Day 1258

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Up at 5:15.  Chores, two loads of laundry, went to Banana Republic, Old Navy and Barnes & Noble, bought four shirts, two under athletic briefs for racquetball, mini night light for reading, came home, cleaned, met Bonnie for coffee at 4, then Lisa for dinner to watch Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley finale.  Facetimed Alice.  Bed by 10:30.  Today went fast.  Talking with Bonnie was good.  She's had a difficult couple of years with the passing of her sister and long-time clients who have either retired or passed on.  She also feels isolated and unable to keep up with the changing times.  She feels irrelevant and consumed by money pressures.  It's certainly a frame of mind.  I'm sure there are many others just like her in the neighborhood who are daunted by so much change and unclear how to do certain things that used to be done one way but are now done differently.  She has a faulty computer and isn't using it, which is a problem.  I'll help her shave some of the fat from her monthly expenses and maybe look into buying a new laptop.  They're so inexpensive these days.  She can get a really good one for a few hundred dollars. We talk next week before my trip to Phoenix.  

The Game of Thrones finale was all right, but I'm still thinking about last week's amazing episode.

Day 1257

Saturday, June 25, 2016

At home this weekend, cleaning, washing clothes, catching up with all the things that get left in the dust during a work week.  Watched a few episodes of Silicon Valley.  What an inspiring, funny show.  It's so on.  So solid. 

It's worth watching a second time.  So brilliant with great casting. 

Whenever I'm home and cleaning, I easily get sidetracked whenever I dust my bookshelf.  I'll pick up a book I have looked at in years and before I know it three hours have vanished.  That's the trouble with cleaning.  I should never start with the bookshelves. 

I shopped for groceries, called Kaiser to set up an appt. for Tuesday (spring cleaning for my health, after my hip issue).  Weather is perfect in Oakland.  No complaints about anything today.

Day 1258

Friday, June 24, 2016

Another enjoyable day at work.  Had lunch with Alice, who brought over an R&G lunch box.  Spent the day on one document, 30 pages, converted a pdf to Word.  It was fun.  Wasn't able to practice any training tips today, but hope to on Monday.  Came home at 5:30 and started the long process of organizing papers.  So many papers.  Hmmm.

Day 1257

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Another enjoyable day at work.  Learning new things.  Taking a few training classes with Danielle.  The weather in SF is breezier, a little cooler.  Commuting isn't bad, 20 minutes in and 25 minutes home.  It's all so nice. 

Day 1256

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Very easy at the club as my hip is hurting, so no racquetball.  I went to lunch with Alice today.  I love being so close to her while working.  So far everything is going so well.  Mario and I get along great.  He's such a fun, colorful personality.  Oh, we're having a good time. 

Came home and crashed early. 

Day 1255

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Second day of work went well.  Once I get fully trained, this job will be a blast for me.  I love the technology.  After work, I went to the club and watched Steve and Ron play for first place in the singles league.  Steve easily won the first game 15-6.  Ron came storming back and took the second game 15-10.  It was all Steve in the tiebreaker, beating Ron 11-0.  I miss not playing singles.  I don't think I could keep up anymore.  That's depressing.  

Day 1254

Monday, June 20, 2016

I woke up early for racquetball and injured my hip for no reason other than playing too hard and being old.  Damn.  My hip's so sore today.  I hate that.

I came home at 7:30, changed, had breakfast, then started my new routine of walked down Lakeshore to the carpool place under the overpass.  It only takes 20 minutes to get into work.  My office is at 425 Market Street.  It's a beautiful office on the 24-26th floor.  I met with Jen from HR, then Danielle the trainer, then had lunch with Erika and our team.  Mario and I sit next to each other and we pretty much get to create the roles we want for our two-person department.  I think that is fantastic!

Day 1253

Sunday, June 19, 2016

The Warriors' amazing, incredible, record-breaking season came to an end today with a disappointing loss that regrettably undermines what has to be the most amazing season of any sports team I've ever seen.  They just didn't have it tonight, except for Draymond, who had a huge game and totally showed up.  No one else really did.  The Warriors only scored 89 points, losing by four to the Cavs.  The Cavs weren't spectacular, but they did have Kyrie Irving, who played like a regular season Warrior all through the playoffs.  It'll take a while to shake off the loss and put the season into perspective.  It was a real thrill and treat to watch this play throughout the season. 

After the game, Alice and I watched Three Coins in the Fountain, an old 50s film about love in Rome.

By 9:30, it was time to go home and get ready for my new job that starts tomorrow.

Day 1252

Saturday, June 18, 2016

Alice had her entire family over to celebrate Father's Day.  We all caught up on our various cruises while eating tons of delicious food.  It's how Alice's family rolls.  I ate too much (as always).  Alice cooked the colorful pasta she bought in Rome which was so good.  We played a fun game called, of all things, Cartagena, a pirate game I bought for Austin a few years ago.  We had five people playing after lunch.  Everyone left around 3, then Alice and I relaxed the rest of the day. 

Day 1251

Friday, June 17, 2016

I played racquetball with Ron Ramos from 5-6:45.  He beat Tyrone last night and will meet Steve in the finals on Tuesday.  That will be a good match.  After racquetball, I finished a lot of things, my bills, blogging, piles of stuff, and prepared all my clothes for next week and my first days at Hanson Bridgett.  I'm looking forward to the new position, work environment, and my new co-workers, who I think will be awesome.  I did my think until 4, then headed over to Alice's.  I continued reading Joyce Carol Oates's memoir until Alice came home.  We went to ABC for dinner.  It was only a matter of time before I crashed, wish I did around 8:30.  I was fast asleep by 9. 

