October 2024
Summary: Spain trip with Patrick.
Dates on this page
Tue Oct 1, 2024
Vacation begins. Day 1 of the Spain trip. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, sliced and toasted almonds, dried cherries; hot water. Made preparations to leave. At noon we rode Uber to SFO. We lunched at Boudin Bakery: we shared a sesame ginger chicken salad and a tomato Parmesan soup. Aranciatas to drink. The ordering process was annoying. You could only order by screen, and Apple Pay failed. Apple Card worked. The food was good. We waited near our gate. The boarding process was disorganized and blocked pathways for others to get by. We sat in World Traveller Plus in 67A and 67B. Our seats included two extra storage areas under the windows which also provided lots of shelf space and which we were grateful to have especially since other seats had none or only one such compartment. Our seats each included a pillow and blanket and over-ear headphones and comfort kit. The comfort kit was a small zippered pouch that included socks, eye mask, lip grease, toothbrush, toothpaste, and a pen. Our Airbus A380 was very old. We knew this because it provided USB-A ports, RCA jacks, and had really thick displays. Upon seating we were offered and received orange juice (Patrick) and sparkling wine (me). After takeoff, we received beverages and sour cream and chive mini pretzels. Patrick had nonalcoholic beer, I had a gin fizz. Later: dinner: we both wanted beef filet but because we were in the last row of the cabin they had run out by the time they reached us. Patrick received veggie curry which was spicy. I received bbq chicken which was not spicy. Both meals came with bottled water, pearl barley salad, dinner roll, butter, panna cotta, crackers and tillamook cheddar. Patrick again had non alcoholic beer. I had red wine. In the row in front of us the under-window compartment got stuck in the closed position and a flight attendant and a passenger failed to open it. Eventually a male steward was called over and he resolved it by pressing harder on the lid. Later the lights dimmed and most people slept. We began listening to the audiobook of Glory Days by Simon Rich and read by John Mulaney. I had fallen asleep a few chapters in after the Mario part which impressed me because he kept up the fake accent for so long. Patrick was in and out of consciousness throughout. He woke me to ask me to access something in our under-window storage, and we stopped listening at chapter 9. I took trash to the gallery at the end of the plane. A flight attendant there let me know I could have also used the bathroom trash but I thought it would fill up too quickly if everyone did that. Our seats were adjacent to the bathroom, and we could hear flushing now and then, but the proximity did not disturb us as much as we might have guessed, and it was convenient to have it so close. We tried sleeping but could not even though we both felt at least a little tired. Later I slept and Patrick tried but was unsuccessful at sleeping very much at all.
Wed Oct 2, 2024
Day 2 of the Spain trip. Part of this day was lost to international travel. Still on our flight from SFO to LHR. Breakfast: English breakfast: sausage, (English?) bacon, tater tots, scrambled eggs, mushrooms; cranberry lemon muffin; fine-diced pineapple and melons. Orange juice, coffee, and tea. Arriving at Heathrow, we were in a holding pattern for a long time due to traffic. We landed then ran to catch our connecting flight. Heathrow was huge and the displays with our flight info said, "please wait." We went to the restroom then returned to find out gate info available and then ran again. I threw away a small bottle of wine left over from dinner because we had to pass another security checkpoint. We arrived at the gate, got in line, waited for other cabin groups to board, and then finally after a long wait we boarded. Then pushed back from the gate we waited 45 mins before we lifted off. LHR to MAD. Patrick bought water, and we bought no other food or drink. Landed in Madrid. Long line for a taxi. Taxi ride to our Airbnb: 33 euros. We checked in and settled. After a bit of rest and refreshing we walked to a nearby grocery for some fruit and snacks.
