July 2026
Summary: Fourth of Ju-Playa Party; Dinner party at home with Patrick: Suzan, Tim, Simon, Josh, Sheening.
Dates on this page
Wed Jul 1, 2026
Breakfast: plain yogurt with blueberries and sliced half banana with Patrick's homemade cinnamon syrup, hot water. Continued painting the inner stairwell handrail. Lunch: two navel oranges, leftover pizza, hot water. Walked and rode Muni to a medical appointment. Photowalked home. Dinner at home with Patrick: chicken schwarma with rice and naan, all from frozen, hot water. Cocktail: we shared a Maru-Hi pineapple. We watched YouTube, including Confessions on a Fire Island Dance Floor via Finding Fire Island Documentary - Jess Rothschild then more YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and started the dishwasher. Changed toothbrush heads. Late snack: one pork and green onion bun from frozen.
Thu Jul 2, 2026
Breakfast: achiote chicken tacos with scrambled egg, monterey jack, and Bi-Rite guac sauce; hot water. Plant care: inserted a support stake for the purple cala lily. Cleaned the bistro table and one chair and moved them from the balcony to just inside the sliding glass door to try having a place for me to eat meals closer to light. Lunch: cinnamon syrup cold brew, Bi-Rite rustic marinara on naan from frozen with grated mozzarella and fresh oregano. Patrick had the same marinara and mozz but on english muffin—no oregano. Patrick napped. Patrick and I continued painting the inner stairwell handrail. Recharge Medical work: I-693 promo flyer, edited a new blog post about I-693 mistakes and tips. We moved the second of two bistro chairs from the balcony to inside. Dinner at home with Patrick: instant ramen with deli sliced beef, diced green onions, seaweed, black sesame seed; hot water. Mine also included mixed greens. We watched The Bear s5:e3 on Hulu then Jazz on a Summer's Day on Kanopy. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and started the dishwasher. Recharge Medical work: continued editing, followed up on open tasks. Maintenance for Tina's website: move from PHP 8.0 to PHP 8.3. I also attempted to migrate her site from Grav 1.7.53.2 to 2.0 but it failed because the markup it generated failed to correctly translate some html entities. I don't have time to troubleshoot this now, so I'll just try again in a few weeks. Changed all remaining websites from PHP 8.0 to 8.3. Partially deep-cleaned the Oxo pepper mill. To bed late.
Fri Jul 3, 2026
Breakfast with Patrick: Tartine bread french toast with sliced strawberries and maple syrup, crisp oven-baked bacon, Nespresso coffee and hot water for both. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Patrick and I cleaned paint brushes from yesterday with mineral spirit substitute. I cleaned the sink area in the south bathroom. Removed dirt from the door from the outer stairwell to the garage following tree trimming. Recharge Medical work: lots of followup: I-693 flyer and outreach letter, responding to AI suggestions for the website, marketing and outreach path review and analysis, editing new content. Instead of lunch, I had an early afternoon snack: half croissant and half morning bun from Philz Coffee via Too Good To Go with cold milk and hot water. Foot care. Cleaned the north bathroom. Vacuumed the north bedroom. Shower. Changed two AirTag batteries. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from 4505 Burgers & BBQ: 4-piece fried chicken, baked beans side, french fries side, house white bbq sauce, classic caesar salad. We ended up eating very little of the salad; the rest of the food filled us. We watched The Bear s5:e4 on Hulu then Did I Change Your Mind? with Dan Souza s1:e6 Kardea Brown vs Olives. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes and cleaned the kitchen. Trash management. Labelled a paint can reference card on which I had painted a sample of the paint, then sealed it inside a snack-sized Ziploc bag, then adhered it to the paint can with painter's tape. Late snack: warmed matcha swirl bread slice from Philz Coffee via Too Good To Go with warm milk. Started the dishwasher. To bed.
