Thursday 02/17/2022

Went down to the gym first thing. Paced myself very carefully. It is really difficult doing exercises when you are on heavy beta-blockers because you get none of the usual signals of exertion, you don’t sweat, your heart doesn’t speed up. You just get a general sense of fatigue at a certain point, and you stop and wait a bit. Annoyingly, the machines usually keep a count of your reps, but if you stop for more than about 30 seconds, they zero the count. No no, I’m just resting, I’m not done…

Off and on through the morning I worked on doing the last bits of the VW model. You can’t work steadily. Once you glue a delicate part on, you have to let it sit and cure for a while before you pick it up to do another part.

Wanda came to clean my unit about 1:30, so I headed out for an hour. For lack of a better place I went down to FOPAL and processed two boxes of books out of six that were waiting. Headed back at 2:30 because I needed to read the material for the 4pm meeting of the Strategic Planning committee. This was where our consultant went through the slides she planned to show to the Board next week and got comments. I contributed a few comments although I mostly sat quiet.

After supper, though, I wrote up three pages of constructive ideas I had and sent them to Marcia, who chairs that committee. Don’t know if they fit what she wants to see.

Anyway, the VW model is done. Parts of it are really good. There are a number of flaws. But from 3 feet away, it looks alright. I will finish with some pictures.

Went for a shorter walk in order to be back in time for my haircut appointment in the again-reopened beauty salon.

After lunch I went for another walk to take care of a couple of errands related to the RA treasury.

Two years ago next month, I and the outgoing Treasurer, Martha Claypool, walked to Wells Fargo and did the paperwork to change the RA account over from her signature authority to mine. Wells Fargo did manage that, although they somehow combined it with my personal account, that is, in order to see the balance or other data about the “Channing House Resident Association” business account, I have to log in to Wells Fargo using my personal user id and password.

(As an aside, I don’t even want a WF account, but years back we acquired a Visa card through Alaska Airlines so as to get extra miles, and it is operated by WF, why I have an id and password–I don’t have any money or other business with the bank. Nevertheless, that’s the id and password that I use to see the RA account.)

Despite the seeming overlap with my personal business, the bank sends monthly statements for the RA account (only) to my address, so that seemed alright.

One part of the RA account is a debit/ATM card used to make deposits. Recently Martha told me that WF had sent a new debit/ATM card. To her. At her address. With her name on it, just like the old one. Not my name, or my address, where they send the statements.

Discussing it with Martha and Lennie we thought it would be a swell idea to move the account somewhere more organized, like for instance SFCU (stanford federal credit union). Marian and I went to SFCU a decade or more ago, when the first of the big banking scandals hit WF.

So today I walked past WF and use the new ATM card to check the balance. That was one of 3 ways the new card could be “activated”. With that done, I continued about 3 blocks to SFCU where I talked to a nice young man about accounts. Unfortunately their business account requires a $2500 minimum balance. Well, we usually have that much, but sometimes might not. If the balance drops below that, “you might sometimes be charged a fee of $7.50.” It wasn’t clear what actions would incur fees. Anyway I took his info on what documents would be required to open such an account, and how the change-over from one signator (is that a word?) to another would be handled. I can’t act on it today; I would need to at least inform the rest of the executive committee. And since I will soon be the former Treasurer, I think I will wait and hand the whole problem to the new Treasurer.

Tuesday 02/15/2022

For some days the sink in my bathroom has drained slow. Not the shower or toilet, just the basin. This morning I called it in to Facilities before heading out for my walk. The guy came a little after 10, as requested. He pulled the P-trap and ran the line with a snake. He was done just as the writers group was convening.

This time our leader, Connie, wanted a discussion about the way the group was run. Having to run it weekly was taking too much of her limited time. She’s trying to assemble and complete a collection of her own poetry and feels her age. We batted it around a bit and the consensus seemed to be, the group was valuable to everyone and should continue weekly, but (somehow, unclear) we could share the leader role.

I had written something this time. The cue was “your relation to numbers” and I wrote about Sudoku puzzles.

I got a call from Gloria; she wants to repeat her talk on Chinese New Year (see day 3.066) for the Palo Alto Women’s Club (an old and prestigious group who own a classic building a few blocks away). They want her to bring her own HDMI cable. She wants to show her powerpoint from her iPad mini. That means, a Lightning-to-HDMI adapter, the one kind of HDMI adapter I don’t have. No time to order one, her talk is tomorrow at noon. After discussion I sent her off to the Apple store to buy one.

