Day 1199

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Up at 6 and organized for a bit before work.  Read during lunch, catching up on books on my kindle.  A month left before Barcelona and Rome...I'm back into La Strav after several weeks without writing, such is the full-time state of my working life.  Nothing kills my writing worse than a full-time job, that's for sure, and next week will be even worse with extra work from Varinsky.  At least I'm paying off bills and taking care of the cruise.  I'll receive my Zombie Cookie edits from Elizabeth on Sunday May 1.  I'm looking forward to talking with her afterward. 

Donald Trump swept today's primaries, so it's Clinton vs. Trump.  I'm hopeful for the biggest landslide in my lifetime. 

Day 1198

Monday, April 25, 2016

Racquetball in the a.m., which was good and competitive, but for the rest of the day my mental state was super hazy and lacking all sense of focus. It was strange.  I didn't care for it.  At home afterward, I had dinner, cleaned up, then called it a night and went to bed early.

Day 1197

Sunday, April 24, 2016

I drove to Alice's around 8:45 and spent all day with her.  We had lunch at West Portal and bought fruit and vegetables.  It was so windy today.  In the afternoon, I researched Milan.  During our cruise, we dock in Genoa, which is a great town to visit, but Alice wants to see Milan, which is 90 minutes away, so we're taking an excursion there by bus, allowing us enough time to see the Duomo di Milano, the Milan Mall, and maybe La Scala.

  

 

That's about all the time we'll have, though it would be fun to visit Milan's Chinatown.  This will be a busy tour day for us.

Day 1196

Saturday, April 23, 1196

I stayed home and cleaned, read and rested in preparation for my Crocker Fundraiser Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament that happened tonight at Mark Slater's house.  I was the dealer for the 10th year!  Wow!  I can't believe it's been that long.  We played a moderate cash game afterward.  Lots of fun, but man was I exhausted afterward.  Standing and dealing for three hours straight is brutal.  Home by 1 and to bed at 1:15.

Day 1195

Friday, April 22, 2016

I didn't play racquetball this morning because I went to bed very late last night.  I had energy at work, which was a good thing because work was non-stop busy.  This place is too busy for my taste and we're short-staffed.  I don't see that changing anytime soon.  Hmmm.  Home, dinner, reading, rest. 

Day 1194

Thursday, April 21, 2016

After work, I played poker at Mark S.'s monthly table and finally, finally! has some cards to work with.  I had Aces once, Kings twice, Jacks, Tens, Nines, Eights, a flush that hit, a straight that hit, and won four times the buy-in for the first time in months.  It was actually nice being the table captain for a few hands.  Maybe this means my cold streak has come to an end.  We'll see.  I'm usually so unlucky at Mark's table.

I deal Saturday night at his annual Crocker fundraiser.  Should be fun!

Day 1193

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Racquetball in the morning and another day of forgettable work.  Hmm.  Howard has three focus groups in May so it's only going to get busier for me until the cruise in late-May. 

Day 1192

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

This day flew by.  Nothing but work and the daily grind. Ugh!

Day 1191

Monday, April 18, 2016

No racquetball today, but woke up at 5:30 and took care of a few chores for two hours.  Work was long and tiring.  No writing today, but read Chris's novel for two hours before bed.  Very good!

Day 1190

Sunday, April 17, 2016

I was still sore after yesterday's tournament, so I stayed at Alice's and read most of the day, in particular my Barcelona books, planning events for our trip in 41 days.  Alice is eager to try the delicious food.  I can't wait to walk the streets and enjoy the fabulous weather.  It should be a great time.  I drove Austin home in the evening.

Day 1189

Saturday, April 16, 2016

We had our doubles tournament at the club this morning and I played with Kirk, which was a lot of fun.  We were hot and cold all morning and ended up losing in the playoffs to Joel and Victor.  Mike Lippitt and Stevie Rojas ended up winning the tournament in a tight match against Tyrone and Tiger.  Lunch afterward was fantastic as always!

Day 1188

Friday, April 15, 2016

I played an hour of racquetball in preparation for tomorrow's tournament, then went to work, which was again very busy.  After dinner, I went over to Lisa's and we chatted for an hour or so.  It was great catching up.  Bed at 10.

Day 1187

Thursday, April 14, 2016

A long day of work and not much else today.

Day 1186

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Racquetball, work, dinner, rest. That was about all that happened today.  Hmm. 

Day 1185

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Another busy day at work.  I've been reading Best American Short Stories 2014, which are great. 