Sat Jul 4, 2026
Slept in. Realized that the stainless steel baffle grease filters had been emerging from the dishwasher not entirely clean because of grease and grime built up in their channels. Deep-cleaned one stainless steel baffle grease filter, ruining the smaller brush in an Oxo Good Grips Deep Clean Brush Set. Late breakfast: caesar salad from last night's dinner, hot water. Deep-cleaned the other stainless steel baffle grease filter. Lunch: caesar salad from last night's dinner, hot water. In the afternoon I walked and rode Muni and BART to 3rd Annual Fourth of Ju-Playa Birthday Party (and potluck). In attendance and whom I met, encountered, or talked to: Sheening, Josh, Spencer, John, Sam, Dom, Luna, Hap, Arthur, Simon, Jerome, Tofer, Loki, Chris, Benji, Seth, Adam, and more I can't recall. We talked about: dogs and dog adoption, Grindr and dating apps and shifting them to incorporate non-sexual social and community aspects, podcasting production mishaps, holiday decorating and the timings thereof including the earliest your Christmas tree may go up and the latest it may come down, the south of Spain including Malaga and Torremolinos, Simon's new song Let Your Love Shine (featuring Debby Holiday and Nas Mohamed), communicating with body language and tone, new jobs, venture capital, recreational drugs and psychological distancing from the self, television (including Hacks, The Bear, The Real Housewives of Rhode Island), Robby Hoffman (and how two of us did not like her Netflix special but one praised her other work), hair care, dance and fitness including D'Arcy Drollinger's Sexitude and zumba, and more. We ate: Casa Barotti focaccia, KFC, cured meats, tofu, jalapeno, pickled vegetables, various spreads, salad, fried potatoes with green sauce, sushi, roast chicken, hot sauce, potato salad, mini sandwiches, at least two kinds of asian noodle dishes, birthday cake, pecan pie, apple pie, blueberries, plums, strawberry cobbler with whipped cream, mixed berries, vegetable bites with ranch dip, tortilla chips, popcorn, ridged potato chips, cheese crackers, mini lollipops, Starburst, and more. People tapped on a drum machine alongside DJs Adam and Bryant. Dog Luna chased an orange ball anywhere anyone threw it. When we did the group photo in the living room everyone was surprised when (Benji?) stuck his phone on the TV. Later he revealed it has mini suction cups on the back. Much fun was had. Walked and rode BART and Muni home. A fine evening. Watched fireworks from the balcony. They were distant and small.
Sun Jul 5, 2026
Breakfast at home: toasted everything bagel with cream cheese, hot water. Scanned and edited tai chi photos for Patrick. Lunch at home with Patrick: Patrick prepared crawfish balls with dill pickle mayo sando sauce. Patrick had one, I had two. Water to drink. Midafternoon snack: half of a ham and stilton cheese croissant, water. Predinner cocktail: blended melon margaritas with fresh honeydew. Dinner at home with Patrick: together we prepared orecchiette with broccolini in marinara with fresh garlic and fresh oregano. Hot water to drink. Afterwards we watched The Bear s5:e5 on Hulu then YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and started the dishwasher. Updates and backups for devices and websites, including upgrades from 26.5.1 to 26.5.2 for both laptops and one iPad Air and one iPhone 16 Pro.
Mon Jul 6, 2026
Breakfast: I prepared for myself french toast with sliced strawberries using leftover french toast batter. Patrick helped me prepare strawberry milkshakes for us with the blender and ice and a bit of honey. Cleaned washlet odor filters. Changed the air purifier prefilter. Prepared old technology for sale. Patrick made a test batch of cornbread, and we tried it along with a side of bacon because it needed to be cooked before spoiling—both delicious. Listed three old technology items for sale online. Skipped lunch because I wasn't hungry, but midafternoon I ate 1.3 navel oranges. (Parts of two oranges needed to be cut away because they weren't good enough to eat.) Scanned more of Mom Ryan's old photographs and documents for archiving and sharing. Patrick and I walked to dinner. We intended to dine at Bar 49 but it was full of people watching a World Cup game that we didn't care about, so we instead dined at Starbelly: two glasses of tempranillo. We shared: small Starbelly salad, burger and fries. $67.28 after tax and before tip. Service by Robbie K was very good. Another worker, however, had extremely bad body odor, but we did not mention that to anyone. Walked home. We watched The Bear s5:e6 on Hulu then trailers in Apple TV then The Simpsons s37:e8 on Hulu. Patrick went to bed. I started the dishwasher. Finished scanning and editing Mom Ryan's old photos.
