March 2026
Summary: Sandip Roy in conversation with Jeanne Carstensen; Dinner Party at home with Patrick, Tony H, Scot B, David M, Jeff C; Oscars Bubbles n Bites with Martin and Gray; heat wave; Mom Ryan's 92th birthday lunch with Patrick's jambalaya and George's donuts; Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick.
Dates on this page
Sun Mar 1, 2026
Breakfast: pork sausage, one egg over easy, one hash brown from frozen, one slice of Japanese milk bread toast with salted butter, hot water. Housecleaning: device screens, vacuumed, changed air purifier prefilter, ran the washer's tub clean cycle. Device updates and backups. Sanded and cleaned patio door lock and handle. Lunch: leftovers, hot water. Dinner at home with Patrick: creamy polenta with meatballs, hot water, red wine. Afterwards we watched various YouTube videos including SNL s51:e13 Connor Storie, Mumford and Sons. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. I joined Patrick in bed a few hours later.
Mon Mar 2, 2026
Foot care. Breakfast: curry pork stew leftovers with newly made basmati rice; side of blueberries with local honey; hot water. Trash maintenance. Swept in front of the home. Handled HOA paperwork. Late lunch: beef-flavored instant ramen with broccoli, mushrooms, carrot. Switched from using ChatGPT to Claude. Dinner at home with Patrick: assorted quesadillas with sour cream and guacamole, hot water. Afterwards we watched YouTube then The Simpsons s37:e5 on Hulu. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and started the dishwasher. Recharge Medical web work: very minor styling edits.
Tue Mar 3, 2026
Breakfast: blueberries with plain greek yogurt, toasted coconut, flax meal, roasted and slivered almonds; hot water. Walked to a medical appointment. Lunch by myself at Kung Food: orange chicken lunch special. My meal included hot and sour soup and an egg roll and a small side of steamed broccoli. The orange chicken included slivers of real orange peel, which I don't always see. Water and Coke to drink. (They were out of Dr. Pepper and root beer.) All food and drink were very good. Another diner received his lunch special, but the steamed rice on the plate was overly generous. He asked for half to be removed and received his request. My fortune: A lifetime of passionate pursuits and hobbies awaits. Walked home. Continued reading from Gabriel Tallent's My Absolute Darling. Dinner at home with Patrick: I prepared tuna mac n cheese with peas. Hot water to drink. I continued playing Firmament while Patrick cleaned the kitchen. I finally opened all the vault doors in St. Andrew after some help from Mystery Manor. Afterwards we watched Shrinking s3:e6 on Apple TV then Taylor Tomlinson: Prodigal Daughter on Netflix. Patrick went to bed. I started the dishwasher.
Wed Mar 4, 2026
Breakfast: pork sausage with diced zucchini, diced celery, and chopped parsley; one fried egg; hot water. Cleaned the bathroom, cut my hair, showered, cleaned the bathroom. Lunch: roasted chicken sandwich on toasted sourdough with lettuce, tomato, and white cheddar; hot water. Continued reading from Gabriel Tallent's My Absolute Darling. Nap with Patrick. Walked and rode Muni to a reading at City Lights: friend Sandip Roy in conversation with Jeanne Carstensen. On the way there in Powell Street Station I encountered Scott and Andy on their way to Paranormal Activity: The Play: Pride Night and we hugged and chatted briefly. At City Lights about 40 or 50 people filled the small poetry room upstairs at City Lights to overflowing, very crowded and with essentially no airflow. The reading was informative and engaging. I knew nothing about this part of Indian culture and found it very interesting. Three very cute dogs attended. Afterwards I waited in line with Tai and Drew to purchase the book and have it signed. Phil and Dave also attended. I did not have time to eat beforehand but everyone else had, so I walked alone to Il Casaro nearby. Lasagne bolognese and tiramisu. The lasagne wasn't cooked all the way through on the lowest layer but was otherwise very delicious. I let the server know but also said I didn't need any compensation for the error. The tiramisu was perfect. I also had a glass of nero d'avola. When the bill came she had comped my dessert and thanked me for letting her know about the lasagne. I tipped normally. Service by Luana was good. Walked and rode Muni home. Started the dishwasher. Began importing ChatGPT history to Claude—a cumbersome process because you can't import everything. It only saves the "memories" it considers important and not what it considers one-off tasks. Okay, but I still had to import 12 json files separately because it was hundreds of megabytes—too much for Claude to take in all at once. Then, partway through, I encountered the messages limit for free accounts. It wanted me to wait at least 3.5 hours before continuing. That was my signal to go to bed.
Thu Mar 5, 2026
Breakfast: yesterday Patrick made pancakes for just himself and this morning I ate a leftover pancake he had made. I added whipped cream and blueberries. I had the butter and maple syrup out, but I didn't need to use either of them. Hot water to drink. Continued then finished transferring "memories" from ChatGPT to Claude. Again hit my message limit with Claude, must wait another 3.5 hours. Late morning, Scot B arrives to watch and learn how to replace a light switch. The one I replaced was the office closet, replacing a Lutron Decora switch with a Lutron motion sensor switch. Afterwards we walked to Tanglad for lunch. Continued reading from Gabriel Tallent's My Absolute Darling. Continued playing Firmament. Dinner at home with Patrick: frozen pizza with extras, hot water, red wine. Afterwards we watched YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I joined Patrick in bed a few hours later.
