May 2025
Summary: New furniture continues to arrive, Katy and Katya at The Academy, Valencia Streets Live with Patrick, Mother's Day Brunch at home, Castro Night Market with Patrick, Dex visits, Eurovision, I start working for Recharge Medical, Mom Ryan falls.
Dates on this page
Thu May 1, 2025
Breakfast: Patrick had oatmeal. I prepared for myself a two-egg scramble with zucchini, red bell pepper, white onion, feta, salt, pepper; sourdough toast with salted butter; hot water. Continued work to sell or give away items all day—so exhausting. I am starting to encounter more accounts that I suspect are scammers or phishers, and it's encouraging me to change my tactics. Shopped for a patio umbrella then got lost in the amazing cockeyed.com for a while. Workers from a furniture company came to replace a portion of a desk that was faulty. The replacement works as expected. Someone picked up a 3-foot-long gumbo paddle that we gave away for free. Lunch at home: ramen made with two halves of Maruchan chicken ramen seasoning packets, broccoli, snow peas, assorted fish cake, white onion. Walked to Cliff's for a monitor power cable to replace one that had somehow disappeared and a replacement for a set screw for an Anderson window hand crank. The replacement they offered was close but did not work so I walked back to Cliff's and returned it. Prepared a paper thank you letter to one of my banks. Researched forthcoming technology purchases. I can't recall what Patrick and I ate for dinner at home, but it was probably leftovers. We watched Everybody's Live s1:e8 with John Mulaney on Netflix then Andor s2:e5 on Disney+ then various YouTube videos from Coachella 2025.
Fri May 2, 2025
I dreamt last night I was with about nine people and we decided on a whim to attend a play. After entering, we realized that there wasn't enough space for us all to sit in the section to which we were assigned. Someone in the same area was saving seats for people who had not yet shown up. I announced the problem to the room, and that's when I awoke. I haven't recalled a dream in a very long time. Why do I dream about conflict? Breakfast: yogurt with toasted coconut, toasted and sliced almonds, flax meal, cacao nibs, and raspberries; sourdough toast with muhammara left over from Fisch and Flore; hot water. Patrick and I hung four pieces of art. Three went on the east wall of the living room. One went on the west wall of the upstairs entry. Patrick arranged board games and card games in the media console. Lunch at home: leftover beef stew, hot water. While attempting to patch a hole created by the removal of a screw anchor, another drapery bracket failed. I was trapped holding the draperies up since if I let them fall the last bracket would have been destroyed. I called to Patrick who was in the office in the lower level, but he had headphones on and did not hear me. Three attempts to send text messages vocally through HomePods to him failed, so I voice-called him through the HomePod, and that worked. He found me, released the last bracket, and I was able to safely let the draperies down. This revealed that the draperies were likely installed in 2002 and the drapery rod track likely had not ever been cleaned. I vacuumed it, dry-brushed it with an old toothbrush, wiped it with dish soap solution, successfully reinserted a plastic piece that had fallen out a few weeks ago, and repaired the end cap with some gaff tape. Next I patched the screw anchor hole with a product called Wet N Fix, and I was pleasantly surprised that it worked. I had to use two discs. I removed and rinsed the bracket assembly that had not broken. Removing the drapery rod also revealed that, strangely, three of the six holes holding the brackets to the ceiling used anchors and three did not. Shower and nap. Patrick and I walked to Alamo Drafthouse New Mission for Thunderbolts, which we enjoyed. Walked home.
Sat May 3, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a two-egg scramble with zucchini, red onion, red bell pepper; hot water. Cleaned the right-hand portion of the sliding glass door track with dish soap solution and a toothbrush. Repaired a crack in a plastic drapery bracket with super glue. Our Toto washlet lid had cracks in the corners near the hinge, so I used super glue to repair that, too. Reinstalled screw anchors in the ceiling for the drapery rod which fell yesterday. I again used Wet N Fix, and this time it did what I wanted, but it was a smaller hole so some of it spilled out and I had to cut the extra away with a blade. Removed (coffee?) stains from the draperies using dish soap solution; I was surprised that it worked so well. I reinstalled one previously used bracket and installed two new brackets. Patrick helped me reinstall the drapery rod. All the repairs seem great. Late lunch: I prepared for myself yakisoba from frozen with red onion, spinach, zucchini, broccoli, snow peas; hot water. Inspected the left side of the draperies and found we need similar repairs on that side as well. I also found that we need minor tweaks to the positioning of the right side of the draperies. I cleaned some of the sliding glass door glass with dish soap solution. Patrick and I decided what should go into baskets in the office atop the IKEA Tunhem cabinets. We also processed our collection of light bulbs, organizing into the ones we wanted to keep (mostly LED) and the ones we did not want to keep (mostly incandescent and specialty bulbs for which we no longer had appliances). Dinner at home with Patrick: cold sesame noodles with vegetables, hot water. Afterwards we attended Katy and Katya at The Academy and had a wonderful time. Patrick and I walked to a late snack at Super Duper: Patrick got a soft serve cone with chocolate ice cream and dipped in chocolate. I got fries with ketchup. Walked home.
Sun May 4, 2025
Helped Patrick with some computer issues. Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself root vegetable hash from frozen to which I added zucchini and red onion; two eggs over easy; english muffin with salted butter. Finished cleaning the sliding doors glass inside and out with dish soap solution. Attempted to remove an unknown stain (paint?) from a Chilewich rug; failed. Goo Gone did nothing. Dish soap solution did nothing. Late lunch: leftover cold sesame noodles with vegetables, one sumo orange, hot water. Patrick and I attempted to install a coat rack at our lower level entry. The first hurdle was that the wall had a large bump of some kind. It was not removable with a plastic putty knife. It was not removable with a metal putty knife. I switched to Dremel with a barrel sander and that removed it. The next hurdle was that after inserting two wall anchors somehow one of the anchors was very much in the incorrect position. I needed to reposition it directly above where it was. Here again I used several discs of Wet N Fix. The fix appears to be good, but I'm letting it dry overnight just to be safe. Shopped online for occupancy sensor wall switches. Vacuumed the stairway. Archived documents. Software updates and backups for websites. Snack: corn chips and unsalted pretzels. Dinner at home with Patrick: orzo with white bean, spinach, and sun-dried tomato; hot water; white wine for me only. We watched Andor s2:e6 on Disney+ then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes and archived documents.
