August 2025
Summary: Housewarming #2; Stagecoach Greens with Sam and Patrick; Annita's celebration of life at Dave and Quyen's; Ruth Asawa: Retrospective and Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors and more at SFMOMA with Patrick; Fauxnique: So Relevant at Oasis with Patrick; dinner at Burdell with Mark H, Tommy H, Adrian C, JY, and Hap B; dinner at Aiso with Julianne and Danae; wine tasting at William Cross with Paul and Yuko; Guerneville weekend with JY, Adrian, Galen, Josh, Sheening, Mark, Francis, and more.
Dates on this page
Fri Aug 1, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a one-egg breakfast burrito with mushrooms, celery, carrot, grated mixed cheeses, and leftover mexican rice; hot water. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Email auth followup work. Troubleshot and then gave up trying to resolve Reddit error "We had some issues saving your changes. Please try again." while attempting to change display name. Structured data review and fixes. Various website code fixes and optimizations, including resolving old code issues for image galleries. Walked and rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Sanguchon Peruvian Street Food via DoorDash: pollo saltado bowl, aji de gallina bowl, chicha morada. My pollo saltado bowl was spicier than I had expected, but I was able to eat it. All food and drink were delicious. $41.00 before discounts and taxes. I processed dirty dishes. Patrick started the dishwasher. Dessert: It's It chocolate for both. Afterwards we watched various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I continued watching various videos, processed more dirty dishes, watered the orchid, and did a bit of cleaning of the blender lid when I noticed it smelled off and was wet when it shouldn't have been.
Sat Aug 2, 2025
Walked and rode Muni to a doctor appointment and back. Before heading home, I attempted to breakfast at Emmita's Cafe and then Pete's Cafe, but both were closed. I found Starbuck's open and got a sausage, cheddar, and egg sandwich with a tall latte—all delicious. Blender lid cleaning seems to look okay even though it still smells a bit off. Changed air purifier pre-filters. Began using a neti pot after not having used one in a long time to address very occasional crackling sounds in one ear—probably a eustacian tube issue. Deep-cleaned the washer by running an empty load with 2 cups of vinegar then again with half a cup of old baking soda from the fridge. Shoe padding fix from a few days ago seems to have held. Cleaned sink undermount rims with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Cleaned in both lower level bathrooms. Swept the patio and balcony. Removed bird poop from the balcony. Shopped online to use some credit that we had earned for purchases in the past few months. Cleared the drain street-facing spout on the patio. Cleaned the outsides of the windows facing the patio. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Slice House Haight Ashbury, our first time, via DoorDash: medium 12-inch Hawaiian Hit Man no honey, caesar salad. White wine and water to drink. All food was delicious. Undid changes to the home network that I made this morning because we have two older devices that stopped working. We watched Star Trek: Strange New Worlds s3:e4 on Paramount+ then What We Do in the Shadows s6:e10 on Hulu then The Simpsons s34:e10 on Hulu. Patrick went to bed. I performed updates for home devices. Updated to Apple devices to version 18.6 and macOS Sequoia 15.6. Late snack: leftover caesar salad, hot chocolate from scratch.
Sun Aug 3, 2025
Breakfast: Patrick and I walked to Thorough Bread and Pastry. Patrick had a pastry. I had a ham and cheese croissant. Latte for both. We also purchased two baguettes for today's gathering. Walked home. We prepared for the gathering. Patrick mostly cooked, and I mostly cleaned. While on the patio I encountered our neighbor and chatted briefly with her. While on the balcony I encountered Bill and Todd walking a dog down the street and we talked briefly. Web edits for Tina's website. Housewarming #2. In attendance: Emery, Scott, Andy, Pang, Galen, Brendon, Sonny, Andrew, Mark, Tommy, Josh, Sheening, Hap, Martin, Gray, Tin, Drew, Keith B, Monty, David, Tony, Tadija, Jeff, Christopher, Ken, and Keith R. Much fun was had. Patrick prepared and served: red beans with tasso and andouille, long-grain rice, french bread, muffuletta wedges, pickled okra, creamy pralines, chocolate-bourbon truffles. Afterwards Patrick and I cleaned then rested. Dinner at home with Patrick: leftover red beans and rice and sliced French bread, hot water. We rested. Patrick went to bed. Brief Facetime chat with Dex. Web edits for Tina's website.
Mon Aug 4, 2025
Breakfast at home: breakfast burrito with leftover mexican rice, celery, carrot, spinach, one egg, mixed grated cheeses; hot water. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Work to resolve webhint and TV Pro errors. More web edits for Tina's website. Walked and rode Muni home. Snack: one bao bun from frozen. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: baked salmon with creamy orzo and spinach, red wine, hot water. Dessert: we shared two Feve chocolates. Patrick processed dirty dishes then I started the dishwasher. We watched What We Do in the Shadows s6:e11 (season finale) on Hulu then various YouTube videos.