Fri Mar 6, 2026
Breakfast: leftover mac and cheese, leftover rice with roasted chicken, hot water. House maintenance and cleaning: Swept in front of the home. Brushed dust and dirt from the outside of the garage door. Trimmed bushes surrounding the garage door. Patched a small dent or scrape in the outside of the garage door with wood filler. Lunch: leftover rice with leftover orange chicken and leftover roasted chicken, hot water. Resanded exterior door locks and handles at the garage and patio then manually double-coated them with Rustoleum Painters Touch 2X Ultracover Matte Clear using an artist's paintbrush. Swept the outer stairwell. Removed two pads of velcro from the main gate using my fingers then removed the remaining adhesive with Goof Off. Removed many large cobwebs from between the sliding glass door and the screen door. Installed macOS 26.3.1. Continued reading from then finished Gabriel Tallent's My Absolute Darling. Late afternoon snack: tortilla chips. Continued playing Firmament. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Señor Sisig: lime chicharrones and señor sisig burrito for Patrick, kids RBC (rice, beans, cheese) burrito and kids nachos with cheese. We shared ube macapuno churros for dessert. The cheese sauce was spicy (jalapeno juice?), but I tolerated it by eating chips with cheese slowly. All food was delicious. We watched half of Night at the Museum on Netflix. What a silly film! Patrick went to bed. Continued playing Firmament.
Sat Mar 7, 2026
Breakfast: blueberries with plain greek yogurt, toasted coconut, flax meal, roasted and slivered almonds; hot water. Prepared for a dinner party: dusted, vacuumed. Painted the dent/scrape on the garage door that I had patched yesterday. Researched undercabinet lighting. Dinner party at home with Jeff C, David M, Tony H, Scot B. Batch cocktail: old fashioned but with grand marnier instead of simple syrup, lemon peel. Charcuterie: maple cayenne pecans, cinnamon almonds, orange ginger jam, mixed marinated Greek olives, Dijon mustard, quicos (crunchy corn kernels), twisty fennel taralli crackers, Spanish sweet crisp tortas, semolina loaf, baguette, salami (finocchiona, prosciutto, varzi), cheeses: uplands cheese pleasant ridge reserve, marin french cheese co petit creme, mitaca sottocenere al tartufo, and Herve Mons Pave du Nord. Garden lettuces with scallion-buttermilk dressing. Warm baguettes and levain. Creole chicken and shrimp jambalaya with bacon and turkey kielbasa. Dessert: bolo de cenoura (aka Brazilian carrot cake). Scot gifted me a PB Swiss mini screwdriver with 6 bits.
Sun Mar 8, 2026
Breakfast: leftover salad from last night's dinner; leftover slice of levain, toasted with Irish butter; hot water. Plant care. Chatted briefly with neighbor Daniela each on our balconies. Researched undercabinet lighting. Lunch: leftover jambalaya, water. Purchased undercabinet lighting. Reviewed a finanical meeting followup report. Began investigating options for creating a living trust aka revocable trust. Dinner at home with Patrick: Patrick had leftover jambalaya. I made a salad with arugula, butter leaf, roasted and slivered almonds, diced green onions, diced tomato, diced cheese, sliced charcuterie meat. Hot water and wine and leftover old fashioned cocktails to drink. Afterwards we finished watching Night at the Museum on Netflix and began watching Crazy Stupid Love on Netflix. Patrick went to bed. Online chat with Lani and Dex.
Mon Mar 9, 2026
Breakfast: I prepared and ate a slice of veggie frittata with broccolini, tomato, celery, carrot, and cheese. Hot water to drink. Got a minor burn when accidentally touching the pan handle. Duolingo Spanish. Began watching Anthropic's AI Fluency: Framework and Foundations course on YouTube. Lunch: roasted turkey breast wrap: flour tortilla, butter lettuce, arugula, cheese; hot water to drink. Finished playing Firmament by Cyan Worlds on my MacBook Pro. Read another short story from Patrick's forthcoming collection (ATGAG). Dinner at home with Patrick: turkey and cheddar sandwiches with creamy tomato and sweet pepper soup from a carton, hot water, red wine. Afterwards we finished watching Crazy Stupid Love on Netflix then SNL s51:e14 Ryan Gosling, Gorillaz on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and started the dishwasher. Continued planning for automating the kitchen undercabinet lights. Archived Google Drive files. Edited a short story from Patrick's forthcoming collection (ATGAG).
Tue Mar 10, 2026
Breakfast: slice of veggie frittata, 1.5 levain slices with Irish butter, hot water. Organized and filed old financial paperwork, scrapbook items, old photos, etc. For lunch, Sam came over and Patrick served charcuterie. Afterwards they left to shop groceries. I remained, cleaned the kitchen, and did out-of-cycle wood butter treatments for two cutting boards. Paper shredding management. Swept in front of the home. Removed fresh bubble gum that someone had thrown on the sidewalk in front of our home. Deep-cleaned the bedroom bathroom sink drain: poured boiling water, removed lots of long, fine, black hair and gunk with an inexpensive hair snake tool. Another round of boiling water then cleaned. Attempted to resolve two doors rubbing door jambs and failed on both, even after WD-40, because I was unable to remove the pins. On one I probably need vice grips to remove the bottom cap. Dinner at home with Patrick: small breaded chicken breasts and fries with ketchup and honey mustard dipping sauce, hot water. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. We watched Shrinking s3:e7 on Apple TV then Wonder Man s1:e1 on Hulu. Patrick went to bed. Started the dishwasher. Recharge Medical web work: search console error review, made a tiny fix (Unparsable structured data, Parsing error: Missing ',' or '}'), set many fetchpriority = high, linked search console to google analytics, lots of DNS work to resolve warnings for email deliverability. Archived documents.