Mon May 5, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a one-egg sandwich on english muffin with cheese and hash brown; hot water. We moved the antique desk from the bedroom to the upper level to make space for today's arrival of a leather chair for the bedroom. We aren't sure if we will keep the antique desk since it no longer feels right for any space we have. Yesterday's screw anchor repair was solid, so we successfully hung the lower level coat rack. Patrick ran errands: grocery then gym to restart membership. Patrick hung four pieces of art, and I helped. Three went on the west wall of the living room; one went in the upper level half bathroom. Late lunch at home: I prepared for myself fettuccine with cheese sauce from powder with spinach, sliced grape tomato, and basil; water. A chair for our bedroom was delivered. Patrick and I unboxed it in the garage then brought the chair to the bedroom and positioned it. I cleaned screen door tracks with a brush, a toothbrush, and the mini vacuum. I inspected the east screen door in preparation for repair for the west screen door, which fails to glide smoothly. Patrick and I walked to Santeria for dinner, but the line was extraordinarily long likely due to Cinco de Mayo. Instead we walked to Fable. We each had a glass of tempranillo. We shared a mushroom tartine, double cheeseburger with salad, mac and cheese. All food and drink were excellent. Service by Loredana was very good.
Tue May 6, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a one-egg sandwich on english muffin with cheese and spinach; plain yogurt with blueberries; hot water. Patrick and I moved a bookcase from the office to the garage after Patrick emptied it. I resolved a problem with a credit card by calling support on the telephone. I walked to the UPS Store to pick up an item. I measured two bathrobes from The Company Store in order to gain insight to their sizing. One is a mens small (S) and the other is a womens extra small (XS). The womens extra small fits me much better. While putting the bathrobe in the hamper some threads caught on some hinge screws. I never encountered this problem before despite having our hamper for many years. I resolved this by putting black gaff tape over the screws in six locations. Purchased a gift. Today Patrick and Sam took a load of items we no longer needed to Goodwill in Sam's car. Lunch: leftover orzo with white bean, spinach, and sun-dried tomato; hot water. Fell asleep on the balcony in the sun wearing a hat. Phone appointment with a doctor. Cut my hair, showered, cleaned the bathroom. Reconfigured global email filters for email accounts I administer to be more efficient and tidy. Dinner at home with Patrick: spinach and carmelized onion quesadillas, hot water. Afterwards we watched Andor s2:e7 on Disney+ then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. Later I barhopped: Beaux had an underwear party, The Edge had a drag competition, and other bars were either closed or had light traffic. Late small meal at Taco Boys: two tacos, one carnitas, one carne asada, chips with two kinds of salsa.
Wed May 7, 2025
Breakfast at home: mini pizzas: genoa pork and mexican cheese on english muffin, hot water. Overnight I acquired a lot more spam, so I realized my email filters still needed tweaking, and I spent the morning reorganizing them. Later while on Muni, I encountered and chatted briefly with James K about websites and his wine shop. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical to meet Phil and Drew for a business lunch at Bell Tower to talk about comms projects. Afterwards we returned to the clinic. I met Walter, who had been there for about a year, and I chatted more with Drew. I visited the medical center for blood work—an allergy test. I walked and rode Muni to Cliff's Variety for some hardware purchases. On the way home I encountered Larry H and chatted briefly with him. Patrick and I moved the mule chest in order to install a right-angle extension cord to bring electricity to a small table lamp. I installed a door stop for the upper level half bath. I installed white velcro on the ends of our drapery rods. I created a content inventory for the Recharge website, then shared it with Phil and Drew. I noticed today that the super glue fix for the secondary bathroom washlet lid did not hold. More email filter config. Dinner at home with Patrick: southwest chicken salad with avocado-cilantro dressing, hot water. I processed dirty dishes. Patrick made us cocktails: King Kong (very strong). We watched Everybody's Live s1:e9 with John Mulaney on Netflix with ranch-flavored potato chips. More email filter config. I cleaned the inkjet printer's separation rollers and pads with 91% alcohol in attempt to resolve a problem in which multiple pages erroneously feed when scanning. Completed monthly updates for home devices.
Thu May 8, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a mini wrap using a tortilla and leftover southwest chicken salad with avocado-cilantro dressing. A tiny side of blueberries with yogurt. Hot water to drink. Patrick and I spent all day mounting things in the laundry room such as a mop and broom organizer. Lunch: Patrick had leftover orzo with white bean, spinach, and sun-dried tomato. I prepared for myself linguine with spinach and broccoli in cheese sauce from a powder. I helped Lani recover a missing file by using a backup. Later we attended Valencia Streets Live, a new street party between 16th and 19th Streets. We dined at the bar corner at Tacolicious: cocktails: margarita de la casa for Patrick, papi hemingway for me. We shared tuna tostada. Patrick had two tacos: guajillo-braised beef and baja-style fish. I had two tacos: shot-and-a-beer chicken and baja-style fish. Patrick reported that his cocktail glass had a chipped edge—not good, and the bartender said they would take that glass out of service. We received happy hour prices. Our server removed Patrick's drink from the bill. All food and drink were excellent. We wished we received napkins with the salsa and chips rather than a while afterwards, but this and the chipped glass were the only complaints. Walked home. We watched Andor s2:e8 on Disney+ then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. Cutting board wood butter treatment. I used metallic tape to cover a logo on the Dell monitor stand holding the monitor that Patrick now uses. In our previous home the monitor was mounted to the wall, so we hadn't used the stand until now. I made adjustments to the draperies to make them less wrinkled. I also repaired two (panels?) which had fallen out of their clips.
