December 2025
Summary: Plumber hydrojetting; Holiday market popup shopping; Bar Sprezzatura with Paul; Holiday Filoli with Chris and Andy; Christmas tree trimming party with Paul and Irene; Tim and Tom's Hawaiian Holiday party; Gingerbread Sip 'n' See; San Francisco major power outage, Fairmont Hotel with Patrick, Tadija, and Tony; Christmas gumbo ya-ya luncheon at home with Kerry, Sam, and Mom Ryan; dinner at Tommy and Mark's.
Dates on this page
Mon Dec 1, 2025
Breakfast at home: two-egg scramble with diced zucchini, sliced tomato, diced parsley, and diced chives; hot water. Strategized and made purchases for outlet face plate nightlights. Lots of laundry: bed sheets and removed stains from removable pillow liners. Stored currently unused pillows in vacuum bags. Lunch: leftover farfalle with vegetables, hot water. Pressure washed the west half of the balcony then did the patio walls, trying to not get neighbors' packages too wet. Scheduled a plumber after figuring out that our home warranty did not cover outside drains. Shower. Cold apple cider. Patrick had begun erecting the artificial Christmas tree, and we began shaping its branches. Shower. Dinner: I prepared for us tofu and vegetable stir-fry with cabbage, green bell pepper, ginger, and garlic with steamed white rice in an oyster-soy sauce. Dessert: we each had a slice of leftover pumpkin pie with whipped cream—the last of it. We watched YouTube then Stranger Things s5:e3 on Netflix then YouTube then The Simpsons s37:e1. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Tue Dec 2, 2025
Breakfast: cashew-peach granola with plain yogurt, golden raisins, and toasted coconut; hot water. Prepared for a plumber visit by removing two drain grates, one on the balcony (west or right side) and one on the patio. Like the first one, these were difficult to remove because concrete or something else sealed them into place. I again used large and small flat head screwdrivers to chisel away concrete which included concrete inside the screw heads. Later Mario from Precision Rooter and Drain came and inspected the drains. We talked about the options and I agreed to have them hydrojet instead of snake which will resolve the problems more thoroughly and if time they will hydrojet other pipes to ensure they are clear. He did not have hydrojet equipment today, and we rescheduled for Thursday. Lunch: leftover farfalle with vegetables, hot water. Later we rode Lyft ($5—half off discount!) to see Wicked: For Good at Alamo Drafthouse New Mission. We shared popcorn no butter and a hot dog which came with fries. Iced tea for Patrick, lemonade for me. The theatre had perhaps 16 people in it, and it seems we were the last people on earth to see this film. Afterwards we walked to dinner at Souvla. Patrick had a chicken wrap and iced tea. I had avgolemono soup and tap water. Rode Uber (about $6) home. Nail care. Cleaned the primary bathroom tub. We watched Loot s3:e9 on Apple TV+ then YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Wed Dec 3, 2025
Fridge organization. Breakfast: one fried egg in flour tortilla with sour cream, guacamole, parsley, mixed shredded cheeses, leftover pico de gallo; hot water. Removed the loose nut from the emergency ladder for the upstairs unit in our HOA. Removed all nuts and bolts from the patio table and chair set on the balcony. Used Bar Keeper's Friend soft cleanser on the aluminum parts. Used Rust-Oleum Rust Stripper on the nuts and bolts and, briefly, on some parts of the aluminum that had gotten rust that BKF did not remove. The powder coat had chipped in a few areas, so I sprayed those and all nuts and bolts with gloss enamel. Patrick and I walked to Cliff's Variety for Christmas ornaments and a few other items. Restored/repaired the loose bolt on the fire escape ladder. Cleaned the office door handle on both sides and the latch bolt and strike plate of grime and splattered paint with vinegar solution. Continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website: added two more blog posts. Dinner at home with Patrick: spaghetti with pork in marinara sauce, hot water. Afterwards we watched Stranger Things s5:e4 then Matt Rife: Unwrapped, A Christmas Crowdwork Special, both on Netflix. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later. Late snack: hot apple cider, a half-handful of salted cashews; half of a TJ's toffee chip.
Thu Dec 4, 2025
Breakfast: one fried egg with chives and two pork link sausages in pita, hot water. Continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website: more blog post work, including minor edits to a few pages on the live site. Met Mario from Precision Rooter and Drain who arrived 20 minutes early for our hydrojet appointment. We were successfully and luckily able to reserve parking spaces on the street using the traffic cone method with no sign. Installed new dots door mats at both indoor entrances and at the inside of the sliding glass doors. Resolved problems with my mail filters; I had set some settings that were incorrect. Mario and Ray spent about two hours clearing drains, and they seemed to do a good job. Our drains appeared to have grout or concrete in the pipe, possibly from grout work for the balcony and patio tiling, and they were unable to clear that part which he said needed to be chiseled and removed. Lunch: leftover tofu and vegetable stir-fry, hot water. Nap. Patrick and I had a meeting with our wealth manager. Afterwards we were exhausted, so we walked to dinner at Castro Indian: chai for both. We shared onion naan, vegetable pakora, butter chicken masala, aloo gobi (cauliflower and potato), basmati rice. $78.26 after tax and before tip. Walked home. We watched YouTube. Patrick went to bed. Continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website in a good-vibe-coder state of mind: added readingtime plugin; added the readingtime output to my twig template; added Vietnamese, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese translations to the plugin's languages.yaml file; dropped seconds from the default output and used ChatGPT to write twig code to round up to minutes while also handling multiple languages and correctly accounting for singular (1 minute) versus plural (2 or more minutes); shortened a lot of slugs for Vietnamese and Spanish that I hadn't realized until now were much longer than I'd like. While working my breadcrumb icons disappeared. I thought at first it was something I edited and accidentally removed. I backtracked but could not figure it out. I restored one file from backup but that did not fix it. I ended up realizing that kit.fontawesome.com was down, even if only temporarily. So I used ChatGPT to build in some redundancy in case this happens again in the future. Made a snapshot backup. Tweaked home network backups config because I realized it wasn't backing up a critical folder. Not sure why, but it's fixed now. To bed late.
