tell me where will it end

No blog tonight - I had a v busy day, starting with allergy shots, then six hours of meetings, and then a city council meeting. When I got home, I had to furiously take care of all the tings that I needed to get done tonight, and now I have to go to bed if I have any hope of getting up early tomorrow. Goodnight!

wish i didn't know now what i didn't know then

I did not blog yesterday because I had a long day of travel - it was all smooth, but I had to get to the airport in time for an 8:30 flight, and since I had to check a bag and also wanted to eat breakfast beforehand, that meant leaving my hotel at an unfortunate hour. However, my flight to Denver got in twenty minutes early, which gave me just enough time to grab a glass of rosé and a caesar salad with salmon for my last 'city' meal before heading back to the countryside.

My flight to Des Moines was on time, and my bag made it within three minutes of my arrival to baggage claim, so I was in my car v. quickly. I stopped for Starbucks on the way home, and then I zoned out to a Trevor Noah podcast while completing my drive. When I got here, I caught up with [censored] and we got takeout Mexican since I didn't feel like cooking. This does not count as a 'city' meal, although it is certainly more convenient than trying to cook after traveling all day.

Today should have been a slog, but I played a bit of hooky. I got up this morning and worked, and I sat through several meetings, but I slacked off at 2:30 to take my mom to one of our favorite greenhouses. I usually don't make it there this early in the season, and they had quite a good selection - but I also don't know exactly what I want to plant, so I didn't load up as much as I could have. But we had a v nice time examining all of their plants, and we got lucky to not end up with rain / tornadoes, so I'll take it.

When we got home, I dropped her and her plants off, and then came back to my place, put my stuff away, said goodbye to [censored], did various household chores, and then ran back into town to grab various dairy products + pizza (not something I usually do, but I have many many things I have to accomplish this week and cooking is not something I have time for). Then I came home, ate, unpacked, did some laundry, tidied up, worked for a couple of hours, etc. And now I need to go to bed because tomorrow is going to be an overwhelming slog - goodnight!

peace of mind

I had an extremely chill day in the city of sin. I slept in, lazed about, and eventually showered and grabbed breakfast at the hotel before wandering out into the city. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon shopping along Fillmore Street, which was as fun as it always is. And then I grabbed some oysters and a glass of wine at Little Shucker while catching up on various reading, which was very nice.

Once evening rolled around, I met Claudia and Adit at a wine bar, where we had drinks and cheeses while waiting a couple of hours for the waitlist to finally clear at Khao Tiew. The wait was worth it - we had some excellent curries and a tasty pad Thai, and the conversation throughout was a delight. We probably could have kept going, but I still needed to pack and I have to get up pretty early for my flight tomorrow, so I called it for the night. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

when in rome

I had a nice final work day in the SF office. I managed to rally and go in despite sleeping v fitfully last night, and the vibe was quite chill since only two of the newest people + Adit were there. I myself bounced around three, and I used my self driving taxi time to talk to my mom, which was a delight. 

Then I got to the hotel, promptly took a nap, did a bit of work, and then walked to maido to see if I needed any stationery (spoiler: I always need stationery). Then I came back, took another break, got ready, and headed out for an absurdly late (for me, this week only) dinner at 8pm.

My destination was Collina, and my friends were Julie and Tom and their spouses. I hadn't seen all of them in far too long, and it was a joy to see them again - we caught up properly over many dishes and a much more moderate amount of alcohol than we used to drink in our youth. And we discussed the usual topics that pervade society these days (AI, the job market, Heated Rivalry). So all in all it was a beautiful evening, even if I am wiped out.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

verbier

I had a v nice, v long day in the city of sin. I woke up at 5:45 not at all in it to win it, but I had to get to the office relatively early because I accidentally left my laptop there last night. So I got ready, took a waymo to Philz (the one bright spot), and then walked to the office during my usual 8am Thursday meeting (which is 10am in Iowa, which is much more civilized).

I then spent the day in a variety of meetings, including some walks and some talks, and I also convinced people to order poke for lunch (a mixed bag, since the delivery took forever, but it was worth it). My big boss showed up at some point and some of us grabbed juice with him, and then I snuck out for a quick happy hour with Martha. And then we went to team dinner at Destapas, which was quite nice - team dinners are always pretty entertaining and this one was no different.

After dinner, the usual suspects (me, Adit, and Geoff) dragged a new inductee (Owen) to Lost Resort for a hot toddy. But it's 10pm and I'm almost ready for bed, so all in all it was quite sedate. Goodnight!

I keep dancing on my own

I slept v fitfully last night, which resulted in a surly morning and a stomachache. But I managed to write in bed for awhile before getting ready for work, which helped my mood. And I took a waymo to the office so that I didn't have to deal with people, which helped even more. 