Fri May 9, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself yogurt with sliced and toasted almonds, toasted coconut, and blueberries; english muffin with salted butter; hot water. Cleaned the toaster oven again since it was slightly smoking again today. Organized and archived paper documents and digital files. Uploaded photos to Flickr. Lunch at Wilkommen. Patrick had a bratwurst and side of fries with arnold palmer. I had a corndog and side of fries with lemonade. Shopping: Ferguson, Black and Gold. We stopped for coffee drinks at Sextant Coffee Roasters. Patrick left to visit Kerry and his mom. I shopped again at Ferguson then visited the Queer Mall for the first time. Walked home, encountering Patrick along the way. Rested. Rode Lyft to dinner at 15th Avenue House with Phil, Drew, Tai, Tony Q, Tadija, and Patrick. Phil made seafood gumbo, blackened rockfish, garlic bread, cheese bread, caesar salad, roasted cruciferous vegetables. Tony and Tadija brought roast duck from Wing Lee (501 Clement St). Patrick made a Brazilian carrot cake. The carrot cake we are most familiar with is two layers with cream frosting in between and on top, and you can see the flecks of carrots in the slice profile. In contrast, Brazilian carrot cake is a single layer, the carrot is pulverized instead of grated, and the cake is frosted with chocolate. All food and drink were delicious, and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. There was a long and philosophical discussion over one's decision to have or not have children. Rode Uber home.
Sat May 10, 2025
Cleaned in the secondary bathroom. Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself yogurt with sliced and toasted almonds, toasted coconut, flax meal, and blueberries; hot water. Stowed tools used over the recent days to hang items on walls. Archived documents. Vacuumed and performed other home maintenance chores. More bathroom cleaning and deep cleaning. Changed air purifier prefilters. Lunch with Patrick on the balcony. Patrick had two eggs over medium, pork sausage, two mini biscuits from frozen, one hash brown, hot water. I had leftover orzo with white bean, spinach, and sun-dried tomato and leftover linguine with spinach and broccoli in cheese sauce from a powder, hot water. Patrick and I hung two large mirrors, one in the bedroom and the other in the lower level entry. I also did a lot of organizing of small hardware: nails, screws, screw eyes, screw hooks, etc. Dinner at home with Patrick: steamed dumplings with dipping sauce and green onion pancakes. Afterwards we watched various YouTube videos. I processed dirty dishes. Paul had invited us to join him at Last Call, but I was yawning already and would likely have fallen asleep at the bar, so I did not go. Patrick went to bed, and I went to bed later.
Sun May 11, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself one Trader Joe's belgian waffle with salted butter, whipped cream from a can, and blueberries. Hot water to drink. Returned to bed to nap before guests come over. Recently we noticed that a few areas near our new home have become dumping sites. Later Sam, Kerry, and Mom Ryan came over for Mother's Day lunch. Patrick made chicken and sausage jambalaya with French bread and butter. For dessert we had Dynamo donuts: strawberry elderflower, caramel de sel, vanilla bean, vanilla milk chocolate, passionfruit milk chocolate, maple glazed bacon apple, spiced chocolate, and chocolate rose. Patrick and I napped. Dinner at home with Patrick: Patrick had leftover jambalaya. I had a small salad with grape tomatoes, black beans, and avocado-cilantro dressing. Hot water to drink. We watched Andor s2:e9 on Disney+ then various YouTube videos. Facetime chat with Lani and Dex. Late snack: ranch potato chips, water. Later snack: half corn on the cob.
Mon May 12, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a one-egg sandwich on english muffin with black beans, cilantro-lime sauce, sour cream, mild salsa; half banana, hot water. Home maintenance in the secondary bathroom: removed dried paint from the shower glass and tub exteriors due to sloppy painting we inherited with the new home, prepped and applied silicone sealant to adhere the dog shower hose holder to the shower wall and to attach three escutcheons that were left unapplied when we bought the home. Restored our old 32-inch Roku TV to factory settings and prepared it for sale. Removed the french cleat from the TV and prepared it for sale. Vacuumed. Troubleshot problems sending and receiving emails to Patrick. Lunch: leftover jambalaya, hot water. Trash management. Used JB Weld SteelStik to attempt repairs of two Oxo chip clips whose hinge kept falling apart apparently due to a poor design. It's not clear why they didn't rivetize both ends of the hinge. I also used SteelStik to attempt to repair an Oxo bottle brush whose brush repeatedly fell out and Elmer's glue failed to hold it together. After an hour, the chip clip fixes held but the bottle brush fix did not. I pulled it apart and it came apart easily. However, the fix left a hood on one end, and this enabled me to apply a new fix of gaff tape which seems like it will hold. Dinner at home with Patrick: fried tilapia with mashed potatoes and buttered peas, hot water. Cocktails: variation on Tom Collins. Afterwards we prepared a formal new home announcement and printed a dozen copies and ordered envelopes. At first I tried Adobe Express, but I could not figure out how to make it do what I wanted, which was create a 4x6-inch canvas. I switched to Canva and it was possible and much faster to get what I wanted.