Tue Aug 5, 2025
Cleaned the inside of the shower doors while showering in the primary bathroom. Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a mushroom and egg sandwich on english muffin. Starbucks Sakura Strawberry Latte from a packet. Hot water. Tried using hydrogen peroxide on the cutting board to remove small mold spots on the bottom, but it didn't do anything. Weeded my address book. Lunch at home with Patrick: leftovers from last night. Sewing day: I hemmed four t-shirts (mine) and downsized one Peanuts sweatshirt (Patrick). Dinner at home with Patrick: Delfina pizza with cured meat and herbs, red wine, hot water. We watched Foundation s3:e1 on Apple TV+ then Liza Treyger: Night Owl on Netflix. Patrick went to bed. I unloaded photos from my phone.
Wed Aug 6, 2025
Breakfast: plain yogurt with blueberries, flax meal, toasted coconut, roasted and slivered almonds; english muffin with salted butter; hot water. Worked from home. Cleaned up Reddit posts, mostly minor spelling and grammar issues and to provide better link SEO and to remove occurrences of more than one space character in a row. Walked with Patrick to a Neptune Society seminar and complimentary lunch at Kitchen Story. There were two others and the speaker Christiane in addition to Patrick and me. Patrick had the BLT with Millionaire's Bacon and fries with potato wedges with coffee. I had a New England burger with Millionaire's Bacon and potato wedges and raspberry lemonade. Walked to Whole Foods for groceries. Walked home. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: grilled cheese and creamy tomato soup, hot water. Afterwards we walked to The Academy, meeting Paul who had visited once before but only the speakeasy. We attended Wine-Down Wednesday at the upstairs bar. Patrick also chatted briefly with a tarot card reader. Afterwards we chatted with Tommy in the speakeasy and introduced Paul to the various other spaces and ended at Brock and Spencer's cabaret show, notably catching Movin' On Up in which everyone was asked their favorite flavor of pie. Paul stopped at Wilkommen for a wiener. Patrick and I walked home. Dessert: we shared one Feve chocolate. Patrick went to bed, and I joined a while later following Facetime chat with Lani and Dex.
Thu Aug 7, 2025
Breakfast: plain yogurt with blueberries, flax meal, toasted coconut, roasted and slivered almonds, mexican vanilla; side of a bowl of cherries; hot water. Tightened the washlet connector in the secondary bathroom. Later Sam came over and Patrick, Sam, and I drove in Sam's car to Stagecoach Greens for 18 holes of mini golf, which was a lot of fun. Afterwards we ate at Spark Social. Sam had a fish plate from Taqueria San Marcos. Patrick had a chicken burrito and tortilla chips from Taqueria San Marcos. I had two small grilled chicken tacos and strawberry lemonade from Wicked Star. Afterwards we got ice cream from Locksley Creamery: Sam had lychee in a paper cone, Patrick had oreo in a cup, I had oreo in a paper cone. Drove home. Patrick napped. Later: late, light dinner: Patrick had yogurt with sliced banana, cacao nibs, and pecans; cold water. I had leftover white rice with two medium slices of roasted chicken breast and microwaved corn on the cob, hot water. Dessert: we shared two Feve chocolates. We watched Foundation s3:e2 on Apple TV+ then Star Trek: Strange New Worlds s3:e5 on Paramount+. Patrick went to bed. Late snack: celery sticks with ranch dip, water.
Fri Aug 8, 2025
Breakfast: plain yogurt with blueberries, flax meal, toasted coconut, roasted and slivered almonds, mexican vanilla; small corn tortilla with mixed grated cheeses; hot water. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Stylesheet cleanup and optimizations. Lab tests form alterations and website updates. Removed Vanquish from the website. Began new platform build. Walked and rode Muni home. Later Patrick and I walked to dinner at Thai House Express: we shared pla sam rod (fried fish, sauce on the side) and guai tiew sub (chicken with flat rice noodles). Thai iced tea for both. All food, drink, and service by Por-Phol was excellent. The noodles were slightly spicy even though we were told they were not but I was able to eat it. $55.40 before an $11 tip. Walked home. While walking home I had an idea and realized that I could create an Apple Shortcut on my iPhone that would enable easy access to any day in my journal just by speaking the date. At home, in only a few minutes, I was able to build it: Name = Journal Entry: Dictate text ➞ Format date: using input of dictated text formatted as yyyy/MM/dd ➞ URL: static string frankfarm.org + formatted date ➞ Open URL. There's a dialog at the end that I don't yet know how to eliminate, and I need options for saying just a month or just a month and year. I'll spend more time on it later. Dessert: we shared two Feve chocolates. Patrick and I wrote some thank you cards and emails. We watched Wednesday s2:e1 on Netflix then a recap of Wednesday season 1 on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I stayed up watching more YouTube videos. Repaired a small error on the Contents page on frankfarm.org.
