #2. We took some photos, and Patrick did a little tidying of the site. I tried setting a GPS pin/marker in Google Maps for iOS and failed because there didn't seem to be an easy way to do this so that it is saved permanently somewhere. I opened Apple Maps—which I rarely use—and I was done in a few seconds and now have a pin called Marked Location. We rode UberX to Melrose Mansion. Patrick rested while I swam in and rested by the pool. Shower. Rested. Drinks at Good Friends, meeting Brandon (also new Orleans native and now living in San Francisco) and Rusty. Dinner at Meauxbar Bistro with Patrick: beet salad to share, yakamein, hanger steak, sparkling water, and drinks. $89.71 before a $17 tip. Walked to Melrose Mansion. Began watching Maz Jobrani: Live at Kennedy Center. In-room jacuzzi time. Finished watching Maz Jobrani: Live at Kennedy Center, which was hilarious. To bed.
Tue Sep 5, 2017
Checked out of Melrose Mansion and left our bags at the front desk. Rode UberX to brunch with Patrick at Willa Jean's: bbq shrimp toast, coffee, and pineapple juice for Patrick; Willa Jean breakfast and chai for me. Visited the post office to mail a few items that we did not want to carry on the plane. Rode UberX to the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum where we paid for admission. I stayed for the 1:00 PM tour while Patrick rested at PJ's Coffee. Rode a pedicab to Melrose Mansion with a female driver. Picked up our bags. Rode UberX to the airport. Early dinner with Patrick at Ye Olde College Inn: shrimp po boy and fries for Patrick, wedge salad for me, one liter of Fiji water to share. United flight 1894 MSY (New Orleans) to IAH (Houston) followed by a 90-minute layover then United flight 1541 IAH (Houston) to SFO (San Francisco). On this flight, we began rewatching Inception via iTunes purchase. Patrick also talked to a 60-year-old woman across the aisle about her marijuana and mushroom businesses in Washington state. Sam gave us a ride home.
Wed Sep 6, 2017
Rode Uber Pool to UCSF Laurel Heights. Breakfast from The View Cafe: egg, cheddar, and bacon on croissant; small chai latte. First day back to work after vacation to New Orleans. Sprint standup. Caught up on email. Asana task followup. Lunch to go from The View Cafe: deli sushi. Curriculum chart followup with Susie. Filed pcard paperwork. More curriculum chart edits. Remotely attended the Summer Projects Showcase. Began reviewing Eric and Paula's content strategy plan. Rode Lyft Line home, shared with a fellow UCSF employee, a principal investigator working in dermatology at Mount Zion who had web needs and so we talked a lot about what she could do. Dinner at home with Patrick: Whole Foods mojito chicken and vegetables over rice. Finished watching Rebel Without a Cause on Netflix DVD with Patrick and a beer. Began watching the DVD commentary for Rebel Without a Cause alone.
Thu Sep 7, 2017
Rode Uber Pool to UCSF Parnassus. Breakfast at Moffitt Cafe Tried to get my flu shot but there was no one in the place I thought it was going to be held. Later I realized that I had misread the schedule due to a poor document design. Reshared my calendar to the team I think due to a problem with being a pilot participant in the Email to the Cloud project. Sprint standup from the Dean's Office Administration office. Worked from the library. Mailchimp hands-on training session with Alexa and Marisa, all went well. Lunch at Moffitt Cafe: vegetarian pancit, pork adobo, lemon La Croix sparkling water. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Minor web edits for Lucia. Resolved a support request related to our jobs listserv. Calpoison followup. Chatted with Mark B about a ticket he needed to close. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs one-pan baked salmon and broccolini, white wine, san pell. Continued watching the DVD commentary for Rebel Without a Cause with Patrick. Travel followup and planning.