After supper I took her my 12-foot HDMI cable and we tried the setup with her TV and it worked like a charm. I was relieved. It’s really incredible that you can just hook an old iPad mini to a TV and boom, there is its screen on the TV. And when you start a Powerpoint slide show and it automatically takes over the whole screen… so many layers of tech by so many different designers and it all just works.

Monday 02/14/2022

I didn’t go for a walk because the residents association meeting was at 9am. Instead I made up my mind I would attend the Spokane NCAA regional, to which Stanford will surely go, likely as the #1 seed. That’s March 25 and 27. I was pleased to find that Alaska now has a nonstop SFO-GEG (Spokane’s airport code). The 3 or 4 previous times I’ve gone there we always had to change planes either at SeaTac or at Portland. Anyway, I took a deep breath and booked an actual flight. I also decided that I would not attend the Final IV in Minneapolis. It’s likely but by no means certain that Stanford will be in that, and if they weren’t, it would be a dreary trip. Drearier because it’s the weekend after the Regional, so either you fly home and turn around two days later and fly out; or you don’t go home between but spend 2-3 days sitting around in a hotel not able to go out because of snow and temperatures of 8-10ºF. I’ll just sit home and watch the TV.

When I went to booking.com to get a hotel I found most Spokane hotels are full for that weekend (well, duh) but got a reasonable stay at a La Quinta.

This was all so fascinating I almost forgot the RA meeting but got signed into that only about 4 minutes late. No real news here, other than the announcement of the candidates for offices for next year. Next month they will be voted in. Nominally anybody can put themselves up for an office but there’s no competition. Instead a nominating committee goes out and solicits people to serve. So the slate the nominating committee puts up, is always the ones elected.

There’s a 2-year term limit so I am termed out as Treasurer. In March I will have to train my successor.

I did an hour work on the VW model. I took some pictures so I could brag on the fine detail. First I assembled the tail lights. Two tiny clear lenses, which I had to paint the insides of in two different colors, red and amber, and then glue onto two tiny chrome bezels.

There is an error in the model itself. They give us some nice license plate decals, but the license plate holder on the front bumper is sized for European plates and the decal doesn’t fit.

Probably I am going to cut that plate off, make up a new one from some scrap plastic and glue it on. Or possibly trim the ends of that one and add a 2-millimeter strip on the bottom. This is why these models take so much time, if you try to do them right.

Anyway, I also started an email conversation trying to schedule a time for me Jerry and Ian to go into the auditorium and once for all make the camera and audio work with zoom. Also with Joanne asking her to shift her Tuesday tray distribution from 5pm to 6pm. Also with Karen who wants help showing a movie on Saturday. So I feel like it was a busy day.

Sunday 02/13/2022

Did my usual Sunday morning things. Also paid a couple of bills and added a couple of bits to the VW. Also wrote a nasty note. I had received a mailed promotional “survey” from some outfit calling itself Trident Cremations (an obvious attempt to rip off the reputation of the Neptune Society), supposedly requesting opinions on cremations. So why not just trash it along with all the other stuff I throw away? Because the pricks had addressed it to “Marian Cortesi” at this address. So these creeps have probably been trawling through the Cal DMV records and picked up where her name is still on our car registration as one of the two owners. I hand-wrote on their form, Thank you so much for reminding me of the death of my wife who died in 2018 and never lived at this address. I’m sure if she were still here she would have scornful things to say about your sleazy marketing methods. When I put it in the business reply envelope I noticed that the return address was not Trident Cremations in California, but some crematorium association in Chicago.

At 11 I drove with Lennie to Maples pavilion for Stanford v. Colorado. Of the four or five who have been car-pooling, Martha likes to walk to day games, David G. went on his bike, and Patty opted to go to the ballet in SF instead. So just me and Lennie.

Stanford was bothered by the Buffaloes’ pressing and energetic defense. They maintained a slim lead until near the half when Colorado actually got ahead by 1 point. Whatever Tara said at half time worked, because in the second half Stanford re-established its lead and extended it to win by 20 or so.

This was the day of the Superb Owl but my interest in it was of a size that if you put it in the navel of a gnat, it would rattle around.

