Day 1384

Sunday, October 30, 2016

Up at 7, breakfast in SF, then shopping for another 10-day health challenge, buying all kinds of produce at Farmer Joe's in the pouring rain.  Prepped my veges while cleaning, watching a few games, then Halloween rehearsal at 6.  It's a radio theme that's simple enough and fun, with a catchy little storyline, appropriate for a Monday night.  Bed at 9:45.

Day 1383

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Off to Sunset at 8:30 and breakfast in West Portal with Alice and Austin, celebrating my and Alice's six wonderful years together.  It's hard to believe it's been so long.  In the afternoon, we watched Bill Maher, who has Obama visiting his show next Friday (I'm so happy!).  Took a long nap in the afternoon, had a wonderful salmon dinner, then watched TV with Alice and went to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Day 1382

Friday, October 28, 2016

The weekend is here and it's a busy one with Halloween on Monday and rehearsals for a show we talked about tonight at Richard and Lisa's.  It's a radio theme this year, short and sweet. 


Lisa and I lamented the ongoing nightmare that is the 2016 Presidential Election.  Just when it appeared this nasty campaign was over, another Friday Surprise came in the form of emails on, of all places, Anthony Weiner's computer.  You can make this stuff up.  It's insane. 

Day 1381

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Busy day that began in Sunset in the morning and ended late at night taking care of a few items before bed. 

Day 1380

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Today was Alice's birthday, so after work we went to Sons & Daughters, a really nice restaurant on Bush St. and Powell.

We arrived at 6 and were seated in front of the kitchen in the middle of the intimate restaurant.  We had a seven-course meal with lots of extra samplings in between, all farm-to-table with ingredients they grown and make themselves.  We had a butternut soup with salsify and chicken skin, brussels sprout with celery root and white fish, sweetbread with green tomato and cabbage, an amazing douglas fir soup with maitake mushrooms (so delicious!), quail with gooseberry and yam, a lemon poppyseed and creme fraiche ice cream, and a delicious piece of chocolate with agastache and caramel.  So, so good.  We also had three different kinds of bread with this scrumptious butter that I couldn't get enough of.  I enjoyed everything. After dinner, we took Lyft home to Sunset.  It was a wonderful evening.  Alice Wu was very happy!

Alice in front of chefs in the kitchen

Samples before our seven-course meal

First of three bread items.  Best toast ever!

Brussels sprout dish...so good

Delicious Douglas Fir soup with Maitake mushrooms

A little celebration tray with cookies, milk, and candies

Day 1379

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

I slept soundly last night and woke up around 6:25.  I had a Sandy dream, something I haven't had in many months.  It's always the same dream, which is Sandy licking my hand and so happy to see me.  I did my morning routine and went to work, which was busy again with IPD documents.  Endless in the afternoon.  I finished what I had and caught my B bus home.  I bought a cute birthday card for Alice.  Tomorrow is her birthday.  We're going to a nice restaurant on Bush St. called Sons and Daughters.  Alice will love it.  She's such a foodie.  After dinner, I spent a good 90 minutes working on E-Force emails and getting caught up.  Sometimes I fall behind with my E-Force duties.  I wish I could play more tournaments, but I just can't.  They knock me out. 

I'm reading James Lee Burke's latest book The Jealous Kind.  Good so far. 

Day 1378

Monday, October 24, 2016

Racquetball in the a.m., a very busy Monday, followed by bus B home, dinner, then tidying up.  I'm hoping to keep things organized and clean for a while, at least until the election.  We'll see.

I like these two covers:



Perfect!

Day 1377

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Up at 7:30, a good night's sleep after falling asleep to SNL.  We went to Irving for bagel and coffee, then to Sunset Super for groceries.  I spent the rest of the day at home reading, revising, and playing with my new iPhone.  Went to the library briefly and checked out a new stack of books.


Had a yummy dinner, watched 60 Minutes with Alice, then drove to Oakland and slept at 10.

Day 1376

Saturday, October 22, 2016

Spent the day doing chores, taking care of items, and playing with my new iPhone 7.


