Thursday, May 27, 2021
More energy today. I'll play at the Oaks next week. Reading Harrington now.
Good compliment to preflop charts and hand holdings.
Day - 945
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Two crowns today. I was in the chair from 8 until noon with a couple of breaks in between. I came home and slept most of the day and night. I was out of it. My jaw and head hurt in the evening. Glad that's behind me.
Day - 946
Monday, May 24, 2021
Back to work, busy. Studying poker for Las Vegas in July.
Great to see Phil Mickelson win yesterday at 50.
Day - 947
Sunday, May 23, 2021
We packed up and cleaned the Kenwood cottage. Such a nice stay!
We headed to Napa for lunch around 11. We found a noodle shop that Alice wanted to try, called Napa Noodles. We both ordered Tokyo Ramen. It was great!
We then hung out at Monday Bakery, eating a blueberry muffin and sipping lattes.
Home by late afternoon. What a wonderful weekend with my Wu!
Day - 948
Saturday, May 22, 2021
A wonderful day in Kenwood. We began with a trip to a nursery, Alice's bookstore of sorts, browsing for plants and flowers and possible accent pieces for her garden. From the nursery, we went to the Sonoma Botanical Gardens about five miles from our cottage. We had the entire garden to ourselves.
For lunch, we went to El Morinio Central in Sonoma, a very popular Mexican restaurant. We got there early and managed to find a seat outside. The shrimp tacos were amazing.
After lunch, we headed back to Kenwood and took a nap.
For dinner, we went to The Fig Cafe in Glen Ellen. We were third in line. The restaurant opened at 5. We had a center window seat looking into the restaurant and kitchen, the best table in the restaurant. We ordered fried calamari, a fig salad, a pot roast with horseradish mashed potatoes, and a caramelized pudding for dessert. Excellent dinner!
We came home around 8 and relaxed the rest of the evening. I tried to stay up for SNL, but failed.
Day - 949
Friday, May 21, 2021
Pretty sore this morning and tired. I didn't play racquetball, unfortunately. I'll save it for Monday.
Work was very busy today. I was hoping to leave with Alice for Napa by noon and take my laptop with me, but we didn't leave until 3 p.m. and hit traffice throughout our drive up there. We didn't arrive at our cottage in Kenwood until 6.
We settled in and went to Glen Ellen Market for supplies. We bought a few different things for dinner (roasted chicken, crackers, cheese, sausage, one 20 ounce beer to share, pears, and blueberries.
Day - 950
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Racquetball this morning. Slow and uncoordinated, but glad we're back playing.
Sluggish all day. Hmm. And with so much to do, too. Tough to get things going today.
Family Zoom tonight, which was fun.
I listened to an interesting debate today on whether anti-racism is just as harmful as racism. What? Interesting discussion. John McWhorter was on Bill Maher recently. He's an articulate critic of anti-racist doctrine, which he believes is a kind of new woke religion that is doing more harm than good. He does not like such books as Robin DiAngelo's White Fragility.
Day - 951
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
6 a.m. at Glenn's house for our first meeting face-to-face post-vaccine. So nice to see everyone in one room. We went for a walk after talking for an hour. At 8 I went to Trader Joe's for food, then hit the ground running at work...a busy day.
Started watching Underground Railroad on Amazon Prime. So far, excellent!
Day - 952
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
I did make racquetball today, amazingly. This was my first day back on the court with other players since February, 2020 at our doubles tournament. I was slow, uncoordinated, tired, and for every good shot I made, I hit a dozen or so losers. It was just awful. But it felt good to be back!
Day - 953
Monday, May 17, 2021
Final day in AZ. Flying home tonight. Worked today and at 5 we headed out for dinner at Native Grill & Wings.
Flight was packed and uncomfortable. The ride home from OAK took too long. It's tough getting an Uber late at night, I've discovered. Didn't get home until past midnight and didn't fall asleep until 2. Racquetball tomorrow morning at 6. May not make it.
Day - 954
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Fun times in Scottsdale. Kevin drove me back to Mom's and stayed the night again. We had burgers (Kevin had a salad) and watched Woman in the Window. Well made, well acted, and was hoping for a proper ending. Nope. The ending was a disaster, and because of this, the film felt like a disaster. It didn't know what it wanted to be. Apparently, it was in limbo for a few years. Thumbs down.
