Wednesday, 2/5/2020

Went for a run; routine. About 9, drove to FOPAL where I put the computer section into final shape for the weekend sale, then took a break for lunch, and returned to the sorting room which was approaching the pre-sale bloat. Most sections are on “hold” meaning their managers don’t want any more books. So what do you do when you have a full box of “Nature/Animals” or “Philosophy”? You put on a post-it with the section name and pile it with others in the sorting room. I spent most of the next two hours processing donations, not to sort them, but simply to repack the books from the bags and miscellaneous box sizes they donors use, into standard bankers boxes so they could be stacked more neatly and compactly.

After supper I headed out to the Bus Barn theater (they prefer to call it the Los Alto Stage Company now but…). There is construction in the Los Altos civic center and I had to park a long way away. The play was Oslo, a retelling of the events that led up to the Oslo Accords agreement between the PLO and Israel. There were to be two intermissions. At the first one it was already 9pm; I wasn’t engaged; and there would clearly be at least 90 minutes more. So I bailed. The actors were doing a good job and the staging was fine; it just wasn’t that interesting a topic to me.

 

Tuesday, 2/4/2020

Out the door at 9:30 for an appointment at a

frame shop.

Back story: In 1978, Marian and I were in an antique shop in London (probably) and liked a fine little pen and ink sketch of the construction of an early railroad, colored with watercolor. (I’m sure there’s a name for the technique of coloring an ink drawing.) I’ve always supposed it was contemporary with the subject, that is, a drawing from life of the construction of a railroad, circa about 1830. But I suppose it could have been done later, to illustrate the history of railroads. In any case, a fine little (10×15 inch) drawing. Framed in a simple wood frame. We bought it for about £10 (Marian recorded the price as $28 in the old home-inventory spreadsheet). Hung it in the bedroom and left it there. It’s one of several art works I brought along to Channing House.

After moving back into #621 last weekend, I brought out all these framed items and leaned them on a wall to start thinking about where to hang them. And turned the railroad drawing over to find its backing paper had been attached with something like masking tape, which had totally dried out, so the backing was almost loose.

Monday I consulted the oracle (Google Maps) for frame shops near me, selected one, and their website offered appointments. I took a 10am appointment for today. The chap at the frame shop was there on time. We agreed he would replace the backing and the matte (which was, he says, not acid-free), and it would be $98, call you in a couple days.

Next stop, the

Santa Clara County Assessor.

I explained the business with the reassessment yesterday. Today I took a nice folder of all possible relevant documents and went to 70 West Hedding street, the County Administrative Campus as it calls itself on its helpful orientation map. I have to say, this was about the most pleasant experience with a government agency I’ve ever had. At 11am there were only two people in line ahead of me. The receptionist was pleasant and knew exactly what I was talking about. He said, take this slip and sit in the waiting area just over there, someone will be out to see you in a minute.

And someone was, again a pleasant and helpful guy. He explained that they have to make sure that the benefit of Marian’s estate went entirely to me, not, for example, to children or charity. He took my old trust documents away and copied them, and was quickly back. Said they would be reviewed and I’d probably hear nothing more. Unless they decided to reassess, in which case, I’d get a bill, but that didn’t seem likely.

I was out of the building and back to my car with only 30 minutes off the parking meter. Not bad, Assessor Larry Stone. The DMV you certainly ain’t.

Back home I put all the documents away, had a bite, had a nap, did some writing on the novel. Then it was 2pm and time to meet with other

A/V committee

guys to learn something about the newly finished A/V system in the auditorium. This wasn’t the official training session, which will happen tomorrow with the consultant who designed the system, but an informal one with one of the installers, in preparation for the first performance under the new system, a concert of chamber music by the Music@Menlo chamber institute.

Back to my room for a bit, then down again to hear the start of the concert. It was ok and sounded fine, but I really am not much for chamber music. So I slipped out again and fiddled around on the internet until it was 5pm and time for the

Sixth floor meeting.