Sat Aug 9, 2025
Repaired small errors on the Recharge Medical website related to mobile stylesheets. Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself plain yogurt with mexican vanilla, hand-pitted cherries, flax meal, toasted coconut, roasted and slivered almonds. Hot water to drink. Reorganized my document in which I keep track of which sizes of clothes I fit in which brands. Prepared new stemless champagne glasses for service by soaking them in a tray of water to easily remove the labels on the bottom then washed them. Similar for an extra-long spatula that arrived in the same shipment. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself a black bean and garlic sauce stir-fry with diced roasted chicken breast, spinach, yellow onion, green onion, mushrooms, and carrot. Hot water to drink. Dessert: one piece of red licorice. Cleaned in the secondary bathroom. Cut my hair, showered. Cleaned in the secondary bathroom. In the evening Patrick and I rode Uber to 15th Avenue House. Phil drove Tai, Drew, Patrick, and me to Quyen and Dave's house for a celebration of Dave's mom Annita who had recently passed. Quyen, Dave, Chris, Nate, Phil, Drew, Tai, Jen, Marvin, Jonathan, Richard, Michael, Shawn, Quan, Mark, Uriel, and many others. Be strong, carry on.
Sun Aug 10, 2025
Breakfast at home: quesadilla with grated mixed cheeses and green onions, side of a bowl of cherries, hot water. Marble countertop repairs in the secondary bathroom and kitchen using an epoxy kit. Cleaned the balcony railing of squirrel poop. Amputagged the dress shirt I wore yesterday after realizing that the tag was scratchy. Lunch with Patrick: leftover potato wedges, mini pizzas, pizza cupcakes, water. Continued troubleshooting how to create a child theme in Gantry 5 in Grav. After much pain, the solution that worked for me was provided by mahagr on Oct 23, 2018: use "bin/plugin gantry5 child-theme". Spent most of the afternoon repairing our kitchen faucet. I successfully replaced the diverter for the faucet spray but when I attempted to address the low water flow I took apart the main cartridge. I reassembled it many times in different ways but nothing seemed to work. The hot water shutoff valve seems to not close completely. It still lets a slow dribble through. Then later with all shutoff valves completely closed I attempted to disassemble the faucet and water still kept emerging. I reassembled everything, confirmed there were no leaks, and gave up for now. Troubleshot Package Control not working in Sublime Text. This took several hours as well. Break for dinner: Patrick and I walked to Tanglad. We shared crispy imperial rolls. Patrick had grilled pork chops with rice and vietnamese iced coffee. I had garlic noodles with lemongrass beef and thai iced tea. This was the first time I realized how smoky it is inside. Afterwards we had one round of cocktails at Copper before returning home. We watched Foundation s3:e3 on Apple TV+. Patrick went to bed. I spent several hours uninstalling and reinstalling Homebrew because I realized I had an installation from Intel days and have long since been using Apple silicon. Once Homebrew was moved over to arm64, I returned to troubleshooting no Package Control in Sublime Text and then it became very easy to resolve. Began overriding some Gantry 5 template files. To bed.
Mon Aug 11, 2025
Breakfast: I prepared for myself chocolate-cherry pancakes with salted butter and maple syrup with help from ChatGPT. Hot water to drink. Worked from home: Recharge Medical website development in Grav and Gantry 5. Got multi-language running. Resolved issues with specifying the homepage in multi-language context and handling redirects. Began reviewing Grav basics since it's been a while since I have developed with it. Lunch at home: deli turkey breast on toasted whole wheat sandwich with havarti and sliced roma tomato, side of corn chips, hot water. Dinner at home with Patrick: beef and black bean soft tacos. We watched Foundation s3:e4 on Apple TV+ then Wednesday s2:e2 on Netflix.
Tue Aug 12, 2025
Breakfast: I prepared for myself veggie fried rice with corn from frozen, peas from frozen, Dorot garlic, Dorot ginger, roma tomato, yellow onion, green onion, soy sauce. Hot water to drink. Walked and rode Muni to SFMOMA with Patrick. We saw Ruth Asawa: Retrospective; Ragnar Kjartansson: The Visitors; Yayoi Kusama: Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart; New Work: Sheila Hicks; and much of the regular collections. We stopped for beverages at the museum cafe. Afterwards we lunched at Delarosa. We shared a small caesar salad and a fennel sausage pizza with chili flakes on the side. Iced tea for Patrick, lemonade for me. $44.48 after tax and before tip. Service by Aiden M was very good. Walked and rode Muni home. On the escalator emerging from Castro Street Station we encountered Lori and Anne going down the stairs and brielfy said hello and goodbye. Patrick napped. I patched a long, thin hole in the living room floor with wood putty. I read and interacted with the Washington Post article about The Visitors. Did some Recharge Medical work: continued development site build: setting title tags for multilingual. Too full from lunch, we had no proper dinner. We watched Foundation s3:e5 on Apple TV+. I snacked on a bao bun from frozen and a few cherries. We watched Wednesday s2:e3 on Netflix.