Thu Oct 3, 2024
Day 3 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.) Matt, Jaime, David
Fri Oct 4, 2024
Day 4 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Sat Oct 5, 2024
Day 5 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Sun Oct 6, 2024
Day 6 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Mon Oct 7, 2024
Day 7 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Tue Oct 8, 2024
Day 8 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Wed Oct 9, 2024
Day 9 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Thu Oct 10, 2024
Day 10 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Fri Oct 11, 2024
Day 11 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Sat Oct 12, 2024
Day 12 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Sun Oct 13, 2024
Day 13 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Mon Oct 14, 2024
Day 14 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Tue Oct 15, 2024
Day 15 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Wed Oct 16, 2024
Day 16 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.)
Thu Oct 17, 2024
Day 17 of the Spain trip. (More details forthcoming.) On the plane I rewatched Blade Runner 2049 and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
Fri Oct 18, 2024
Vacation day to recover from jet lag from Spain trip. Medium bowl of oatmeal with cacao nibs and toasted shaved coconut; hot water. Unpacked, cleaned, reorganized, tidied, caught up on non-work email. Midmorning snack: popcorn from the microwave silicone popper. For lunch we walked to New Taraval Cafe. Patrick had a smash burger with fries. I had a monterey omelette with potatoes. Iced tea for both. Nap. Dinner: dumplings from frozen from Asian American Food Inc. I prepared the dipping sauce, and Patrick steamed the dumplings. I had a half order, and Patrick had a full order. We watched Agatha All Along s1:e4 on Disney+ and various YouTube videos including SNL. Patrick went to bed. I spent several hours troubleshooting problems readding Wiz smart light bulbs to Apple Home and failed.
Sat Oct 19, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, sliced and toasted almonds, sliced half banana; hot water. Continued and finished unpacking. Continued cleaning, and tidying. Cleaned the bathroom. Cut my hair, showered. Cleaned the bathroom. Rode Muni with Patrick to Stonestown Galleria. This was our first time riding the L train after its five-year absence during an upgrade. We missed the train by a minute and had to wait 11 minutes. The ride was nice, but it felt very slow. At West Portal I returned a DVD to the library, then we switched to an M train. At Stonestown it was very crowded, and we did not expect so many long lines at eateries including Chipotle and Panda Express. Instead, we ate slices at Blondie's Pizza. Patrick had pepperoni with Sprite, I had veggie with tap water. Afterwards we dropped my iPhone 12 mini at the Apple Store for a battery replacement. AppleCare+ covered it in full. We browsed basically the entire mall while they did the repair, buying essentially nothing. There is no longer a place devoted to selling ice cream, so we went to Whole Foods and Patrick got a chocolate-marzipan ice cream bar. I picked up my fixed phone from Apple Store, and we rode Muni home. I napped. Patrick made dinner: pasta primavera, hot water. Afterwards we watched Agatha All Along s1:e5 on Disney+ and various YouTube videos including SNL.
Sun Oct 20, 2024
Had a bad dream last night; someone was trying to murder me. Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, sliced and toasted almonds, sliced half banana; hot water. Walked and rode Muni with Patrick to the Castro. We shopped for Halloween costumes but bought nothing. Afterwards we visited Kerry and Mom Ryan at their place. A festival was taking place in front of Mission Dolores. We visited for about an hour or so then departed. Dinner at Hula Wa Chinese Bistro with Patrick: green onion pancake, orange chicken, mu shu pork, green tea for both, coconut water for me. All food and drink were delicious, service was good. Patrick's fortune: You will be lucky in love. My fortune: The difficulties of life are intended to make us better, not bitter. About $60 before 15% tip. Rode Muni home. This was the first time in about five years we rode the L train home without needing to transfer to a bus after Muni recently completed the L-Taraval upgrade which took so long. Afterwards we watched Agatha All Along s1:e6 on Disney+ and various YouTube videos including SNL.
Mon Oct 21, 2024
Had a bad dream last night about CBW (and unrelated to last night's dream). Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, sliced half banana; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Helped a lost patient find an office in M building. Began catching up on 17 days of email and messages. Set up Time Machine for a new 2-TB external SSD hard drive. Listserv work. Time Machine backup completes. I didn't time it, but it seemed like less than two hours. Created and finalized digital letterhead for Liang Z for Nathan D. Lunch from Moffitt Cafe: Vietnamese shrimp noodle bowl with peanut sauce, no jalapenos. The sauce turned out to be quite spicy. I didn't know. I ate it anyway. More listserv work. Zoom meeting with Katherine and La'Trece to discuss a BearBuy issue. Asana task followup, including Support Inbox. Zoom team meeting. Zoom meeting with Suzan to review news story edits. Rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: veggie coconut curry with steamed rice, hot water. We watched Comedy Central Presents: Mike Birbiglia (season 10) on Paramount+.