Fri Sep 8, 2017
Breakfast at home: pork sausage patty and egg on english muffin, 8 ounces of orange juice, 8 ounces of milk, one pint of hot water. Rode Uber Pool to UCSF Laurel Heights. Followup with a jobs listserv issue with Zoraida and others. Chatted briefly with Michelle K about the wobble board I have been using for a while now. Performed tasks for a faculty member departure: Fischbach. Met briefly with Eric about UFD mailing list subscription updates. Posted the 2018 and Beyond curriculum chart to the Curriculum Concept page for Cindy and Susie. Spent a lot of the day merging the calpoison branch into the identity retheme branch in preparation for again merging master into identity retheme. Git merge is quite a headache. Rode Uber Pool home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs spiraled zucchini and basil white pizza, side of creamy tomato and cheese soup.
Sat Sep 9, 2017
Breakfast at home: two breakfast sandwiches: sausage patty and egg with spices on english muffin, one banana, 8 ounces of milk, 8 ounces of orange juice, one pint of hot water. Housecleaning. Lunch at home with Patrick: cherry tomato and burrata mini pizzas on english muffin. Installed a stainless steel chain in the kitchen sink to prevent the sound of dripping. Finished watching Inception with Patrick via iTunes purchase. Cut my hair, showered. Nap. Rode UberX to the Castro. Stopped at the eye doctor to get my recently purchased, too-tight reading glasses replaced. I tried a new frame that we think will work better, and they are covering the replacement at no charge—nice. Afterwards Patrick and I got a round of drinks at Blush during their 30% off any wine happy hour: a Valpolicella red for Patrick, and a red sangria for me. Dinner at Poesia with Patrick. It's his first time dining here, and it my first time since February 19, 2015. Drinks: negroni for Patrick, hemingway daiquiri for me. To start: mac and cheese salsiccia, insalata di cesare, datteri and pancetta. Main: we shared tagliata: sliced beef filet served on a bed of arugula; we chose medium for the doneness. We took about half of the main home to make room for dessert: we shared a perfect cannolo with pistachio and chocolate. Patrick also had a glass of magliocco with the meal and an espresso with dessert. Everything was delicious, and service was excellent. A most satisfying meal, $112.84 after tax and before an $18 tip. Patrick rode UberX home. I stayed in the Castro to barhop. Near Jane Warner Plaza I encountered Oth and Russ and joined them to drinks at Blackbird with their friend Billy, whom I met for the first time. We talked about the rafting trip, Burning Man, last weekend's unusually hot weather, my New Orleans trip, tequila, Jalisco, Twin Peaks, Comfort and Joy, the forthcoming Folsom Street Fair, Hurricane Irma, and more. Rode UberX home.
Sun Sep 10, 2017
Patrick brought home a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts with mostly autumn flavors, two of each: pumpkin spice, apple-cinnamon-filled, chocolate-glazed custard-filled, maple-glazed, sour cream cake, and glazed. Breakfast: two nectarines, some bites from various doughnuts, three pork sausages from frozen, 8 ounces of milk, a pint of water. Did some catching up on journaling. Lunch: leftover sliced beef filet over arugula. Swapped bookcases between the living room and the dressing room to improve connectivity for Patrick whose iPhone 6 would frequently drop its connection to wireless due to poor signal. This activity took much of the afternoon. Snack: goldfish cheese crackers. Recharge Medical work: editing IV therapy blog post and flyer. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs 1-pan chicken thighs with blistered cherry tomatoes and farro. Finished watching Rebel Without a Cause commentary on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Restored an old iTunes library from before I switched to the 2017 MacBook Pro then did a lot of media restoring and organizing because some items were not appearing as expected.