Tue May 13, 2025
Breakfast at home: yogurt with sliced and toasted almonds, toasted coconut, flax meal, cacao nibs, and golden raisins; sourdough toast with salted butter; hot water. Troubleshot problems with duplicate mount points and permissions problems for a network drive. To resolve it, I had to restart both of our computers then on the shared drive reset permissions: ignore ownership on this drive, add me, set read and write for me, apply to enclosed items. Sewing all day: I altered three boys pants that I purchased from J. Crew Factory; the crotches were too low. Lunch: medium romaine salad with sliced grape tomato, maui onion ranch, grated parm reg, homemade sourdough croutons; hot water. Dessert: one slice of dried peach. In the afternoon Patrick and I tended to an emergency door hinge repair. Walked to dinner with Patrick at The Rustic, or now known as Tavorna Rustica: glass of house red for Patrick, glass of orange macabeu for me, focaccia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, campanelle bolognese with oxtail ragu, fried chicken with peas and radish salad. No dessert. All food and drink were delicious. Service by Jonny P was very good. Walked home. We watched Andor s2:e10 on Disney+ then part of Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Netflix. Patrick went to bed. I unpacked a new light bulb for the new three-legged floor lamp in the bedroom, installed it, and tested it. It works fine, and the lamp is quite bright. I realized only now that one ceiling light in the living room was not dimming as expected because I had forgotten to change the bulb from traditional to LED. I made the change and now it's fixed. I checked on the attempt to affix the dog shower handle holder to the wall with silicone sealant, and it has failed. Troubleshot and resolved a mail delivery problem, which was difficult to resolve because it had two overlapping causes. 1. I had created a mail filter without realizing it was going to be problematic, and 2. I had been pointing captured messages to a spam folder that somehow did not exist or perhaps I somehow did not have access to.
Wed May 14, 2025
Breakfast: I prepared for myself a two-egg omelette with black beans, mixed grated mexican-blend cheeses, salsa, and sour cream; side of blueberries; hot water. All day: continued new home setup, organizing, and cleaning. Vacuumed. Cleaned in the secondary bathroom in preparation for more silicone sealant work. Archived a document. Prepared for installing a knife rack and a paper towel holder in the kitchen. Cleaned in the kitchen, including a deep clean of a stainless steel pan. Lunch: I prepared for myself a romaine salad with ranch, grape tomatoes, parm reg, avocado; tiny side of leftover mashed potatoes; hot water. Installed a Spectrum hanger holder in the primary bedroom adjacent to the closet. Tested a new shower caddy for the secondary bathroom. Unpacked and set up table lamps for nightstands in the primary bedroom. Afternoon snack: unsalted pretzels, one tiny chocolate wafer cookie. Prepared listings for things to sell. Dinner at home with Patrick: tofu and broccoli teriyaki with steamed rice, hot water. We watched Everybody's Live s1:e10 with John Mulaney on Netflix with tiny chocolate wafer cookies and Cracker Jack then Andor s2:e11 on Disney+. Patrick went to bed. I unboxed and began charging new Savior Heat heated slippers. I have long been using the Lava Boots from Volt Heat, but for the past few weeks they have become frustratingly unreliable due to shorts in the wiring. So I decided to switch to a different brand.
Thu May 15, 2025
Cleaned in the primary bathroom. Breakfast: I prepared for myself one small TJ's belgian waffle from frozen with salted butter and whipped cream from a can and blueberries; side of yogurt with golden raisins; hot water. Listed new items for sale. Tweaked configurations of automations and shortcuts on my iPhone 16 Pro. Because of early retirement, it's a lot harder for me to remember what day of the week it is, so I created automations and shortcuts so that my iPhone speaks the date each morning. Home maintenance: in the office (aka secondary bedroom) I cleaned sticky residue from all the door hinges then applied WD-40 to them to remove any remaining squeaks. In the secondary bath I applied more silicone sealant to seal three escutcheons. On the balcony I applied silicone sealant to small holes at the lower left corners of the sliding glass doors. I began using the new Savior Heat heated slippers. So far they work well, but there is a lot less structure and firmness. I thought at first that they might be slightly too small, but they seem to be okay. Spent about two hours with support for a service I am supposed to continue having after retiring from UCSF to resolve a problem in which logging in to their website resulted in an error message saying my account was suspended. However, today I can log in with no problem using the same login and password. Troubleshot problems with permissions problems for a network drive. Many of my Finder shortcuts disappeared in the process. Lunch with Patrick on the balcony: avocado tartine for Patrick, black forest ham and cheddar sandwich for me. Lots of trash management. Shopped online for drawer pulls. Later Sam came over for dinner: crispy turkey tacos with cotija, pickled red onions, and avocado. Afterwards Sam gave Patrick a ride to The Academy so that Patrick could attend a Sip and Draw session. After the session ended, I met him at Hi Tops but it was more crowded than we had wanted, so we left went home. Patrick went to bed. Late snack for me: one navel orange, hot water.
Fri May 16, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a two-egg omelette with fixins from last night's tacos, side of one hash brown, hot water. Patrick and I worked to resolve a near-critical problem with a loose kitchen faucet that had a loose nut underneath. We didn't have the right tools to fix it properly, but I tightened the nut with a rubber-gloved hand, and it seems like it will hold long enough for us to hire a plumber to investigate the other issues with that faucet. (Our home insurance does not seem to cover faucets, and I suspect we might need or want to replace this one with something we like better anyhow.) Because this necessitated removing everything from under the sink, afterwards I cleaned under the sink as well as storage containers we are using there, then did a lot of cleaning and organizing of the under-sink items that we left for later during the chaos of moving, including one of our spider catchers. Walked to lunch at Hulu Wa where Patrick met me. Patrick had eggplant chicken lunch special with steamed white rice. I had sweet and sour shrimp lunch special with steamed white rice. Thai iced tea for both. Lunch specials included hot and sour soup. All food and drink were delicious. They started a new rewards program today, and Patrick enrolled. Patrick's fortune: Courtesy is one of the best peacemakers. My fortune: Determination is the wake-up call to the human will. (I'm not sure my fortune makes sense?) Afterwards we retrieved packages from the UPS Store. Trash management. For sale listings management. Annuity claim paperwork. Prep work for more formal new home announcements. Dinner at Castro Indian Restaurant and Bar with Patrick: complimentary papadam and two sauces, one order of two samosas, butter chicken masala mild, onion naan, basmati rice, chai. All food and drink were delicious. Afterwards we walked part of the Castro Night Market. Patrick went home, and I met Paul at Hi Tops. George, a friend of Paul's friends Mike and Matty, joined us, and we chatted through the evening at 440 then over a few dishes at Mama Ji's. We had our last drink at Last Call before calling it a night.