This is an app that turns pictures into art.  That's pretty cool!

Watched SNL at night and it was hilarious as always, lampooning the debates, especially DJT.  No reason to talk about him anymore.  He's done.  He's so yesterday's news. 

Day 1375

Friday, October 21, 2016

The end of another busy week, another Friday dinner with Alice and Austin at Mijori, which was...


...delicious!

The Sashimi Boat did not disappoint!
 We ate our fill at Mijori, then headed across the street to Grand Fare Market for coffee and dessert.

Dessert at Grand Fare Market

Oh yeah...

Mocha heaven
Afterward, we drove to San Francisco for the weekend.

Day 1374

Thursday, October 20, 2016

Not surprisingly, a large chunk of the post-debate analysis was focused on Trump's unwillingness to accept the results of the election on November 8.  Even supports are considering it an unforced error.  Everyone else is using his stance as yet another reason why he's unfit for the office.  With all three debates now over, history will judge them as turning points in the campaign, with the win going to preparation over impromptu know-nothingness and petty, thin-skinned retorts.  Trump was played like a finely tuned fiddle.  Clinton plucked him, bowed him, ran her fingers up and down his fingerboard like virtuoso performing a scherzo.  She owned him so completely that debates will forever be seen as the potentially momentous game changers these three debates became.  She knocked him out of his idiotic orbit with a strategy that kept him in a corner, obsessing over one slight, then another, until he was spinning is his own incoherent Aleppo drool.  He never had a chance.  Now all that needs to happen is the final lap to the finish lap so we can end this insanity once and for all and put DJT to pasture where he belongs, far away from the main stream, somewhere that allows him his annoying, boring voice to whine and complain to his confused followers on the fringes of Blametown.

After work, I had my racquetball league, week 6.  I'm improving with my stamina and managed to play 11 games tonight.  And I'm in 2nd place in the rankings!  Sweet!

 I finished at 9:15 but my day wasn't done, because it was poker night.  Ugh!  I couldn't NOT show up, so I came home, quickly called Alice, changed into poker clothing, then made it to Mark's around 9:45.  I stayed until 1 a.m.  A very long day!

Day 1373

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Racquetball, work, debate.  I left work early for the third and final presidential debate, ordered Yang Chow for dinner...




...and had the place ready at 6.  Lisa, Miles, Sophie, Biff, Rhonda, Margaret, and Alice watched with me.  Hillary was very strong tonight.  Not only was she prepared, she was aggressive and found opportunities to poke at Trump.  She wasn't very forthcoming when pressed on her emails, but that is apparently a strategy she has to address the question, then quickly pivot to Trump.  Trump made a fatal error tonight in refusing to accept the outcome of the election.  She said he'd wait and see how things develop, which is the wrong answer to make on a debate stage.  Another non-issue has become an issue (rigged elections) giving the media something new to obsess over.  Trump has good moments, but they weren't sustained.  His answer on Syria was incomprehensible.  Hillary's answers were detailed and thorough.  She's three-for-three against Trump and has proven she is more than ready to lead.  She'll win this election easily.  I'm anticipating a much larger margin of victory than the pundits, who are still projecting a closer race than what we have.  Trump is too incompetent as a general election candidate to make this race close.  He's a total disaster.  I can't wait to see the actual numbers in a few weeks.


Day 1372

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Another very busy day, followed by three hours of cleaning, organizing, and throwing things away.  I've needed to thoroughly organize.  Now my place is livable again, sort of. 

The debate's tomorrow and Don the Con is still whining like a little baby.  What a sad, embarrassing human being he has become.  Even Obama took some potshots at him today. 


Day 1371

Monday, October 17, 2016

Super busy today.  Racquetball in the a.m., then work, home, dinner, sleep.  Blah!

Day 1370

Sunday, October 16, 2016

A day of cleaning, organizing, more cleaning, vacuuming (what a concept), and surprisingly not much political obsessing.  The election will play out upon an inevitable conclusion, though I suppose, in an election full of surprises, we could still have a few left before November 8. 