Mon Sep 11, 2017
Breakfast at home: sausage patty and egg with herbes de provence on english muffin, small bites of various doughnuts from yesterday. 8 ounces of carrot juice, 8 ounces of milk. Rode Uber Pool to UCSF Parnassus. Got my flu shot. The process this year was the fastest, easiest, and best ever in terms of user experience. I particularly liked that there was no paper to deal with. Just read a bunch of questions on a small tablet screen, sign on the tablet, then get shot. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. UFD mailing list update followup. Chatted with Emma M about the Smart Diaphragm microsite. Worked with Liana C to update the bridge funding page. Snacks: roasted, salted pumpkin seeds; seaweed. Today was freakishly hot for San Francisco. Being indoors in a cool office I couldn't tell, but when I emerged for lunch it was noticeable immediately: high 80s. Lunch at Picnix: grace kelly sandwich with side of watermelon, crystal geyser orange in a glass with ice: about $13. Identity retheme work. Errand: groceries from Bryan's. Rode Uber Pool home. Today's hot weather had turned cold, breezy, and wet. Along the way a heavy storm pelted us with huge drops and tossed startling lightning and thunder about the sky. It threw my driver, co-rider, and I into awe, particularly in contrast with today's hot weather. I watched the rain and lightning for a few minutes from the garage. The rain eased somewhat, and I dined at home by myself: leftovers from last night. Patrick was home but didn't dine. Around 9:00 pm heavier rain returned with more lightning and thunder. Very tired this evening. To bed at 9:29 pm.
Tue Sep 12, 2017
Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Task followup. Microsites work: Calpoison preview setup. UFD mailing list update: pharmacy deans. Identity retheme work. Followup with Marisa about the experiential education microsite. Worked with Eric to complete the preview site for Calpoison, notified their team of its availability. Followup with Terry and Ruben about DNS and Cloudflare. Lunch from The View Cafe: fried rice with egg roll and one ha gow, water. Rode Lyft Line home. Dinner at home with Patrick: a finely curated selection of Trader Joe's frozen Asian meals, including chow mein, crispy orange chicken, and scallion pancake; red wine, san pell.
Wed Sep 13, 2017
Breakfast at home with Patrick: Patrick prepared mini omelettes with cheddar, mozzarella, rosemary ham, and Spice Ace fines herbes, 8 ounces of milk, 8 ounces of carrot juice. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Forwarded a request from the Controller's Office to Cindy for confirmation. Completed web page changes for bridge funding for Liana. Strategic plan content insertion. Identity retheme work. Walked in very light rain with no umbrella to Picnix Bistro and Carry Out for lunch: pork eggroll salad over rice noodle with salad, cucumbers, pickled carrots and daikons, minced mints leaves, peanuts, and a medium spicy sweet and sour dipping dressing. Followup with Susie and Cindy about the request to have the curriculum chart opening in a new tab. UFD mailing list updates: entering P1s. Strategic plan content insertion. Identity retheme work. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Parnassus. Chatted briefly with Sarah P and Rick T whom I encountered in front of Kalmanovitz Library. Rode Uber Pool home. Dinner at home with Patrick: cornmeal-crust deli pizza to which Patrick added rosemary ham, Spice Ace french market spices, and sliced garlic; peas; red wine; san pell.
Thu Sep 14, 2017
Breakfast at home: egg with Spice Ace fines herbes, rosemary ham, and cheddar on english muffin, 8 ounces of orange juice, one pint of hot water. Lately I have taken to obscuring logos on electronics with black electrical tape. It seems that most of my electronics are black, so this is a very simple solution to resolve the problem of having to see logos all the time. For example, my TCL S-series Roku television has two logos on the front, but the bezel is black. Now, no more logos. The SD card reader that I bought recently—also black. Now, no more logos. The controller for a set of Logitech Z906 speakers has a Dolby logo, a DTS logo, and a Logitech logo. It, too, is all black. Now, no more logos. Each of the six speakers in this set has at least one logo, and some have two. I have yet to get to all these. It's so refreshing to not see logos that my logo-obscuring experiment is starting to become a habit, perhaps the birth of an obsession. I also obscured logos at work: a scanner, a computer monitor, even the third-party mechanism that converts a regular desk into a standing desk has a logo. Now, no longer. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Identity retheme work. Handled a tech reqs web page and links request from Cindy. Worked with Andrew P to resolve (or work around) a problem with connecting to a sandbox environment for web editing. Andrew was very helpful even if the problem did turn out to be on my end. Updated the Deliver an Announcement page on the Communicators website for Shelley W, Sarah P, and Lynn D. Lunch from The View Cafe: tofu and vegetables over brown rice, water. Portraits by Elisabeth F in the courtyard. More identity retheme work. Errand: hardware store. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Parnassus. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: chicken parmagiana with spaghetti, red wine, san pell.
