Friday 03/04/2022

Still not feeling 100% when I got up, but improved through the day.

The City of Palo Alto used to have a simple Residential Parking Permit (RPP) program. There was a simple online signup, or you could go to City Hall, and you got a sticker for your back window, and then you could park on the street in the Downtown area for more than 2 hours. For a small added fee you could get a “hang tag” that a visitor could put on their mirror. I got my sticker in 2019, and then through the pandemic they kept extending the time it was valid, up until now.

March 1, they have a whole new program. No more stickers; license plates will be read electronically and checked against the permit database. Permits and hang tags both now cost $50 each. Well, so be it. But the worst part is that the way to get a permit or tag is only via a new web portal which is absolutely the worst-designed, most user-hostile, web design ever. Absolutely horrible to try to use especially by a person uncertain about computers and with not-great eyesight. Which is most people at Channing House.

Why do Channing House residents need parking permits? We have secure underground parking. Well, one, not all of us do. There are some holdouts who feel affronted at paying $65/month (soon to go up to $90) for the parking garage. But the main reason is that Channing House uses the spare hang-tags for visitor and employee parking. We residents are encouraged to purchase permits so we can purchase hang-tags, which we can give to the management, who will reimburse us.

So a whole slew of seniors, some of them very savvy and experienced users (like me, Craig Allen, a few others) and lots of them not so much, are butting heads with this vile reeking dumpster fire of a website. And those who fail, call the tech squad.

I have not yet succeeded in getting into the damn portal but today I got dispatched to help someone who has. Joanne’s only problem was that, where she was supposed to upload a picture of her drivers license (yes, they want you to do that, along with a utility bill) she couldn’t figure out how to get the picture as a JPEG to upload it. I solved that pretty quick. Discussed it at supper with Jerry and Betty. Jerry is a highly skilled computer user and is having trouble with it.

Never mind. Stanford Women played in the PAC12 tournament semifinal tonight and beat the Colorado Buffs handily. Which was satisfying because the last two times they played the games were very close and very physical. We out-bufallo’d the buffs this time, maintaining a 9-12 point lead until the 4th quarter and won going away, by 24.

Thursday 03/03/2022

Felt close to normal when I got up. Went for the standard walk and it was ok.

On return to CH I went in the auditorium and checked out a variation on the problem with the wireless lapel mics where mics 6-7-8 were silent. Yup. This is a software problem. Changing the mode of the system brought the sound back on those mics.

Later I made a little spreadsheet to document my charitable contributions, and filled in the first quarter, about, of the accountant’s workbook. Should be able to finish the taxes next week.

At 2:30 the Stanford women took on OSU in the PAC12 tournament. They played a lot better than in the prior two games and led from start to end, by 10-15 points.

Wednesday 03/02/2022

When I rolled out of bed I staggered. Touch of vertigo, not bad, not crippling, but enough to make me feel unwell. Later in the day it only showed up as, whenever I bent over and stood up, that caused nausea.

I went for a moderate walk early on. Did some computer work, paying a bill etc., but napped and read most of the day.

About 3, David G called from the auditorium. He was practicing setting up a zoom and it wouldn’t work with his Macbook Air. I brought down my Macbook and demonstrated that the exact same setup worked for me. Only real difference was the level of the OS, he had stayed on Mojave, and concluded he needed to update.

He also reported that the lapel mics were not working. After he left I investigated. There are four wireless lapel mics, numbers 5-8 on our mixing board. #5 actually did work, although it was crazy loud, I had to turn its level down to 20% to avoid feedback. Mics 6 7 and 8 were clearly working to a point: when they were on, the little green pilot LEDs on the #6, 7 and 8 mixing controls would blink. But no sound from there. The controls for them and for #5 were set exactly the same.

In the evening, blasted through the first games of the PAC-12 WBB tournament.

I had signed up to go to Shustek tomorrow, but learned that Gretta won’t be in, and the opening I signed up for shouldn’t have been open. This is actually a relief. I expect to feel better tomorrow but still, I’d like the option of staying home and doing quiet things. Like taxes.

Tuesday 03/01/2022

Went for a walk in the morning. Then in an hour I put together an amusing short piece on this week’s writer’s cue. Which was “the occasion of the re-opening of our dining room, or any dining experience”. I amusingly reminisced about the long-gone days of 2019. Well, it was amusing, I got several good laughs.