Day 1250

Thursday, June 16, 2016

I wrote, finished up my blog of Europe, then headed over to Mark Slater's house with Richard to watch game 6 of the NBA Finals.  Wow, what an ugly game, right from the beginning.  The Warriors looked horrible and don't seem to have any momentum going into game 7 on Sunday.  Watching the game was painful.  What seemed inevitable is now slipping away.  After the game, I drove Richard home, then came back to Mark's and played a few hours of poker.  I lost $50 when I was dealt pocket Aces and the flop was A T J rainbow.  Of course Mark had the K Q and I didn't pair the board.  Other than that, my cards were very cold.  I came home around midnight and fell asleep around 12:30.

Day 1249

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

After racquetball, I wrote for a few hours, then got my haircut, had lunch with Cheryl at Grand Lake Kitchen, continued wrote on this blog, then met Margaret for two hours at Shakewell, then Richard for dinner at Ikaros on Grand.  We talked for a few hours until 10:30.  It was great catching up with everyone. 

Day 1248

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

I worked out at the club from 5-6:45, then came home and worked on this blog, organizing and arranging pictures.  This took most of the day.  As I look over the pictures we took, I'm struck by the vividness those two weeks still are in my mind, how clear and aware I was in living each moment of our trip.  I think being in Europe heightens my awareness of life and short time on earth, perhaps because age and history surround the landscape.  We don't have a long and deep history here in California, which in a strange way limits my appreciation of the moment.

I continued organizing all the ticket stubs, maps, pamphlets and coins from the trip.  I'm lucky to have spent time on both the Regal and Royal Princess, two beautiful sister ships connecting travelers to the most exciting ports and cities in the world.  It's hard to say which cruise I liked more. If I had to do one over again, really, I'd have to choose both.  I want to go to Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, and Copenhagen again. 

Day 1247

Monday, June 13, 2016

After a fitful sleep, I had energy to finally get my pictures in order and blog about our trip.  It takes about 90 minutes per day to choose and arrange the photos and write a little something about each picture.  I'm now current with Game of Thrones and in the afternoon spent a couple of hours preparing for another revision of my Zombie Cookies novel, incorporating Elizabeth Law's ideas into the manuscript.  At 4 p.m. I cleaned for two hours, then got a large Star Pizza for Game 5 of Warriors/Cavs series.  Lisa came over at 6:35 and we watched a tight, dynamic first half, followed by an off second half for the Warriors.  Kyrie Irving and King James were both solid, amazing even, deserving of the props they're getting.  The Warriors just couldn't hit a bucket.  Back to Cleveland for game 6 Thursday.

After Lisa left, I tidied up, then went right to sleep. 

Day 1246

Sunday, June 12, 2016

We relaxed at Alice's house.  I read most of the day and slept in the afternoon and evening.  I was too tired to drive home at 9, so I continued sleeping until 4 a.m.  Hopefully, I'll have my energy back this week.

Day 1245

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Alice and I met Neil Bason for breakfast on Chestnut Street. Alice had her IHop crapes craving, so we went to IHop for breakfast, which was actually pretty good.  I had pancakes, eggs, hash browns and bacon.  Delish.  We then went to Peet's for an hour.  It was a nice visit. 

Afterward, we went home and relaxed the rest of the day, watching an episode of Bill Maher's Real Time and season 2 of Chef's Table.  I went to the library and checked out a couple of books that looking interesting, including the new Joyce Carol Oates memoir.

I read about 50 pages and began organizing my pictures for my blog.  I did this until early evening when fatigue overcame me and it was time to go to bed.

Day 1244

Friday, June 10, 2016

Dorian and I won all our racquetball games this morning.  I bought a mocha at Starbuck's at 10 to keep from wanting to fall asleep.  That helped, and I stayed focused all morning and afternoon until it was time to pick up Alice from work.  I have one more week to finish my blog and get ready for a new phase in my life, the work I'll be doing for Hanson Bridgett.  This will be a good job and great opportunity for me to work with some very cool people and very cool software.  I'm looking forward to it. 

Day 1243

Thursday, June 9, 2016

I worked out this morning, then struggled to stay focused throughout the day.  Jet lag was still affecting me and I found myself taking more naps than being able to work on anything for any real length of time. 

Day 1242

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

I woke up at 1:30 a.m. and couldn't fall back asleep, so I listened to Clinton's National Security speech that she gave last Friday in San Diego and Trump's response a few days later.  Clinton has found the right tone in her denunciation of Trump.  What she says is true about his utter lack of experience and understanding of the national stage.  Trump is all invective and personal attacks.  He hasn't yet learned the difference between the primary race and the general election.  He will.  He resonates with 30-something percent of the people.  Not enough.  I wonder who Clinton will choose as her running mate.  Seems to me there's an opening for her to go a little more left than she would like.  We'll see.  Once she takes office, I hope she doesn't feel the need to plan things safe anymore.  The truth is she's as strong as Trump's rhetoric, with all the knowledge and experience to back it up.  Trump voters, whether they know it or not, will be happy with Hillary.  She may be a grandmother, but she's no softy. 

I played racquetball from 5-7, then came home and started going all the pictures we took of our trip.  My energy left me around mid-afternoon, and by 6 I was worthless.  I didn't even unpack my bag.  I fell asleep around dinner time and stayed asleep until 2 a.m. the next morning.

Day 1241

Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Alice had an appointment for her arm at 9 a.m., so we drove to Van Ness, then went to Irving for groceries.  I stayed in the city until 3 or so.  Alice drove me home and I started unpacking but didn't get very far.  I fell asleep around 6 p.m. and woke up at 1 a.m.  Jet lag is brutal!