Fri Dec 5, 2025
Breakfast: plain yogurt with toasted coconut, blueberries, roasted and slivered almonds, flax meal; hot water. Cleaned the soles of my heated slippers with Dawn PowerWash. Rode a Muni bus to a medical appointment. Rode a Muni bus to a plumbing fixture store and made a purchase. Lunch at Wolfe's Cafe: bulgoki sandwich, water. Rode a Muni bus and train home. Recharge Medical communications work: built a year-end html email campaign. Snack: salted cashews, 4 ounces of ginger ale. Walked to Cliff's Variety and back for home improvement supplies. Replaced two burnt light bulbs at the upper entry outside light fixture. Reviewed HOA paperwork and issues. Dinner at home with Patrick: ravioli in alfredo sauce with chives. Dessert: previously frozen leftover orange-cardamom olive oil cake. We watched 1.5 hours of Frankenstein (2025) on Netflix. Patrick went to bed. I joined not long after.
Sat Dec 6, 2025
Breakfast at home: leftover spaghetti with pork in marinara sauce, hot water. After changing network settings I encountered a lot of problems and had to revert to an earlier backup of configuration settings which fixed it. Patrick and I visited several holiday pop-up markets in the Mission and Mission Creek. Lunch at Gallardo's, our first time. We each had a hard shell taco and an enchilada, which came with rice, beans, and the most amazingly hot, fresh, and thick tortillas. Mexican hot chocolate for both. Next we visited a holiday open gallery at an artist building at 1890 Bryant Street. Exhausted, we rode Uber home. Patrick napped. Documented the electricity panel markings. Changed air purifier prefilters. Made some changes to the router configuration and broke it. Our devices would connect to wifi for a split second then disconnect then about 5 to 30 seconds later it would repeat. After over an hour I decided that the only way to resolve it was to reset the router to factory settings and start over. That took another 90 minutes. Reconfiguring settings took another 90 minutes. Patrick went to bed. Updates and backups for devices and websites. No dinner because we were too full from lunch. Ordered a gift.
Sun Dec 7, 2025
Breakfast at home: leftover Indian food: pakora wrapped in flatbread, papadum, hot water. I spent hours on electrical work in preparation for installing the new washlet in the primary (south) bathroom. One problem involved stripped screwheads. Another problem was finding that the SnapPower MotionLight GFCI would not correctly fit my GFCI outlet. I rotated the outlet so that it was upside down but it still wouldn't work because I didn't want the light pointing up and even if I tried mounting the MotionLight down (an unsupported configuration) the metal box did not leave enough room for the prongs to slide through. I could have widened it with my Dremel-like tool, but I was already so tired of dealing with it. What if I replaced the outlet? I tried identifying which GFCI outlets were compatible but failed since it's very hard or impossible to determine the placement of the line terminals when purchasing. I will probably return the MotionLight GFCIs at a small cost. Patrick and I walked to lunch at Cove Cafe: two eggs with grits and bacon with coffee for Patrick, roast chicken sandwich and hot water for me. Afterwards we visited Cliff's Variety for supplies then returned home. I installed a new washlet in the primary bathroom. All went well except I again encountered the problem in which turning the toilet valve off did not stop the water from flowing; it had to be turned off at the main. Later, dinner at home with Patrick: fried tilapia sandwiches with potato chips, hot water, red wine. Afterwards we watched the remainder of Frankenstein (2025) on Netflix then YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Mon Dec 8, 2025
Breakfast: plain yogurt with cashew-peach granola, flax meal, sliced half banana, blueberries; hot water. Caught up on journaling. Prepared our Christmas mailing list. Installed four SnapPower MotionLights (non-GFCI) in the dining room. Cleaned. Midmorning snack: one navel orange. Patrick had to use old frozen beignet dough, so we ate beignets midmorning with milk. Beignets made us sleepy, so we napped. Afternoon snack: quesadilla, hot water. Later Patrick and I rode Muni to dinner at Bar Sprezzatura with Paul who was getting over a cold, four days since symptoms began. Drinks: hot toddy for Paul, classic negroni for Patrick, pear serenata for me. We shared: arancini, forest floor, guanciale polpette + 1, little gems salad, wagyu bolognese. With the meal, Paul had hot water with lemon and honey, Patrick had a glass of montepulciano, and I had a glass of sangiovese. Dessert: we shared an order of tiramisu. A fine meal. Patrick and I rode Uber home.