Wed Aug 13, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself one egg with white cheddar on english muffin with rosemary, salt, pepper. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Continued dev website build. Lunch: turkey sandwich with havarti on sourdough, corn chips, water from my water bottle. Walked and rode Muni home. Patrick and I walked and rode Muni to happy hour dinner at Basil: kao pode tod (corn fritters), panstickers (shrimp and pork dumplings), kirimaya cocktail (knob creek, orange bitters, tangerine, lemongrass syrup) for Patrick, thai-phoon cocktail (mekhong thai-spiced rum, thai tea, coconut milk) for me, gaeng gari (yellow curry of braised half chicken with fingerling potatoes, fried shallots, scallions, and cucumber relish), jasmine rice. All food, drink, and service were very good or excellent. $72.18 before tip. Afterwards we walked to Oasis and attended Fauxnique: So Relevant with Monique Jenkinson and musical direction by Katy Stephan whom we recognized from many performances at The Academy. She opened with a medley of Only You by Yaz and another song I was not familiar with. She said this was the first time she performed while singing rather than lip-synching, and her voice was excellent. Through many songs (most of which I did not know) and outfit changes, one intermission, and also accompaniment by an accordion player and two backup singers, we enjoyed it all. Our cocktail server brought us one round of drinks and later disappeared completely. We had to go to the bar to close our tab. Walked and rode Muni home.
Thu Aug 14, 2025
Patrick helped me identify some of what lights and outlets map to the breaker switches. I removed spattered paint from the balcony railing with a small flathead screwdriver. I cleaned fridge shelves and surfaces. Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself one egg with white cheddar on english muffin with rosemary, salt, pepper, spinach. After finishing, I realized I had sliced but forgot to include roma tomato, so I heated a small tortilla with grated mixed cheeses, added the tomato, and ate that as well. Installed a Lutron occupancy sensor light switch in the upper level half bath. The installation was pretty quick and easy once I figured out what to do with the ground wire. But after I completed the installation, I realized that while removing the old switch some wall paint had come off with it, so I had to patch the wall in the affected area with spackling compound then paint then replace the light switch installation. While waiting for the paint to dry, I walked to Cliff's to buy a replacement light switch plate since the one I removed had a crack that I had not noticed before. Installed the plate then programmed the light switch to my desired settings. Sanded the marble repairs I had made four days ago. Patrick returned home after visiting Model Bakery in Napa with Sam. Dinner at home with Patrick: I prepared linguini and bucatini in lemon cream sauce with asparagus, warm bread, hot water. Patrick processed dirty dishes and started the dishwasher. Afterwards we watched Star Trek: Strange New Worlds s3:e6 on Paramount+ then Foundation s3:e6 on Apple TV+. Patrick went to bed.
Fri Aug 15, 2025
Breakfast at home: one egg and sausage patty with white cheddar on Model Bakery english muffin, side of half banana, hot water. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Continued dev website build. Notably, Gantry 5 had some nice features, but I abandoned it because (a) it occasionally seemed buggy (wrong behavior when saving), (b) its additional layer was more of a hindrance than a benefit, and (c) dragging items in the layout tab was not intuitive and took a long time to accidentally learn its nuances (e.g., there's a big difference between dragging the handle of a particle and the icon within that particle). It was impossible for me to figure out how to set up multiple menus with support for multiple languages. Helium's only menu configuration was horizontal when I needed vertical. The things I liked: automatic support for scss, easy insertion of SVG logo, visual representation of page layout. It's possible it could grow into something I could use, but probably not for a while. So back to Grav alone. Began child theme of Learn2. Walked to lunch and back: Upfordayz: honey mustard turkey sandwich, hot chai latte. Continued work. Walked and rode Muni home. Later Patrick and I walked to Detour for happy hour with a subset of The Syndicate. In attendance: Emery, John B, Patrick C, Timmy D, Scot B, Patrick R, and me. Afterwards Patrick and I visited The Academy for dinner: sausage and mushroom flatbread, chicken bites with mustard dipping sauce, drinks. We enjoyed chatting with Jess, Tommy, and Skylar. Walked home.