Tue Jul 7, 2026
Breakfast: cornbread, Patrick's leftover ramen to which I added some fresh mixed greens, hot water. Lunch: roast beef sirloin and swiss on toasted brioche bun with lettuce and mayo, side of leftover french fries with ketchup, hot water. Evening cocktails: we combined Spindrift blood orange tangerine with vodka and lychee vodka and simple syrup. Dinner at home with Patrick: tofu teriyaki with rice and bok choy, hot water. We watched The Bear s5:e7 on Hulu then YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Wed Jul 8, 2026
Breakfast at home: blueberries with plain yogurt and toasted, shaved coconut; hot water. Resolved occasionally squeaky cabinet doors on the north wall in the kitchen by adjusting screws on the hinges that determined how far left or right the door sat in its frame when closed. The problem was occasional because changes in humidity cause the wood to expand or shrink. When the wood expands enough, the squeak occurs because the door rubs against the frame. I also added more rubber bumpers to protect doors both when closed and when fully opened. I also tightened screws for hinges and handles that were just a little bit loose. Shower. Walked to lunch at Zona Rosa with a subset of The Syndicate: Andy M (torta), Scot B (super bowl), Jose C (taco). I had a super bowl with carne asada. Hablamos en Español. Scot shared a new favorite app: Infatuation, which collects the best new places to eat. I shared a newly discovered app: Poolsuite, which delivers a radio soundtrack intended for poolside summers with a retro 70s-80s interface. Afterwards I ran errands (Cliff's Variety, PO Plus) then returned home. House chores: dusted in the south bedroom, deep-cleaned the oven. Dinner at home with Patrick: ravioli with alfredo sauce and asparagus, hot water, red wine. Afterwards we watched YouTube then The Bear s5:e8 (season finale) on Hulu with microwave butter popcorn then YouTube. Patrick went to bed. Began writing a new advanced health care directive. I joined Patrick in bed a few hours later.
Thu Jul 9, 2026
Breakfast: Purely Elizabeth blueberry hemp granola with plain yogurt, blueberries, and flax meal; hot water. Lunch: two roast beef sirloin and swiss on toasted brioche bun with lettuce and bbq sauce, hot water. Cleaned the bathroom, cut my hair, showered, cleaned the bathroom. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: I prepared teriyaki tofu and asparagus over leftover steamed white rice. Patrick helped a bit. To drink: hot water and red wine. Afterwards we watched YouTube. Patrick baked three large chocolate chip cookies, and we shared them with hot milk. Patrick went to bed. I prepared old technology for mailing. Continued work on a new advanced health care directive. To bed late.
Fri Jul 10, 2026
Walked to breakfast at Wooden Spoon with Patrick. We shared The Big Spoon. Patrick drank coffee, I had a chai latte. About $52 after tax and tip. Afterwards, errands. Cleaned the soles of my heated slippers with Dawn PowerWash. Leafblew and swept on the exterior stairwell, the patio, and in the garage. Noticed new damage to the garage, oddly in the same place that I made a repair in the past. Did some minor touch-up painting to interior walls. Shower. No lunch, but in the early afternoon I had a tiny portion of leftover teriyaki tofu and asparagus with rice. Patrick and I used neural filters in Photoshop to colorize some of his old black and white photos. Continued advanced health care directive work. Walked to pick up dinner from El Tucan: burritos, chips, melon aguas frescas. Afterwards I patched holes in walls with spackling compound after hardware had been removed a while ago. Later we rewatched about one hour of Interstellar. We had started on Paramount+ but after encountering the low-volume problem that we had with Paramount+ in the past, we realized we could instead watch it on Hulu, which doesn't have the same problem, so we did that. Microwave popcorn. Patrick went to bed. I processed dirty dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and started the dishwasher. I joined Patrick in bed a few hours later.
Sat Jul 11, 2026
Breakfast: a small portion of leftover teriyaki tofu and asparagus with rice. All day: clean and prep for a dinner party. Lunch at home with Patrick: leftover burritos. Errands. Dinner party at home with Patrick: Suzan, Tim, Simon, Josh, Sheening. Patrick's menu: drinks: large-batch mint juleps. Dinner: garden lettuces with bacon, radishes, and scallion-buttermilk dressing (no bacon for Simon); warm cornbread; whipped honey butter; chicken étouffée (mushroom étouffée for Simon); butter and bay leaf steamed rice. Dessert: peach cobbler with fresh whipped cream. Patrick played Madonna's Confessions and Confessions II. We celebrated a birthday and a new home.