Saturday 02/12/2022

First thing to do today was to get the Prius smogged. The DMV says I must take it to a STAR-qualified smogger. So I get out google maps and search. There’s a convenient one on El Camino, and their website says “Open 8-5 but call us first”. I call at 8:10 and they don’t answer. And there’s no answering machine either.

OK, back to maps. There’s a STAR smogger on Middlefield in Redwood City. I call; they are open. I head for the garage and on the way get a call-back from the guy at the first outfit, saying he is “returning a missed call?” I just say thanks, no worries, and carry on. I might have said, dude, invest in an answering machine but didn’t.

I drive into Redwood City. Middlefield in this part is kind of slummy, it’s a little bit of Mexico with bodegas and such and sketchy-looking people on the sidewalks. I locate the supposed smog place but it is just a little alley between a car wash and something else, no parking, small sign, nobody around. I park down the block and get out the phone.

Aha, there is another smogger not far away just off the 101 freeway. I use the iPhone for driving directions and you know? I like its directions better than the GPS built into the car. But I probably will stick with the one in the car because I don’t want to get a phone holder.

Anyway down by the Marsh Road interchange, the smog guy is just coming to work. He opens his door and goes to work. A smog check these days appears to consist of nothing more than sticking a computer into the OBD jack under the dash. He’s done in 10 minutes; by the time I’ve gone into the adjacent gas station and bought a bottle of gatorade, he’s writing up the bill. Prius rates PASS in all categories.

Crafts

Back home by 10:30, I spend the rest of the morning alternating between printing another pretty photo to put on my picture rail, and gluing bits onto the VW model. It’s coming along pretty well. In the afternoon I go for a moderate walk, and that’s the day.

Schedules

Well, except for an email conversation with SWBB fans which causes me to look into the scheduling for the rest of the season. Next week, they go to the Oregon schools. The following week they are home for two games and that’s the regular season. I figure to attend those, 2/24 and 2/26.

The following week, 3/2 – 3/6, is the PAC-12 tournament in Las Vegas. I will not go there because I dislike everything about Vegas. I went to the tournament in 2019 (my account starts on day 0.096) and I do not care to repeat it.

However, 3/16 through 3/20, Stanford will be hosting a sub-regional. Following that, the NCAAs move to regionals, and surely Stanford will be assigned to the West regional which is in Spokane, 3/25-27. I like Spokane and I might make that my first travel in 2+ years. Should I book that travel now?

Next after that, 4/1-3, is the Final Four which is in Minneapolis. I am tempted to go to that as well. But should I book it? It is highly likely, but NOT certain, that Stanford will make it through the Regional games and be in the Final IV. If I commit to air fare and a hotel now — well, I can watch other good teams…

Friday 02/11/2022

My first of two appointments was at the imaging center at the big Stanford medical campus that they created in Redwood City over the past decade. I’d been there a couple of times with Marian. My previous CT scans were at a smaller clinic in Palo Alto, but for unknown reasons the Stanford schedulers had moved me to Redwood City.

I elected to use Lyft for this three-cornered trip. First up to Redwood City, leaving just before 8am. This was a CT with contrast, which means, they put an IV in my arm and during half the procedure they shoot a glob of contrast juice into me. This causes an immediate flush of warmth in my head and neck and a taste of burnt metal at the back of my tongue. Whatever works. The whole procedure took half an hour and I was out a little after 9.

So now a Lyft over to the main hospital to meet with the surgeon. I believe I mentioned when we met last August, that she was showing pregnant. Today she was not, but I didn’t think it would be polite to mention that because one never knows how this change occurred. Anyway, good for me that she’s not staying home being a mommy.

The actual good news was that my aorta is healing nicely. It has closed up more of the “false lumen”, the bulgy bit where the outer wall separated from the inner wall. And some “micro leaks” around the stents are no longer seen. So now I am on a 1-year callback instead of 6 months.

I asked the nurse practitioner who talked to me first, about the renal cyst. She found it quickly and said it was 15 cm (about 6 inches) which sounds large. So in my spare time sitting there waiting for various people to come and talk to me, I messaged Dr. Tamrazi who drained it last spring. He replied back later in the day that compared to prior images, it was about 33% of the former size, and not displacing any other organs, so let it be.