Day 1369

Saturday, October 15, 2016

With yesterday so insanely busy and dinner with Rossana, I didn't watch any political stuff until 10 p.m. when I watched the NewsHour on my new iPhone 7 plus (which I absolutely love!).  This morning before getting my haircut, I listened to Michelle Obama's speech.



Here's what Glenn Beck had to say about the speech:


I've never posted anything by Glenn Beck before, but I think he may be on to something here.  The momentum continues to build for FLOTUS and her powerful indictment of DJT and his predatory misogyny.  

I know it's not over till it's over, but man, this election feels so over.  DJT is done as a candidate for president.  We all knew he had issues, but I'm not sure anyone anticipated he'd be the disaster he became.  Is it possible to script a worse scenario for him?  He's the least-disciplined presidential candidate of my lifetime. I hope when the narrative is written about this election, historians point to the KO Hillary delivered at the first debate with her Miss Piggy fastball.  Since that pitch, DJT has been off message and unhinged going on two weeks now.  The focus has not become women and their rights, role, presence, dignity, all the things Michelle Obama mentioned in Thursday's speech.  DJT has no effective response to his insults, entitlements and predatory behavior.  He knows who he is.  He admitted as much on Howard Stern several years ago.



Day 1368

Friday, October 14, 2016

After racquetball, I went to work expecting a calm, easygoing day in which I was meeting Lillian for lunch at noon, completing the last of a long project, and enjoying a nice dinner with Rossana.  Instead, my colleague Mario was gone for the day and I had two filings and one rush project to get out the door by the afternoon, so from the moment I arrived until 5:07 I was totally stressed and rushing to complete everything.  Luckily, I had some huge help from Gina, the new person who sits next to me.  I had to run tables on an Appellate brief with cites that went on and on.  We use Best Authority, which is an amazing program, but because I don't use it much I'd forgotten some of the steps involved in cleaning up the document.  I'll have to refresh myself next week and watch the videos again.

Anyway, I ran the tables and completed the project before I left for the day.  Lillian and I will have lunch sometime next week.

I took the NX1 home to Grand Ave and met Rossana at Penrose.



She took me out for my birthday, which was so sweet of her!  We had a wonderful dinner and caught up on our lives, the election, etc.  The ribeye steak we ordered was so delicious...one of the best I'd ever had.  So juicy and seasoned to perfection.

I came home, talked to Alice, watched the NewsHour, then fell fast asleep around 11 or so. 

Day 1367

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Took MUNI with Alice into the city.  Very nice morning.  

Created lists of books to read, gifts to buy for Christmas, and scenes to revise now that the election is winding down and it doesn't feel as close as it did prior to the first debate.  I'm wrapping up a large project at work, which has kept me from the gym and books.  I'll get on track next week!

Day 1366

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

After work, Alice and I went to Le Chapeau, a French bistro on Clement St. in San Francisco, for my birthday day.  We had a wonderful three-course meal along with a fois gras order that Alice wanted to try.  I must admit, it was delicious. 


We had a delicious trio of salmon as our appetizer, followed by Prince Edward Island mussels and duck.



So scrumptious! 

Dessert followed.  I was so full.  We took the Geary bus to Alice's car, then came home and set up Alice's new iPhone.  What an enjoyable, fabulous evening.  Thank you, Alice Wu!

Day 1365

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

I'm not much for birthdays anymore.  I don't need to celebrate them.  I don't need to think about.  I'm just not into them the way some people are. 

However, I usually take the day off on my birthday.  If fact, I can't remember the last time I worked on my birthday.  I can't this year because my vacation days are so limited and I have many things going on next year.  So I worked today and it was very nice.  Even though I'm not into birthdays, when other people make a big deal of it, I'll willingly play along because, really, what other choice do I have?  Alice took me out to lunch at a Ramon place at the Embarcadero, and it was so good.  I love Alice Wu!


Look at her here with her bowl of Ramon.  She's so lovely and adorable.  I'm so lucky to be with her. 

Here's my Ramon and it was so good!  The broth was to die for.


