Thursday, March 1
Motorcycled (!) to work. 40 degrees in Seattle, but 36 when I got to Redmond, instrument panel showed the snowflake.
Thought I would be a bit late so I could take my time at Ladro, but got there in time due to traffic being light, lights all green when got to Redmond.
Walmart call, then call with Angi from FastTrack, then Prash with Shell
Time to get work done over lunch and until 2
Lori and then Disha+Steve in the afternoon
More time to get work done
4:37 shuttle home
After 3 days sober, we decided Thursday was time for imbibing.
Owen made tacos. He was happy for having seen Cam Chancellor at work.
1 Victoria. End of season 1.
Friday, March 2
Drove Melinda's a$
Slept in a bit, so late to Ladro (circa 7:20). Huge line, Cody on his own
Not many meetings. Good FastTrack discussion with Bill Ashcraft, Nitya and I ended up with some action items.
Left early, hit the road at about 3:15. On the way a bit of a flame note from Ales about my latest Spark, saying it was not useful. Sent a long mail back. Interesting to see how it unfolds from here.
Parked near Melinda's office and went to the Tzar bar and texted her I was there. Grapefruity beer, kinda weird. She came down and had a dirty vodka.
Ride home encountered a few bad driver incidents. Also weird.
Also on the drive got a text from Stuart that he had mom in the ER. "Lost her legs" again. Checked into the hospital by Dr. Story.
We watched the Darkest Hour with Gary Oldman as Churchill. He was good, movie mediocre.
I went to pick up Sutton from the airport. He said that abuela had shortness of breath. But all the ER drama was after he left.
Saturday, March 3
Strange dream last night. Taking the SAT to do a second round of college. "They" had modernized the test, which involved traveling around and needing to memorize what you saw. I was getting lost, couldn't take notes, the cardboard slips on which to take notes were getting mixed up. Crapped my pants, like when having severe flu, couldn't get it cleaned up complete. Waiting for a train, started to board and that one wasn't for our group.
Ladro run with Sutton. No parking, no tables, though we were there at 8:30.
Met Market run, Sutton went with us.
Did a run to the "truck in the area."
50 minutes on the bike, HR target 99, 742 calories.
Took Melinda to work to download and scan/copy tax forms.
Steak, asparagus, pasta salad, good bread+butter for dinner. Yum
Watched the Oscar shorts nominees. All good.
Sunday March 4
A beautiful Sunday morning.
First night on new Loom & Leaf mattresses seems fine. My back is killing me, but likely unrelated.
Ladro with both boys, then they each went their separate ways in their separate cars. Sutton to meditation, Owen to internship. Had to sort out directions for each due to Hot Chocolate 5K closing 99.
Dream with us in bed in a room like at 4704, got mad at Sutton for coming in, he ended up bringing in friends that really made us mad. Coming back to bed, Melinda asked me to other side of bed. Cat was then there, bleeding a lot from the neck, had been in fight. Small bandage wasn't stopping it, Sutton was then taking him. Another part of the dream talking to a guy outside a church who pantomimed looking for his own gun, said he forgot it but still felt safe cuz he knew others had guns.
60 minutes on bike, HR 100, calories showed 16 at end, so must have been 1,016. So much harder than yesterday, might have accidentally had yesterday's HR @ 95.
We did an afternoon shop at Safeway. A zoo. Adam the manager says it's always like that at that time.
Worked in my home office. Wrote up a report on the FastTrack Airlift, from the e-mail feedback I got. Did some e-mail.
Sent a note to the BMW place about getting pricing for a demo S1000RR, with the set of things I would want:
- Premium Package (Gear Shift Assist, Dynamic Damping Control, Ride Modes Pro, Heated Grips, Cruise Control, ABS)
- Rear Bag
- Tank Bag
- High tinted windshield
- Connection for battery tender
- HeliBars TracStar handlebar risers
We'll see what happens with that.
Melinda made halibut with Chinese spices, salad with really good goat cheese. Both boys at dinner.
Abuela lonely, miserable in the hospital, but got to talk to the boys. Has another scan tomorrow. Says her back is a mess. Worried about being able to walk.