Day 1184

Monday, April 11, 2016

Racquetball in the a.m., then work all day, then home, dinner, sleep.  I was hoping to get a few chores in before bed, but I fell asleep on the couch and didn't wake up until 9:45.  So much for getting anything done today.  Oh well.

Day 1183

Sunday, April 10, 2016

I read all day and took care of ticket reservations for our activities in Barcelona, which is six weeks away.  A very relaxing day that lasted until 9, when I drove home to Oakland and went right bed.

Day 1182

Saturday, April 9, 2016

Alice spent a few hours working for Michael and David in the Marina, so I hung out at a coffee shop and read Data and Goliath, about security and privacy.  Good book.  I met Alice for lunch at Michael and David's and had a wonderful conversation with them.  They'd picked up sandwiches and soup at Green's which was delicious.

After lunch, we walked around Chestnut Street, then went home for a few hours.  At five, we visited Bill and Vicky.  Wayman, Elaine, Nathan and Jerilin were there as well.  We had dinner at R&G, then came back to Bill and Vicky's and hung out for a couple of hours, watching the Warrior game and relaxing.  I didn't go to bed until 11.

In the afternoon I called Nicole and wished her a happy birthday.  She's 31 today.  She actually gave me a wonderful gift in announcing she was pregnant. I'm so thrilled for her.  She will be an extraordinary mom.  We had a really nice 45-minute talk about everything.  I like how everything's come full-circle with Nicole.

Day 1181

Friday, April 8, 2016

Racquetball, then breakfast with the gang at Rolling Dunes.  Neil and Rossana joined us.  Worked all day, then came home, slept for an hour, packed up and headed to Alice's by 8:30.  We had chicken wings.  I fell asleep around 9:15.  I'm dead tired by Friday night.

Day 1180

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Worked all day, then had Judge Neil over.  Took him out to Star Pizza where we caught up, discussed films and the election, then continued our talk at home until 10.  Bed soon after.

Day 1179

Wednesday, April 6, 2015

Racquetball in the am, then home for breakfast, a trip to Starbucks where I met Margaret, then off to work for nine hours.  The day was productive and calm, nice.  After work, I had nothing at home for dinner and was hungry for a burger, so I called the Youngs and invited them for hamburgers at FlipSide.  So good, and so fantastic to hang out with my favorite Bay Area family for 90 minutes.  Pure happiness.  I came home, talked with Chris for an hour, then Alice for a few minutes, then went to bed around 10:30.

Day 1178

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

The end of a four-day stretch that allowed me to focus on connecting all the document management systems together so that they're working properly.  Everything's working right, finally.  This will save time and energy.  Home where I read, wrapping up Vivaldi's Virgins.  I'll get back into La Strav this week.

Day 1177

Monday, April 4, 2016

Racquetball at 5, work from 9-5:30, then home where I continued reading the books I haven't finished.  So much going on right now and new possibilities opening up.  I like that and like the mark I've already made at my new place on Powell Street. The software systems are finally being integrated.  Nice.

Day 1176

Sunday, April 3, 2016

A day of rest.  Alice and I slept in until 9.  Then I had breakfast, washed both our cars, pulled some weeds, then had lunch and watched an episode of Foyle's War with Alice, episode 3, season 1.

I also watched a new HBO documentary on the Iraq War.  I'd like to write a history of the second Iraq War for kids one day, part of my Bad Uncle's History of America series.  The Iraq War would be a good place to start.  My angle would be the intensive opposition to the war prior to our invasion.  Still to this day, I am shocked that such a horrible idea came to fruition.  It's truly one of the greatest unforced errors this country has ever made.  The domino effect has been been so demonically demonstrated than by those neocons intent on turning the Middle East into a democratic reflection of us.  A true disaster if ever there was one.  We broke that country and that region.

Almost through Vivaldi's Virgins.  Very good book.  I'm enjoying it.  Another long week begins tomorrow.

Day 1175

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Up at 6, read a few chapters of Vivaldi's Virgins and went out for coffee with Alice.  I just love being with Alice.  I've never met anyone I love being with as much as her.  She makes me so happy.  We bought groceries on Irving, then came home for a few hours.  We saw Zootopia 3-D at 11:10 in Daly City.

Afterward, we went for Korean food at a local Korean market.  Then we went home where I took a very long, very enjoyable nap.  Alice's parents came over for dinner.  After dinner, we went to the Apple Store and Alice's dad bought a new iPad Air 2.  Very thin and light.  Nice screen!

We came home and watched a documentary on Mike Nichols. 

Later on, we watched an episode of Foyle's War. 

Day 1174

Friday, April 1, 2016

Racquetball, work, a load of laundry after work and Alice's by 9 p.m.  I crashed early.