Sat Aug 16, 2025
Breakfast at home: leftover linguini and bucatini in lemon cream sauce with asparagus, small soft taco with black beans and grated mixed cheeses, hot water. House chores: cleaned all light switch, outlet, and data port plates with dish soap solution, cleaned all touchpoints such as door handles, removed spattered paint from some door handles and the upper level half bath faucet fixtures, removed spattered paint from light switch and outlet plates (first pass). Installed iOS 18.6.1 on my iPhone 16 Pro. Watered the orchid. Installed a stake in the calla lily to help one drooping stem to stay upright. Removed grime from the door answering system, in particular the handsets and their mouthpieces and earpieces. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself a roast turkey breast sandwich on toasted Model Bakery english muffin with mayo and smoked gouda, side of corn chips, sparkling water. Unloaded photos from my phone to my computer, uploaded photos to Flickr. Errands and cafe with Patrick: Cliff's, Poesia Cafe, Mollie Stone's. At the grocery we happened upon Jeff N and chatted briefly about Greece and sailing. Walked home. More photos transfer. Compiled a Google Sheet spreadsheet of contractors and handymen and who referred them so that we have the info all in one place. Sprayed the light activator in the refrigerator with compressed air because it was occasionally sticking. Sanded a wood filler repair of a gap in the hardwood flooring in the living room. Vacuumed both levels. Spot-cleaned the dining room floor. Checked on the wood filler repair—all looks well. Dinner at home with Patrick: white bean and tuna salad with warm bread, hot water. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. We watched Wednesday s2:e4 on Netflix then What's Next?: The Future With Bill Gates s1:e2 Truth or Consequences? on Netflix. Patrick went to bed.
Sun Aug 17, 2025
Breakfast at home: one egg and sausage patty with yellow sharp cheddar on Model Bakery english muffin; yogurt with blueberries, mexican vanilla, half banana, toasted coconut, flax meal, roasted and slivered almonds; hot water. Replaced some slow device chargers with faster chargers at the living room couch. Prepared old drawer pulls for sale. Lunch: I prepared for myself a turkey and smoked gouda sandwich on whole wheat with lettuce and mayo, hot water. Research for purchasing a new kitchen faucet. Nap. Walked and rode Muni and BART to dinner at Burdell. Patrick had been wanting to try this Southern restaurant for a while. Joining us were Mark H, Tommy H, Adrian C, JY, and Hap B. Prix fixe family meal: boiled peanuts (with peanut miso and house spice), pimiento cheese on ritzy crackers, chilled kusshi oysters on the half shell (with chow chow dressing), summer melon and cucumber salad (with brokaw avocado and herbs), cornbread (stone-milled yellow corn, served warm with tangy honey butter), smothered rabbit (leek and white pepper gravy, spring onion), Roscoe's whipped potatos (with lots of butter), tomato-stewed pole beans, and for dessert, buttermilk panna cotta with strawberry lemonade Italian ice. We added to the family meal two orders of chicken liver and waffles (chicken liver mousse with crispy skin, maple and shallot vinaigrette, cornmeal waffle). We talked about Bakesale Betty's, Southern food vs New Orleans food, Gay Days at Disneyland, improv class, HubSpot, The Gilded Age, Deadwood, Top chef, Hollywood, Warrior, Foundation, The Bird Cage, historical fiction, friends having a tough year, introversion, Guerneville, physicians who don't trust sunscreen, and more. JY and Adrian gave us a ride home. To bed.
Mon Aug 18, 2025
Breakfast at home: yogurt with blueberries, sliced half banana, mexican vanilla, toasted coconut, flax meal, roasted and slivered almonds; toast with salted butter; hot water. Worked from home: Recharge Medical dev site build: began dark mode code, set up right sidebar, added more color styling, added more metadata, added more fonts, resolved layout issues, resolved margin and padding issues related to layout, resolved search not working properly because SimpleSearch plugin was missing, edited the svg logo to include dark mode code right in the svg—now we're getting fancy. Lunch: I prepared for myself sauteed vegetables with angel hair in white cheddar cheese sauce. Today was warm and sunny with little wind, so I sat on the balcony most of the day. Later I cleaned balcony surfaces and the exterior panes of the sliding glass doors with dish soap solution. Dinner at home with Patrick: healthier cobb salad, white wine, hot water. I processed dirty dishes. We watched What's Next?: The Future With Bill Gates s1:e3 Can we stop global warming? then The Sandman s2:e1 on Netflix then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I did more webdev.
Tue Aug 19, 2025
Breakfast at home: brioche french toast with blueberries, side of deli cut watermelon, hot water. Installed silicone mats in the cabinets under three sinks to protect from accidental water damage. Lunch: leftover sauteed vegetables with angel hair in white cheddar cheese sauce, hot water. Sewing projects: shortened pockets for camo shorts, shortened a green Rufskin tank top and a white tank top. Patrick and I met with Ron M. Patrick and I walked to dinner at Sushi Time and back. We watched The Sandman s2:e2 on Netflix then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. Facetime chat with Lani and Dex.