Oscar night. We taped and watched it delayed. Jimmy Kimmel did a great opening. Best Picture and Director for Shape of Water, Sam Rockwell won best supporting for 3 Billboards, Best Original Screenplay to Jordan Peele for Get Out. Lots of quality movies this year.
Monday, March 5
Sutton's first day at Children's, a full week of orientation. He got worked up about possibly missing his bus, so we drove him down to Nickerson
Dinner was Korean short ribs that weren't very Korean. Rough night of (non) sleep
Tuesday, March 6
I got up early and caught the first Connector, 6:36. Melinda sent a "sorry" text.
Series of morning calls. With 3 FastTrack people in Egypt and France, with Jurgen, Chris, and Bill about Siemens, with Bill and Fred about upcoming CAB talk.
Nice chat with Becca. She's looking for a researcher and I sent not one but two her way: Ben and Sharon (who happened to be visiting from Texas)
Saw Prash and Randy demo'ing perf to MVPs. Nice show, well received.
Nitya and I met with Si-Qing to talk Floodgate and NPS.
Sharon stopped by, and I introduced her via e-mail to Becca.
E-mails back and forth learning about S1000RR demo I'm looking at. So I went by to pick it up for overnight. Unsure. Roman said "bring your checkbook."
Owen grilled pork tenderloin, Melinda made cole slaw (casserole).
Watched Cenk. Tired.
Wednesday, March 7
Stayed home for 7:30 call to Romania with Nitya after coffee with Sutton and Melinda. When I left the house, Sutton saw me and asked why I came back.
Rode the potential new motorcycle to work. Returned it at the end of the day, got another $200 off offer from Roman (on top of the $500 from yesterday). Will likely go for it. It's to be my last motorcycle purchase. Get a warranty and everything, it has just 300 miles. Kelly Blue Book says retail value $15K, trade in $11,275, i'm to pay 12,600 out the door with all the stuff I want (raised grips, premium package that includes ABS, shift assist, heated grips, back and tank bags, high tinted windshield, and battery tender connection. Nice. will confirm on Tuesday.
First mentor chat with Naomi Harrington, learned more about the blindness she got at age 20 and how she has come to deal with that (and much more)
Good chat with Sherri too. we'll decide on extending her next week.
2 hour massage with Nikki. Told me to stretch my legs.
I called Stuart and thanked him for his abuela service. She's at Hooverwood, will be there for some time. Ugh
leftovers for dinner. I did steak and cole slaw, had too much ice cream for dessert.
no videos (and no drinking)
we have our boarding passes set for flight to Oaktown tomorrow. Sutton will drive us to the airport.
Thurs March 8 - Saturday March 10
Great trip to SF.
White knuckle with Sutton to the airport.
Pleasant flight on Alaska to Oakland. Row 7, aisle seats for each, legroom. I had a nice little girl next to me.
Lyft to Omni on California Street. The hotel where everyone is nice.
sunny day, walked to Tony's Pizza for lunch, quite good. At Washington Square Park.
Back to hotel, worked out. Melinda in gym, me doing a bit of yoga in the room
China Live for dinner with Steve, Beth, Andy, and Joanna. Super mellow waiter who was great, food was good. Walked with Beth, Steve, Andy to where they parked, they gave us ride back to hotel.
A beautiful Friday morning.
Coffee and avocado toast at Bluestone Lane. Nice people, not so great coffee.
J train to Church Street, with some confusion about how to buy tickets, where to catch it.
Off at Church Street, found where Melinda used to live on 14th.
Walked to Dolores Park, up and through, over the hill to Noe Valley. Stopped at Boulangerie Bakery for water, bathroom.
Lyft to Yahoo for lunch. Met Nicole, Bill who Pete is in love with, others. Bill said ice cream was good, vanilla was better. Also met head dev dude for Flickr.
Lyft to hotel. Worked out, hung out.
Lyft to dinner at Cala. Joanna there. Controversy about getting us kicked out of the bar by bad hostess; said she'd promised those seats to people without reservation. Ugh. Went elsewhere for drinks. Then back to Cala. Pete joined the show in progress, had a great time with him. Lyft back to hotel.
Saturday a.m. walked up the big hill to Beanstalk Café. Good bagel breakfasts with coffee. Walked back to hotel.