Sun Jul 12, 2026
Breakfast: leftover salad from last night, hot water. Lunch: an almond croissant that Patrick brought home from Le Marais. Nap. Walked and rode Muni to dinner at Elena's, our first time dining at this upscale Mexican restaurant. We walked in West Portal some before dining. Drinks: Patrick had mezcal margarita, I had frozen dole whip margarita. We shared: ahi crudo, tortilla soup, shrimp fajitas (half corn, half flour tortillas). Dessert: choco flan. Our server mistakenly forgot to place our order after she had taken it and realized this shortly after a neighboring table that arrived after us received their appetizer. We weren't in a hurry, and she was very apologetic and gave us a generous discount. We very much enjoyed all the food and drink. Patrick especially liked the tortilla soup. He had expected it to be brothy but this version was thicker. For a second round of drinks (on the house), Patrick had a mezcal negroni, and I had La Maracuya. We enjoyed the plates, high ceilings, the papel picado, and all the decor. Walked and rode Muni home. Patrick went to bed. Google Meet chat with Lani and Dex.
Mon Jul 13, 2026
Breakfast: leftover chicken etouffe with a smidge of diced parsley over leftover rice. Errand: post office. Lunch: leftover chicken etouffe with a smidge of diced parsley over leftover rice. Recharge Medical work: mailing list verification. Reviewed new advanced health care directive and trust intake form with Patrick. Dinner at home with Patrick: dim sum from frozen with soy-garlic dipping sauce. Afterwards we finished rewatching Interstellar then watched Interstellar extras on YouTube and other YouTube videos. Patrick went to bed. I did Recharge Medical work: followup with mailing list verification.
Tue Jul 14, 2026
Breakfast at home. Patrick had made banana bread before I woke. I ate two slices of banana bread and also had a bowl of plain yogurt with blueberries, torn mint, and sliced half banana with a cup of chai (milk and a concentrate from TetraPak). Lunch: leftover mushroom etouffe, cold water. Dinner at home with Patrick: delivery from Fiorella Noe Valley via DoorDash: margherita pizza. We watched Widow's Bay s1:e1 on Apple TV then Did I Change Your Mind? with Dan Souza s1:e7 Rocco DiSpirito vs. Arugula then watched 16 minutes of the documentary called All Man: The International Male Story on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I did Recharge Medical work: purchased a new domain to make it easy for people to get to the I-693 page. I then attempted to transfer one of my other domains and encountered an error that I could not resolve myself. I submitted a help request. Back to Recharge Medical work: drafted a new email campaign. Late snack: leftover cornbread with honey butter, corn chips, water.
Wed Jul 15, 2026
Breakfast: two slices of toasted banana bread, salad with ranch and roasted sliced almonds. Began repairing a small area of damage on the exterior of the garage door near our mailbox. Removed rust with Rust-Oleum Rust Stripper from the outside of the front gate lock and from parts of the front gate. Lunch on the balcony: leftover salad with ranch, roasted sliced almonds, and shredded monterey jack cheese; hot water. Folded towels that Patrick had washed earlier. Followup with a domain reg transfer: all appears to have gone smoothly after I allowlisted a partner domain. Continued cleaning the outside of the front gate lock and parts of the front gate: sand and seal with clear matte coat. Continued and completed the repair of the garage door: sand and paint. Dinner at home with Patrick: I prepared chicken salad sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, and mayo and Pringles smoky cheddar potato chips. Hot water to drink. Afterwards we watched YouTube. Patrick went to bed. Late small meal: Laoban chicken lo mein (from frozen), hot water.
Thu Jul 16, 2026
Breakfast at home with Patrick: Patrick prepared European-style soft scrambled eggs, sausage, poppy seed toast with salted butter (with optional fig jam), and hash brown with ketchup. Hot water to drink. Shopped online for a bistro table to put next to our sliding glass doors so that we have a place to eat that's closer to bright light but not outdoors. Lunch: leftover mushroom etouffee over leftover white rice, hot water. Walked and rode Muni with Patrick to The Rustic for dinner: tavola rustica nero d'avola. We shared: pepperoni pizza, crispy fried chicken with brussels sprouts and grapes. Walked and rode Muni home. We watched YouTube then Widow's Bay s1:e2 on Apple TV then more of All Man: The International Male Story on YouTube. Patrick went to bed. Later, I started the dishwasher then went to bed.