This was the first of the new arrangement of the writers group, in which instead of founder Connie being the moderator, the moderator-ship rotates among half a dozen people.

The next meeting was stressful: the audio/visual committee meeting in the auditorium. In part to assign support for this month’s events among ourselves, but mostly to hack around trying different things to implement hybrid zooms. There are many different solutions none of which is perfect. But people got good practice in.

Shortly after it was time for our first supper in the dining room since the start of the Omicron wave. Then I watched the State of the Union, and finished watching American Idol.

Monday 02/28/2022

Last night I got an email from Frank at FOPAL saying, “expect 10 boxes” and a picture of ten banker’s boxes piled up in front of my section. So this morning instead of going for a walk and then to FOPAL after lunch, I went straight down there, arriving at 8:35. And finished up and left at 12:40, a solid 4-hour shift.

In the evening I got a tech call. Since it was “Can’t turn TV on” I went to Nancy’s apartment instead of making an appointment for tomorrow like I would do for a computer problem. I mean, you can’t go an evening without TV. Anyway it was simple to resolve; another win for the Resident Tech Squad.

Sunday 02/27/2022

Had breakfast in the dining room. Tidied, watered the plants, did the puzzle, then killed time until 11 when I let for the Museum, where I was scheduled for the noon public tour.

Gave a successful tour, I guess they liked it because three people wanted to take selfies with me.

Got back just in time for the first ever zoom simulcast, where they had a meeting in the auditorium and used the auditorium ceiling camera to show the speaker on zoom also. Complicated to set up. Further complicated because the speaker, David G, wanted to show things off his computer and fumbled it a bit. But it worked in all. David G speaking, David M running the complicated Zoom setup, David C in the audience but I brought my laptop and had the zoom meeting on it, with the audio going to my airpods in my ears. There’s a delay of about one second between David G saying something over the room audio, and his voice in my ears. That’s how long it takes for the audio to go to Zoom, turn around, come back over the network to my laptop.

Saturday 02/26/2020

The main event today was the last Stanford Women’s basketball game of the season, at noon. I had invited Dennis to join me. He arrived early. Patty also came for the ride. We had hot dogs at the arena and sat down to watch. This was a game versus UW who currently rank last in the PAC-12, so I was expecting an easy win, maybe a blowout. Nope. Washington put up a good defense and hit over 40% of their shots, while Stanford had a dismal shooting day, under 30% most of the game. The game was tied at the half and Stanford looked in serious danger of losing with two minutes to go.

They finally took a one-point lead at 1:03 on a brilliant steal by Anna Wilson. On their next possession the Huskies failed to score, so by normal basketball strategy, they had to foul in order to get possession back. Stanford made one free throw; UW got the ball and again couldn’t score, so fouled again. In the end Stanford won by 7 points, of which the last 6 were free throws.

Later, I didn’t like the look of the dinner menu so I walked out to a new restaurant, Coconuts, Caribbean food. I had a big plate of jerk chicken and plantains, quite good.

Friday 02/25/2020

Went for a walk first thing. That was fine. Shortly after I got back, I returned some pills. I was taken off Clopidogrel weeks ago. At that time I put the bottle of remaining tablets on my coffee table, to remind me to turn it in on one of the many scheduled times when the nurses office accepts unwanted meds. And there it has sat for weeks while I forget to take care of it. Finally yesterday the daily calendar email noted that unwanted meds could be returned 10-12 today and I actually did it.

Also today I printed a couple of new pictures for my picture rail, using my newly designed photo “matte” image. This looks like a nicely cut gray cardboard matte but it is just an image I created out of basic colors and a linen texture image I picked up off the internet. I also ordered some better 11×14 and 11×17 frames.

That was about that. Early to bed to read.

Thursday 02/24/2022

Went to the gym in the morning. Worked on printing a couple of pictures for the hallway. Mainly worked on trying to create a digital matte so I can print pictures that are wide, on paper like 8.5×11 or 11×14, that is not as wide, without having big white borders.

I also went through the CHM volunteer calendar and signed up for things for the next couple of weeks. Basically I’m doing one docent round a week, and one day working on artifacts. Pretty much like two years ago.

At 2pm, when Wanda was due to clean the room, I walked out to two banks, Wells Fargo to deposit a check for the RA, and then on to SFCU to deposit a check for me.

At 4pm it was time for the Channing House Board to meet on Zoom. I had to attend as a member of the strategic planning committee, as our consultant was presenting. Our consultant has assembled some marketing info that I deeply disagree with but wasn’t asked about so I kept quiet. A couple of board members clearly didn’t buy it either.