Tue Dec 9, 2025
Breakfast: two eggs over easy, two small pork sausage links, one hash brown, 5-seed multigrain toast; hot water. Continued working on the Recharge Medical current website: began drafting a new iron IV page for current website. Swept the sidewalk and driveway and street. Performed a repair on the left (east) balcony drain using SteelStik to fill gaps created when I removed the cover and a bit too much of the surrounding grout because I couldn't tell where the grout ended and the cover began. Rode Muni to Bar Sprezzatura to pick up the credit card I had forgotten to take with me last night after signing and paying. Lunch at Kirimachi Ramen: shoyu ramen, hot tea. Rode Muni home. More web work. Later Patrick and I drove to Filoli in a rental car, meeting Chris and Andy there. Our last visit with all four of us together was on December 22, 2018. Patrick and I returned during the day on September 17, 2020. Since the 2018 visit the holiday decorations at Filoli have noticeably improved. Like 2018, there are places to stop to buy hot drinks like cider or mulled wine. But now there are a lot more lights and decorations indoors and out, TVs and radios inside the mansion play historical recordings or simulations thereof, and there are a lot more opportunities to pay extra for benefits like a private firepit or room, charcuterie, champagne. I was blown away by how beautiful everything looked and how much design and technical work it took to create it. We spent about two hours there, arriving just before dusk and so we were able to see parts during the day and night. 2018 had musicians and carolers that were not present this year. We surmised that they have them on the weekends when it would be busier? Afterwards we drove to Chris and Andy's, leaving behind one car, then driving to German restaurant Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City for dinner: Chris had a special: Schweinebraten (slow roasted bacon wrapped pork tenderloin paired with red cabbage and mashed potatoes topped with a dark bier gravy, $22). Andy had a jäger schnitzel sandwich (sourdough roll, pork schnitzel, swiss cheese and a creamy mushroom sauce. served with pickled veggies, $22). Patrick had pork schnitzel (breaded and fried tenderized pork cutlet) with fries and our haus green salad ($22). I had a smoked brat in bun with sautéed onions ($12). We shared: two crispy potato pancakes served with apple sauce and sour cream ($10) and a Bavarian pretzel plain with everything ($18). Afterwards we shopped in the attached German goods store, then drove back to their place. Chris and Andy served us mini pecan pie with whipped cream and tiny sips of port. Patrick and I drove home. A fine evening.
Wed Dec 10, 2025
Breakfast: veggie omelette with mediterranean blend veggies from frozen, biscuit from frozen, half banana, hot water. Prepared to get rid of old devices. Snack: peanut butter with celery. Continued working on the Recharge Medical website and dev website: made live a new page for iron IV and modified the parent IV page to link to it. Snack: thai rice chips, water. Lunch: deli turkey and wild rice soup, hot water. More web work. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: baked chicken and rice, water, red wine. Afterwards we watched Loot s3:e10 (season finale) on Apple TV+ then about 1 hour 45 minutes of Die Hard on Hulu. Patrick went to bed. More preparation for getting rid of old devices. I joined in bed a few hours later.
Thu Dec 11, 2025
Breakfast: one deli blueberry muffin, heated; maple almond butter granola with dried peach leftover from the cashew-peach granola bag, blueberries, toasted coconut, plain yogurt; hot water. Printed return address labels for Christmas cards. Troubleshot and seemed to resolve smudging with the laser printer by cleaning the fuser. Folded laundry that Patrick had washed earlier. All morning: more preparation for getting rid of old devices. Lunch: I prepared for myself chicken fried rice with diced deli chicken breast, broccoli, carrot, tomato, white onion, green onion, celery; hot water. Helped a stranger named Kenneth who had mobility issues and seemed to have fallen from his bicycle just outside of our place with a heavy load of bags and boxes. Completed a package for mailing and walked to a place to send it. Returned home. Reported a problem with a clogged sidewalk cleanout to the plumber who visited us a week ago. He says that the city line is clogged and that it is not his responsibility but he will help us at no charge. To avoid using water to prepare dinner, we walked to Takara Sushi. Four rolls, gyoza, small hot sake for Patrick, hot green tea for me. Walked home. We watched the remainder of Die Hard on Hulu then trailers for the remaining Die Hard films on YouTube then SNL s51:e7 Melissa McCarthy on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. Late snack: three mandarins. Troubleshot problems with website hosting and email and chatted with support. The outage was resolved not long after and might have lasted about 75 minutes. Switched all currently installed SnapPower MotionLights from high brightness to low brightness. I was surprised at how the change made them feel more luxurious. Brighter footlights is not necessarily safer in our household, and the dimmer lights provide lighting that is subtler yet still sufficient. For a few moments I considered returning all MotionLights I purchased—not just the GFCI ones—primarily because I didn't like how inconsistently they detect motion. However, I think I plan to decide that they are good enough even they don't work as perfectly as I had hoped. Shopped online for better living room lighting. To bed late.
Fri Dec 12, 2025
Breakfast: one heated deli blueberry muffin, hot water. Vacuumed the bedroom. Prepared for the plumber to arrive. He arrives and in less than 20 minutes he uses a snake from the sidewalk cleanout across the lateral and towards the main and clears the clog. Lunch with Patrick: leftover rice with chicken which we ate while watching Documentary Now s2:e2 Juan Likes Rice With Chicken on Netflix. I rewatched Documentary Now s4:e5 My Monkey Grifter on Netflix. Cleaned the bathroom, cut my hair, showered, cleaned the bathroom. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: chicken quesadillas, hot water. Later we walked to Paul and Irene's for a tree trimming party, which included a hot chocolate bar, grilled cheese sandwiches, popcorn, small bites, and lots of drinks. Everyone helped decorate the tree, Irene tried to get karaoke started but didn't seem to have much success except with Rainbow Connection (since Kermit was the tree topper), and after a lot of fun was had Patrick and I were tired and walked home. Paul, Irene, Ellen, Chris, Jeff, Christiano, Mark H, Jeff C, David M, Michael G, Lindsey, Joyce, Jim, Eric, and more. Someone recommended to us Jayne Mansfield on HBO Max. A fun evening.