Wed Mar 11, 2026
Slept in. Cleaned the bedroom bathroom bathtub. Light breakfast: plain yogurt with toasted coconut, roasted and slivered almonds, flax meal; hot water. Shredded and archived documents. Lunch at Castro Tarts with a subset of The Syndicate: Scott T, Andy M, Tim C, Ray F, Scot B. I had bun with lemongrass pork and cha gio. Recharge Medical web work: removed job posting, enable css pipeline and minify, tweaked robots.txt. Unwrapped a new undercabinet light fixture and planned for installation. Dinner at home with Patrick: creamy garlic chicken skillet with spinach, hot water. Began installation of the undercabinet light fixture. We hit a roadblock when one screw broke a quarter of an inch from the head. The screw body was stuck inside the fixture. We both spent about 20 minutes trying to remove it with pliers and needle-nose pliers before I searched YouTube and found a solution that worked. I had seen this solution before but didn't remember it until the video. Use a drill, attach the drill to the screw body directly. Put the drill in reverse. Broken screw is gone in a second. I reassembled the light fixture. I couldn't mount it just yet because one screw hole became misshapen as the light fixture had fallen when the other screw had broken, and I think this was exacerbated by the material being MDF rather than solid wood. I used wood putty to patch that hole and several others that were found when the original fixture was removed. I needed to let that dry overnight, so I cleaned the area and called the work done for today. We watched Wonder Man s1:e2 on Hulu then YouTube. I attempted to create a spreadsheet to keep track of nightlife in the Castro. It seems so hard to find out what is going on these days. There is no single calendar that shows what's happening in just this neighborhood right now, and AI failed miserably at this task as well.
Thu Mar 12, 2026
Breakfast: one english muffin with salted Irish butter, leftover veggie fritatta, hot water. Submitted a warranty repair request with WAC Lighting for the undercabinet light. I suspect that screw threads for one post are malformed, which prevents the light from being installed. Lunch with Patrick at home: roast turkey breast and bacon sandwiches, seasoned tortilla chips (similar to Doritos but spicier), hot water. Began repairing an electrical outlet in the hallway to our bedroom. Errand: Cliff's Variety for hardware. Finished repairing the outlet—success! I was surprised to find that the outlet I purchased at Cliff's costs four times as much on Amazon. Dinner: Patrick and I walked to Santeria, stopping briefly outside our home to chat with neighbor Dan. At Santeria it was fuller than we had expected for 5:45 p.m. We were seated quickly but then there was a seven-minute wait for the waiter. We placed an order for happy hour drinks and nachos and expected to order more afterwards, but after the food and drinks arrived and we got halfway into them we realized we did not need more especially since the service was so slow. There seemed to be only one waiter for the entire inside and outside of the restaurant. We requested our check and that also took a long time but eventually we paid and departed. $30 before tax and tip. Walked home, stopping at Epicurean Trader for a few items and gifts. We watched YouTube and we both got tired quickly. Patrick went to bed. I later got a second wind and shopped online for drawer pulls and flow restrictors and made a minor change to DNS settings for one subdomain before turning in.
Fri Mar 13, 2026
Breakfast: multigrain toast with salted Irish butter, leftover creamy garlic chicken skillet with spinach, hot water. Repotted the dracaena deremensis plant to change its soil from mostly volcanic rock to a mixture of potting soil, coco coir, and the original volcanic rock so that it holds more water and requires less frequent watering. Swept in front of the home, in the street, on the lower outer stairwell, and on the patio. Sanded the face of the lock from the outer stairwell to the garage. It was not a good idea to apply matte polyurethane to the face of the lock because keys invariably end up scratching it. I left the rest of the poly alone. Attempted to use vice grips for the first time to remove a bottom cap from a door hinge on the door to the right of the garage door in attempt to reset the door in the frame so that it doesn't rub at the top. Realized I don't know how to use vice grips. Cleaned dried WD-40 that I had sprayed on a previous day and didn't notice. Lunch: roast turkey breast on toasted english muffin with red onion and white cheddar cheese, hot water. Tried again to remove hinge pins, failed. Afternoon snack: one sumo orange. Recharge Medical DNS work: redirected web requests for ddphealth.com to recharge.clinic, web work: performance optimizations (.htaccess, php settings, removed some fetchpriorities). Dinner at home with Patrick: veggie stir-fry with bucatini, hot water. Dessert: Bi-Rite peanut butter swirl with Guittard chocolate shards. We watched YouTube then Wonder Man s1:e3 on Hulu then Jessica Kirson: I'm The Man on Hulu (hilarious!). Patrick went to bed, and I joined a little afterwards.
Sat Mar 14, 2026
Slept in. Breakfast at home: leftover veggie fritatta, one small piece of chocolate, hot water. Recharge Medical web work: resolved a problem with a missing image in structured data for the dermal fillers page. Began shopping for an alternative to WAC Lighting for undercabinet lights because they aren't handling my warranty return quickly or effectively enough. Lunch at home with Patrick: leftover bucatini, leftover skillet chicken, yogurt, hot water. Continued shopping/research. Afternoon snack with Patrick: previously frozen chocolate cupcakes. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Little Star Pizza: small wedge salad, small thin classic pizza. We watched Wonder Man s1:e4 on Hulu. Patrick went to bed. I continued watching YouTube. Late snack: leftover wedge salad, hot water. To bed late.
Sun Mar 15, 2026
Slept in. I can't recall what I had for breakfast and lunch. Shopped online for desks, desk setup/accessories, and lighting. Google Search Console work. Reviewed financial security alerts. Rode Uber to Oscars Bubbles n Bites Party at Martin and Gray's. We watched the show with Conan O'Brien hosting. Among others, I chatted with Rick, Neil, David, Vikram, Marty, Ryan, Keith, and John. A wide variety of delicious food prepared by Martin and Gray. Pizza by Garrett was every bite delicious. Lots and lots of Champagne and sparkling wine and wine. Martin sent me home with yummy toffee by John. Walked home.
Mon Mar 16, 2026
Slept in. Today begins a heat wave with temperatures in the 80s. Breakfast: leftover wedge salad, hot water. Troubleshot no internet; restarting our router behind our ISP's router fixed it. Troubleshot Firefox failing to start for Patrick: reinstalling Firefox fixed it. Troubleshot slow website behavior, found no solutions. Finance work: taxes, money management. Lunch at home: turkey on sourdough sandwich with brie and balsamic fig jam, cup of creamy tomato and sweet pepper soup from a carton, hot water. Read a new story revision (DOTB) from Patrick's forthcoming short story collection. Tax filing preparation. Dinner at home with Patrick: Whole Foods greek chicken deli meals, red wine, hot water. Dessert: John's toffee. We watched Wonder Man s1:e5 on Hulu then YouTube including SNL s51:e15 Harry Styles. Patrick went to bed. I stayed up a while longer. Late snack: one dried peach slice, leftover potato salad from a dinner delivery order that Patrick had placed last night. Edited a new story revision (DOTB) from Patrick's forthcoming short story collection.