Fri Sep 15, 2017
Breakfast at home: one peach; egg, sausage, and smoked gouda on english muffin, 8 ounces of orange juice, 8 ounces of milk, one pint of hot water. UFD html email work in Email on Acid. Identity retheme work. Lunch at b on the go with Grant. We talked about restaurants in the area, New York City, Florida, bicycling, kids, elementary schools and lotteries, writing, Alameda, weather, The New York Times, Adobe, Aldus, the JCC gym, and more. Bahn mi for him, grec chicken sandwich for me, water for both. He seemed to like b on the go a lot. We agreed on a price for me selling my Dahon Curve SL folding bicycle and accessories: $350. Back to the office. Identity retheme work. Rode Uber Pool to Mission Bay, super long ride: 50 minutes. Doctor appointment. UCSF shuttle from Mission Bay to Parnassus. Rode Lyft Line home. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from New Tsing Tao via EAT24: hot and sour soup (small), black bean sauce chicken, sweet and sour prawns, steamed white rice, hong kong style crispy noodle. Our fortunes: (1) You and your wife will be happy in your life together. (2) A financial investment will yield returns beyond your hopes. (3) Many receive advice, only the wise profit from it.
Sat Sep 16, 2017
Slept poorly last night, so slept in. Breakfast at home with Patrick: Patrick made a lemon-yogurt pound cake, and we each had a slice with a glass of milk. Lunch: leftovers from last night. CrashPlan recently decided to stop having CrashPlan Home, so I did some shopping for new backup solutions. Lunch at home with Patrick: leftovers from last night. Patrick also made a second cake today. This one is pumpkin-pepita topped with shredded coconut and more pepitas. We each had a slice. He had his with a glass of san pell. I had mine with a hot chai with milk and honey. Recharge Medical work: blog posts and flyers while Patrick napped, completed one flyer and one blog post. Dinner at home with Patrick: Green Chef fennel-crusted pork (fig tapenade, sautéed kale, polenta and goat cheese), red wine, san pell. Watched part of Sunset Boulevard (1950) on Netflix DVD with Patrick. We rented this after learning from the DVD commentary for Rebel Without a Cause that the swimming pool and mansion are common to both films. Also, I had never seen Sunset Boulevard before. More Recharge Medical work.
Sun Sep 17, 2017
Breakfast at home: one peach and leftovers from Friday night. More Recharge Medical work: posted another blog post. Rode Muni to Powell Street Station. Met Danny at Union Square. We brunched at Cheesecake Factory waiting about 10 minutes for a table on the patio. Danny had the Skinnylicious turkey and avocado sandwich with a side of greens. I had the lunch version of the chinese chicken salad and an arnold palmer. Afterwards we visited Barney's for Danny to pick up a prior purchase at the scent counter, encountering Mario once again. Then to Uniqlo where we happened upon JWG who was killing time before another portion of Taylor Mac: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. We chatted for a while. Afterwards, Danny took off to the farmer's market. I walked to Nest to inquire about a new foundation (the ones they have don't fit my needs exactly) and to try an Easy Breather pillow, which I bought—the side sleeper version. In the past I usually slept on my back, but now I am sleeping more on my side. I was near Mr. S, so I stopped to make a small purchase and had an enjoyable experience. Rode UberX home. Housekeeping. Dinner at home with Patrick: Green Chef ratatouille pasta (basil pistou, goat cheese, arugula salad, almonds), san pell. Finished watching Sunset Boulevard (1950) on Netflix DVD with Patrick. Housekeeping.
