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!

I fumbled it when I came down to the wire

I had a couple of very busy days in ye olde Iowa, and I am now in San Francisco after a mad dash to get out of the house this morning, so forgive me for not blogging the last couple of nights. I don't even remember what I did Thursday, except I know that I had intended to cook and instead ate random leftovers like a feral beast. Oh and I talked to Adit for an hour while sitting on my balcony, which was better than working, I suppose, although it's still Adit, so how good can it really be?

Friday was more of the same at work, although I took a break at lunch to run a couple of errands. The weather got spicy in the afternoon, just as it had earlier in the week, and so my last meeting of the day kept getting interrupted by the weather radio. But we all survived, although it seems like every yard and field is mildly flooded.

Since we all survived, Mom and [censored] and I went to Seymour for dinner, where I had my last Iowa steak for the next week or so. Then I spent the rest of the evening packing, and also engaging in some light warfare with the robins that are trying to take over my balcony. They will probably win while I'm gone, which is a real bummer.

This morning I was actually feeling pretty ahead of schedule because my packing was basically done. Of course, that meant that I decided to start a new project a couple of hours before I needed to leave the house, which was ill advised. However, I had been meaning to up pot my tomato seedlings, and I realized this morning that if I didn't do it they were really going to be too root-bound to do much later. So I spent a pretty delightful hour this morning repotting the various seedlings that I had going under my grow light. Almost everything I planted germinated, which means I also needed to thin out the seedlings so that there was only one plant per pot. I seem to have a pretty good start on a bunch of tomato plants, all of my peppers, and my tomatillos. I'm not quite sure that the eggplants are looking super solid, but since I'm the only person who wants to eat eggplant, it's probably not necessary for ten of them to make.

Anyway, as soon as I was done with that, I frantically cleaned up, took a shower, and got out the door within twenty minutes. I made it to Des Moines without any issues and was able to grab a burger and a glass of wine at the airport before boarding my flight. Both of my flights were smooth and my layover in Denver was about as easy as it can be so luckily I got to San Francisco without hidden any of the delays that I expected due to San Francisco's airport construction. And while my Uber driver was a little stinky, he was quite efficient, and so I made it to my hotel and was able to unpack before it even got dark.

I had considered going out tonight, but I'm glad that I didn't make any plans. Instead I ordered Thai food from across the street, ate it while chilling in my room, and now I'm going to try to go to bed before 10 p.m. While that feels absurdly early for my California life, it can be quite helpful to try to stay on central time while I'm here since it means I get up early enough to do things before diving into the slog of work.

But now my eyes are trying to close of their own accord, which I think means it's time for bed - goodnight! 

I don't wanna be false art

I have very little to report today. I got plenty of sleep last night, and then got up, made coffee, and took care of various things before I actually got down to work. Work wasn't quite the slog that it usually is because I only had a couple of hours of meetings. And so while I should have probably done more with the expansive time that I had in front of me, it felt good to be able to ease my way through the day. 

I had originally intended to have dinner with my mom tonight, but when we discussed the plan again we decided to stay in our respective homes since there was a risk of severe weather. This was probably the right call since we ended up with a tornado warning about 10 minutes after we made the decision. The warnings and rather absurd weather continued off and on for the next hour or two, but we didn't get anything really damaging beyond some very heavy rain and a little bit of pea-sized hail.

I spent the rest of the evening taking care of things around the house, eating a bit of a frozen gluten-free pizza, doing a bit of writing, and eventually talking to [censored] when he got home. Now it's time for bed so that I can hit it hard tomorrow - goodnight!

kangaroo court

I had to get up earlier than I usually do because I had an economic development board meeting at the ungodly hour of right am. It took longer than usual, but it was mildly entertaining, so I'll take it. Then I came home and had meetings off and on all day - but it was warm out, so I spent the afternoon working on my balcony, which was great.

After I was done working, I relaxed for a bit, and then worked on some personal projects until my eyes got tired. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

get high like planes

I have nothing to report tonight - I spent the day working, doing laundry, eating leftovers, and taking a much needed walk before unwinding/writing in the evening. But I have to get up early tomorrow for a local meeting, so I really need to go to bed - goodnight!

there ain't enough smoke in my eyes to hide the kinda games you're trying to play

I had a reasonably good weekend, despite the fact that it rained for most of it, which usually doesn't put me in the best mood. Yesterday I slept in until after 9:00, which is very necessary, and then I put it around the house and drank coffee and did various tings. Unfortunately, some of those tings were work tings, but for the most part I was able to focus on my own stuff. Later in the afternoon, Mom and I went to Centerville to stock up on groceries and various goods from walmart, which was a nice use of a rainy afternoon. I didn't need all that much stuff since I'm usually pretty stocked up, but given that I constantly need to cook, there's always something that I can get for my basement hoard.

After we got home, I dropped Mom off along with all her stuff, and then I came home and put my things away. Then [censored] and I ordered Mexican and picked it up to take out to Mom's for dinner. My food was pretty good, and we generally had a nice evening, so I'm glad that we did that. Then we came back to my house, and I spent far too much time awake given how little I actually got done, but no regrets.

Today I slept in again for just a little bit, but then I managed to get up and start getting things done. I spent some time writing this morning and then did various household things. I also kept reorganizing my office, which was a bit of a mess since I tore it apart on Thursday to get a shelf delivered. And [censored] and I had an adventure at the shop where we installed some extra Wi-Fi capability, which went about as smoothly as these things can go given that it's not always obvious where there might be an empty outlet or an available flat and clean surface on which to put something.

After that, [censored] left for the evening and I came home. I did various household activities and made myself a very delicious dinner of roasted chicken thighs and potatoes. This is not something that I can make for my family since neither Mom nor [censored] understand the delights of chicken thighs, so I get to keep the leftovers all to myself. After I ate, I cleaned up the kitchen, watered plants, and then spent the rest of the evening writing and engaging in various other activities. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

and so there's a change in your emotions

I unfortunately had a good day at work that turned into a bad day at work, which was not how I intended to go into the weekend. It wasn't anything catastrophic, but after spending the day only having a couple of (mostly enjoyable) meetings and getting allergy shots, I was surprised for everything to take a left turn after I thought I was done for the day. 

But I rallied and made chicken and rice, which [censored] and I ate while watching two episodes of Scrubs and the latest SNL (Jack Black and Jack White were an inspired host + musical guest). And now I need to sleep - goodnight!