Wed Aug 20, 2025
Breakfast: deli cut watermelon, toasted onion bialy with salted butter, hot water. Stainless steel cleaning and polishing in the kitchen. More marble repair kit work: secondary bathroom, primary bathroom, kitchen. Faucet shopping and research all day. Lunch at home: chinese chicken salad from a kit, hot water. Dinner at home with Patrick: pasta amatriciana with bucatini and bacon, hot water. Facetime chat and website changes with Tina.
Thu Aug 21, 2025
Breakfast: I prepared for myself yogurt with cinnamon, honey, and blueberries; two-egg veggie scramble with celery, zucchini, carrot, spinach, green onions, mushrooms, rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper; hot water. More faucet purchasing research. Installed macOS 15.6.1 on my MacBook Pro and iPadOS 18.6.2 on my iPad Air. Patrick and I walked to errands and to Thorough Bread to meet with Christiane from a funeral agency to discuss and finalize end-of-life plans. Afterwards Patrick and I lunched at Zona Rosa. We both had the chicken enchiladas with rice and beans special and agua de jamaica. We walked to Cliff's then to home. Marble repair: sanding. Trash management. Swept in front of the home and on the balcony and patio. Cleaned animal stains from the balcony railing. Patrick napped while I troubleshot problems with internet and discovered that our provider had an outage that for us seemed to last less than an hour or so. Patrick and I walked to dinner at Canela's happy hour menu for two persons: $45 includes your choice of 5 small bites and two happy hour drinks from the happy hour menu. Atxa rojo then later manuel acha for Patrick, blanco sangria for me. We shared: cortezas (fried pork rinds), croquetas (with ham, chicken, egg, and bechamel), boquerones (anchovies and olive oil with citrus), gazpacho, patatas bravas. We added dessert: helada canela (vanilla ice cream with caramel and chocolate and almond chunks). $67 before tax, health care surcharge, and tip. All food and drink were delicious. Service by Jessica was excellent. Walked home. While trying to watch television we realized that one router node was not connecting, and it took me about 90 minutes of troubleshooting to resolve it. I'm still uncertain what fixed it, but I had to hardwire the node to the router's primary node before it began working again. We watched Star Trek: Strange New Worlds s3:e7 on Paramount+. Patrick went to bed. I organized notes.
Fri Aug 22, 2025
Breakfast: I prepared for myself one egg with cheddar and mushrooms on onion bialy, hot water. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Made exploratory email security changes. Responded to a request from an external provider of public listings. More dev website build. More dark mode support. Added more color definitions. Revisited fonts and decided that I didn't want to load so many web fonts. We are going multilingual in five languages (English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese Traditional, and Chinese Simplified), so I'm doing one Google Fonts request for Noto Sans, Noto Sans TC, and Noto Sans SC, and local fonts for all headings in all languages except Chinese. That should keep things much simpler and faster as well. We'll see how far that gets us. No lunch. Walked and rode Muni home. Dinner at home with Patrick: lentil stew with warm bread, water. I processed dirty dishes then started the dishwasher. We watched Foundation s3:e7 on Apple TV+. Patrick went to bed. Did a lot of digital cleaning. Late snack: an apple, some salted pretzels, water.
Sat Aug 23, 2025
Breakfast: I prepared for myself french toast with butter and maple syrup, hot water. Lunch: I prepared for myself a salad with romaine lettuce, tiny cherry tomatoes, red onion, and avocado dressing; hot water. Followup with digital cleaning, was in online chat with support for 90 minutes. Weeded my home directory's alias file. Worked to prepare and gather financial information. Cleaned in the secondary bathroom, cut my hair, showered, cleaned the bathroom. Housework: vacuuming, dishes, etc. Folded laundry that Patrick had washed earlier. Restored the network panel to order after internet has been stable for two days. In the evening Julianne and Danae visited. We drank wines they brought from Bonny Doon and Soquel and snacked on microwave popcorn before walking to and dining at Aiso. Cocktails: easy split (shochu, mezcal, citrus, celery, mint oil) for Julianne, flight in the am (light rum, aperol, elderflower, melon syrup, lemon, absinthe drip) for Danae, damn gina (hibiscus infused tequila, suze, lime, agave, soda, petals) for Patrick, soggy dollar (dark rum, orange, pineapple, coconut, nutmeg) for me. Plates: heart of palm fritto (with watercress aioli), yuca sticks (with passion fruit mostarda), pineapple + tofu skewers (with adobo), garlic butter udon (with macadamia nut), cucumber kimchi (with carrot and chive), roasted cauliflower (with sikil pak and sour orange onion). Dessert: warm flourless chocolate cake (aka chocolate fondant). All food and drink and service were excellent.