Sat May 17, 2025
Dex arrived earlyish to pick up a rug and to drop off six bottles of wine as a housewarming gift. We breakfasted at Orphan Andy's: Dex had a denver omelette, I had chicken apple sausage with scrambled eggs. We both had toast and home fries and coffee. All food and drink were delicious, and service was excellent. He left to attend a pinball festival in Lodi, also taking a few other items, including a TV, a TV mounting bracket, and more. Trash management. The silicone sealant in the secondary bathroom seems to have cured, so I installed a new shower caddy and arranged items on it then cleaned the tub. Sale items management. Patrick and I attempted to watch the Eurovision finals at Detour but no seats remained, so we instead went to Hi Tops. Cocktails, fried chicken burger with fries, half order of nachos. We watched until we tired of watching. Home. Napped with Patrick. Still full from earlier meals, I skipped dinner and Patrick had a light meal of yogurt with banana and nuts. We watched various YouTube videos then Andor s2:e12 (season finale) on Disney+. Patrick read from his Kindle and then went to bed. Home improvement: Wiped the dining room chandelier with a lint-free cloth. Using Scotch extreme mounting tape, I installed previously used hooks underneath the kitchen sink to hold a spider catcher. I cleaned the washlet and its odor filter. The Oxo shower caddy suction cups still have problems sticking to the wall. I am not sure how to fix that yet. I labeled a Bar Keepers Friend cleaner with a warning to not use it on our Simplehuman trash can because it contains microabrasives that ruin its finish after I tested on the inside of the lid. I labeled a bottle of dish soap + water solution that had gone unlabelled since before the move. I emtied then abandoned the case holding our P-Touch labeler and cartridges since it was so old that the foam inside has begun deteriorating. In the secondary bathroom I tightened the washlet attachment bracket which has been a little loose since I installed it. More cleanup of the recent global email filters problem and reconfiguration.
Sun May 18, 2025
Cleaned in the primary bathroom. More regex email filter tweaks. Breakfast at home: two TJ's belgian waffles with blueberries, whipped cream, salted butter, and toasted and sliced almonds; hot water. Napped. Late lunch: one TJ's mini cheeseburger from frozen with two celery sticks with peanut butter; hot water. Cleaned the secondary bathroom. Cut my hair, showered. Cleaned the secondary bathroom. Shopping with Patrick at Cliff's Variety for art supplies and small hardware. Barhopping with Patrick: cocktails at Copper then cocktails and onion rings at Bar 49. Dinner at home with Patrick: mushroom and chinese greens bao with green onion pancakes, hot water. We rewatched about half of Rogue One on Disney+. We are amazed at how well the Andor series leads in to Rogue One.
Mon May 19, 2025
Breakfast at home: leftover sweet and sour shrimp with steamed white rice from Hulu Wa, one navel orange, hot water. Home improvement: replaced some screws on the top door hinge of the door to the cabinet holding our gas meters. Trimmed greenery that was beginning to block the door. Trash management. In the late morning I walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. First day of doing some work for them. I updated the Visit Us page making corrections to the office closure dates. I reconfigured categories in one of their Google Business Profiles. I found and removed content we don't need anymore. We corrected hours in Patient Fusion. I lunched with Phil and Drew at Pho Vietnam. Walked and rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: mushroom quesadillas with avocado, hot water. Afterwards we prepared snail mail new home announcements. Patrick read from his Kindle then went to bed. I upgraded computers from macOS Sequoia 15.4.1 to 15.5. Late snack: celery sticks with cream cheese then crackers with cream cheese, water.
Tue May 20, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself fried rice with a mixture of fresh, leftover, and frozen vegetables; hot water. Sent more new home announcements. Added more strings to our global spam filters. I spent the morning taking apart a framed photo of VJ Day in Honolulu to clean it inside and out then putting it back together. Light lunch with Patrick at Epicurean Trader: we shared a BLT on baguette and a chicken caesar salad. Patrick drank a fruity soda. I drank a chai latte. About $36. I didn't notice before ordering that the BLT included chevre. It was distasteful to me, but the sandwich was small, so I ate it anyway. Aside from the chevre, everything was delicious, and pricey for the amount of food. Patrick went to The Academy to write. I returned home and did carpet care: spot cleaning with dish soap solution, trimming rug strands that were sticking out, and vacuuming. More spam filters work. Weeded my address book. Dinner at home with Patrick: baked halibut with summer squash, fava beans, and garlic toast; hot water. Afterwards we continued watching Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Netflix then the remainder of Rogue One on Disney+. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, archived a document, organized files, and retrieved a heater and cable management tools to take with me to Recharge Medical tomorrow. Shopped online for broom and dustpan sets. I weeded notes in my notetaking application.