Mon Sep 18, 2017
Breakfast at Moffitt Cafe: sausage, potatoes, eggs, whole wheat toast, water. Experiential Education microsite review meeting. Stopped at the OSACA to chat. Helped Zoraida with a question about a name badges document in Word. UCSF shuttle from Parnassus to Laurel Heights. Task followup. Identity retheme work. Lunch at Rigolo: California burger and french fries, hot chai latte: about $20. Identity retheme work. Curriculum chart edits with Susie and Cindy. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Parnassus. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Green Chef five-spice chicken (udon noodle stir-fry with pickled ginger), san pell.
Tue Sep 19, 2017
Breakfast at home: leftovers from last night, two apples. Identity retheme work all day. Lunch at Artesano: pulled pork sandwich, mango-orange agua fresca. Walked to a doctor appointment. Rode Uber Pool home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs slow-roasted mexican bbq pork tacos, san pell. Dessert: Good Eggs mini carrot cakes, Robert Mondavi 2012 Moscato d'Oro dessert wine.
Wed Sep 20, 2017
Breakfast at home: two-egg scramble with rosemary ham, pistou, and zucchini noodles, 8 ounces of orange juice, one pint of hot water. Rode Uber Pool to UCSF Laurel Heights. Met with Sonya and Eric to set up Cloudflare for Calpoison. Sprint standup. UFD mailing list updates: alums and donors from UDAR. Lots of task followup. Identity retheme work the rest of the day. Lunch at Kaiju Eats Ramen & Izakaya: I ordered a karaage ramen combo with gyoza and hot green tea. I was surprised when the gyoza emerged because (a) it wasn't pan-fried on the bottom, and (b) it had chili oil all over it. I was too tired to complain and ate it. When the ramen emerged, it was the same thing—chili oil all over it. Again I was too tired and hungry to complain and tried to eat some of it but only managed a few minutes before requesting a glass of cold water and then giving up trying to eat the rest. The menu gave no indication that these items were spicy by default. I decided to take the rest home and see if Patrick might want to eat it. After asking about the spiciness, I also asked if they could make it not spicy if I returned another day, and they said yes. The food is really good, but it's just extremely spicy by default. Beware. More identity retheme work. Rode Uber Pool home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs fall panzanella with delicata squash and burrata, red wine, san pell. Dessert: dessert wine.
Thu Sep 21, 2017
Breakfast at home: two pears. Rode Uber Pool to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Identity retheme work. 1-on-1 with Marisa to review changes to the Experiential Education microsite. Lots of task followup. Lunch at Picnix: thanksgiving dinner sandwich, laignappe slice of watermelon, hot vietnamese coffee. Added an email address to our mailing list at the request of Bo from UDAR. Responded to an outside request to be removed from our mailing list (but they weren't on our list). Met with Eric to discuss the curriculum chart project. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Parnassus. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs roasted chicken thighs with blistered tomatillos and romesco, san pell, red wine. Finished packing for the forthcoming Healdsburg trip. Spent hours trying to figure out why movies that Patrick had purchased aren't viewable on my devices via Family Sharing even though both my MacBook Pro and his iMac correctly indicate that Family Sharing is enabled. Was finally able to get some of his movies on my iPhone by opening the iTunes Store app on my iPhone, selecting the three dots icon in the lower right corner, then Purchased, then Family Purchases: Patrick, then Movies, then downloading from there despite Google searches such as "movies appear in itunes but refuse to sync to iphone" and despite encountering the problematic "enter the password for macbook pro" (which I did correctly and it failed to get past that dialog and later I realized that it thought I had two different MacBook Pros so choosing the link that says I forgot the password enabled me to select the correct device) and error "you don't have permission to access the requested resource." I then spent the next hour manually downloading the movies I wanted (because there was no faster way). And note that our ISP is not the bottleneck here since we have Sonic gigabit fiber.
Fri Sep 22, 2017
Had trouble sleeping last night. Vacation day. Breakfast: leftovers. Nap. Healdsburg weekend vacation begins, day 1 of 3. In our group: Paul, Danny, Drew, Phil, Romy, Quyen, Dave, Chris and Nate, Jonathan, Wayne, Peter, and me. Rode Uber Pool to Shotwell House. Late lunch at In-n-Out Burger Petaluma. Checked into our weekend house rental at 1015 Westside Road. Dinner by Paul and Romy: chicken adobo, veggie pancit, steamed rice, sinigang (a sour soup). Some used the hot tub before bed.