Sat Dec 13, 2025
Cleaned the kitchen sink faucet aerator. Deep-cleaned the two-burner griddle. Breakfast at home: blueberries with cinnamon and local honey, chicken quesadilla on flour tortilla, hot water. House chores: deep-cleaned the garbage disposal, hand-washed the foam tablet stand cover, scrubbed kitchen floor mats with dish soap solution, deep-cleaned the stove top, cleaned part of a shoe that had something on it. Plant maintenance: orchid, rattlesnake, and calla lily. Lots of trash management. Encountered, met, and chatted briefly with Zeb, the assistant to one of our upstairs neighbors. Midmorning snack: heated blueberry muffin, three mandarins. Walked to Cliff's Variety and back for machine screws. Tried replacing the machine screws holding the two sidewalk cleanout grates down but realized that on one of them the frame is missing the part that the screw goes into and on the other one the screw is stuck inside and the head has been sawed off. Archived documents. Replaced the half bath soft-close toilet seat with the soft-close toilet seat that used to be in the primary bathroom because it soft-closes slightly better than the one in the half bath did. Replaced the cover for the foam tablet stand after it had dried in the sun. Midafternoon small meal: deli turkey and wild rice soup, one toasted english muffin, water. We can't recall what we had for dinner tonight. I walked to Tim and Tom's Hawaiian Holiday at Tim and Tom's Treehouse on Duboce Avenue with hosts Tim and Tom, cat Jenny, bartender Max, hostess Rebecca, Will P, Troy U, Topher H, Ben S, Brandon, Jason, Ryan D, Jason S, Tim C, Andy M, Scott T, Scot B, JY, Adrian, and more. Patrick was too exhausted today and regretfully did not attend. I met Will, Troy, Topher, and Ben for the first time as far as I remember. We talked about home maintenance, Andersen windows, cleanouts, painting interior walls, and more. While preparing to leave, I told Andy M that I would walk him home, but while I was in the bathroom he left. I began walking to get a slice of pizza but after a minute or two I realized I could see where he was in Find My. I found his location, found that he seemed to not be moving, so I found him and walked him all the way home. I wanted a slice of pizza afterwards. Marcello's was in the process of closing. The line was too long at Pizzalicious. I got my slice at Oz Pizza: salami and sausage for about $8. Walked home.
Sun Dec 14, 2025
Slept in a lot. Woke very late. No breakfast. Lunch: leftover chicken fried rice, water. Spent the entire afternoon further cleaning the two drains on the balcony. Ever since we had moved in these drains had been giving us trouble by not draining. The hydrojetting done 11 days ago helped, but the plumber told me it still needed work that hydrojetting and snaking would not resolve, and I agreed. Today I did part of that work, which involved chipping away unidentified residue from inside the drain pipe wall with my largest flat-head screwdriver while running our largest vacuum cleaner with the hose pointed at the chipping work. My best guess at the residue: a combination of some kind of black sealant, a lot of compacted dirt, and a lot of sand (why?!). The material was too soft and grainy to be concrete or grout or cement. It was too hard to be silicone sealant. This seems like the best these drains are going to get. Showered and dressed. Patrick and I walked to dinner at Super Duper Burger: chicken burger and chocolate shake for Patrick, mini burger with pickles and lemonade for me, we shared an order of fries. All food and drink were delicious. Afterwards we walked to The Academy for Gingerbread Sip 'n' See. Gingerbread house artist Peter Williams outdid himself again, this time creating in confectionery a row of gingerbread houses styled to resemble the famous Painted Ladies of San Francisco. Fairy lights lit the insides which we could see through many various windows, and the insides were meticulously decorated with artwork, ornate ceilings, furniture, and more. Each house had a different roof. Patrick particularly liked the two toucans and the pink trees and green bushes made from marshmallow rice krispies. We met and chatted a while with CF before walking home. I installed the last of the non-GFCI SnapPower MotionLights, this one in the office between the bathroom door and the closet door. Patrick went to bed. Later I chatted over Facetime then Google Meet with Lani and Dex. We switched from FaceTime to Google Meet because it was too hard for some of us to join from Windows computers.
Mon Dec 15, 2025
Breakfast: english muffin breakfast sandwich with chicken patty, cheddar, one egg; hot water. More drain work, similar to yesterday's, but this time on the patio instead of the balcony. I also removed rust along the bottom edges of the patio wall and from all three drain grates using rust remover. Rinsed and did a drain test with lots of water. All seems well. After everything dried I replaced all three drain grates. All intended drain work is now complete. Patrick packaged the cookies that he baked yesterday, and we delivered boxes to two of our neighbors: Ravi and Antoine. I helped Patrick wrap some gifts. We delivered a box of cookies to another neighbor across the street. Later we tried two more neighbors and both were not home. Dinner at home with Patrick: beef chow mein, hot water. Dessert: we each ate two of Patrick's cookies with milk, mine warm. Afterwards we watched Dead Man Wake Up on Netflix with various snacks. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen.