Wed May 21, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself shredded hash browns from frozen with mixed fresh and frozen vegetables, side of sourdough toast with salted butter, hot water. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. More work making Phil's Google business profile match the clinic's. Drew helped me get access to their Yelp and Reddit accounts, so I started putting things in order in those. Began rewriting content such as summaries of services and Phil's profile. At lunch Drew arranged for me to surprise Tai at Mini Potstickers, but as I walked over I saw Tai on the sidewalk which meant he had already left. We chatted briefly. I didn't want dumplings on my own, so instead I lunched at Himalayan Cuisine. I ordered Himalayan chicken chow mein not spicy with masala chai. When it arrived, it was very spicy. I sent it back and they remade the order not spicy. I enjoyed it, but I didn't like it enough to order it again. I returned to Recharge and worked a bit more before walking and riding Muni to meet Patrick at a credit union. There was a Muni light rail outage, so Patrick was delayed in arriving and had to take Uber. We performed some tasks at the credit union. Afterwards we rode the F car home, and along the way the operator had received notice that the underground light rail was restored, but we stayed on the F the whole way. Later we ate dinner: beef burgers with French fries, both from frozen, hot water to drink. I processed dirty dishes and started the dishwasher. We watched Everybody's Live s1:e11 with John Mulaney on Netflix then the remainder of Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Netflix then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I watched more YouTube, processed more dirty dishes, then went to bed.
Thu May 22, 2025
Cleaned the tub in the primary bathroom with Barkeeper's Friend More. Removed schmutz and sloppy-paint-job paint spatter from the sliding glass door frame using Goof Off. Breakfast at home: two mushroom and chinese green bao, hot water. Rewashed new towels because they were still shedding a lot of lint. Washed lint-free towels separately. Sanded new bamboo organizers for Patrick's desk because they were too rough upon arrival. Put into service in the secondary bathroom a new shaving mirror, which required Goo Gone after removing the label on the back. Its suction cup also failed to stick to the tile in the secondary bathroom, similar to everything else we have tried that has had a suction cup. In every case it holds for a few minutes but then it just falls off. Afternoon snack: a handful of unsalted pretzels, three pixie mandarins, water. Installed an uninterruptible power supply under Patrick's desk and managed cords. Dinner at home with Patrick: kung pao chicken with steamed rice, hot water. Patrick processed dirty dishes, then I cleaned the stovetop and deep-cleaned the stovetop backsplash. Cutting board wood butter treatments.
Fri May 23, 2025
Slept in. Breakfast at home: leftover mushroom quesadilla, two pixie mandarins. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Removed old images from, uploaded new logo images to, and continued making edits to Google and Yelp profiles. Continued rewriting summaries of services and Phil's profile. Took a new photo of the front of the office and uploaded it to Google and Yelp. I lunched at Bellissimo Pizza: chicken parmesan panini, which had a perfectly toasted crust and was delicious. Vitamin Water to drink. Walked and rode Muni home. Napped. Walked to dinner at Flora King with Patrick. This was our first visit to this restaurant which opened in March 2025. We were seated in the back, which included wainscoting and a blue and white hexagon tile floor. This back room includes a large set of skylights which gives the space an airy feel. There is, very oddly, a drafting table set horizontally with three bar seats and incomplete place settings adjacent to a beige swivel chair that is commonly seen in a living room or a bedroom. The one seat on the side of the drafting table doesn't even have space for a person's legs. I'm sure that it was intended to be esoteric, but this table felt very out of place, and it seemed an attempt to make use of space that was too large for a two-top and too small for a four-top. When ordering drinks, our server was unable to answer basic questions about cocktails and wines on the menu—even describing what a certain wine was like. After accepting an offer of a taste, we ordered two glasses of malbec. We shared one veggie empanada ($10) and one beef empanada ($10). These were small for the price and delicious and accompanied by a vibrant chimmichurri. Patrick's entree was Francisco's Milanesa with side onions and tomatoes and another side of french fries. My entree was Tornado Tournedos. The milanesa arrived first, prepared to perfection. Then there was a long wait, perhaps 10 minutes, before the tournedos arrived. I cut into the first pork medallion to find it raw in the middle, but our waiter had already walked away. We waited another five minutes or so before he returned. When we reported the problem, he asked something to the effect of, "Oh, would you like that a little more done?" which to us indicated that he did not realize that pork served this way is not safe to eat. I simply said yes and please ensure that the veggies accompanying are also hot on the return. By now Patrick was almost finished with his meal. We waited another 10 minutes or so. My dish returned with an apology, and the meat was very slightly pink in the center—correct—and the veggies were indeed hot. My dish, now properly cooked, was delicious, and rich in flavor. For dessert we ordered the cuatro leches trifle, which Patrick enjoyed, and which I found not much to my liking because it seemed simply a jumble of sweet, soft textures. When we received the bill, nothing was comped, which indicated to us that they still had no clue of the problem with the tournedos. I tipped below 15% but higher than Patrick suggested because I felt sorry for the server who was not responsible for the tournedos error. In retrospect we probably should have said a bit more. We expect this restaurant to last no more than a year, but there's really no way to tell how much their investors believe in it. Walked home. We watched various YouTube videos including a recap of the Tom Cruise Mission Impossible films.