Sun Aug 24, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a half sandwich with one scrambled egg and mushrooms, cream cheese, and parsley; hot water. Cleaned in the kitchen. Installed iOS 18.6.2 on my iPhone 16 Pro. Continued preparing and gathering financial information. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself Laoban dumplings and one scallion pancake, both pan-fried. Hot water to drink. Cleaned in the kitchen. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: grilled peach and burrata salad with cherry balsamic vinegar reduction, hot water. Patrick washed dishes and started the dishwasher. While taking out the trash I met Italian neighbor Fabrizio. More digital cleaning. We watched The Sandman s2:e3 on Netflix then various YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I washed remaining dishes. Late snacks: leftover microwave popcorn, corn chips, water. Installed macOS 15.6.1 on Patrick's MacBook Pro. Continued preparing and gathering financial information.
Mon Aug 25, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself a small breakfast burrito with two eggs and mixed grated cheeses on flour tortilla, hot water. Continued preparing and gathering financial information. Began investigating window maintenance vendors. We have Andersen windows, but I decided against Renewal by Andersen because of their extremely aggessive marketing practices and very problematic privacy policies. Walked and rode Muni to Recharge Medical. Continued dev website build: localized the right sidebar, logo dark mode color tweaks, lots of color work including dark mode and links and primary nav. Walked and rode Muni home. Rested. Walked to dinner at Rustic (now no longer Tavola Rustica) with Patrick: we shared campanelle bolognese and italian sausage pizza. Negroni sbagliato for Patrick, glass of orange Macabeu for me. $82.98 before a $16 tip. All food and drink were delicious. Service by Dario T was painfully slow but friendly when it arrived. Patrick went to bed. Continued dev website build.
Tue Aug 26, 2025
Breakfast at home: I prepared for myself two eggs over easy with celery, carrot, and green onions; one hash brown from frozen; one sausage patty from frozen; hot water. Home improvement: resolved a problem in the primary bathroom in which the bathroom door handle made an annoying popping noise when releasing the handle after opening or closing. The noise was caused by latch rubbing against the strike plate and getting momentarily caught somewhere before releasing with the popping noise which was particularly noticeable at night since Patrick and I have different sleep schedules. Upon inspection there appeared to be matte black gunk stuck to the latch bolt in parts, so I first used an old toothbrush and dish soap cleaning solution and removed the gunk, but the problem remained. I then used a rotary tool to shave some metal from the latch bolt, but the problem remained. I removed the strike plate with a screwdriver and confirmed that the problem disappeared. I then used the rotary tool to shave metal from the edges of the hole in the strike plate. The problem was that there was no easy way I could determine where the latch bolt was sticking to the strike plate. After trying many different areas of removing metal from the strike plate, I finally succeeded in making the problem go away. It took longer than I had thought it would. I reattached the strike plate, confirmed the problem was completely gone, and cleaned the area. After that I hand-sanded marble countertop epoxy repairs in the primary bathroom. In some of the shallowest repairs sanding simply removed the entire repair. I also noticed that the color from the sandpaper was being left behind in some repair spots, making the repairs ugly and worse. I stopped, since this work was good enough for now even if not yet perfect. I plan to eventually get a random rotary sander to do these repairs more effectively. Next in the secondary bathroom I tinted tile grout and repaired holes in the grout in the right corner of the slate tile floor when facing the tub. While doing this, some nearby tile grout on the wall was so old and cracked that I noticed I could easily pull it out with a tiny flathead screwdriver. I'll have to repair that another day. Today Patrick took a day trip with Sam to Napa. I walked to three different places for kitchen faucet shopping. I didn't find anything I immediately liked, but I did get a good feel for what I wanted. Walked home. Snack: mexican vanilla soda, chicken-flavored mini crackers. Rested. Dinner at home with Patrick: split pea and smoked ham soup from the Fatted Calf deli at Oxbow. Afterwards we watched my playlist of John Mulaney SNL mini-musicals on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I watched a few more various YouTube videos before going to bed.
Wed Aug 27, 2025
Patrick and I visited Kerry and Mom Ryan this morning. Along the way we stopped at Walgreens and Le Marais. We ate pastries from Le Marais and chatted. At the end of our visit we accompanied them outside, Mom in the new wheelchair. Kerry and Mom left for a walk/roll. Patrick and I walked home. Patrick napped. I continued dev website build: finished localizing the right sidebar, completed nav and focus styling including dark mode, began resolving problems introduced when I added the right sidebar which is not part of the parent theme's layout. Rested. Dinner at home: I prepared for myself an everything bagel sandwich with black forest ham, cheddar, cream cheese, and lettuce. Patrick and I walked and rode Muni to William Cross where we met Paul and Yuko and chatted and drank Oregon wines for hours. We snacked on truffle-flavored potato chips near the end. Patrick and I walked and rode Muni home, stopping at Hot Cookie along the way. Pecan chip (pecan with chocolate chip) for Patrick, peanut butter with chocolate chip for me. Patrick went to bed. I joined a while later.