From here I pondered walking home, about a 2-mile walk. But it was near noon and I’d had not a lot to eat or drink yet, so I took yet a third Lyft. I gotta say, Lyft is working swell. I had to wait 7 or 8 minutes for the first ride, but only 2 or 3 minutes for the other two. And the cost? About $50 total, $16*3 in round numbers. Yes I could have driven myself, but it was very relaxing not to have to worry about parking or routes.

At 4pm it was time for Rhonda’s open meeting on Covid issues. She said we could all hope this was the last such meeting she would need to hold. Although not all restrictions are off, and the dining room won’t be open for dinner for another 2 weeks, quite a few things have been relaxed as the Ommy-cron surge seems to be passing.

At 6 it was time to go down and wait by the garage door for others in our Maples car-pool. I’m in demand because, having contributed to Stanford Athletics, I have a parking pass, so no matter who drives, me or Patty or David G, I show my pass and we park next to the arena. How to be popular…

Utah played Stanford close for the first quarter, Stanford only ahead by 10 at the half. Then early in the 4th quarter Stanford went on a 14-0 run and put it away decisively.

Thursday 02/10/2022

I did feel normal this morning. I went for a shorter than usual walk. Then at noon, I drove across the bay to the Yosemite warehouse for some artifact work. First time there in a while. Helped to construct custom-fitted boxes for artifacts that are to be loaned out to the City Museum of New York.

Left early in order to be back for a 4pm zoom meeting. Last week we had the annual official Board meeting and Treasurer’s report. A small group of residents drew some wrong conclusions from the (admittedly somewhat confusing) numbers that were presented, and raised some rather hostile questions.

Today’s meeting was the response to that by the staff and the Board. Just holding such a meeting was really quite an impressive display of responsiveness. This place is not run in a top-down corporate fashion. Well as I’ve noted before, it’s full of retired doctors, university provosts, and managers.

Anyway they went through the numbers in detail showing that we’ve been making a reasonable and expected rate of return from the various funds and endowments. Comments after were of the nature of “well if you’d just shown us those details before…” So that flap is settled.

Tomorrow is a large day: CT scan in the morning, follow-up with surgeon (who last time said, if this part keeps spreading we will need to put in another stent); and a basketball game in the evening.

Wednesday 02/09/2022

In the morning I contemplated a walk, but just didn’t feel good. No temperature, no specific pains, just felt “few”. Vaguely tired and unwell. So I drove to the store to buy a few grocery items, then did my laundry starting at 10am.

At 2pm it was time for the resident association executive committee meeting. Discussed various things. The only real news was that some restrictions are being loosened, although not all.

Simultaneously the Stanford Women were playing Oregon State. This was televised so I could record it for playback later.

At 3pm I attended a zoom meeting in which the speaker was one Jitze Couperus, showing a selection of pictures taken from a light plane over the Bay Area. I was unimpressed; everything he showed I had seen one time or another, on arriving or departing in a commercial flight.

Then I could squeeze in the basketball game (Stanford won by 20 or so) until it was time for the 4:45 6th floor floor-meeting. For once pretty nearly everyone showed up, although there was no particular news to share and due to covid, no refreshments. But it was nice to meet as a group instead of on zoom.

By evening I was feeling fine. I hope that continues to tomorrow.

Tuesday 02/08/2022

Went to the gym first thing. Halfway through my second round my body seemed to say “enough” so I bailed. I also had nothing for the writers group at 11, although I listened and applauded other people as usual.

Last night and this morning I was calling exchanging emails to set up yet another speaker meeting. This is something I had let slide, I thought somebody else was handling it. But one of my neighbors, Lennie, came up like a hero to host the meeting on short notice.

In the afternoon I set out to do something I have been putting off for weeks, namely, to go to the T-Mobile store and upgrade my phone. I have two numbers, one in an iPhone 5 that Jean was using. Actually not using very much. And my iPhone SE second generation has problems inside our building. So the idea was, to replace the SE with an iPhone 13, which has 5G ability and hopefully better antennas. Then replace the little old iPhone 5 with the SE.

Unfortunately Shirley the teenage clerk (ok, maybe she’s 21, but very young) had bad news: upgrading to an iPhone 13 would cost $800. (Checking the t-mobile website now, yes, it says $799.) I had been tricked by some kind of tricky wording on a T-mobile TV commercial that I heard, something about “iPhone 13 is on us”. I wonder what it really said.

Anyway I couldn’t accept $800 for a hypothetical improvement in service. So I thanked Shirley for her time and left.