Tue Mar 17, 2026
Slept in. Foot care. Cleaned the bedroom bathroom. No breakfast. Errand: Mollie Stone's to get a baguette that Patrick had forgotten to get earlier. Kerry, Sam, and Mom Ryan came over, and we celebrated her 92th birthday. Patrick prepared shrimp, chicken, and andouille jambalaya with warm french bread. He picked up George’s donuts for dessert. After they left I cleaned. Short power outage at 4:20 p.m. lasting about 5 minutes. Unloaded photos from my iPhone 16 Pro. Uploaded photos to Flickr. Dinner at home with Patrick: Patrick had jambalaya leftovers. I had leftovers from his 4505 BBQ meal. Walked to Orbit Room for drinks with Paul M.
Wed Mar 18, 2026
Slept in. Breakfast: leftover veggie fritatta, hot water. Removed the WAC Lighting light bar that I was unable to install due to it being defective. Initiated a return and sent it, but am uncertain whether it will be accepted. Lunch at home with Patrick: leftover jambalaya, leftover donuts, water. Cleaned the bathroom, cut my hair, showered, cleaned the bathroom. In the afternoon I walked to Oiishi for matcha soft serve on a waffle cone—delicious—then stopped at Cliff's Variety for a few items. Later, dinner at Takara Sushi with Patrick: drunken whale, rainbow roll, caterpillar roll, king california roll, spider roll. Walked home, stopping at Full Proof Bottle Shop in the space where Bottle Bacchanal had been. We stopped in to browse and met shopkeeper Brad, customer Rafaela, and Rafaela's dog Billie. We watched YouTube and Wonder Man s1:e6 on Hulu. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and started the dishwasher. Edited a new story revision (P) from Patrick's forthcoming short story collection. Did some shower glass cleaning in the office bathroom; we still have some stubborn water spots that nothing seems to remove. To bed very late.
Thu Mar 19, 2026
Slept in. Cleaned the bedroom center windowsill of spider webs, spider carcasses, and years of grime. Breakfast: I prepared a 10-egg veggie fritatta with celery, carrot, red onion, green onion, zucchini, yellow squash, grated mixed cheeses, rosemary, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper. I ate one slice and stored the rest in containers for later. Cold water to drink. Cleaned the toilet in the office bathroom. Continued shower glass cleaning a bit. Unloaded photos from my iPhone 16 Pro. Uploaded photos to Flickr. Handled financial paperwork. Investigated how to obtain our marriage certificate and who else I need to notify about the status change. Afternoon snack: one sumo orange, roasted and salted cashews, roasted and unsalted pistachios, water. Dinner at home with Patrick: veggie ragu over elbow macaroni, water, red wine. We watched Wonder Man s1:e7 on Hulu then Mark Normand: None Too Pleased on Netflix (very funny). Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Late snack: Purely Elizabeth maple almond butter granola with whole milk, water.
Fri Mar 20, 2026
Breakfast: leftover veggie fritatta, hot water. Began packing for a trip. Cleaned my white leather sneakers with Dawn PowerWash. Mailed two small packages at the post office after getting right-sized boxes at PO Plus. Stopped at Cliff's Variety for Command Strip picture hanging strips. Walked home. Lunch: leftover veggie ragu over elbow macaroni. Installed macOS 26.3.1 (a) on my MacBook Pro. Nap. Happy hour with a subset of The Syndicate: Emery, Galen, Jose, Francis. Afterwards we walked through Castro Night Market a bit. I met Carlos, Sebastian, Lucky, Andrew. Galen and I split off to get dinner at Pasta Panino. We shared a small caesar salad. Galen had penne with spicy sausage (alla norcina). I had butternut squash ravioli which turned out spicier than I had expected but I ate it anyway. All food and drink were delicious. Service by Kriti K was on the slow side but tolerable. The night market crowd was the busiest I have ever seen. Afterwards Galen rode Muni home. I continued browsing the night market stopping to watch a drag show and then later gogo dancers. Walked home. To bed, exhausted.
Sat Mar 21, 2026
Slept in. Heat wave ends. Installed macOS 26.3.1 (a) on my iPhone 16 Pro. Folded laundry that Patrick had washed earlier. Unloaded the dishwasher. Brunch: leftover veggie fritatta, creamy tomato and sweet pepper soup from a carton, water. Chores: dusted louvers of the plantation blinds, did more deep cleaning of the bedroom window frames, dusted the dining room chandelier, changed air purifier prefilters. Watered house plants following the recent heat wave. Archived notice of yet another data breach. This morning a seam came undone on the bottom hem of a Rufskin tank top, so I sewed it back in place with the sewing machine. Realized that two new Nautica boys size large (or size 14-15) polo shirts (one white, one yellow) that I had sitting in a pile of clothes waiting to be altered were close enough to the right size after washing that I didn't have to alter them. Late lunch: leftover veggie ragu over elbow macaroni, corn chips, water. Began altering a pair of Land's End gray boys size extra large (XL 14-16) gray sweat pants. Dinner at home with Patrick: sloppy joes with tater tots, water. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. We watched Wonder Man s1:e8 (season finale) on Hulu then YouTube. Patrick went to bed. Rolled back iOS 26.3.1 (a) to 26.3.1 in attempt to determine whether it caused problems with SMS forwarding failing, resulting in SMS messages ending up in email rather than in the Messages app. Continued sweat pants alteration: prep crotch seam adjustment. To bed late.