At 7 it was time to go to the SWBB game which unusually, was at 8pm. Five of us shared Lennie’s car. The team did not play in dominant fashion. However they pulled out a ten point lead in the first quarter, and the game ended a long time later with Stanford still ahead 10 points. In other words the two teams scored exactly the same rate for 3 quarters. Oh well, a win is a win.

Wednesday 02/23/2020

Walk. Get idea re zoom simulcasts. On return to my room, I have an email from Paul in IT telling me the problem with the wireless mics is fixed. Hell it is, it still existed yesterday at 11am, I reply. Paul replies, meet me in the auditorium in 15 minutes.

I go to the auditorium and test, and what do you know, the problem is fixed. Gerald from IT, after our meeting yesterday, thought of something and went back and fixed the issue. All mics work the way we need them to. Big relief to me.

In my room, I email David M with the idea I had. Then start my laundry

Stanford WBB had sent an email yesterday saying, click here to claim your tickets for the post-season games, but the link did nothing. Now I call Stanford tickets; they say I don’t have to do anything to claim post season tickets. As a season ticket holder they will automatically charge my card.

I call Ian to check on the plan for a zoom simulcast next Sunday.

I send email to AV team mailing list with the good news about the mics, and scheduling an AV team meeting for next week, when I hope we can have a workshop on how to do simulcasts.

Yesterday eBay said “remember those old IBM manuals you been trying to sell for weeks? Hey they sold and you have 48 hours to ship them.” So now I email Lisa, FOPAL volunteer who helpded me do that before, to see when she can help with another mailing.

I made a date yesterday to talk to Mary Beth, the Gift Shop manager, about money. Now I go to the 4th floor to meet her. This was a very interesting talk. I learned a lot. The Gift Shop started in the 90s as an organized committee with officers (? she’s not sure if it had bylaws etc) but over the years it was run more by “benevolent dictators” of which she is the latest, and prior ones have died or are in SN. She would like to see more structure and transparency. I suggested merger with RA and we left that idea hanging.

The GS does their banking as a sub-account of Channing House’s account at Umpqua Bank. This is a new idea to me. It means their actual banking, check deposits especially, are done by Jaisie Lozano, the CH Finance Director. Their accounting is complicated because as a retail operation they have to remit sales tax on taxable items, which Jaisie handles based on their input.

In my wanting to dump Wells Fargo I had not considered anything but SFCU, but having a sub account under CH makes sense for the RA and I will press that idea with the incoming treasurer.

In any case, the GS has never committed to paying the RA a fixed or steady amount, it has always given single grants based on ad-hoc requests for funding, all aimed at generally improving life for Channing House residents, and she didn’t think that would change. Also she is not certain how much the GS actually makes per year and left saying she was going to find out.

I go to lunch while the 2nd laundry load runs. During lunch, I get email from Lisa, she will be at FOPAL annex for a couple of hours soon. I finish lunch quickly. Check laundry. It will be fine by itself for an hour, so I drive to FOPAL and mail IBM manuals with Lisa’s guidance. In future, if I do any future eBay sales, I will be able to do it myself. From there I go to Piazza’s, buy PB, mayo, bread and gatorade. Drive home and move laundry to drier.

Bring in from car, an LED floodlight that we use for object photography at Shustek. I took from Shustek 2 weeks ago, because its switch was flaky, and I thought I could fix. Now I finally bring it up from car and maybe will actually fix it?

Nope. The problem appears to be a failure in the tiny circuit board the drives the LEDs, there is an obvious melted spot. Something overheated, pffft. Send an email to Gretta telling her so.

After a nap I put in an hour organizing tax-related papers. Next time I sit down to do that I will actually start filling out the accountant’s online workbook.

At 4, a person who had signed up for the 6-7pm tray distribution wrote to say she had a health problem and couldn’t make it.

At 5, David M. called from the Auditorium where he was trying out the tech for a zoom simulcast. He needed help with the audio input, and I had an answer in the form of a stereo miniplug to USB converter. I went down and consulted with him on that. Then it was nearly 5:30 so I picked up my dinner tray that I had ordered earlier, took it to my room and ate. At 5 to six I went back down and joined Eva in dispensing trays until 6:45 when almost all were gone.

And that was pretty much the end of the day. Russia invaded Ukraine, I notice.