Tue Oct 22, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, sliced half banana; hot water. Worked from home. Made a url change to a new fellowship page that Katherine had created. Began changing /burchard and /burchard-es to /asthma and, hopefully, /asma. Instead of using the fast and risky method, I chose the slow and secure method: create new domain, use Domain Path to make the same pages appear in the new site, recreate the menu in the new site. The fast and risky method saved only a little time since I'd still have to recreate the menu items, and I wasn't certain that other things would later break. This is the correct way, at least without mucking about in MySQL. Dean's Office Administration team meeting. Lunch at home: leftover mu shu pork with steamed basmati rice that Patrick made yesterday. Continued burchard/asthma migration work. Zhao Lab site build for Nathan D. List management in Campaign Monitor: deleted bounced addresses. (Why doeesn't it autodelete them like Mailchimp does?) Prepared to buy hardware for Joanne C. Orgchart, web page, and other edits and tasks related to Alexa T's departure. Responded to a request from Jeff P about the Savic Lab website. Updated photo credits for Jaime F in The Archive after receiving new info from Robin M. Lots more Alexa T departure work. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftovers. Patrick had veggie coconut curry with steamed rice, I had pasta primavera. Afterwards I began reviewing voting info for the forthcoming election. Lots of network troubleshooting trying to get Wiz Colors light bulbs added to Apple Home via Matter. I officially gave up after spending about 20 hours over the past several days. Today's last attempt: we deleted our home in Apple Home app, then created a new home with a different name. The lights still work—sometimes—in the Wiz app. But they refuse to be added to Apple Home app and work reliably, even in the new home. Wiz support says for the billionth time "are you sure everything is on 2.4 Ghz?" and that it's a problem with "the third-party integration itself" and "we would suggest you to update to the latest iOS version" even after I told them that everything worked fine in the past. If it all worked fine in the past, then a newer iOS version is probably not going to fix anything. I decided I will never again buy Wiz hardware, and I will never again buy smart bulbs that require being on a 2.4 Ghz band for installation. Since they still work in the Wiz app, we'll keep them despite not having the Matter integration and not having them appear in Apple Home. But we'll never buy Wiz again. On that you can depend.
Wed Oct 23, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, sliced strawberries; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Followup with Jeff P and Mary Anne S about Savic Lab website. Followup with Nathan D about Zhao Lab website. Followup with Angelie and Vicky about person page creation. Calendar management: create meeting for CCI website with Su, Frances, and Katherine. Handled a request from Angelie to update some web pages. Sent Angelie nameplates for cubicles that she requested. Followup with Li L about a digital letterhead request. Continued and finished editing draft content for a new TEC website for Olive B. Accepted a gift for KMG from two women from Shen Yun. Lunch at desk: leftover pasta primavera. Submitted to IT a redirect request for Wan-Yu L. Began work on posting strategic plan updates to the web for Sahru. Followup with CAB tasks. Lots of listserv work. Rode Muni home, dropped off my bag and did some house chores. Rode Muni to meet Patrick for dinner at The Rustic. We were 15 minutes early for a 7:30 p.m. reservation. The restaurant was almost empty, and were seated immediately and provided menus. Shortly someone brought us water. Then after we had made our decisions we realized there was a very long wait for our server. After 10 or 15 minutes, we asked the host who occasionally stood nearby at the entrance, and within minutes server Chantal appeared and took our order: iced tea, lemonade, wild mushroom pizza add proscuitto. Perhaps 15 or 20 minutes went by and our pizza arrived, but we still had not received our drinks, so we inquired, and we could see our server behind the bar preparing our drinks, and within another minute, they were brought over. The food and drink were delicious, but the poor timings were inexcusable. Our host even cleared some of our dishes, which I found odd. I wanted to leave no tip, but Patrick insisted on 15%, and I relented. Afterwards we attended Academy of Wine: Witchy Wines at The Academy with host Michael Wells who festively dressed in a witches hat and cape while sharing his extensive wine knowledge in a Halloween-themed tasting. We had an excellent time discovering and learning more about new wines. Chatted with James J. While exiting the building, I received a phone call from Joel who saw me crossing the street, and we chatted a while. Rode Muni home. To bed.