This was a significant one, first because it is the first since we have all returned to the renovated floor; and second, because it was the formal hand-off from Craig Allen to Jerry Anderson. Craig is retiring after a number of years as “floor rep,” an elected position, mainly responsible for attending a monthly meeting of all 9 floor reps, and for chairing a monthly floor get-together.

Discussion this time was mostly about remaining renovation items. The floor has a budget of $20,000 to spend on upgrading the common areas, the lounge and the dining room. We are all to take the time to visit the 8th to 10th floors and note what they did with their money. Next month we’ll discuss more. Also discussion of the art works. A facilities person will be assigned for a day sometime around the 17th (although the meeting seemed to feel that was too soon) to hang all the art work you want hung in the hallway and common areas.

I’m not sure I’ve mentioned here, that Channing House is somewhat unusual in encouraging people to hang whatever they like in the hallways. The hallway wall the length of your unit is yours to curate. (As I’m at the end of the hall, my wall doesn’t get much viewing, so it isn’t critical, although I intend to have a small rotating exhibit of photographs.)

When all the hall items were taken down in September prior to renovation, there were a number that couldn’t be associated with any present residents; probably hung by now-deceased ones. Those unclaimed orphans have all been given away now. But there are plenty left waiting to come out of storage. So there will be a day of hanging; start thinking about what you want to put out there and how arranged.

Previously I’d hung my Dean Linsky Yosemite oil opposite the lounge (with group approval). Now there’s a large wall-sconce in that space. The painting would fit to one side, but there really should be something of similar dimensions and tonality to balance it. This issue was left open as it was time to adjourn to supper.

 

Monday, 2/3/2020

A week from today I’ll be in London. How about that?

Started the day with a run, which was nominal. Then I sat down to try to clarify a letter I received a couple days ago from the Santa Clara County Assessor. It referred to the Tasso street house, and asked for lots of details about the living trust, including “attach a copy of the trust document including all amendments”, and if this is not received in 15 days, the property will be reassessed. Huh? The one I sold last August? Of course it will be reassessed for the new owner, that’s Prop 13 in action. I was puzzled over the point of the whole thing, and also puzzled in detail since I couldn’t work out how some of the questions were to be answered.

So I called the assessor’s office, and the person on the line tried to be helpful, but finally pointed out that I could bring the trust documents to them in San Jose and they would do the copying and point out what they needed. OK, that settles what I’m doing tomorrow morning.

Later in the day I worked out what it must be about. It has nothing to do with the assessment of the property now, or with the fact that I sold it. It has to do with whether the property should have been reassessed as of Marian’s death, which would change rather drastically the one-half year’s property tax that I paid as part of the escrow settlement. I’m pretty sure that as the property was owned by the family trust, which continued intact, that won’t happen. But it will be nice to get it clarified.

Next up was the monthly Channing House Men’s Meeting. Recently that designation was challenged by a couple of women, and it was clarified that the men were sponsoring the meeting but that everyone was welcome to attend. The presenter this time was a friend of Bert’s, who works in the assistive device field, and he had attended the recent Consumer Electronics Show looking for all kinds of devices that assist the ailing or elderly. Fall detection is now a built-in function of the Apple Watch. There are other devices for fall detection, including room radar sensors that claim, or anyway hope, to notice when someone falls. He was rather dismissive of these. Lots of false alarms. There is “smart underwear”, basically elder diapers that incorporate a fall-detecting accelerometer in the waistband. For diabetics, there are now continuous glucose monitoring devices that are non-invasive. How? Well, one monitors your heart rhythm and somehow derives an estimated glucose level from that. There are socks, and shoe insoles, designed to analyze your gait, I’m not sure why.

As this was winding down, I headed out to FOPAL for five hours of work. Lots of books to price for the computer section, and then a massive amount of sorting backlog.

Nothing of note in the evening.

Sunday, 02/02/2020

Palindrome day! 02022020. The next one, I believe, will be 12122121? Historic…

Walked to the P.A. Cafe for coffee and paper. The NYT puzzle had a very complex inner riddle scheme that I couldn’t figure out (still can’t).

Back home for Sunday lunch. Sunday lunch is the main meal of the day, and it was pretty good. Sat with Kay and Don, joined by Florrie and Dirk.