Sun Mar 22, 2026
Slept in. Late breakfast: half order of leftover fritatta, water. Finished altering a pair of Land's End gray boys size extra large (XL 14-16) gray sweat pants. Put away sewing gear. Late lunch: deli roast turkey on toasted sourdough with mayo and white cheddar, water. Vacuumed the upper level and the balcony. Swept in front of the home, in the street, in the exterior stairwell, and on the patio. Removed dried worms and bird poop in a few exterior areas with dish soap solution and a scrub brush. Removed dirt from the east wall of the planter outside the home with dish soap solution and a scrub brush. Trash management. Web work for Recharge Medical: followup on Search Console notifications. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Perilla via DoorDash: we shared an order of fresh rolls and an order of five-spice chicken with garlic noodles. Thai iced tea for both. All food and drink were delicious. I cleaned in the kitchen. Cleaned kitchen cabinet faces with dish soap solution and installed four rubber bumpers for the doors beneath the sink. These seem to pad more than provide a bit of bounce, so I might replace them. Helped Patrick review my edits to a new story revision (P) from his forthcoming short story collection. We watched YouTube. Chatted online with Lani and Dex. On some day between the 17th and today we watched Shrinking s3:e8 on Apple TV. I can't recall which day it was now. Started the dishwasher.
Mon Mar 23, 2026
Had trouble sleeping last night. Breakfast: leftover fritatta, water. Lunch: sloppy joe, leftover tater tots, water. Walked and rode Muni to City Hall to obtain copies of our marriage certificate. Upon arrival I checked in, was first in line, but still had to wait about 20 minutes for the previous customer to finish. Once at the window I was asked for my ID and credit card. I did not need to fill out any of the forms I had prepared and brought with me. After getting to the counter, the whole process took about five minutes. Walked and rode Muni home. Scanned a copy of one of the certificates. Notified University of California Retirement at Your Service of our change from domestic partners to married by uploading a copy of the certificate in a new message in the UCRAYS website. Dinner at home with Patrick: jazzed-up TJ's frozen pizza, water. We shared a glass of red wine. Afterwards we watched YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Late snack: corn chips, toasted english muffin with morello cherry spread, water.
Tue Mar 24, 2026
Breakfast: leftover fritatta, water. More packing and preparing for a trip. Patrick and I reviewed and sorted collections of keys for the home. Lunch: deli roast turkey on toasted sourdough with mayo and white cheddar, water. Replaced some rubber bumpers on kitchen cabinets—much better now. Dinner at home with Patrick: Bi-Rite salads, water. We watched Shrinking s3:e9 on Apple TV.
Wed Mar 25, 2026
Day 1 of 6 of Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick. On this trip Patrick intentionally tried to keep most of our activities within a two-block walking distance because we recall trips where our total Uber bill cost more than the rest of the trip. Breakfast: plain greek yogurt with roasted and slivered almonds, toasted coconut, and one small sliced banana; water. Rode UberX to SFO, catching heavy traffic due to an accident on 101 near Silver Avenue—a passenger car lying on its side. TSA had almost no wait despite recent news reporting nationwide delays due to the government shutdown and despite one of my bags needing manual inspection because we were instructed to leave everything inside our bags. We chose a flight schedule with one layover because it was much cheaper than one direct flight. Southwest flight from SFO to AUS. Our plane was a newer 737 with one usb-c and one usb-a port on each seat back. All entertainment and plane tracking was done via your device. I realize that I forgot my AirPods. Patrick got us extra legroom seats, which I think included one complimentary alcoholic beverage. Complimentary snacks: pistachios, cinnamon graham crackers, and pretzels. Many of us passengers enjoyed that the flight attendant delivered the routine announcements with just a bit of cheek. In Austin airport, we had a late lunch at Salt Lick BBQ where it was hard to find a table to sit and we had to walk a few minutes away to find a suitable place to eat. Patrick had a turkey sandwich with baked beans and sparkling water. I had a pulled pork sandwich with potato salad and pickle slice with lemonade. All food and drink were delicious. The sandwiches are bigger than we are used to. Patrick was too full to finish his sandwich. Southwest flight from AUS to MSY. This time we were served only complimentary alcoholic beverages and pistachios probably because it was a shorter flight. At MSY, Patrick saw ICE agents. We rode Uber to check-in at Hotel Monteleone. I realize I forgot my Invisalign. We unpacked and rested. We visited the pool and gym briefly then walked to GW Fins (504-581-3467, 808 Bienville Street) where the restaurant was celebrating its 25th anniversary. Cocktails: Patrick: Down the Boulevard (Four Roses Bourbon, Cocchi Torino, Campari, pomegranate, $17). Me: Killer Colada (Smith & Cross, Planteray Rums, Bana Canne, coconut, pineapple, orange, $15). The drinks were delicious. Long delay. Appetizer: we shared lobster dumplings (white fish mousseline, tomatoes, lobster butter, $14), which Patrick thought tasted too fishy and not lobstery enough. Long delay. Mains: Patrick had American red snapper (pan sautéed, Louisiana shrimp creole, local long grain rice, crispy okra, $37). I had Scalibut (GW Fins original, halibut, sea scallops, royal red shrimp risotto, snow peas, pea shoot butter, $42). A liter of flat bottled water: $7. I liked the presentation of my entree, but it was not hot enough for my preference, and I didn't complain because service was already demonstrably slow, everything else about the dish was great, and I did not want to wait. I don't think I have ever had scallops served this way with halibut. The scallops are sliced thin, seared and crispy, and placed atop the halibut. We knew they knew that timing problems existed because at one point our waiter asked us if our dumplings had been delivered and we said no. (Why didn't he know?) Patrick was too full to finish his entree. Service by Paul B and timing between courses were notably slow, but we tipped normally anyway since it was probably the kitchen's fault. $147 after tax and before tip. Later Patrick sent the restaurant feedback and now they are sending us a check for the issues we had encountered—so unexpectedly nice! Back to the hotel. We looked in at Carousel Bar hoping to find two seats, but it always seems that this place is packed. To bed.