Tue Dec 16, 2025
Slept in a bit. Late breakfast: english muffin breakfast sandwich with chicken patty, one egg; hot water. A bit later Patrick and I walked and rode Muni to City Hall to obtain a marriage license. Walked and rode Muni back. Patrick left to shop groceries with Sam. Lunch at home by myself: leftover beef chow mein, water. Nap. Afternoon snacks: mango-banana chips, one sumo orange (first of the season, a bit on the sour side). Dinner at home with Patrick: white beans with tasso and Cajun sausage over white rice, water. Afterwards we sipped TJ's egg nog liqueur with freshly grated nutmeg with the last of Patrick's homemade cookies. We watched Adolescence e1 then 24 minutes of Robby Hoffman: Wake Up on Netflix. Adolescence takes the single-take to a mind-bogglingly new level. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Wed Dec 17, 2025
Breakfast: turkey sausage patty on english muffin with cheddar, water. Read a new version of a story written by Patrick: M at M. House chores: dusted the dining room chandelier, dusted the plantation blinds in the bedroom. Lunch: leftover beef chow mein. Updates for home devices. I notice today that Adobe finally announced compatibility with macOS 26 Tahoe, so I'm beginning to prepare for computer upgrades. Nap. Recently we received some very nice gifts: a bottle of Mumm from neighbors Ron and Denis, a set of polished stainess steel Hudson Grace cheese board tools from Brandea and Willowmar, and a Harry and David Royal Riviera pears and more gift box from Ron M and his company. In the late afternoon Patrick and I visited Lightscape at the San Francisco Botanical Garden with Sam, who drove us all, and Kerry, and Mom Ryan. Mom used her smaller wheelchair. The event seemed very organized and well-run. Sam should have used the restroom at the start but didn't I think because we were all anxious to begin the walk, which is about one mile through the garden to see many beautiful lighting exhibits. My favorites were the ones with fog machines and lasers. I took very few photos because I felt it was the kind of event that photos and video cannot capture well—you just have to go to experience it. At one of the food and drink stops I purchased a medium-sized bag of salted butter popcorn for $11 and shared it with everyone. It's good to go on a full stomach since the food and drink seemed pricey for what you get. There was rain earlier in the day, but almost every staffperson cautioned us about slippery paths along the way, and we encountered nor witnessed any falls. Afterwards we dropped Kerry and Mom Ryan at home then Sam drove us home. Patrick and I visited neighbors Dan and Jason at their place, bringing the last of the holiday cookie gift boxes. We enjoyed chatted for about an hour or so, then returned home for a small dinner of leftover white beans and rice and water. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Thu Dec 18, 2025
Breakfast: Patrick brought home two Arizemendo croissants, sourdough and chocolate, and we each ate half of each. I had mine with TJ's spiced chai (shouldn't that be just chai?) with toasted marshmallow Torani, which Patrick thought was a weird combination but I liked it. Caught up on journaling. Edited Patrick's story all day. Skipped lunch. Afternoon snack: Patrick split another pear with me. Dinner at home with Patrick: frozen margherita pizza to which Patrick added fresh toppings: cajun sausage, red and yellow bell pepper. Hot water to drink. Afterwards we walked to The Academy for the second Castro Wine Walk. Joining Patrick and me were John R, Gary E, Cristiano F, Jeff C, David M, and Paul M. We had planned to start with Millay, but they were not participating this time. Our route: The Academy, Canela, Bar 49, Starbelly, Blush! Wine Bar, Swirl on Castro, and Copper. Everyone seemed to have a nice time enjoying tasty wines and good company. The weather was cold but not too cold, and there was rain in the morning, but it had stopped long before the walk began.
Fri Dec 19, 2025
Breakfast: chicken sausage patty with cheddar on english muffin, hot water. Filed laundry that Patrick folded earlier. Removed the soft-close toilet seat from the half bath and replaced it with the soft-close toilet seat that was formerly in the bedroom's bathroom. The one I removed had a problem in which the lid would soft-close but the seat would not soft-close. I didn't realize this until after I had installed it. Trash management. Swept parts of the stairwell and in front of our home and in the street. Shower. Handled some tax issues. Finalized an email thread with SnapPower support; I decided to return two MotionLight GFCI units because I didn't want to remove the yellow labels covering the load terminals in order to install them and I didn't want to call an electrician to confirm if that was safe to do so. For lunch and to celebrate Hanukkah, Sam picked up Patrick and me and we drove to the Marina to eat at Super Mensch. It was our first time. We shared an order of latkes, an everything bagel, pastrami on rye, and matzah ball soup. Pickle lemonade for Patrick, regular lemonades for Sam and me. All food and drink were delicious. The pastrami was particularly tender. The pickle lemonade was interesting. Sam's favorite and Patrick's favorite was the latkes. Mine was the pastrami. For dessert we shared a giant chocolate cake slice. Later, dinner at home with Patrick: grilled cheese, tomato, and caramelized onion sandwiches with potato chips; hot water. We watched Adolescence e2 then more of Robby Hoffman: Wake Up on Netflix but although the first 24 minutes was somewhat good the next 15 minutes was not very funny and somewhat offensive so we stopped and gave it a thumbs down. We watched most of SNL s51:e8 Josh O'Connor on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I updated from macOS 18.7.2 to 18.7.3 and it hung with a black screen. Cold restart seemed to fix it. Then I upgraded to macOS 26.2 Tahoe. Then did the same for Patrick's computer. Weeded or removed from home screen apps on the iPad Air. To bed.