Then upstairs to watch the Stanford Women on TV having an easy win over WSU. Which led to time for the Superb Owl, which went on a long time. I spent some of the time on the 11th floor where a party of 20 or so had assembled to watch on the big screen. I wandered away from that for the second quarter and halftime. When I wandered back only two people were left and most of the snacks were gone, so I went back to my room for the final.

In the evening I got to thinking about finishing the decor. I need something under my cafe table. Preferably round, something like 5 foot diameter… a little searching on Amazon turned up a good candidate. Also I’d like some kind of lamp on that table. Originally I had my LED floor lamp over there, but it works better above my armchair reading nook. Some more browsing Amazon turned up what I think will be a nice-looking LED table lamp with a sculptured wood (grain plastic) base. Put both of those in the cart, clicky clicky, done. Coming Wednesday.

A year ago, 2/2/2019, I visited Webster House and wrote at length on what I’d learned. I also was beginning to dither over what furniture I would bring from Tasso street to wherever I would move. In the end, very little.

 

Saturday, 2/1/2020

Toddled off to the Museum to lead the public tour at 12. The staff had been putting out plaintive queries all week, for somebody to please lead a private tour of “12 Korean Executives” at 3pm. I’d have taken the job except I need to be in Oakland at 5:30. Well, turns out the Korean Executive tour had cancelled at the last minute. Fortunately no docent had stepped up to be disappointed. Or maybe fortunate they cancelled because they would have had no docent.

Anyway, got a nice round of applause from about 20 people, so good. Back to CH for a couple of hours and then off to Oakland to attend an open house at the home of the artist Carol Aust.

Back in May (Day 154) I attended an artist open house at Hunter’s Point, and was impressed by a painting of Carol Aust’s. I dithered for a couple of months, then asked her via email for a price, and set a date to come look at it again. In September just before I was to go see it, she emailed that it had sold! Even so, I did go (with Darlene and Jessea) to visit her house (Day 292). By amazing coincidence, they live only 4 blocks from the Aust home, so we walked from their house to hers. Anyway, nothing she had on view then resonated with me. But I’m on her email list so got an invite to attend a reception at her house to see new work.

That’s what I went off to today. The drive to Oakland took an hour. A couple dozen people showed up to nosh and talk, mostly it seemed, personal friends of the Austs. Sitting on the piano in the living room was “Leap #2”:

which I at first liked and then didn’t. I mis-apprehended the image because in the fairly dim light of the living room, the ground at the bottom merged with the black of the frame and I perceived it as a figure leaping into completely open space, like a suicide off a cliff. It made me uncomfortable and I said so. “Oh no!” says the artist, “She’s all right, the ground is right there!” When I saw it, yes, it’s ok, now it’s just a person exuberantly leaping. No danger of falling indefinitely. So it’s just a fantastical jump, not a suicide.

So I agreed to buy the painting! She agreed to add a little more height to the grass so it would be more definite and nobody else would make the mistake I had.

I am to go and pick it up next Friday. Yay. And so I drove back home.

Friday, 1/31/2020

Right at 8, the moving team arrived at #435. We went over the items of concern, the new carpet, how to move the L-shaped desk, etc. And then Angela escorted me to guest room #191 where I could spend the day. I didn’t; I almost immediately went out to explore a couple of things, which I’ll go over below. (This is going to be a long post!)

Back to #191 and just relaxing at 1:30 when the phone rang: Angela saying, we’re almost done, I’ll come get you in 20 minutes. And up we went to unit #621. Everything had been put back just where it was five months ago. Gentle Transitions, the moving contractor, takes great pains. They had taken a picture of each drawer and each closet, and carefully put everything back in drawers and shelves just where they were. (Some of the pictures were still in the drawers.)

And the place is just great. The floor plan is almost the same as #435, but the ambience is completely different. And my new carpet, which I had never seen before except as a picture, is perfect. The colors are not garish, but just nicely complementary to my furniture. I took some videos but I don’t like them. I’ll try again.