Thu Mar 26, 2026
Day 2 of 6 of Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick. Patrick and I stopped in briefly at the Tennessee Williams Festival and Patrick said hello to Tom from Octavia Books. We walked to breakfast at French Truck Coffee. Patrick had a latte with a breakfast croissant with bacon. I had a cup of chicory coffee with half and half and a sausage breakfast wrap (delicious, but not hot enough, and I didn't complain). The wrap is a bigger meal than the croissant. We walked in the French Quarter and visited the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC) and notably an excellent civil rights exhibit covering the 1950s to 1970s. We stopped at the Storyville Museum but were not sure it was worth $32 each and did not enter. Bought small gifts. Lunch at Johnny's Po-Boys (504-524-8129, 511 St. Louis): we shared a shrimp po-boy (french bread, dressed). iced tea for Patrick, arnold palmer for me. $28.99 before tip. The receipt says, "EVEN OUR FAILURS ARE EDIBLE!" Luckily we got a table in the front dining area. The back dining area is significantly more miserable due to no windows and loud fans, and there no longer is seating upstairs on the gallery outside. Dessert at Southern Candymakers: we shared a free praline sample. Walked back to Hotel Monteleone. Rested. Ghosts and Legends walking tour with tour guide and fellow writer and SASFest participant Ariadne Blayde, who expertly wove historical facts and fiction with local folklore and hearsay and personal stories—highly recommended. At a break in the tour Patrick and I stopped at Lafitte's Hotel for drinks: margarita for Patrick, mai tai for me. The tour ended at the river levee. Walked back to Hotel Monteleone. Dinner in Hotel Monteleone at Criollo. Cocktails: vieux carre for Patrick, velasco and sand for me. Bread service: very soft, hot, sliced, house-made grape and rosemary focaccia with olive oil, salt, shredded garlic, and a tiny amount of chili flakes—heavenly and not too spicy for me. Next we shared one raviolo al' uovo (egg yolk and ricotta raviolo, parmesan sage, proscuitto, lemon beurre blanc), also delicious. We shared the gulf shrimp, blue crab, and avocado salad (chilled gulf shellfish, avocado, citrus vinaigrette, toasted pumpkin seeds). There were inedible bits of crab that I had to remove, but we did not complain about this, and the dish was otherwise delicious. We shared one entree: trout piccata with broccolini (sauteed speckled trout, lemon-caper beurre blanc, green beans almondine), also delicious, and notably including a nice crust that Patrick says is not common on a fish piccata. Too full for dessert. We were sat next to a window, and an LED street lamp shone cold blue light in my face the entire time, but it wasn't the restaurant's fault. In retrospect, I would have requested being sat at a different table. $128 after tax and before a $25 tip. Service by Johnson L was very good. I thought this was the third-best meal on our trip. Again we stopped at Carousel Bar to see if they had two seats. They did, but only for a few seconds before someone else took them. To bed.
Fri Mar 27, 2026
Day 3 of 6 of Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick. Patrick and I walked to breakfast at Cafe Beignet. Patrick had an order of beignets and a latte. I had a breakfast sandwich on croissant with a chai latte. The beignets seem larger than we remember on our last visit here many years ago. The beignets here taste different than at Cafe du Monde. Not wrong, just different. Patrick was too full to finish his third beignet. My meal was delicious, filling, and the correct temperature. We sat outdoors. A saxophone busker played on the sidewalk just beyond the fence. Back to the hotel. Rested. Patrick dropped off copies of his books with a bookseller and chatted briefly with Tracy C. We registered for the festival then returned to the room. Patrick attended a pitch meeting with a publisher. I visited the sunny pool and sat poolside reading the festival guide and my journal notes from our last visit to the festival in 2024. Returned to the room. Patrick had returned from his first pitch meeting, resting before his second. He returned from the second, and we walked to lunch on the sidewalk at Mr. Ed's Oyster Bar and Fish House. Patrick had unsweetened iced tea with a bowl of gumbo with rice. This was the first meal in the past two days that Patrick finished. We learned that Mr. Ed's is a small chain of restaurants in the French Quarter, all with different logos and brand styling. Afterwards we walked around just to walk, and we checked off a few other unvisited places on Atlas Obscura. Back to Hotel Monteleone. Rested. Walked to dinner at MaMou with the wooden mirrors reminescent of art nouveau and the probably-custom fluted red banquette and the ivory handle Laguiole steak knives. Drinks: la vie en rouge for Patrick, ginger cream soda (non-alcoholic) for me. We shared: salmon mi-cuit with dill, cucumber, and horseradish; risotto with shrimp, crab fat, and radish; bread service: pretzel batard with smoked butter, esplette, and herbs. The mi-cuit sauce is poured at the table. The two dishes we had were the most visually beautiful of all the dishes we ate on our trip and were also very delicious. Too full for dessert. Afterwards we walked to the SASFest opening party at Mr. Gregory's. We checked in at a side gate then did a U turn into a bar to get drinks then explored the bar's back patio and realized it was not connected to the garden where the gate was then returned to the gate and entered the garden. The event was well-attended. A tattoo artist and palm reader were working. A voodoo museum was adjacent and offered as part of the evening's activities but closed before we could visit. We encountered and chatted with Patrick's cousin Albert, Terence D, Timothy, Jim, Rodney, Dave A, Daniel L, Karl S, and more. Walked back to Hotel Monteleone. To bed.