Sat May 24, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared steamed white rice in the microwave and ate some with leftover kung pao chicken. Hot water to drink. Cleaned, sanded, and wiped the knife block. Patched minute cracks in it with wood filler then wiped it again. Cleaned the holes in the knife block with pipe cleaner then wiped it again. Sharpened and washed all knives. Polished a few knives that had small stains then washed them again. Restored the knife block and all knives to service. Watered and fertilized the orchid. Removed buttons from adjustable waistbands of pants I purchased about six months ago because the buttons created discomfort because they fell exactly against my hip bones. Sanded small stains (mold?) from the bottom of the butcher block cutting board. Instead of a meal for lunch I had a small snack: melted cheddar on sourdough toast, hot water. Patrick and I walked to Alamo Drafthouse New Mission to see Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning. We ordered one chocolate shake, one lemonade, and bottomless popcorn. Their shake machine was not working, so Patrick ordered a Coke instead. In the restroom there was insufficient lighting above the sinks and the paper towel dispenser between the sinks was not working properly. We enjoyed the film, which we both found satisfying. Patrick thought it was a bit self-indulgent in how it tied in threads from its earliest Tom Cruise films. Walked to Delfina for dinner. We arrived at 5:28 p.m.—two minutes before opening—and were seated indoors without a reservation. We shared insalata di campo and the margherita DOP. Patrick had a perfectly balanced negroni. I had a rum cocktail called Carina Cardinale which was sweet and delicious and strong. The salad was very large for two people. It was dressed very lightly, which we felt was correct, allowing the fresh parmesan strips and pancetta to take on the richness of the dish. The pizza crust was extremely thin on the bottom and pillowy at the edges. The flavor of the sauce was noticeably simple and elegant. During the meal Patrick had a glass of frappato and I had a glass of groppello. All food and drink were delicious, and service by Larkin B was excellent. Walked home. To bed early.
Sun May 25, 2025
Breakfast at home with Patrick: Patrick prepared french toast with blueberries. I processed dirty dishes, started the dishwasher, and cleaned in the kitchen while Patrick napped. After yesterday's sanding, I attempted to remove small mold spots from the underside of the butcher block cutting board using white vinegar, but it didn't seem to help any probably because it had been set a long time. Archived documents. Followup with a confusing health insurance notice. Weeded Recharge Medical files. Lunch with Patrick at Cafe Mystique. Patrick ordered an espresso coffee drink, but their espresso machine was not working, so he ordered coffee with milk instead. Patrick had a Spanish omelette. I had a lemonade and the Angus cheeseburger, medium, with fries. The omelette arrived with a surprisingly large amount of (homemade?) sour cream on top. The crinkle-cut fries were lightly crispy and coated with (roasted?) parsley and a blend of mild spices. The pickle-slice-topped burger was speared by a steak knife and was correctly cooked to medium. All food and drink were delicious. Service was noticeably slow due to inattention or possibly low staffing. We would describe the menu as California-Mediterranean. We stopped at Cliff's Variety for a few supplies, then walked home. Later, dinner at home with Patrick: steamed Chinese sausage zong, hot water. We watched various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. Facetime chat with Lani and Dex. Shopped online for leaf blowers and wet/dry vacuums. Eventually decided against buying a leaf blower because they are so annoying. We have a situation in which it would be far more efficient to use one than to not use one, but I'm going to try to figure out a different solution. I still haven't decided on a small wet/dry vacuum which I want primarily to handle small emergencies like a leak.
Mon May 26, 2025
Breakfast at home: yogurt with Mexican vanilla, sliced and toasted almonds, toasted coconut, flax meal, cacao nibs, and blueberries. Hot water to drink. Unloaded the dishwasher. Processed dirty dishes from last night. Did some deep cleaning of several bowls with marks from utensils. Cleaned and tidied in the dining room and kitchen. Did a lot of documenting and config-checking of the three thermostats. While doing so, one of the video door answer units came loose from its bracket, so I spent some time figuring out how to remove it (remove the small screw at the bottom) then spent some time cleaning dust from its back and its bracket using an old toothbrush. Decided against buying a small wet/dry vacuum mostly because the market for these items seems to be filled with unreliable devices, and I don't need one that badly. Organized digital files for the home. Deep-cleaned the secondary bathroom shower and tub with CLR including the tub, the doors, and the door frame and track. It helped a little in the tub, but it did nothing to remove the faint water marks on the door glass. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself a large baked potato with three kinds of grated cheeses, sour cream, and diced green onion; corn on the cob; hot water. Prepped installation of a macrame plant hanger in the primary bathroom. Cleaned two bathroom sinks. Vacuumed lower level. Carpet care: trimmed a carpet loop that was sticking up. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: steamed Chinese sausage zong, steamed green beans from frozen, hot water. We watched various YouTube videos then half of Eddie Izzard: Live at Madison Square Garden (2011) on Amazon Prime Video. Patrick went to bed, and I joined a while later. The recent problem in which multiple pages erroneously feed when scanning with an Epson inkjet all-in-one was indeed resolved by cleaning the inkjet printer's separation rollers and pads with 91% alcohol.
Tue May 27, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a two-egg veggie scramble with green and yellow zucchini, spices, green onions, and set that atop sourdough toast. Side of two pixie mandarins. Hot water. Cleaned in the kitchen. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Today's work involved uploading a new image of the front of the office to Yelp, Google, Facebook, and the website; correcting missing languages spoken on the USCIS website by emailing them directly (since all other methods of obtaining help were unhelpful); adding language names in each language to the website; making sure to mention both Chinese and Cantonese on the website in case people are searching for either terms; editing a Gmail template; making many small changes to the website including updating Phil's page, About Us, Services, Appointments, and Visit Us and reordering the top navigation bar. Late lunch at Thai Spice: chicken pad thai, thai iced tea. All food and drink were delicious. Walked and rode Muni home, picking up a package at the UPS Store along the way—a new laptop. House chore: swept the outer stairwell, which took about 30 minutes. Minutes later parts of it looked like I hadn't swept at all because tree detritus is always falling and today's wind constantly blew leaves around. Dinner at home with Patrick: tomato, corn, and avocado salad; hot water. I processed dirty dishes and started the dishwasher. We watched the remainder of Eddie Izzard: Live at Madison Square Garden (2011) on Amazon Prime Video then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I caught up on journaling then did more Recharge Medical work: removing occurrences of "spa-like" and deleting defunct files and folders.