When I came back to the office, I had two birthday cards waiting for me and two dozen specialty cookies in large boxes.  I was very surprised and very touched.  The cards had at least 50 signatures on them.  Amazing.  I sent emails to folks on other floors telling them to grab their cookie before they disappeared.  It was actually a lot of fun hanging out at work on my birthday.  I didn't work too hard.  I had a good excuse. 

Since Alice and I are going out to dinner tomorrow night, I met up with Margaret at Grand Fare Market and had a wonderful dinner with her.  We talked about the election and race and women and everything else we could think of.  It was a truly memorable evening. 

So lucky and fortunate in life.  I enjoyed my birthday very much!

Day 1364

Monday, October 10, 2016

Long busy day that I plowed through, starting with racquetball and ending with a wrap-up of last night's "debate."  The damage has been done with Trump.  He went nuclear with accusations that Hillary Clinton would land in jail if he were president.  His laundry list of Bill's sins from the 90s and early was the kind of spectacle the pundits are still processing.  No one's seen anything like it.

As for me, I think Clinton did exactly what she needed to do in standing tall against Hurricane Don.  You can't KO a hurricane but you can face it with your head held high.  I think she did that.  The Fox news crowd thought Trump easily won the debate.  That's not how I saw it.  I think Clinton's numbers will continue to climb.  I think Trump is done before long.  Oh, and now he's going after Paul Ryan.  What a nut job.

Day 1363

Sunday, October 9, 2016


I stayed home most of the day to catch up (I'm always behind).  Alice had friends from China, so she took her parents and friends to Palo Alto for the day.  I cleaned up a little bit until 5:30, then headed over to Margaret's where there was a full house of debate watchers (Lisa, Richard, Sophie, Miles, Margaret, Ken, Kara, Rossana, Jerad, Kevin, Brad).  The wheels came off around five minutes into the debate (no handshake at the beginning) when DJT went off on every Clinton conspiracy and accusation known to the free world.  He said she had hate in her heart and would land in jail if he became president.  He ranted and raved, and then settled down halfway through the debate to actually talk policy.  The second half was pretty good and substantive, though Trump's positions on nearly everything are scary and disastrous.  I'm not sure this debate will change anything.  The race already feels over with Hillary's KO on debate one, but as we've seen, anything can happen in the final three weeks of an election.

Day 1362

Saturday, October 8, 2016

Alice and I had lunch at Yummy Yummy and rested the rest of the day, watching Blue Angels fly overhead.

Day 1361

Friday, October 7, 2016

Let the record show that in the afternoon of October 7, 2016, the Trump campaign unofficially lost the election.  It's over.  This guy is toast.  With the release of the latest bombshell video clip from the Washington Post of Donald Trump's hot mic moment in 2005 on a soap opera set with Billy Bush, I think it's fair to say this race is no longer a race anymore.  He can't win, won't win, won't even come close.  A blowout is looking more and more likely.  Good.  Deserved.  He will go down in history as the worst nominee in American history.  He's more than a narcissist.  He's Evil Genes all the way, an authoritarian sociopath who has been this way all his life.  He's Bernie Madoff and Bill Cosby rolled into one.  And the Republicans chose him as their nominee.  Had the Republicans chosen someone else like John Kasich, this would be a much different race.  But they didn't.  They chose Trump, and now the nightmare begins.




Have the wheels fallen off yet?  Actually, I think they have.

Day 1360

Thursday, October 6, 2016

A very busy day at work, followed by a night of racquetball in our AA Singles League.  I played 9 games, winning 5 and losing 4.  My stamina has improved, but I'm still losing close games.  I need to practice more but have not time.  Oh well.

I came home at 9:30, had dinner, then went right to sleep.  A long tiring day.