Day - 955
Saturday, May 15, 2021
We played 9 hours of poker today at Talking Stick, two sessions total at $1/3 $300 NL and $4/8 Limit. I ended up down $40 for the day, mainly from limit. Dead cards and playing 7-handed is tough with the blinds coming around so quickly. But it was fun to get back into it and play a few hands. We had dinner at Barrio Queen. Very good!
Stayed at the Marriot Courtyard. Came home around midnight and I was out the moment my head hit the pillow.
Day - 956
Friday, May 14, 2021
Kevin arrived at Mom's around 3. We're heading to Scottsdale tomorrow. We had a scrumptious dinner (steak, baked potato, corn on the cob, salad, though no meat for Kevin) outside just before the sun went down. Cribbage was brutal for me...tough cards and the deck was hitting Kevin with every cut, every hand dealt. It was just ugly. Tomorrow can only be better!
Day - 957
Thursday, May 13, 2021
My days in AZ are coming to a close. What a wonderful stay. Kevin arrives tomorrow. I was able to finish up all the work I had these past three day. Off tomorrow.
We had our post-Michelle Silverthorn homework discussion today. Same number in attendance that attended the presentation discussion. This has turned more into a niche group than a firm-wide conversation about race. The task force initially set up last June has sort of fizzled into a non-entity. Going back to the equilibrium of race is inevitable I guess. I did enjoy the reading materials, including Layla Saad's book "Me and White Supremacy."
Day - 958
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
My Facebook rant re Liz Cheney:
A competitor who cannot acknowledge defeat but instead perpetrates the shameful Big Lie that victory was stolen from him is no competitor at all. Such behavior is the epitome of poor sportsmanship and dishonor. Followers of such a shameless competitor elicit even less respect. I'm no fan of Liz Cheney's political views, but I admire her courage, integrity, and basic common decency in standing up for what is right and obvious and necessary from adult competitors who are grounded in reality. I will not forget today's purge by minority leader and chief cowardly bootlicker Kevin McCarthy and his Grand Old Party of contemptible Machiavellian sycophants. Rep. Elise Stefanik is an apt and fitting replacement. While the GOP jumped the orange shark some time ago, today represents a new low that actually renders Republican politics, policies, positions and party affiliations irrelevant. This is what tyrants and deranged sociopaths are able to achieve, a complete unraveling of the rules of order and engagement. In calculating his best chances at holding onto and perhaps increasing power, Kevin McCarthy has cast his fate with the greatest political poor sport in American history. He has forgone truth, rules and outcomes. May history give Kevin McCarthy and his fealty to such a pathological poor sport the shame and dishonor he and his sorry cabal of Trump loyalists deserve. Truly astonishing, remarkable, and profoundly embarrassing what the so-called Grand Old Party has come to.
Day - 959
Tuesday, May 11, 2021
Back at work in AZ. A quiet day except for the last two hours of the afternoon, when I was bombarded. We went to the nearly Harrah's casino for dinner. It's nice with lots of slot machines for people who like slots. No poker, however, which is too bad. Slot machines have evolved in the last ten years. They're more colorful, like video games with comfortable reclining chairs. I will never understand slots.
Day - 960
Monday, May 10, 2021
Up bright and early and on the road by 7:15 for Mom's 8 o'clock appointment at Dignity Heath to remove a couple of benign polyps. We arrived at 8 and her procedure was at 10. I went downstairs to the cafe and had a latte and scone while catching up on writing and reading two chapters from one of my poker books. The procedure went according to plan and Mom was released at 12:45. We drove home and Mom slept a few hours before dinner. I know she's relieved to have that behind her.
We watched Greyhound after dinner: good, solid, escapist Tom Hanks fare.
Day - 961
Sunday, May 9, 2021
What a wonderful treat spending Mother's Day with my mom. The flowers I ordered for her arrived yesterday while she was running errands, so I put them on the kitchen counter this morning before she was up, along with a cute collection of neat little spice bowls from Urban Indigo. Her surprise and happiness set the tone for the day! We hung out at the house, played a little crib (the cribbage Gods were not nice to Mom on Mother's Day...how horrible of them!), snacked, ate a wonderful dinner ( I baked banana break and made my yummy chicken stew), watched a few episodes of Schitt's Creek, and basically kept her occupied and distracted from tomorrow's minor surgical procedure at Dignity Health. I can tell Mom's worried about it, but I know everything will go just fine.
Day - 962
Saturday, May 8, 2021
Enjoyed a fun neighborhood party in the evening with mom and her community friends. Met Nicole and Ken, hosts Jay and Mary Lee, daughter Amy, Barb, Anga from Denmark, and many other guests.
