Tuesday 08/10/2021

Did the morning aerobics class, which today had 4 participants, not a record but nearly.

Sat in on the writers group, although I had nothing to contribute.

Worked on STIP a bit. Thought about working on the Chrysler, because the ivory paint I need for the interior arrived yesterday, but didn’t.

Tomorrow looks equally exciting, with laundry to do.

Monday 08/09/2021

First thing, I went down to FOPAL to tidy up from the weekend sale and prepare for the next.

I transferred the cash box, the iPad and the card reader back to Susan and we did the numbers. Sales from our vendor table at the VCF had brought in just under $600, $400 in cash and the rest in credit card sales. Not a huge result. In fact I had the passing thought that it was just about enough money to pay me and the other volunteers minimum wage for our time over the two days. Still, I think it would be worth doing again next year.

Then I spent 2 hours tidying my section and counting the books. Each section manager is supposed to report the count of books on their shelves before the coming sale. This coming weekend they have their first public sale since the pandemic started. My count was 572 books.

That was pretty much the day; the rest of the day I spent adding a chapter to STIP and generally futzing around on the internet.

Sunday 08/08/2021

Got up, read the paper, watered the plants, did the crossword puzzle, and it was time to leave for VCF. Spent the day sitting behind our table. In the two days we got rid of about 3 boxes of books (based on how many boxes we took back at the end) and made around $500 for the library.

Went to Wahlburger’s for a solitary supper. This because, since I spent a weekend in a “gathering”, I might have contracted the Covid. Tomorrow at 1pm I am scheduled for a rapid test. In the meantime I want to minimize contact with other residents here.

I don’t think I caught that or anything else. Everyone was being very good about masking, I think I only saw one adult with a mask mis-placed under their nose.

Now home and headed for an early bedtime. Closing ceremony? Bah humbug.

Saturday 08/07/2021

Departed at 7:30 to drive to the Computer History Museum for the Vintage Computer Fest. Yesterday we just dropped off the 8 boxes of books. Now, from 8am to 9am I arranged them attractively on our two large vendor tables. We are in a prime location, anyone who walks between the exhibit area to the consignment area has to pass us. And many took time to look at the books.

We sold quite a few, I didn’t count but it was more than half of what we had brought. It was a long day with lots of boring spots in it. Got a lot of reading done on my phone. Here’s a picture of our setup.

I got time during the day to look at the exhibits. The most interesting one, well, the one that has the most sales value, would be this one.

That is the first made Apple I, serial #1, personally gifted by Steve Wozniak to the woman standing behind it. Her name is Liza Loop. She claims we have met. Possibly, around 1977 or so, when I helped organize a display of microcomputer systems at the Menlo Park Library. Anyway, given that Apple I’s have auctioned at $500K, what do you suppose serial #1 is worth?

She also owns the serial #1 Apple II. She and Steve Wozniak were close.

Anyway I’m going to bed early because I have to do it again tomorrow.

Friday 08/06/2021

The morning was devoted to medical stuff. First I took a Lyft to Stanford’s Imaging center on Sherman, same place as I’d had two prior CT scans. I know the drill now. Strip down to underwear, put on a gown, pajama pants, and their hospital socks with the no-skid nubbles. Then the nurse comes and puts an IV in my arm for the contrast fluid later.

Since the vein in my left arm is where I usually get blood draws etc, and it is looking kind of gnarly, standing out lumpy, I said, let’s do the right arm this time. Well, she messed it up, couldn’t get the IV set right. So a second nurse came and set one in the much-abused left arm. So now I left with colorful stretchy stuff holding bandages on both arms.

Had some breakfast at nearby Starbucks, then a Lyft to the main Hospital for my one-year follow-up with Dr. Watkins. She’s looking great. I thought back in February she was preggers but she isn’t now. One doesn’t like to ask. Too many possibly embarrassing explanations.

ANY way my aorta looks good. The space between the wall and the lining, the “false lumen” has continued to clot up. However they also want the aorta to become narrower, or at least not widen.

Mine has widened, not much, 5 millimeters, and most of that happened between the CTs of November and February, only 1mm more between February and now. So maybe it is stabilizing? She wants a 6-month callback. If the aorta continues to widen, she might then recommend “a really simple, low-risk procedure” to place yet another stent. So I have that to look forward to.

Oh, they said my renal cyst did look flat on the new CT. I had also alerted Dr. Tamrazi to the new scan so he presumably will check his work.

About 2:30 I drove to FOPAL where I was to meet Frank and Susan at 4pm, to prep for the Vintage Computer Fest.

Looking back in the blog, it turns out I attended the VCF exactly two years ago, Day 245, 8/4/2019. I’m not sure how much I’ve said about the one coming up this weekend. Coincidentally FOPAL got a bunch of old computer books and I proposed we try selling books at VCF. The organizer gave us vendor status and two big tables in a great location. So Saturday and Sunday I will be standing behind tables of books.