Once I got to the office, though, I had meetings basically all day - but luckily I like the people I meet with, so it could be much worse. Unfortunately I decided to skip the decadent lunch off-site with one of our vendors and instead had to eat the same slop that Adit, for some reason, orders basically every day, but I survived (and vowed to order sushi tomorrow in total defiance of the pressure to be healthy).

However, overall my day was good, and I left the office a little before six. I was supposed to have dinner with Lauren tonight, but I had cancelled this morning due to not feeling well, and I'm glad I did because I definitely felt too run down to go to burlingame. Instead, I rested a bit when I got back to my room, and then I grabbed a quick dinner at delfina on Fillmore (where the server remembered me, which is always nice).

The other thing that was going on today was that Drewbaby's baby was born! She was a month early and also didn't make it easy on Sammie, which was all a bit concerning - but the end result is v exciting, and I can't wait to meet her.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

all that time spent alone in my tower

I had a long but fun day - I got up before six (unheard of, but I'm trying to stay on Iowa time), start working in bed almost immediately, took a quick shower, took a robot car to the office so I didn't have to interact with humans, and then spent the day in a variety of meetings + various tasks. Then I lured people in the office to a happy hour at Restoration Hardware, which turned into dinner with the finance team - we were welcoming a new team member, and I think we did it in fine fashion. 

But now I must go to bed immediately (even though I've already been dozing for a couple of hours) - goodnight!

raining in baltimore

I have nothing to report - I got up at a reasonable hour but did but feel well rested enough to be maximally productive. But I did write over coffee in the corner of the library for a bit, which felt v good. 

Then I went to work, where I slogged with mixed energy all day. I then took an Uber to Burlingame, where I had a great dinner with Barbara and Anne. I would say more but I'm falling asleep in my bed - goodnight!

ain't that mister mister on the radio

I had an excellent day in the city of sin, thanks for asking. I woke up this morning at 6:00, determined to continue to be on midwestern time. I was able to go downstairs and write while fueling myself with complimentary coffee for a couple of hours, which was great. Then I showered, dried my hair, and took a long walk over the Presidio for my daytime plans. The walk was really lovely and I didn't run into any coyotes, which was a good thing since I'm ill prepared to see coyotes when there is not also a shotgun in grabbing distance. But if I had had a shotgun, I probably would have gotten banned from the Presidio, which would have deeply impacted my future self. So all's well that ends well, I guess. 

My plan today was rather unusual for my trips to San Francisco. I met up with Ritu and her family, as well as Chandlord, for a delightful brunch at the Mexican restaurant in the presidio. I took all of the bites of my food, which were huevos benedictos - an excellent gluten-free twist on eggs benedict. However, the fact that I took all the bites didn't seem to get the same acclaim as if children take all of their bites - although it's hard to tell because Ritu's kids definitely did not take all of their bites, so I didn't see what kind of celebration might ensue if they had actually eaten their meals.

Anyway we had a very delightful brunch and then we walked over to the main park area where all the red chairs are, which is one of my favorite spots in the city. We managed to secure a couple of chairs despite fierce competition, and we also grabbed various ice creams from one of the food trucks that was set up nearby. The weather was gorgeous and it was a delight just to be outside hanging out and watching the kids have a good time (while getting very sticky from their ice cream).

At some point I decided that I really needed a break and that I also wanted to keep writing,and so I grabbed an Uber and came back to my hotel while Ritu and her family continued on with their adventures. However, I had agreed to meet them for dinner so I found them again at 4:30 at Fiorella in Noe. This plan included Adit and Priyanka and their kids, as well as Claude, which meant that we were already a large group. Then Jeevyboi and his girlfriend showed up, which made for quite the party. Luckily it was 4:30 p.m., which is early even for the early bird crowd, and so there was no issue with us taking up a gigantic table and ordering all the various things on the menu.

We had a very delightful conversation, despite the usual interruptions from the children, and then we all ended up walking a few blocks down the street to grab ice cream. I, however, did not grab ice cream because the fact that I had dinner after already being full from brunch meant that I knew that I was going to be way too full for the second dinner that I had planned tonight. 

So I parted ways from the group just in time to waymo over to my dinner with Shedletsky. We had booked this with the intent of including Christina, but she had had to stay home at the last minute due to child care duties. However, Shedletsky and I had a great time - we split a bottle of wine, and I just had a handful of bites of my pork, which I expected givem how full my stomach is. Luckily he did not yell at me because he is not in parent mode, and I wasn't forced to take more bites, but it's too bad I was so full because that pork chop was excellent.

Anyway we caught up on life, went deep on AI, and talked about various novels that we've read in the past few years, all of which did a lot of good for my soul. I'm intentionally trying to see people on this trip that I don't usually get to see, which has been nice so far, and so we will see how this trend continues over the next week. 

But now I really need to go to sleep if I'm going to get up in the morning and do anything before work - goodnight!