Packed up, caught Lyft with Raquel, native San Franciscan. Almost asked to go to SFO before remembering that it was Oakland we were flying out of. Easy time in Oakland. Good flight, two exit row premium seats again. Owen came to get us.
Shopping, hanging, Melinda made chicken biryati for dinner. Watched The Big Sick with Sutton.
Sunday, March 11
Time changed, sprung forward, lost an hour. These days many clocks automatic, so only my body was surprised, not my mind when I checked my phone.
Coffee with Sutton. Then went to the meat store to get hamburger plus lunch meats for the week.
Sutton really starts work tomorrow, has to be there @ 7 a.m. so Melinda will drive him for his first day.
Melinda cooked, did her long walk.
45 minutes on the bike for me, HR target 100, 757 calories.
Had work to do, and a new request came in from Ronette for an SLT review, what I've done customer engagement-wise for ProPlus. Had a good story to tell.
Finished the book To Fight Against This Age. Really liked it, even though it's a downer book about how fascism is on the rise (and why), plus the problem of being materialistic and not attending to the important aspects of humanity.
Wrote my book review in these here web pages, and also took some time to get my Pinterest Books I've Read thing up to date.
Burgers on the grill and tasty potato salad, all by Melinda.
No drinking for me.
Watch some of an OJ Simpson special (from his If I Did It interviews before they killed publishing the book). Then some Stephen Colbert.
Monday, March 12
Sunny day, hit 60 degrees.
Motorcycled to work; may be one of the last times on this bike. will be going to make the purchase tomorrow. Missed Melinda and Sutton at Ladro by a couple minutes.
Lotsa meetings. But falling behind.
Got my Girl Scout cookies.
Found out about a tool to assess networks that some team over in server land is doing.
Met with Peter who gave me a few useful pointers, such as to Premier.
Met with Joe Hallock, we may spin up a new version of the UXLP. He's very passionate.
Found out about FastTrack incubation.
Motorcycled home, taking advantage of the weather, and due to logistics of needing my bike at work tomorrow.
Melinda made a halibut dish and salad. Both boys here.
Watch some Rachel Maddow, madness of the Republican party declaring there was no collusion.
Tuesday, March 13
Bought the motorcycle today.
Melinda stayed home sick, so drove the old bike to work.
7:30 call with France and Egypt FastTrack guys again.
Talked to Dawn Lee from Tricia's team about their customer 360 thing.
Made a pitch to the M365 preview customers about giving us robust feedback.
Then rode home, got the title, had lunch, went and bought a motorcycle. It doesn't have all the stuff yet, all on order and should get it relatively soon. Nice and light and fast. And Roman the salesman will give me tips on Airbnb places in Paris, Amsterdam, and Brussels.
Sutton made pasta, Melinda made salad. Owen was doing a final.
Mom still in hospital, not having fun. Removed catheter, but she can't walk, still coughing.
Watched Donald Glover's Atlanta, episode 1. Really good.
Friday, March 16
Been a while. Busy week. Been exhausted.
Tonight we did Book It Theatre at Café Nordo, The Maltese Falcon. Kinda interesting, not awesome. Melinda particularly didn't like Sam Spade, other characters were good. I liked the Peter Lorre character.
Saturday, March 17
St. Patrick's Day. People with running bib numbers at Ladro.
Met Market shopping, then walked to 5 Corners Hardware to get the lightbulb for the breakfast table light.
50 minutes on bike, HR target 100, 814 calories.
Laundry day, 4 loads, including Melinda's sheets, mine too.
Reading Alexis to Tocqueville's Democracy in America. Still in the long intro.
Long nap, much needed.
We've booked the Sept trip to Europe, Sept 1 - 17, Amsterdam, Dartmouth Swiss Lakes tour, Paris.
Pasta salad and pulled pork sandwiches for dinner.
2 episodes of Atlanta.
Monday, March 19
Bad news on Sunday. Owen skipped his internship, we woke him at 11:30 before we walked to the Uptown to see Night at the Opera. came back and had it out with him. which means...out with him. details later.
Biked Sunday, 40 minutes, HR target 101, 410 calories.