Sat Dec 20, 2025
Breakfast: one-egg soft taco with grated mixed cheeses, diced green onion, and diced tomato; hot water. Regained access to a financial account after updating my address with them. Tax and financial paperwork. Left a message with a vendor about parts I had ordered a while ago. Continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website: some styling work. Lunch: leftover white beans and rice, one sumo orange. In the evening Patrick and I rode Uber to the Great Dickens Christmas Fair at the Cow Palace. The Uber driver dropped us off at a sidewalk location that wasn't anywhere near the entrance, and we tried to get the driver to drop us off closer, and he did, but it wasn't that much closer. We walked about six minutes to the entrance. At some point along the drive to Cow Palace a huge power outage hit San Francisco but not at the Cow Palace. We opted for the $34.46-each Twilight Entrance option, which permitted entry at 3:00 p.m. instead of an all-day ticket. The event ended at 6:00 p.m. This is essentially the same price as an all-day ticket the last time we went six years ago in 2019. But we probably couldn't handle more than three hours of it anyway. Like last time we found the meat pie and scotch egg place after entering. Patrick ate a scotch egg, I ate a beef and cheese meat pie. We found a picnic table to eat at. The meat pie was extremely hot on the inside. Both were prepared well and tasted delicious. I thought the innards of my meat pie tasted a little like beef chunky soup, but Patrick disagreed. My meat pie became messy to eat near the end. Next, same like last time, we got beverages separately from eating because it was too much to deal with without trays. Egg nog with brandy for Patrick and egg nog for me. This time we avoided using the map which we found unuseful last time. Not long after drinking the egg nog my stomach began to hurt a lot, so after wandering and seeing just about everything we sat on a bench for a bit. After some time Patrick left me on the bench to decide on more food to enjoy. I couldn't eat anything rich, so I got a small salad with ranch dressing, and he got farfalle with meatballs in marinara. My salad was surprisingly fresh. Patrick's dish was disappointing in that the pasta was very overcooked. We rode Uber home, choosing to walk about six minutes to Geneva Avenue to simplify the pickup. The power outage continued, and Patrick pulled out and lit all our electric candles. Since there was little to do without power, we went to bed early. Around 10 p.m. we were awakened by people talking very loudly seemingly right outside our window. We noticed the power was on. The Christmas tree lights had come on unexpectedly, so I turned them off then returned to bed.
Sun Dec 21, 2025
Breakfast: one-egg soft taco with grated mixed cheeses and diced tomato; hot water. Troubleshot multiple problems with mail accounts. Reviewed energy usage. Lunch: I prepared for myself focaccia with pizza sauce from a jar and grated mixed cheeses; hot water. Patrick baked a chocolate olive oil cake. In the afternoon we rode Uber to the Fairmont Hotel. There was heavy traffic in the area directly around the hotel. Inside, we saw the gingerbread house and Santa then visited a holiday market with vendors selling jewelry, chocolate, kettle corn, artwork, baseball caps, and more. It had been planned for the rooftop area but was moved to the Venetian Room due to rain. Afterwards we walked around the hotel a while, seeing the rooftop area for the first time. We tried going to the Tonga Room, but it was closed on Sundays. Tony and Tadija met us there, then we tried to walk to Pacific Cocktail Haven (PCH) until I realized they were closed. We tried to get a drink at Top of the Mark which had just opened but there was already a 45- to 60-minute wait for a party of four. We walked to their car parked a few blocks away then drove to the Mission District for a midafternoon meal at Fried Chicken Palace. We each shared one order of chicken fried chicken with mashed potatoes. Tony and Tadija had the sausage gravy; Patrick and I had the white gravy. Topo Chico for Patrick, plain waters for the rest of us. Everyone agreed that the mashed potatoes and gravy were delicious but that the chicken fried chicken had a coating that was a bit too gummy or chewy or gelatinous. It was edible and somewhat tasty, but not even close to excellent, which is what you need to succeed if it's your signature dish. The mid-century-modern interior was clean and well-designed. Afterwards we drove to our home and Patrick served us egg nog with or without rum and the chocolate olive oil cake he prepared earlier today. We chatted a long time, mostly about unlikely fears, politics, and finances. They departed, and Patrick went to bed soon afterwards. I stayed up for a few hours more before going to bed. A fine day.