Thu Aug 28, 2025
Breakfast at home: Martha Stewart's Eric Ripert's French-Style Scrambled Eggs, three small pieces of toast with salted butter. Packed for a weekend trip. Lunch: hearts of romaine salad with goddess dressing and thick-cut grated white cheddar and slivered and toasted almonds. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: broccoli rabe Delfina pizza from frozen to which Patrick added salami. The broccoli rabe was extremely bitter; we won't get it again. Archived documents. Continued preparing and gathering financial information. We watched Star Trek: Strange New Worlds s3:e8 on Paramount+ then Foundation s3:e8 on Apple TV+. Patrick went to bed. I watched more YouTube videos before joining him.
Fri Aug 29, 2025
Breakfast at home: sourdough bagel, one side with cream cheese, one side with peanut butter; hot water. Cleaned soles of heated slippers with Dawn Powerwash. Dusted louvers of the plantation shutters in the primary bedroom. Other house chores. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself fusillotti with sauteed diced zucchini in tomato sauce. After lunch, Galen picked me up for a weekend at JY and Adrian's Sundance getaway in Guerneville. Patrick stayed behind to help look after his mom whose health has been declining since a fall in late May. Brendon was recovering from a cold and travel fatigue. The drive was uneventful. We left at 1 pm and encountered the usual amount of traffic. Settled upon arrival. My room this time was by myself in the twin room upstairs. The pool is completed and they having been using it for several weeks. Pallets of 600-pound pavers dot the incomplete area between the pool and hot tub. The newest completed portion is the retaining wall southeast of the pool. Also still to be completed: a sauna hut and outdoor shower. I met Bill, John, Rajeev, and Tito who arrived and joined us poolside for a few hours. Dinner and dessert by Jonathan: skillet chicken and rice, red wine, water. Jonathan was excited to use new GreenPan nonstick pans from Costco. Dessert: nectarine cobbler.
Sat Aug 30, 2025
Pre-breakfast: one nectarine, one slice of toast with peanut butter, hot water. Galen arrived from the grocery with pre-breakfast scones. Breakfast by Josh and Sheening: salmon, tortilla de patata, cucumber salad. Sunny and 93 degrees. Walked to R3 with JY, Sheening, and Mark. At the door my iPhone 16 Pro was unable to connect to their wifi and consequently I was let in at no charge—so nice. I met or encountered Francis, Scott, Jeff, Chad, Will from Brazil aka Huel, Steven B. Adrian arrived (after having drove). Francis W arrived. James K arrived. I encountered Bernard and met boyfriend Frederico. Bernard was there with friend Lily but I did not meet her. Encountered Jeff C. My only drink was one mudslide. The machine was not freezing the drink properly when I ordered but later it seemed to be working as expected. We spent several hours there in and out of the pool, socializing and relaxing. There was a large crowd but it was not uncomfortably packed. We observed one drag performance. Returned by car to Sundance. Rested by the pool. I think this was the day (Jonathan?) served us smoothies; I don't remember what flavor, but it was delicious. Mark prepared and served fig with melon and proscuitto with balsamic vinegar drizzle. Watched US Open. Dinner by Galen: holodnik (cold beet soup) with sour cream, rye bread, grilled halibut with dipping sauce, gravenstein apple salad, orange wine, white wine, water. Watched more US Open including a very long and intense match: Alexander Bublik vs Tommy Paul.
Sun Aug 31, 2025
Slept in. Festive spice hot tea. Sunny and 93 degrees. Brunch visitors: Hao, Son, Albert, Russell, and five-year-old labrador mix Hanna. Brunch by Adrian: bacon cheddar egg croissant sandwiches, salad with dried cranberries, fruit salad. We spent the day lounging poolside with mai tais and various snacks. We enjoyed using a pool float resembling an avocado complete with a brown ball as the pit. Dinner and dessert by Mark with many helpers. Francis prepared the watermelon rondelles, and many of us learned what a rondelle is. Josh sliced onions with his mandoline. I prepared Italian parsley for the rice, prepared the bell peppers in the main course, and plated the salad. Watermelon salad with feta, roasted pine nuts, basil chiffonade, and balsamic vinegar drizzle; sea bass poached in coconut milk with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, and bell peppers. While Mark prepared dessert, many of us watched The Thursday Murder Club. The film got some of us spooked at one tense moment in the film, and we laughed about it immediately after. Dessert (served late): upside down pineapple cake with fresh pineapple and maraschino cherries.