Thu Oct 24, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, diced half banana; hot water. Worked from home. Met with Robin C to review Academic Affairs website builds. Met with Suzan R to review a new lead-in she wrote before posting it. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself pork-flavored ramen with shrimp, fish balls, spinach, red onion, green onion. Digital letterhead work for Kim C in pharmchem. HR mailing lists update. Teaching awards work. Strategic plan updates for Sahru. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftover veggie coconut curry, water. We watched Agatha All Along s1:e7 on Disney+ with Martha Stewart's Movie-Theater-Style Popcorn. Afterwards we watched various YouTube videos then 36 minutes of Ali Wong: Single Lady on Netflix. Patrick went to bed, and I joined not long afterwards.
Fri Oct 25, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, diced whole nectarine; hot water. Rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. The bus was off schedule (late) and there is a lot of construction along Quintara today; the road is being repaved. Attended a retirement seminar. Team meeting with Katherine and Suzan. Sent website review instructions to Yvette H and Amelia D. Granted web editor permissions to MT. Lunch by myself at Starbucks: tomato-mozzarella sandwich, lemon Spindrift. I sat in the sun. Strategic plan updates followup with Sahru K. Resolved an html markup problem for Rich F on the Oncology page. Teaching awards web page build. Chatted with Nathan D about Xiao Lab website and a Dell D3100 docking station. Edited a guide for social media ambassadors. Walked and rode Muni home. Dropped off my Solo New York Walker Brown. Rode Muni to the Castro to meet Patrick for dinner at El Tucan. The line was long, so we instead walked to and ate at Zona Rosa. Patrick had enchiladas, I had two El Jefe tacos: one carnitas, and the other pollo asado. We shared a sparkling water. Afterwards we attended Friday Social Hour at The Academy, stopping briefly to chat with JY and Adrian outside of Detour about bridge and mah jongg. At The Academy, the evening's promoted cocktail was The Pal: rye whiskey, sweet vermouth, and campari. We each had one. Walked and rode Muni home.
Sat Oct 26, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, sliced strawberries; hot water. Cleaned the top of the living room air purifier. Continued research for voting all day. Half of a chocolate-filled black sesame bun that Patrick got for free at the farmer's market in Millbrae after martial arts practice with Sam. Nap. Patrick napped as I arose. Cleaned the bathroom. Washed dishes. Emptied the dryer of clothes that Patrick had washed earlier. Late lunch/snack: two spring rolls from frozen. Dinner at home with Patrick: avocado, beet, and citrus (ABC) salad with warm rye bread and butter, hot water. We finished watching Ali Wong: Single Lady on Netflix then watched Shrinking s2:e1 on Apple TV+. Patrick went to bed. I washed dishes. Late snack: rye toast with butter.
Sun Oct 27, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, diced half banana, sliced strawberries; hot water. Continued research for voting all morning. Before lunch, our landlord Ed gave Patrick and me a ride to visit another property he owns to see if we might be interested in moving. Lunch at home: chinese pancake and buns with chinese greens that Patrick found at the farmer's market yesterday. It was a light meal and Patrick was still hungry, so we walked to KFC. Patrick had a chicken chalupa deluxe. I had a kids 5-piece chicken tenders meal with ranch dipping sauce and mac and cheese as the side and Capri Sun as the beverage. Patrick said the chalupa was fine. My meal was good except the mac and cheese was runnier than I had hoped. Afterwards we browsed shops nearby then walked home. I napped, and Patrick joined later. Dinner at After Hours Ramen with Patrick: miso ramen with katsu pork for Patrick, creamy veggie ramen for me. Iced tap water for both. Food and drink were delicious. Service was okay, not great—hard to explain why, though. We watched Shrinking s2:e2 on Apple TV+ then various YouTube videos.