Mon Dec 22, 2025
Breakfast: two-egg veggie scramble with mediterranean blend frozen vegetables, diced red onion, diced parsley; two turkey sausage links, one hash brown; hot water. Continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website all day: template work: moved langswitcher from page template to base template, finalized sitemap template; various styling, began homepage build. Lunch at home: I prepared for myself TJ's breaded tilapia on Wise Sons challah with french fries, all from frozen, and with ketchup and mayo; hot water to drink. We have been having a lot of rain lately, and I am happy that our exterior drains have not been clogging and that we have encountered no leaks of water indoors at the sliding glass door. I started getting a sore throat in the late afternoon. Began drinking many cups of hot ginger tisane with local honey throughout the evening and night. I hope I won't be sick on Christmas Eve and Christmas. Dinner at home with Patrick: red pepper and cheese quesadillas with guacamole and sour cream. Afterwards we watched Adolescence e3 on Netflix then SNL s51:e9 on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Tue Dec 23, 2025
Sore throat remains about the same as yesterday. Continued honey and lemon in hot water all day. Breakfast: cheese quesadilla, plain yogurt with one sliced banana and toasted coconut. Continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website all day: tiles build and styling. Lunch: I prepared for myself wheat noodle soup in chicken broth with Dorot ginger, soy sauce, sliced cabbage, sliced red onion, broccoli from frozen, diced parsley. Dinner at home with Patrick: tuna salad sandwiches and potato chips. Afterwards we watched Adolescence e4 on Netflix then rewatched Adolescence Emmy wins on YouTube then watched a teaser of Avengers: Doomsday also on YouTube then watched part of Die Hard 2 on Hulu. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Wed Dec 24, 2025
Sore throat remains about the same as yesterday. Breakfast: leftover noodle soup, hot water with lemon and honey and/or Dorot ginger. Reviewed the home warranty plan and did research to see if we want to renew. Updated the home inventory spreadsheet of appliances and fixtures. Lunch: deli chicken noodle soup. In the late afternoon we finished watching Die Hard 2 on Hulu. Dinner at home with Patrick. We had planned to attend Christmas Eve dinner at Tai, Phil, and Drew's place but we did not go because I was sick and Patrick was potentially exposed. Delivery from Hulu Wa via DoorDash: steamed rice, beef chow fun, orange chicken, wonton soup. Also included in our order—accidentally? we didn't order it—was fried green beans. We saw it as a surprise Christmas gift! All food and drink were delicious. Patrick's fortune: Your friends will stand by you through thick and thin. My fortune: Today's kindness will create ripples of goodness. Afterwards we watched Christmas things on various channels: a Christmas episode of Will and Grace, SNL Presents Christmas Songs, California Through My Lens: Balboa Island: Southern California’s Magical Christmas Island, A Star Wars Christmas Lightshow by The Brown Family Christmas Light Show, Jacob Collier - The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire), a few songs from the Commercialists live at The Jazz Estate playing A Charlie Brown Christmas. Patrick went to bed. Steady rain. Late tonight the sore throat is going away and runny nose and nasal congestion begins. Sneezing frequency increases. Continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website: tiles styling.
Thu Dec 25, 2025
Sore throat is almost gone. Runny nose and nasal congestion continues. I began the neti pot procedure again. Breakfast: leftover beef chow fun and fried green beans, hot water with lemon and honey. Runny nose and sneezing intermittently all day. Napped. Later Sam, Kerry, and Mom Ryan came over. Patrick served us gumbo ya-ya with chicken, smoked sausage, and shrimp with French bread and butter. For dessert he made bread pudding with a non-alcoholic bourbon hard sauce. Everything was perfectly delicious. I ate alone downstairs using the ironing board as a table. Later they opened presents and departed. Later, dinner at home with Patrick: Hulu Wa leftovers. Afterwards we watched Christmas things on YouTube then Stranger Things s5:e5 then Big Mouth s2:e6 both on Netflix then part of Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Amazon Prime Video. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Fri Dec 26, 2025
Runny nose and nasal congestion and sneezing continue. Breakfast: deli chicken noodle soup, ginger tisane with local honey. Prepared a package return for Patrick to mail. Vacuumed lower and upper levels even though I'm not yet fully recovered from my cold. Ran print head cleaning operations multiple times on the inkjet printer in order to resolve poor output. Lunch: leftover Chinese food, hot water. Nap. Neti pot. Attended to—and gathered data on—more leakage above the sliding glass door. We began watching Lady Gaga in Harlequin Live: One Night Only on YouTube. Dinner at home with Patrick: Patrick had leftovers from Hulu Wa, I had leftover gumbo ya-ya. Hot water to drink. Finished watching Lady Gaga. We watched Stranger Things s5:e6 on Netflix. Runny nose phase seems to be ending this evening. Patrick went to bed. Late snack: one navel orange, water. I joined in bed a few hours later.
Sat Dec 27, 2025
Runny nose has ended, very occasional dry cough remains. Breakfast at home: Hulu Wa leftovers, hot water. House chores despite not feeling 100% recovered from a cold. Cleaned with water and a delicate-scrub sponge the kitchen floor, kitchen floor mats, and the kitchen trash can exterior. Deep-cleaned with Comet the dish rack and sink area. Trash management. Swept in the garage. Encountered cold water dripping occasionally from the crack in the ceiling above the Amtrol Boiler Mate Premier Series in the garage. Deep-cleaned with dish soap solution six recessed pull handles (four on two pocket doors, two on the wardrobe closet doors) and two pocket door edge pulls. Cleaned the bathroom, cut my hair, showered, cleaned the bathroom. Opened and used for the first time the carpet and rug cleaner I purchased in November but did not have time until now to use. I spot-cleaned the rug in the laundry room and the hallway in front of the wardrobe closet in the bedroom. It wasn't clear that it was doing a good job until I emptied the dirty water bin which was filled with dark, yucky water. Dinner at home with Patrick: spaghetti bolognese, water. We watched Stranger Things s5:e7 on Netflix then YouTube then more of Jiro Dreams of Sushi on Amazon Prime Video. At a break in between we ate dessert: leftover bread pudding with non-alcoholic bourbon hard sauce. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Sun Dec 28, 2025