Wed May 28, 2025
Breakfast at home: leftover tomato, corn, and avocado salad; leftover steamed Chinese sausage zong with steamed green beans from frozen; hot water. Migrated from a 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro to a new 16-inch MacBook Pro using a Thunderbolt 3 cable. Reinstalled apps that no longer worked because of switch from Intel to Apple CPU. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Created a spreadsheet of online presences for the clinic and links to those pages. Continued tidying profiles. Set up Chrome and Chrome extensions so that Chrome is now my work browser for logging in to the clinic accounts. On lunch break I visited the antique store called Stuff which had a lot of unique and interesting stuff. For lunch I got a hamburger and wedge fries and a Dr. Pepper from Hot Sauce and Panko. The did not have a dining area available, so I walked to a nearby mini park and playground that was completely empty. I found a picnic table and ate. The weather was cold, windy, and sunny. Stopped at the hardware store before continuing to work at Recharge. Removed all caps on the Patient Fusion page. Organized files. Walked and rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: salmon en papillote with vegetables, hot water. We watched Everybody's Live s1:e12 with John Mulaney (season finale) on Netflix then various YouTube videos then we watched part of Sarah Silverman: PostMortem on Netflix. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes and compost. Continued laptop migration setup. Updates and backups for devices and websites.
Thu May 29, 2025
Trash truck for across the street woke me too early at 4:43 a.m. Breakfast at home: two-egg scramble with diced celery, bell pepper, and red onion; two hash browns; one slice of sourdough toast with salted butter; hot water. Patched some holes in the dining room window frame with wood putty. In both lower level bathrooms I inspected, WD-40d, loosened, and tightened screws for the shower door towel bar, some of which had grown loose. One screw was completely stripped. I used a Dremel-like tool to cut into it then used a flathead screwdriver to remove it before replacing it with a new screw. In the dining room Patrick and I hung a new piece of art he purchased. Lunch: Patrick had avocado salad. I prepared for myself sauteed asparagus and green onions in teriyaki sauce with leftover steamed white rice, side of one pixie mandarin, cold water. Continued organizing digital files for Recharge Medical. Nap. While I slept Patrick's mom fell at home and he and Kerry called an ambulance. She was taken to the hospital. Troubleshot website issues that were not caused by me. Dinner at home with Patrick: Nancy Baggett's ravioli and vegetable soup using deli ravioli. Afterwards we watched The Simpsons s34:e2 on Disney+. Patrick went to bed. Late snack: one pizza cupcake from frozen. I cooked it mostly according to the air fryer instructions (I used a pan instead of setting it directly on the rack; we have a convection oven instead of an air fryer) and it was still cold in the middle, so I returned it to the oven for six more minutes and increased the temperature to 375 degrees F. This was a better result. Revised instructions for convection oven and using a pan: 375 for 12 minutes. Water to drink. One pixie mandarin. Configured a new backup task.
Fri May 30, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a one-egg sandwich on sourdough with black forest ham and cheddar; hot water. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Removed old photos from the website. Added a photo to the CoolSculpting page. Removed Twitter aka X from the vcard. Update the Jobs page to say we are only taking resumes and not hiring. Lunch by myself at Souvenir Coffee: turkey sandwich with arugula and sun-dried tomato spread; chai latte; water: $17.50, no tip. Cleaned up Facebook and Instagram messages. Closed one unused LinkedIn account. Discovered many doctor profile pages for Phil on different sites. Troubleshot wifi problems with a laptop in the lab; upgraded the network card driver (which took about 40 minutes). Walked and rode Muni home. Weeded my contacts aka address book. Patrick and I walked to dinner at Thai Chef. Two thai iced teas, shrimp raad na, bbq chicken. All food and drink were delicious. We sat at table D4 and I later realized that I prefer the lighting at the tables along the right wall over that of all the other tables because I don't like my shadow falling over my plate if I lean forward (e.g., to keep sauce from noodles dripping in my lap). Service was inattentive at times, not awful, not great. All food and drink were delicious. Visited Kerry and Mom Ryan following yesterday's fall. She's in bed and recovering. Patrick helped her practice some physical therapy exercises. Walked home. We watched Captain America: Brave New World on Disney+. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes. Late snack: two pixie mandarins, unsalted pretzel twists, one dried peach slice.
Sat May 31, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a one-egg sandwich on sourdough with black forest ham and cheddar; hot water. Vacuumed. Website backups. Cut my hair, showered. Deep-cleaned tub and glass doors in the secondary bathroom. Cleaned the bathroom. Lunch at Super Duper with Patrick: Patrick had a mini burger no cheese with kids chocolate shake. I had a mini burger no cheese with lemonade. We shared one order of fries. Afterwards I went to the Fix-It Fair at 6th and Irving. I donated two boxes of chalk to the toy library, and I dropped off a silverware drain basket to be repaired via spot-weld or glue. Walked and rode Muni home. Waited for someone who claimed an antique desk we are giving away but they did not show. Walked and rode Muni to 6th and Irving and picked up the drain basket while Patrick napped. They repaired it with a Bob Smith glue but I didn't find out which one. We'll see how well it holds. Afternoon snack: some unsalted cashews, water. Trash management. I napped. Dinner at home with Patrick: tomato soup, toast with salted butter, water. Patrick napped again. Patrick and I rode Uber to The Stud in its 1123 Folsom Street location, which is new to us and our first time visiting at this location. The event was STEAM Moroccan Bath Towel Party, which included a DJ spinning Moroccanesque dance beats, complimentary massage but please tip (but in reality only a small number of men would receive it), a bar, and a play room. We stayed until we were tired, then rode Uber to Orphan Andy's for fourth meal or very early breakfast. Patrick had hotcakes and bacon with coffee. I had sausage and scrambled eggs with buttered toast and water. Walked home. To bed late.