Sat Sep 23, 2017
Healdsburg weekend vacation day 2 of 3. Phil and Danny prepared breakfast: bacon, sausage, muffins, fried rice, fried sticky rice, fresh fruit, greek yogurt, biscuits, scrambled eggs, cuties, fried potatoes, spicy sausage, breakfast quesadillas, fried eggs sunny side up, english muffins on demand. Danny stayed behind to nap. The rest of us went to tastings: Simi Winery, Alley 6 Craft Distillery gin and whiskey tastings. Truett-Hurst/VML. Dinner at the rental house: pizza delivery from Mountain Mike Pizza. Birthday cake and vanilla ice cream from Safeway. Richard and Michael stopped by for a few hours and did not stay the night.
Sun Sep 24, 2017
Healdsburg weekend vacation day 3 of 3. Checked out. J Vineyards terrace tasting Four Wines with Four Bites with excellent service by Sam, Scott, and Simone. Aperitif: Cuvee 20 paired with meyer lemon popcorn (but really it was kettle corn). The wines and bites: (1) pinot gris estate (Russian River Valley, 2015) with butternut squash fries and apple and curry relish, (2) brut rose (Russian River Valley, non-vintage) with citrus-cured king salmon [roe] and bodega red potato salad and smoked leeks, (3) pinot noir (Russian River Valley, 2014) with chorizo sausage and white runner beans and grilled avocado, (4) vintage brut magnum (Russian River Valley, 2009) with poached warren pear with toasted hazelnuts and cowabunga cheese ice cream. I very much enjoyed the entire experience. Others in our party did not enjoy it as much. The fries were too salty for others; I agree they were salty but I was able to tolerate it. Many did not enjoy the avocado which was crisp, but I liked the texture since it was different than what we're used to for avocado. Many seemed to agree that the #2 pairing was the best. Lunch at In-n-Out Santa Rosa (2131 County Center Dr). I was dropped at home. Rested. Dinner: delivery from Lemonade via DoorDash: truffle mac and cheese (delicious), chicken pot pie (disappointingly and alarmingly small portion for the price), brussels sprouts (delicious), pacific rim salad (disappointing because it seemed all the cabbage was in tiny bits—the bottom of the barrel), ginger peach lemonade (too tart), cucumber mint lemonade (deliciously sweet). During dinner, we watched s1:e1 of An Unfortunate Series of Events on Netflix instant watch with Patrick.
Mon Sep 25, 2017
Breakfast at home: 3 sausage links from frozen, oatmeal with banana and milk, chai. Rode Uber Pool to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Microsites work: Experiential Education content work all day. UCSF shuttle from Laurel Heights to Mount Zion. Walked to the Fillmore. Lunch at Glaze: hanger steak teriyaki bowl with sesame sauce, a side of gyoza, and a Jones ginger soda: about $20. UCSF shuttle from Mount Zion to Laurel Heights. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs chopped summer salad with duna dips and rye bread, san pell. Dessert: dessert wine.
Tue Sep 26, 2017
Made adjustments to my Nest Easy Breather side sleeper pillow by removing enough of the filling to fill a two-gallon Ziploc bag. Patrick prepared breakfast: three-cheese scramble (smoked gouda, cheddar, parmesan), one small slice of toasted rye bread, one small slice of toasted wheat bread, side of fruit salad, orange juice for both, a glass of milk for me. Rode Muni to UCSF Laurel Heights. Sprint standup. Followup with Emma M about the Smart Diaphragm website. Followup with Calpoison Cloudflare setup. Identity retheme work. Lunch to go from Beautifull!: salmon wrap in the style of Eric's with water from my water bottle, ate in the courtyard at UCSF Laurel Heights. Microsites work: Faculty Resources, a new one-pager, and Staff Wellness Group edits. Errand: Bryan's for some milk. Rode Uber Pool home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Duna-style paprikas' chicken thighs with roasted mushrooms and noodles, san pell, red wine. Today Patrick ended our Green Chef subscription in favor of Good Eggs. The Good Eggs meals are simpler to prepare, and he can add other individual items as he likes, which you can't do with Green Chef.