Neti pot. Mild chest congestion and a very occasional dry cough remains from a cold. After yesterday's carpet and rug spot-cleaning dried we did find a noticeable difference. It works! Breakfast: Hulu Wa leftovers, hot water. Orchid watering and fertilizing. Helped Patrick process edits I made to his story (MaM). Patrick napped. I continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website: reworked the safe space svg image to include animation on hover. This took a bit of work. Because the site supports five languages, I had five different svg files. I was unable to load it using the img element since classed elements within the svg cannot be manipulated from css outside the svg. So I copied the contents of the svg files into .html.twig files and included them in the template. The animation runs only on hover and it respects prefers-reduced-motion and it also changes colors in dark mode. Unloaded photos from my iPhone 16 Pro. Rode Uber to Super Mensch, meeting Tony, Drew, and Phil there. We shared an order of latkes, an everything bagel, pastrami on rye, chicken liver mousse on toasted rye, potato chips, and matzah ball soup. All food and drink were delicious. My only wish was that the bread on the pastrami sandwich didn't fall apart so easily, but it's a very minor complaint. Afterwards we walked to Palace of Fine Arts then back along Chestnut Street. Phil and Drew left to go home. Tony and I continued walking and browsing in stores along Chestnut Street before walking to the Marina Green. I stopped to get a beverage at Philz Coffee Truck, then we used the nearby public restroom. Tony was planning to walk across the bridge and back, and that was too much for me. I walked to Broderick and Beach then rode Uber home from there. Patrick began getting a sore throat today. Later I rode Uber to Tommy and Mark's place for dinner. I met scaredy-cat Peaches aka Kitty as well as guests Bruce, Alf, and Mike. Mark gave a tour of their beautifully appointed house full of art and collectibles. New lights framed the backyard which included a recently built small deck. In the living room we snacked on celery sticks, tortilla chips, and warm crab dip while awaiting the final steps of dinner preparation. Dinner: meat lasagne, salad with cubed apple, bread, roasted vegetables. We chatted about The Boyfriend, Pluribus, Heated Rivalry, The White Lotus, Taiwan, Japan, China, Australia, how we knew Mark and Tommy, the 49ers winning over the Bears, cooking shows, cooking, culinary schools, lasagna preparation, glass bottom steins, what it means to be shanghaied, the couple that recently attacked restaurant employees in Hayes Valley and were shamed on social media, and more.
Mon Dec 29, 2025
Neti pot. Mild chest congestion and a very occasional dry cough remains from a cold. Breakfast at home: Hulu Wa leftovers, hot water, fruit juice. More carpet and rug spot-cleaning, this time in the office. Swept in front of the house, the driveway, a bit in the street, and the lower and middle exterior stairs. Helped Patrick with edits to his story (MaM). Minor web edits for Recharge Medical website and also updated their hours on Google and Yelp to reflect an early closure on new year's eve. I continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website: began reworking the everyone is heard svg image to include animation on hover. Dinner at home with Patrick: meatloaf with creamy bacon and spinach orzo, hot water. We watched a recap of Fallout season 1 on YouTube then Fallout s2:e1 on Amazon Prime Video then Rian Johnson Breaks Down a Scene From 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery' | Vanity Fair on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later. I continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website: finished reworking the everyone is heard svg image to include animation on hover.
Tue Dec 30, 2025
Breakfast at home: quesadilla with diced red onion, diced parsley, mixed grated cheeses; hot water. Continued working on the Recharge Medical dev website all day: reworked the safe space and everyone is heard svg images to include animation on focus. Lunch: I prepared for myself a wheat noodle stir-fry with vegetables (mushroom, white onion, garlic, baby corn, broccoli from frozen) in Soy Vay teriyaki sauce, hot water to drink. More carpet spot-cleaning, this time in the bedroom. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: Tommy's leftover meat lasagne. Afterwards we watched YouTube then Fallout s2:e2 on Amazon Prime Video. Patrick went to bed. I scanned photos of the construction of our home that were left behind when we bought the place.
Wed Dec 31, 2025
Breakfast at home: quesadilla with diced red onion, sliced mushrooms, mixed grated cheeses; hot water. Deep-cleaned the oven which had caused problems with smoking when we last used it two days ago. When we tested it after cleaning, it was fine, so I prepared Southern Cooking's hash brown casserole, which I had been wanting to do for a while now. Cleaned the kitchen. Late brunch: one navel orange, hash brown casserole, two small pork sausage links, hot water. Long nap. Walked to JY and Adrian's for a new year's eve party. Scot B, Francis S, Emery M, Brian K, Jose C, Patrick C, Mike P, Nolan, Timmy D, Tom H, Mike, Alf, Mark P, Betty, Andrew M, Tim C, Ryan D, Jason S, Adam B, Patrick M, Galen B, Brendon L, Murtuza, Ry, James K, Harvey V, John B, Hap B, Mark H, Russell J, Albert Z, and more whose names I did not remember or who I did not meet. Appetizers included cheese and crackers, vegetables and various dips, spanakopita, pita, cured meats with pomegranate seeds, grapes, mixed nuts, shrimp cocktail. Adrian made square-cut biscuits with short rib chili and various toppings. JY made a broccoli salad. Albert brought red velvet cupcakes with a white chocolate ganache filling. There were also cookies separately in three flavors: chocolate, gingerbread, and lemon; I don't recall who made them. In the 11:00 p.m. hour I was already yawning, but I made it to the end. Close to midnight we watched fireworks displays on television from Sydney, Australia (pretty good) and from Shanghai, China (excellent), then Tim C streamed KRON4 coverage of San Francisco's fireworks, which by comparison to the other cities was pretty disappointing, and occasionally there were better views outside their sliding glass doors to the balcony, but it was raining so no one wanted to be outside. We toasted goodbye to 2025 and welcomed 2026. Pretty much everyone left right afterwards. In light rain, Pachooey and I walked Ry to his N-Judah stop where he ran to catch the bus then we each walked home separate ways. To bed, exhausted.