Mon Oct 28, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, diced half banana, sliced strawberries; hot water. Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Account credentials weeding. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Lunch: enchiladas a la carte from Carmelina's, ate with Suzan and Bernard in the Millberry Union food court. More account credentials weeding. Filed pcard paperwork. Maintenance in The Archive. Residencies code fixes for Rich F. Calendar management. Asana task management. Walked and rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: dumplings from frozen from Asian American Food Inc with dipping sauce. Afterwards we watched Shrinking s2:e3 on Apple TV+ then various YouTube videos including the launch of new iMacs.
Tue Oct 29, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, slivered and toasted almonds, blueberries, cinnamon; hot water. Worked from home. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Watched the launch of new Mac Minis and prepared for ordering one for Joanne C. Lunch: ramen with spinach, shrimp, fish balls, white onion, green onion, cilantro, broccoli from frozen. While preparing lunch I listened to the first episode of the podcast called Literally Gaysians. Met with Sahru K and Katherine T about the strategic plan updates, then continued work on the updates. Dinner at home with Patrick: falafel in warm pita with cucumbers, tomatoes, and feta; hot water. Afterwards we watched Shrinking s2:e4 on Apple TV+ then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I washed dishes.
Wed Oct 30, 2024
Walked and rode Muni to UCSF Parnassus. Breakfast from Jamba Juice: classic handwich, about $6, very tiny. Water from my water bottle. Followup with Michelle A and Kazuko O about pharmchem web updates. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work. Resolved a problem with a menu item with absolute reference for TKP. Investigated Photoshop blend modes for a social media graphic that Katherine proposed. pcard paperwork and followup with Katherine. Continued strategic plan updates content build. 1:1 with Katherine. Lunch: chilequiles plate from Carmelina's, water from my water bottle, ate with Suzan at her desk. Followup with Terrificshot on obtaining high-res versions of KMG's photos. Workflow and tools meeting with Katherine T and Suzan R. Walked and rode Muni home. Did a lot of cleaning in my Box folder. Walked and rode Muni to the Castro, met Patrick at Super Duper Burger for dinner: fried chicken burger and unsweetened iced tea for Patrick, mini burger no cheese and lemonade for me. We shared an order of fries. Afterwards we enjoyed a wine social and game night at The Academy.
Thu Oct 31, 2024
Medium bowl of oatmeal with milk, flax meal, cacao nibs, toasted shaved coconut, sliced and toasted almonds, blueberries, cinnamon; hot water. Worked from home. Filed my timesheet. Siteimprove linkchecking, spellchecking, and policy work, including more resolution of menu item with absolute reference. Began investigating error "Upload failed. We're sorry this didn't work." for Suzan. Team meeting. Patrick delivered our election ballots to a drop box. Lunch at home by myself: leftover falafel in pita with lettuce, tahini, maui onion ranch; side of leftover beets; blue corn tortilla chips with Red Dragon Somerdale mustard seed cheese; water. Calendar management. More Siteimprove policy work. Zoom with Suzan to resolve "upload failed" error. We fixed it by moving it from one channel to another. The document was in a channel that had gotten renamed, and we moved it to the channel with the new name. We then deleted the old channel folder in Finder. Edited a news story for Suzan. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Perilla via Doordash: five-spice chicken and imperial rolls with rice for Patrick, five-spice chicken and imperial rolls with rice noodles for me, thai iced tea for both. All food and drink were delicious. Afterwards we watched Agatha All Along s1:e8 and s1:e9 (season finale) on Disney+ with Whole Foods deli brown butter chocolate chip cookies and microwave butter popcorn. Afterwards we watched various YouTube videos.