The new HVAC works well. There is an air diffuser in the ceiling of each room; the air flow is silent and can be adjusted for angle. There’s a thermostat in each room that switches mode automatically from heating to cooling. There are recessed dimmable LED ceiling lights. The new, double-paned windows and patio doors reduce noise from the street and operate smoothly.

Here’s the bedroom/office. You can see the recessed lights and the air diffuser for HVAC.

Bathroom and two large closets to the left. Opposite the bed, a large blank wall where I think I need either some art, or another piece of furniture, or both.

Here’s the living room, now with hard floor and new area rug. I sit in all three locations, depending on time of day.

Here’s the living room this morning at 7:20, with the sun rising through the redwood trees outside my window! That second window makes all the difference between a boring apartment one that, frankly, makes me joyful to be in.

There are a few things yet to tweak. I have a lot of prints and pictures that I need to hang, and that needs deciding. (Also, tomorrow, maybe another piece of art.) What to hang on my inside walls, what to hang on my outside, hallway wall. Of course, I am at the very end of a long hall, so what I hang out there will be mostly for my own enjoyment. Hardly anyone else will walk by to be impressed.

In coming weeks I need to install under-cabinet lighting in the kitchenette, and I need to get the closets remodeled. But that will be fun to arrange in March and onward.

In the morning I went out, first to the

Intel Museum.

I had heard guests at CHM saying they were going next to the Intel Museum so I thought I’d have a look.

Not impressed. They do a very poor job of explaining what an integrated circuit is, or how it is made, or explaining how incredible is the work of designing one. Really inadequate. Very static. They have a couple of interactive video things but they really don’t inform.

From there I went to the

San Jose Museum of Art.

I think we visited this once, maybe in the 90s? Anyway, their emphasis currently is on digital art, and on the Black Power protest by Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics.

In the digital art section they had some striking things. But the centerpiece is this, which is quite stunning.

Called Bridge by Glenn Kaino, it consists of 100 reproductions of Tommy Smith’s right arm and clenched fist, suspended as shown. Oh my, did I want to touch that. Just pull the end one back and let it swing… tell me the docents don’t do that, after hours!

 

 

 

Thursday, 1/30/2020

Went to Yosemite for museum work. I was the only volunteer there today. Toni is out getting her 2nd cataract operation. The two staff members there were very impressed with my booking of the Conservation Studio tour at the V&A. Before lunch I helped Aurora complete another 1-1/2 aisles of the treasure hunt, opening boxes looking for the missing Ferrante plug-board.

For lunch, Greta and the volunteers from Shustek joined us for lunch. Greta, who once lived in London, suggested two more museums worth going to. After lunch we did another hour of organizing boxes. Then Aurora had to leave for a meeting, so I could leave early enough to make the 4pm Resident/Trustee meeting at Channing House.

There is a monthly Resident’s meeting, but this is different. Less frequent (annual? don’t know) and this one was primarily to present the budget the trustees have approved for the coming fiscal year (March-February). Bottom line from a 20-slide detailed presentation, the finances are healthy. Resident monthly fees will go up 4% as of March.

The budgeting process is interesting. Channing House is governed by a board of Trustees who are volunteers from the community at large. Two of the trustees are residents. The staff, headed by CEO Rhonda, report to the board.

The budget is created from the bottom up by a Financial Liaison Committee (FLC). This is composed of residents only. It includes the resident trustees, and 4 or 5 other residents who have financial expertise (place is full of retired CEOs and CFOs).

The FLC over a couple of months meets with the directors of the 6 operational departments (Rhonda’s direct reports) and put together recommendations on changes for each department from the prior year. The FLC reports that budget to the Finance Committee, which is a subcommittee of the board, i.e. all trustees. They report the final budget to the board who approve it.

After the meeting I had nothing to do but tidy up, in preparation for

MOVING.

Tomorrow at 8, Angela and the move team will arrive. I go away for 10 hours. At 6pm (maybe before) I will be shown my upgraded apartment 621, with all my furniture and belongings moved back to where they were in September. The move then (Day 278) was so smooth I am confident they’ll get everything right.