Fri Jul 17, 2026
Sundance Guerneville getaway begins, day 1 of 3. Breakfast at home: pistachio-cherry granola with sliced bananas and blueberries with milk, hot water to drink. At 10 a.m. Patrick picked up a rental car. Lunch at home with Patrick: leftovers from last night. Just before noon we drove to JY and Adrian's Sundance in Guerneville for the weekend. After arriving we unpacked to the first floor bedroom then enjoyed flavored sparkling water and Chobani yogurt with fruit and in the process met Steven D and Hyun K who were finishing lunch. Calvin G and Jeremy W arrived with dog Jasper and we said hello. Lounged and chatted poolside. Rob A finished working and joined us at the pool. Later local friends Bill and John and dog Theo arrived as we moved to the outdoor living room to continue chatting. Adrian and Hyun prepared dinner: greek salad, cedar-plank-grilled salmon, roasted potatoes with lemon sauce, green beans. Dessert: diced peaches with vanilla ice cream. Afterwards, in the living room we played The Hygge Game: What is the biggest difference between your parents? Would you want to know in advance how and when you're going to die? What's better: love or money? Is there anything that should never be joked about? Do you still print out the pictures you take and frame them or put them in albums?
Sat Jul 18, 2026
Sundance Guerneville getaway, day 2 of 3. Pre-breakfast: Nespresso, Chobani black cherry yogurt. Chatted with others in the kitchen. Patrick and I moved to the living room. He read from Trebor Healey's A Horse Named Sorrow. I caught up on journaling. Late brunch: red shakshuka, sliced bread, lemon ricotta pancakes, Tartine croissant loaf french toast. Later, seven of us drove two cars to dinner at Sonoma Pizza Company. (Rob spent the evening with other friends also staying in the area.) This was for Patrick and me our first full self-driving ride in Adrian's Tesla Model Y, and we were very impressed. At the restaurant, there was a problem with our reservation accidentally being marked as arrived, so there was a long delay before we were seated with some of our party having sun in their eyes. We shared meatballs, two salads, and four pizzas. We had eight slices left over (-- the equivalent of one pizza). Various drinks. Service was extremely slow, especially receiving menus at the start, but friendly. All food and drink were delicious. Back at Sundance we celebrated a birthday with a matcha crepe cake and chatted a while in the living room before turning in.
Sun Jul 19, 2026
Sundance Guerneville getaway, day 3 of 3. Patrick and I prepared breakfast. Patrick baked lemon poppyseed bread and banana walnut bread while I assembled blueberry granola parfaits with mint chiffonade. Water to drink. Clean and pack. Patrick drove us home. No traffic issues. Later we walked to visit Kerry and Mom Ryan at home then walked to dinner at Big Finish Wine Tavern, our first time dining here. We drank wine and shared trout dip with Old Bay house-made potato chips and tagliatelle rustida with piedmont-style pork shoulder and parmesan. All food and drink were delicious. We enjoyed the Star Trek touches throughout. Walked home then watched Star Trek: The Next Generation s5:e18 Cause and Effect because it had been playing on the screen in the restaurant then s3:e15 Yesterday's Enterprise because it had a similar theme and because it is my favorite Star Trek: TNG episode. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.
Mon Jul 20, 2026
Breakfast: salt and pepper egg on toasted english muffin, a tiny piece of warmed leftover cornbread, hot water. Troubleshot problems connecting my MacBook Pro to our television with an HDMI cable. Midmorning Patrick and I drove to return our rental car then walked home, stopping at Bean Bag Cafe for beverages. At home, lots of DNS work all day, mostly deleting unneeded records and improving security. Lunch: I prepared for myself instant beef-flavored ramen with mixed fresh greens, assorted fish cake from frozen, and argentine red shrimp from frozen; cold water to drink. Dinner at home with Patrick: steamed dim sum and dipping sauces, hot water. Afterwards we watched Widow's Bay s1:e3 on Apple TV then YouTube. Patrick went to bed. I joined a few hours later.