Day - 963
Friday, May 7, 2021
Spent the morning adding the Amazon Fire Stick to mom's big screen and watch Mank after dinner. Excellent film. My kind of movie. I loved everything about it, all the inside stories of Hearst and the stars. I guess some people found it boring and slow. I didn't. Gary Oldman is amazing as Herman Mankiewicz.
Day - 964
Thursday, May 6, 2021
We visited San Tan Village and had lunch at Brio Tuscan Grille. I had pasta and wedge salad. Mom had a wedge salad and thick bread sticks. Very good!
We went to Best Buy afterward to look at laptops and printers for mom for her Sho Lo place. Came home at 3 and played cribbage, had a leisurely dinner, then had our Zoom call at 7 in perfect summer weather. A wonderful AZ day!
Day - 965
Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Up at 4:30 for my early morning flight to PHX, but first I was able to catch 30 minutes of our Wednesday morning meeting with the guys. Great conversation...I was sorry to miss the second half. Arrived at Oakland Int'l an hour early. I had a latte and muffin before boarding my flight. Boarding took much longer than usual because of a system-wide computer glitch. An hour later, we took off and I arrived in Phoenix at 11:30. Took an Uber with Warren, super nice retired cop from Chicago...engaging conversation. An hour later I was at mom's. I love coming here! It's so relaxing and comfortable, and I do enjoy the under 100 degree weather (but nothing over 105, please!).
We hung out, played cribbage, had a nice dinner and watched a few episodes of season 1 of Schitt's Creek. Mom's been wanting me to watch this series for years, so here I go, joining the SC crowd. Funny stuff!
Day - 966
Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Spend the day packing, wrapping things up at work. Leaving for AZ tomorrow.
Day - 967
Monday, May 3, 2021
I had a conversation with a coworker about THEM and the reasons why Emery was demoted at work. She wanted the reason why to be something other than race. To me, the reason was exclusively race-related. That's what the show is about, so why would there be any reason why Emery was demoted aside from race? She would not accept that, so I ended the conversation. This is someone who is also fond of saying "all lives matter" in response to Black Lives Matter. I'm thinking about an appropriate response to this.
Day - 968
Sunday, May 2, 2021
Took care of a few things in the morning, then played bridge in the afternoon with Kevin and watched 60 Minutes in the evening with Alice. My energy is back.
Enjoyed another wonderful latte at Henry's. This may be the best coffee place ever.
Day - 969
Saturday, May 1, 2021
We had lunch at Grand Harbor Restaurant with James and Gary, Austin and Hannah. I sat next to Gary, who is no longer affilitated with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. I guess the school took a much stronger stand on the Black Lives Matter movement than Gary was comfortable with, so he removed himself from the Board in protest. That's a big deal, as the school was so much a part of Gary's life. I listened to Gary talk pretty much endlessly about the sorry state of the world, the over-reaction of the COVID pandemic, the outrage of the BLM movement and critical race theory infecting our way of life. It was essentially all the Fox News talking points compressed into a stream-of-consciousness rant over dim sum and pork buns. Wow. Gary did not sound well at all. I think the loss of the connection to the school is a serious blow. I'm sorry he's no longer on the Board. White people engaging in conversations about race bring out the best and the worst in us. I just listened to what Gary had to say. I didn't say a word and challenge anything. It wasn't my lunch and wasn't my place to make waves. But waves I could have made. Gary is a very accomplished and amazing person, but the things he was saying sounded crazy to me. Just crazy! History is very clear on the degree of black violence and supression throughour our history. Very clear. But I wasn't about to get into that today. The man is hurting, and consoling himself by venting.
The rest of the day we hung out at home and relaxed.
Day - 970
Friday, April 30, 2021
Still tired with little energy, surprisingly. Work was steady but I rested between jobs.
Day - 971
Thursday, April 29, 2021
Still tired, though not as sore. I'm continuing to watch THEM. Okay, episode 5 is something I'll never forget. Just, wow! What a series. Painful and disturbing, but necessary to watch.
Day - 972
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
Worked today but was out-of-commision because of the shot. I just watched TV on the couch and slept.
Hadn't watched a TV show in a while, so began THEM. Wow!
Day - 973
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Received my second COVID shot today at 12:30 p.m. at Kaiser Martinez. No problems, no line. Had Panda Express for lunch, then came home and relaxed the rest of the day
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