Back is seeming better. trying to start ab ripper exercises.
Monday a.m. motorcycled to work. Having to wear backpack, hope the bike bags show up soon.
Eventful day at work. Big item is trying to get an update to Rajesh to support ProPlus+cloud storage as main first push. Awkward meeting with Ronette, then we got things sorted in reviewing same with Brett.
Connector home. Beautiful sunny day.
Sutton made Ethiopian egg stew and rice. Plus salad. Good.
2 episodes of Atlanta. Quite good ones, really great show.
Tuesday, March 20
I've been fretting over doing a draft mail to go to Rajesh to suggest prioritizing workload deployments of ProPlus differently. Got it done to Ronette, but didn't get her feedback, waited all day. sigh.
Melinda up early and I joined her. Drove her a$$.
Normal day of meetings and such after getting my morning writing done.
Lunch with Hoai, who is trying to land a job and pumping me for tips.
Horrendous traffic back.
Mom out of hospital, back at Hooverwood, sounding a bit better. On anti depressants (!)
Melinda made burritos for dinner.
Watched Cenk.
Owen came home and didn't want to talk, but we kinda did. Gave him the June 1 eviction notice, he thought we were kicking him out next week.
Thursday, March 22
A couple days of work. talked to mom last night, but no answer tonight.
No real dinner last night - "catch as catch can" - and ordered Pagliacci Pizza tonight.
Atlanta episode wasn't good last night; trying to be funny with a fake Black America Network broadcast.
Rachel Maddow tonight. Weird Trump shit, firing people and hiring Fox News people.
Sunday, March 25
Oysters with the Gores last night. Good, fun.
Mom not doing well, just hanging in at Hooverwood.
E-mail to Ales and Jeff, long note back from Jeff. Will check with Ronette tomorrow on follow up.
Bike workout yesterday and today. Yesterday was 45 minutes, HR target 100. Today was 50 minutes, HR 100.
also starting ab ripper exercises, taking it slowly building up. Back pain still there, doing the massage ball thing seems to help.
Watched the Stormy Daniels 60 minutes interview. She's easy to believe. I find her lawyer compelling, entertaining.
Will have motorcycle all fixed up with accessories on Tuesday.
Monday, March 26
Drove Melinda's a$.
Lotsa meetings. Left early for dental appointment, the hygienist was pleased with the shape of my teeth. Asked me to floss on more day, to extend my lie about frequency from 3 to 4x a week.
Mom not so down, but the bad news was she had more trouble trying to walk today than yesterday.
Dinner with Owen, Sutton working. Melinda's chicken meatballs and cole slaw (casserole).
2nd night of sobriety.
Back on the Americans, season 5.
Had to work to put together a presentation for tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 27
Bad night last night, wide awake @ 3 a.m.
Coffee with Melinda, then back home. Was the day to take the motorcycle in to get the accessories put on.
Had a brown bag to do, so spent the morning (and last night) putting together a presentation for that. Went well.
Dropped off the bike, got a loaner. Turned out the knee gripper things weren't there yet, do have the loaner for another day.
Meetings, meetings, some work. Fit in time to do a lot of steps and walking around the building.
Connector home. In such a rush left keys and wallet at work.
Broccoli fritters and Caesar salad with Sutton. Heard how work is going.
Rachel Maddow.
Tried mom but no answer, she didn't call back.
Thursday, March 29
Motorcycled to work on the loaner. at the end of the day, stopped by BMW place in Lake City, the knee grippers still hadn't arrived, not coming soon. turned in the loaner. bike has raised handlebars, tinted windshield, tank and back bags.
Eventful meeting was with Ron Markezich, having him mansplainin' to Ronette. Result fine.
Mom had a bad day, removed catheter, back at Hooverwood trying to deal.
Friday, March 30
Was going to see Becky and Rowan at 8 for coffee this morning, but got a text from Becky that Rowan was sick.
Rode the new motorcycle to work.
Took fish for Chris and for Nitya.
Pretty light day for meetings. Fridays generally are.
Connector home.
On phone with mom, heard about Sutton's day.
El Ranchon, as voted by the boys. All our faves were there: Saul, Elba. Got waited on by el jefe.
2 Americans.