Wed Sep 27, 2017
Patrick prepared breakfast: hash browns, sausage, toast with tangerine jam, sliced apple, La Croix grapefruit mineral water. Sprint standup. Identity retheme work, microsite work, and task followup all day. Lunch at Rigolo: penne a la francaise with chicken, water. Errand: Walgreen's. After work, the Plancomm team met at Swank for drinks and mini pizza appetizers on Susie in celebration of recent work such as the UFD. Grant rode his bike over. I had an orange creamsicle (just like last time). While there, we encountered many from the Digital Communications team including Louise, Arezu, Sara, and Kevin. Their team was saying goodbye to a departing intern. Rode Uber Pool home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Good Eggs 'Sofia' salad with feta and warm pita, san pell, red wine. Vacuumed. Did some catching up on journaling.
Thu Sep 28, 2017
Patrick prepared breakfast: pancakes and sausage, hot earl gray tea with milk. One pint of hot water for me. Spent most of the day determining a solution to a need for universal navigation across our multiple web domains. Lunch at Starbucks Laurel Village: turkey and basil panini, pumpkin spice chai latte grande. Rode Uber Pool to the Castro. Stopped at the optometrist to pick up new reading glasses (the second pair after the first pair did not fit properly—too tight at the temples). Dinner at Fable with Patrick: two glasses of barbera, one bottle of san pell. To start: mussels for Patrick, pork cheeks with kale and apple for me. Entrees: roast chicken for Patrick, t-bone steak for me. Dessert: we shared a ginger-pear crisp with Castro Fountain vanilla ice cream. We like everything except my steak was too salty at times (not so much to complain about, tho). It was prepared medium as ordered; most restaurants I find cannot get this right. Rode UberX home.
Fri Sep 29, 2017
Breakfast: leftovers. Rode Uber Pool to UCSF Parnassus. Met with Joel and Rick about the future of the supp app. Jazzee is going away, and we need to find a way to accept supp app fees electronically. Helped the OSACA with lots of issues. For example, Zoraida had a black vertical line on blank pages which was resolved by cleaning the scanning glass with water and a lint-free cloth. Joel and Rick needed guidance with WebEx vs Zoom. Lunch from Panda Express. Returned my office key. Rode Uber Pool home. Dinner at home with Patrick: Green Chef apricot-glazed chicken (roasted potatoes, arugula-radish salad with corn), grapefruit La Croix sparkling water. Watched s3:e1 of Superstore on Hulu with Patrick.
Sat Sep 30, 2017
Breakfast at home with Patrick: sausage and pancakes, san pell. Orchid maintenance. Archived old photos and videos. Continued obscuring logos (see September 14). Lunch at Grubbin': one sweet mouth waterin' (fried chicken breast) sandwich to dine in and one more to go, prickly pear san pell. Ate my sandwich, then returned home to deliver Patrick his. Back out to the post office to mail my Maui Jim sunglasses (Whitecap sunglasses in gloss black and grey (MC107-02, 581862)) for repair due to a lost temple. Home. Attempted to drill drain holes in pottery with Patrick's help but failed only seconds in because the drill bit kept slipping. It's not a pointed drill bit, so I didn't know what I could do to resolve the problem. Seems like you need a drill press and some way to fasten the pottery so that it remains still in order for it to work. I gave up after only a minute or two. Cut my hair, showered. Green Chef italian mushroom bowl (lentils, tomatoes, kale, basil pesto, parm fricos). Watched s1:e1 of Star Trek: Discovery: "The Vulcan Hello" on CBS All Access with Patrick. Unmounted some now-unused clips around the dressing room closet. Mounted some cable management clips on the back of the television with 3M Command Strip clips.