I am very anxious to see this. It will be the first time I have seen my new area rug, which has been lying here in this living room rolled up for a month. I will also have new windows (double-paned), a blackout drape in the bedroom, new paint, new carpet in the bedroom and new vinyl flooring in the living room.

Wednesday, 1/29/2020

Crap, I thought I’d done a blog post for this day. Noooooo I have not.

I went for a run. I showered and shaved and went down to FOPAL around 10:30. The carpet has all been renewed and everything is pretty much back in operation. I worked the computer section, there wasn’t much waiting, then did some sorting. About 12:30 I took a lunch break, and went back to sorting at 1:30 until 4pm. So about 5 hours of work.

Back home and a quiet evening.

Monday, 1/27/2020

Started the morning with an adventure: calling London. There’s a tour I want to take at the Victoria & Albert, their “Behind the Scenes Conservation Studio” tour. However unlike their other tours, they don’t have web-booking for this; they say “to book a place please call”. Well all righty then, let’s call. Over on the right of the V&A site they give the international number, +44 (0)20 7942 2000. Not too sure about that (0) part! Is that an optional 0 or what? But the rest matches the instructions on the T-Mobile site: dial + (same key as 0), country (44), city (20), and number, presumably that’s the 7942 2000. But every combination I try, with or without the extra 0, gets me a male voice “The call cannot be completed as dialed.”

So now it’s 7:15. Well, how about my Channing House land line? I go to the phone and dial 9 (outside line) 011 (international call) 44-20-7942-2000 and it rings and a recording with a lovely accent says “Thank you for calling the Victoria and Albert museum, for bookings press 1…” Hah! Suck it, T-Mobile.

Pressing 1 gets me a man with an even richer BBC accent who takes my booking for Wednesday the 19th, and I’m all set with that tour.

From there, out for a run, which felt fine. Shower, shave, spend an hour catching up with the internet. Then to FOPAL about 10 where I worked until 2. Home again to relax. Just before supper time I got an email from Burt, who manages the Tech Squad. Would I handle a problem, Nancy can’t send email from her Mac.

So I call Nancy, she says sure, come right up, and I do. She’s on the tenth floor, which was the first to be upgraded. I will be moving back to the newly-upgraded 6th floor on Friday and boy, I can’t wait. The upgraded halls, carpets, lights are so bright and new looking!

Anyway, Nancy has a big iMac (like mine). Unlike me, she uses the Mail app (I’ve been using Gmail in a web browser for a decade now, and never start the Mac Mail app), so the interface is unfamiliar. But whenever she tries to send an email, she gets an immediate email back from Comcast: your Comcast mailbox is full, you must delete some messages before you can send one.

Whu?

Cutting to the chase: she has for years been (a) never deleting anything from her inbox, which now has 11,000 items, and (b) her Junk box has another 28,000. And these are housed on the Comcast IMAP mail server. There is also a Trash category, which has over 250 messages in it, because she’d been actively deleting things in response to the error message. Unfortunately that was ineffective because Trash was also located on the Comcast server, plus the option for when to delete trashed messages was set to … Never. So deleting them just moved them from one folder to another.

I worked my way through the unfamiliar Mail interface to figure out how to make Trash be located “on my Mac” and for trashed items to be deleted after a week. Then I manually deleted the 250 items in the Comcast Trash folder. Now she could send email, which we verified.

Mail allows one to set up local folders to which you can drag messages, which deletes them from the server. I noticed there was quite an elaborate set of subject folders already defined. “Yeah, my sister set those up for me. I don’t use them.” Not wanting to get in between sisters, I just pointed out that, if she dragged messages to folders, or to the new Trash, they were deleted from Comcast, and left it at that.

At supper I sat with Kay and Don, the couple who still live in their home but take meals here, pending availability next summer. Tonight they were hosting two grand-daughters, Sienna and Clara, ages about 4 and 6 I guess? After supper they were going to go swimming in the CH pool. Kay asked a couple of times, wouldn’t I like to have a couple of grand-kids to mind? Just for the evening? I don’t think she was enjoying being a mommy again.