Day 1359

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Racquetball, work, reading, writing, another day in Paradise.  Oh, and catching up on all the post-VP debate spin, which has played out as expected.  Kaine was yippy yappy and Pence was factually wrong on nearly everything.  A split decision and that was that...back to the top of the ticket and the main event.  The news is still focused on Trump, his mistakes, his taxes (or lack of), his language, his sexist behavior, his bravado, his insults, the list goes on and on.  For me, it comes down to his inability to own what he alone created, which was the so-called birther movement that he held onto for five long years.  He has to own his birther movement, but instead he's passed it off as Hillary's creation that he ended.  Wrong.  He started, continued, and concluded this fantasy notion that Obama was not an American, and then when he ended it, he pointed to someone else and said, "It was her...she started it."  Like a five-year-old who hasn't learned how to accept responsibility.  Of all the crazy sociopathic nonsense he's spun for his and our amusement, this to me the truest sign of his character.  He is such a coward for not owning this.  I have only contempt for any person who refuses to own his own bullshit.  He's truly disgusting and wholly unqualified for any high office, let alone President of the United States.  I think America will get this one right with a big turnout and a much wider margin than the polls are projecting.

Speaking of polls, I love the fivethirtyeight numbers for Hillary.  They're rising by the hour.  She's past 70% now and might actually reach 80% by the end of the week.  We'll see.

Day 1358

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

I was so looking forward to the VP debate. I've listened to Tim Kaine for weeks now on the Sunday news shows and on the stump.  He's smart, articulate, a little bit goofy but certainly knowledgeable about the details. 

I watched the debate with Lisa, Margaret, Sophie, Sophie's friend Sidney, and Miles.  From the beginning, I was frustrated with Tim Kaine interrupting Mike Pence unnecessarily.  Hadn't he watched the first Presidential debate and learned interrupting looks bad?  Kaine was better the second half, but I was hoping for another knockout.  He certainly had enough ammunition to keep Pence on the defensive, but his style was so aggressive and abrasive and Pence was so stylistically comfortable that Kaine lost a lot of the post-debate momentum.  He setting down halfway through and was much better, riddling Pence with Donald Trump quotes that Pence could not defend (though I liked Pence's strategy of simply denying Trump said any of those things...denial is such a great tool in the short-term, but I'm sure the fact checkers will be at it tomorrow), but at the end of the day this debate will be a wash, Pence for style and Kaine for substance.  In a few days, these two will go back to being the obscure VPs they already are, which is too bad because this was Kaine's moment to shine.  Unfortunately, he didn't. 

Day 1357

Monday, October 3, 2016

Another week.  After racquetball, I got ready for work and hit a day faced with many tasks.  I could have used a sick day today.  I just wasn't feeling alert or present.  I have days like that where nothing can shake the fog.  Blah.  I'm so sleepy.  Tomorrow's the VP Debate.  I can't wait!

Day 1356

Sunday, October 2, 2016

A day of rest, relaxation, and of course the ongoing political circus the entire world is witnessing.  Day's plot point centered on the leaked federal tax returns of DJT that apparently came within his own camp.  The question remains, who is Deep Trump?  I love listening to Trump surrogates (in today's case, Rudy Guliani and Chris Christie) spin a very damning story into lemonade.  Now Trump is apparently doubling down on old Bill Clinton womanizing scandals and thinking that will help his numbers.  It won't.  After the worst week of his campaign (thanks to self-inflicted wounds), I don't know how he recovers.  I think the campaign is over, but we all have to see how the rest plays out.  Maybe he sabotaged his campaign on purpose.  It's hard to tell what his intentions are anymore.  At any rate, Hillary's been out of the news for days.  That's a good thing.  That's the strategy to winning this election.  Keep your head down and let the media focus on the other guy.

Day 1355

Saturday, October 1, 2016

In SF at 7:45 and went to the eye doctor for an exam at 9, my first in four years...yikes!  Eyes are good but I'll need new glasses.  We went to Costco afterward and got supplies for the week, then went home and relaxed the rest of the day.  We watched Bill Maher, took naps, had a good dinner, then later on watched SNL's cold open, which was hilarious!



Favorite moment:  "wrong...wrong...warmer!"

Day 1354

Friday, September 30, 2016

After work, I went to dinner with Margaret on Lakeshore and caught up.  I hadn't seen her in weeks.  It was great talking about the election and Monday's debate.  The numbers are looking good for Hillary.  The tide has turned and Donald is stuck talking about former Miss Universe winners and deflecting questions about his taxes.  Things are really heating up!