Sat Mar 28, 2026
Day 4 of 6 of Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick. Breakfast for me in the room: leftover blackened chicken salad from Mr Ed's Oyster Bar and Fish House. Walked to breakfast for Patrick at croissant d'or: latte with almond croissant. Walked to and visited M.S. Rau. In all our visits together to New Orleans we had never been to this place until now. It's an unusual thing: an art and antique store that feels like a museum, filled with art and other fine collectibles, some of which have never before been publicly displayed. As recommended, we started on the top (third) floor and worked our way down. Immediately we were stunned to find ourselves in a dimly lit gallery with mostly paintings but also other kinds of works with price tags of $1 million or $8 million. Also, the way the paintings were lit were astoundingly perfect. Because the room was dimly lit so that you could focus on the art, that meant that the light source had to come from in front of the painting, but you could walk right up to it and not see the shadow of your head or body at all. Each work seemed more alive than possible, and we don't believe we have seen lighting done this well in any museum. We spent only about one hour there, but one could easily spend more. Best of all, it doesn't cost anything to enter. Just don't break anything; they might make you buy it! Walked back to Hotel Monteleone. Refreshed. SASFest: Patrick participated as a panelist on Mastering the Short Story with other panelists Tom Cardamone, Jewelle Gomez, Vincent Traughber Meis, James (Jim) Magruder, and moderated by William Christy Smith aka Chris Smith. The session was lively with a lot of audience participation. Afterwards Patrick and I walked to Congo Square in Armstrong Park for the Rhythms Festival. We enjoyed delicious beef yakamein from Tigers Creole Cuisine which was not as salty as I remember Ms. Linda's being, but Patrick preferred Ms. Linda's version. It was hard to eat without spilling because the bowl was full and small and made of styrofoam. We encountered Dave A and chatted a while, then we listened to the music awhile. Back to Hotel Monteleone. We napped. Walked with Patrick to dinner at Bayona. We arrived on time for our reservation, but there was a long wait before being seated—perhaps 15 or 20 minutes. Cocktails: Royal Dauphine (bourbon, ginger liqueur, vanilla, orange bitters, lemon) for Patrick, Hai Tai (Uruapan Charanda Añejo rum, orgeat, lime, Coruba Jamaican rum float) for me. We shared soup du jour: chilled butternut squash soup ($12), Louisiana strawberry and fennel salad (with shepherd's hope cheese and arugula, $18), Ayu Bakehouse baguette (with butter and flaked salt (maldon?)—very crispy, $5), and Moulard Magret duck breast (with black tea lavender honey sauce, mushroom ragout, and sweet potato gnocchi, $47). Two glasses of tempranillo ($40). Too full for dessert. All food and drink were delicious. Service by Arda K and Kaiser was very good. Meal total: $185.15 before a $35 tip. I think this was the priciest meal on this trip. Returned to Hotel Monteleone. Patrick read at the Fiction Contest Reading along with other writers. Just before it started I caught a few seconds of the St. Joseph Parade from a floor high above the parade. We met or encountered: Genevieve, Louis, Richard, Eric P, and Rebecca who lives in Nola, and more whom I have forgotten. For dessert Patrick and I walked across the street to Sucré. Patrick got a single scoop of mint chocolate chip, I got a single scoop of amarena cherry. The single scoops here are big—bigger than a literal single scoop. Delicious! For the first time in his life, Patrick was unable to finish his ice cream—too full! We began watching a Katt Williams standup on Netflix downloaded to our iPad Air, and after a few minutes we decided it wasn't for us. We began rewatching John Mulaney: Baby J: A Wide-Ranging Conversation, also downloaded to our iPad Air, stopping about halfway through. To bed.
Sun Mar 29, 2026
Day 5 of 6 of Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick. We walked to 8:00 a.m. breakfast at Brennan's where there already was a line of people waiting to enter and be seated. A short wait—perhaps 10 minutes. We were sat at the last two-top inside adjacent to the courtyard fountain. Service by Alfredo H. We shared everything. Pot of coffee for two. Ledenheimer short baguette with butter—exceptionally soft shell and fluffy interior, like no other baguette we have tasted anywhere else. Ledenheimer baguettes are also the traditional bread for po'boys. Laignappe: two tiny lemon biscuits (shortbread) with chamomile honey tea butter. First course: café brûlot coffee cake (chicory coffee and bittersweet chocolate cake, pecans, spiced citrus glaze, whipped crème fraiche). Another pot of coffee for two. Second course: blueberry ricotta pancakes (blueberry compote, lemon curd, Brennan's honeycomb). Third course: Eggs Hussarde (housemade English muffins, coffee-cured Canadian bacon, hollandaise, poached eggs, marchand de vin sauce). All food and drink were delicious. The order of coffee cake and the pancakes could each serve three or four persons. The pancakes are particularly fluffy. The Eggs Hussarde are small and quite rich. We were too full to finish a quarter of the coffee cake and half of the pancakes. We visited the turtles in the courtyard fountain. Throughout the meal multiple staff members occasionally chatted with us, sometimes at length, and made us feel at home like we were—or were about to become—old friends. We loved that Alfredo politely insisted on taking our photo on the sidewalk with the Brennan's sign. The meal was rich, and we felt wise to have limited our selections. This meal had the most attentive and most personable service of all our full-service meals on this trip, and this was my favorite meal and restaurant experience on this trip even though we left so much food behind. Back to the hotel room. SASFest: We attended Make ’Em Laugh: Reclaiming Joy With Humor Writing with panelists St Sukie de la Croix, Ann McMan, Eric Peterson, and Genevieve Rheams, and moderator Fay Jacobs. My notes: jewelle and diane, mcd karl, moderator drew jordan, woody allen side effects short story collection, overnight to many distant cities, fran leibovitz dining room furniture, dave barry, duncan feiff (sp?), napoleon dynamite, i'm glad my mom died, joan rivers, augustin burroughs rehab, tig notaro, alan bennett, jeannette mccurdy, ulysses. Back to the room. Rain had fallen during the session. Patrick napped while I caught up on journaling. SASFest Writers Read: Patrick read from Small Spaces. Also reading: Jewelle Gomez and the brilliant Martin Sherman, who wrote Bent. Afterwards we visited the pool, but it was mostly overcast and cool and breezy and so did not stay long. We shared one cocktail with ginger and tequila. Back to the room. Rested. SASFest: closing reception with fresh fruit and beignets and drinks and hosted by Fay Jacobs. Our friend Trebor Healey was inducted into the SAS Hall of Fame. Afterwards Patrick and I walked to dinner at the darkly lit, brick-walled front room in Sylvain. Cocktails. We shared fried zucchini, salad, and burger with the world's skinniest french fries. They easily accommodated a few of my dining requirements. The burger was cooked longer than the medium we had ordered, but we did not complain about it. We enjoyed our meal and would return just for the fries. Patrick asked our server the secret ingredient in the fries, and she said it was MSG. $97 after tax and before tip. Back to the hotel room. Packed. We finished watching John Mulaney: Baby J: A Wide-Ranging Conversation downloaded to our iPad Air. To bed.