Frank was to help me load the 9 boxes of books I’ve selected as likely to appeal to this crowd, into the Prius. Susan is the FOPAL treasurer and keeper of the cash box and the iPad with the credit card reader. She talked me through the process of using both. Then Frank and I loaded the car and we took all the books down to the Computer History Museum — whose doors I had not entered since maybe January 2020? — where the VCF was to be held. Stacked the boxes of books behind our vendor tables. Checked that the iPad could find the Museum’s wifi. Met the organizer. I dropped Frank off back at FOPAL and came on home.

Wednesday 08/04/2021

Went for my standard walk which felt fine. Worked on STIP for a bit. Went out to meet Scott for lunch at Gombei, a restaurant I haven’t been in for more than two years. Maybe since 2018, with Marian? They still make a nice bowl of Udon noodles. There were only two other parties in the place at 1pm. Good seeing Scott.

There wasn’t much else to the day. I completed an experiment with paint color for the Chrysler model. I had some Testors Transparent Red and I wanted to know how transparent was it, and how it would look when painted over a gray primer, or a gold undercoat, or a silver undercoat. Turns out it looks really good over gray primer.

Patty invited me and Marcia and Kent to supper which was pleasant.

Tuesday 08/03/2021

For the first time in over a year I ate breakfast in the dining room. Ordered two pancakes which were good but rather tough. I was planning to go to aerobics at 8:30, but on my way up in the elevator at 8 I was joined by Marcia, who reminded me of the Strategic Planning committee at 9. Since aerobics ends at 9, I would be late, so I skipped aerobics. I took the time to concoct something for the writers group. And therefore was late to the meeting anyway.

I am not happy with the SP committee. I need to talk to Marcia who chairs it to better understand what is going on.

That was over at 10, and immediately Bert called, saying, let’s go check out the Green Room back of the stage. Turns out the Green Room, which I’d never been in, used to be a place for artists to prepare, and for us to store microphone stands and other stuff for various events, including a two-drawer file for the Events Committee, which I don’t think Pam, the current Events Committee chair, even knew about.

However in the past year the room had been taken over in part by housekeeping for storing their stuff, so we sorted all that out along one wall. Bert will request Housekeeping to move it.

That brought it to time for the writers group at 11. Following that I grabbed a sandwich from the grab and go refrigerator, and went to FOPAL. The sandwich was terrible and I didn’t finish it. But I cleared up my section, bought a pound of coffee at Peets, and headed back.

At supper time I was displeased with the menu and the dining room service, couldn’t find anyone to sit with, and in a snit went down to my car and drove to Armadillo Willie’s for a pulled pork plate.

Monday 08/02/2021

First thing, off to Sequoia Hospital radiation department. After being registered — I was told to bring proof of vaccination, which I did, but they never asked for it — I got into a back-opening gown and had to lie down on my stomach, on the sled of the CT scanner.

They took one scan, and tested the ultrasound, and then the doctor went to work. There was the quick nip of a needle injecting lidocain on my back, just below the bottom rib on the left side. Then there was a general sense of pushing and wiggling, which was him getting close to the cyst. From there on, there were no more sensations.

Shortly the fluid started flowing. After a few minutes he called for another bag. “There, that’s 500cc.” And a while later it was, “Still coming, another bag please.” Eventually I filled three bags, 1450cc, or three pints of liquid that looked a lot like my favorite amber ale.

Then I got up, put my clothes on, and headed on home. Well, not quite. When I saw the doctor in his office last Wednesday, I had walked away from my hat. I’d called in and they were keeping the hat for me. So first stop was the doctor’s office, just up the hill past the hospital, to get my hat. The home.

Took off pants and shirt and weighed myself: exactly 3 pounds lighter than I had been at 7am. Took my blood pressure: 108! But 3 hours later it was 138. So not sure what the story is there. I was quite hungry for lunch and again for supper, although I didn’t eat any larger quantity than I have been doing. I really don’t feel any different.

Wrote a short thing for tomorrow’s writers group.

I have put the Chrysler on hold for a few days, pending arrival of some paint. The entire interior is done in this off-white color, seats, dash, doors, like in this picture.

I have no paint that cream color, so have ordered a couple of bottles of “ivory”. Orders from hobby stores take days to arrive.

At supper, neighbor Gloria was talking about not being sure about her Mac’s time machine backups, so I volunteered to look. Went to her place and yes, time machine working just fine, but that led to another question and another. Spent an hour trying to answer her questions. Quite often I couldn’t. I am clueless about iCloud drive, for example, and about Mail. Which are two things every mac user around here has problems with.

Sunday 8/1/2021

Another day going to bed without posting, or thinking of posting. Rats.

Walked the baylands. Futzed around the house.

Saturday 07/31/2021

In the morning I took a moderate walk, ending at the farmers market where I patronized the other baker, buying a monumental peanut butter cookie. Like, so large I literally couldn’t finish it in the morning and had the final bits as dessert after supper.

The rest of the day I spent some time on my two hobbies. On the 56 Chrysler, I completed assembly of the motor.

The next step in the instructions has me assembling the wheels. The chrome wire-spoke wheels are molded in very nice detail, but the chrome is solid. In order to make the spokes stand out, and appear to be open to the back of the wheel, I dabbed flat black paint into them. Then wiped the paint off with a Q-tip soaked in alcohol. Came out pretty good, especially with the wide white-wall tires in the kit.