Mon Mar 30, 2026
Day 6 of 6 of Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans with Patrick. Walked to breakfast at Cafe Beignet with Patrick: one almond croissant each, small latte for Patrick, large chai latte for me. The croissants were edible but disappointingly dry. Pre-checkout of Hotel Monteleone. Finished packing. Here is my needlessly detailed review of our traditional king bed hotel room 882 in Bienville Tower at Hotel Monteleone. check-in was only a short wait in line and was efficient and friendly. The room is clean and tidy and much smaller than we are used to. The carpet is in very good to excellent condition. We have a nice view of the Mississippi River facing southeast over rooftops that aren't as pretty. The mini fridge contains only two cartons of plain water. The coffee machine is a Keurig-compatible Hamilton Beach. The condition of the room is between decent and good. There are some seams or cracks in wallpaper and molding that could be repaired. Two outlets were loose in their boxes, and one had a plate screw missing. The left door to the TV cabinet has a detached hinge that needs to be reaffixed. The plastic toilet seat has sharp edges that were not sanded smooth after being removed from the mold, and it is not securely attached on one side. Two lamps have one-way bulbs when they should have three-way bulbs. The thermostat appears to do what we set it to, but we wished there were a lower fan setting than the lowest one. The iron works very well. The plastic iron holder on the inside of the closet door is broken and missing a few chunks in places. The art is very nice: a very large Audubon print of a great blue heron, and a smaller Th. Muller map of old New Orleans. The lamps appear to be reproductions of vintage Chinese Longquan celadon porcelain table lamps featuring raised floral motifs on a plain wood base. The water pressure is high, and hot water arrives quickly. Flushing is noticeably noisy, which could be annoying if one person is napping or sleeping. The television and television system feel ancient. The safe works well. The bathroom interestingly has fluorescent bar lighting along two walls which includes above the bath tub and shower. It doesn't seem unsafe; it's fully enclosed. I found it unusual—and useful—for lighting to extend into the bath tub area. Bath products are from C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries and are pleasant. It helped to bring an extension power cord for powering a phone on a nightstand while sleeping; only one nightstand has an alarm clock with 2 power outlets and 2 usb-a ports. The housekeeping staff sometimes speaks very loudly to each other in the hallway which makes it a bit difficult to nap during the day to recover from jet lag, but earplugs are an easy solution. We also occasionally heard neighboring guests talking late at night. All the pillows were too soft for me, but I resolved this by rolling one bath towel under my pillow to give it more support. I used the blanket stored in the closet for extra warmth. The curtains slightly overlap and block outside light completely, but the outline of the front door leaks some hallway light into the room, and a few devices on the ceiling have LEDs that blink at regular intervals. While preparing for hotel departure we noticed that we saved $60 by scheduling Uber 30 minutes in advance instead of ordering whenever we were ready. Rode Lyft to MSY. We arrived at the airport extra early because of potential delays related to the government shutdown and lack of funding for TSA, but getting through security was surprisingly fast—perhaps 10 minutes. Southwest flight from MSY to AUS. Complimentary alcoholic beverages due to extra legroom seats. Snacks on the flight: pistachios, pretzel twists. In the airport at Austin we got food to go from Austin City Market: deli chicken fajita taco (hot), which we ate at the gate, and black forest ham and provolone cold sandwich which we saved to eat on the plane. Southwest flight from AUS to SFO. Complimentary alcoholic beverages due to extra legroom seats. Snacks similar to the previous flights. On the plane, I read from books on Kindle and began playing Monument Valley 2 on my iPad Air which I think I had started long ago and never finished. Rode UberX home. Dinner: TJ's chicken schwarma bowls from frozen, water. We watched YouTube then half of Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride. To bed.
Tue Mar 31, 2026
Breakfast: TJ's cherry pistachio pecan granola with milk, hot water. Reworked spam filters and created some new ones. Rescheduled a doctor appointment. A bit of work for Recharge Medical: reviewed forthcoming special hours. Tightened screws for drawer and cabinet pulls and knobs—all but one which was finicky. Watered the dracaena plant. Lunch: TJ's tofu and veggie kimbap from frozen, water. Continued playing Monument Valley 2 on my iPad Air. Walked to Corona Heights Park then to Cliff's Variety for more rubber bumpers for drawers and cabinet doors. Along the way I encountered USPS mail carrier Mike and we chatted briefly—he had moved to a different route so we no longer see him regularly. Finished tightening the last drawer pull by shaving off a bit of its rough end. Swept in front of the home and in the street. Shredded the paper shredder queue. Trash management. More spam filter work. Caught up on email inbox. Prepped mushrooms for dinner. Dinner at home with Patrick: I prepared mushroom quesadillas with guacamole and sour cream. Hot water to drink. Patrick cleaned the kitchen. We watched YouTube then Shrinking s3:e10 on Apple TV then YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I watched more YouTube then started the dishwasher then finished playing Monument Valley 2.