Nose to the grindstone 2025

[Greg]

More of a Spelchuk assault, but you be you. Especially on your special day.

[Drunk Monk]

Spelchuk = trollbot fans

It’s been getting worse. I have to proof ai rigorously (which I don’t do here obvs). I blame the rise of ai. 

I have Kung Fu then Tara is coming down for the weekend so we’re going to catch Ne Zha 2 (I’m eager to get her take on it) then we’ll hang out downtown for food & and window shopping.

[Greg]

Penultimate day of house clearance. I wish I had a three yard dumpster, but alas. I might go support my flailing film community by seeing the latest Captain America.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Shop day, but no Henchman (he is off being an adult by going to a conference in LA for his day job)(they grow up so fast!). Dinner with a friend afterwards.

[Drunk Monk]

One yoga class done. Grabbing a quick bagel then going to another - a special ‘gentle’ yoga & Tibetan sound experience workshop. Then home, probably to take Yuki out, and say farewell to Tara who came down yesterday for my birthday. It was nice to spend a day with her.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Slept gloriously late. H has been on the horn with one of her best buds from Germany for 2 hours. Time to gather her up and go for a walk on a windy, sunny Spring day. And maybe grab a beer, too

[Drunk Monk]

And so my birthday weekend draws to a close. It was good and pleasant. Today it’s back to the salt mines with 3 hours of meetings and spam queuing. This week might get hectic because we’re having my mom’s house interior painted.

[Greg]

Return to the Lair. Prep for the cutting.

[thatguy]

Sat - Shannon and I took our friend and her smart/precocious 5 yo to the Exploratoreum. (It was our Xmas gift to him)

They came up from Marina, picked me up. We stopped at the Fisherman's Wharf Hyatt and dropped off our stuff, then drove up the embarcadero to the museum. Got there around noon.

It was expected, by 5yo boys are challenging. Not much interest in what each exhibit was about, just what buttons can I push, what can I bang on. We took a break and got some food on the back patio at Pier 23. It was nice to sit. Food was decent. Staff was particularly unfriendly in general, except an older man who said he'd only been there two months, but though the other staff's behavior was terrible. He made up for it.

Got thru the meal, but was completely stuffed. Waddled back to the Exploratoreum for round two. Lots of other kids having breakdowns. Screaming, siblings battling. We did as well, if not better. We were on the upstairs back deck checking out the camera obscura pointed at the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island when they started shutting things down.

Took the long way back to the hotel to do some sight seeing. Parked next to Grace Cathedral, across from the Masonic. Went to the Top of the Mark. Took some pix right at sunset, but opted to not stay. Instead, we went back down and over to the Fairmont, but at this point we were really on the edge of small person breakdown. Went to the Tonga Room downstairs where they let us all hang out at the bar. Got some NA beverages, went over to the pool deck and watched the rain/lightning/thunder show. (it's like being next to the produce in the grocery isle).

We were spent at that point. Went back to the hotel and crashed.

Sun - brunch at the hotel (we had a credit which was the whole reason for staying there...redeeming it was challenging). After brunch, we walked around the corner and caught a cable car to the cable car museum. We thought it was going to be a rainy or at least overcast day, but it was lovely. On the way there, our friend discovered that she had left her cell phone in the lobby. While the 5yo and I looked around the museum, she and Shannon tried to recover her phone.

Phone finally recovered after an hour or so (the valet found it). We caught the Hyde St cable car over to Fisherman's Wharf. Walked to the maritime museum where I asked the staff for contacts to see if they might have interest is a ship model collection. Got some good leads. Then we walked over to Ghiradelli Square. Got a mocha, checked out the fountain and then walked all the way back to the hotel (not that far actually) to check out. We had a late checkout (2pm) and got to the door right at 2pm which meant our keys stopped working. Shannon resolved that at the desk, we gathered up our stuff and then headed out. Drove past the Marina, past the Palace of Fine Arts, over the Tunnel Tops, thru the Presidio and into traffic on 19th Ave. 

Finally got thru all that and took 280 back. Shannon was getting hungry and still had to drive all the way back to Marina (no, not The Marina, the city Marina). So we stopped in Los Altos for some early dinner. Most everything was closed, but we found a Mexican place and had a nice meal. Back on the road, too Foothill all the way back to Cupertino. Stopped at McClellan Ranch Park to see the goats (and chickens, ducks, alpacas, etc). Then they dropped me off at home.

Fun but exhausting weekend.

--tg

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I’m glad the weather treated you well, even if the waitstaff at Pier 23 didn’t. If you get saddled with a 5 y.o. again, Pier 39 is the ticket. It is made for kids and tourists.

[King Bob]

The Academy of Sciences is also good for kids. In fact after the remodel it's much more for for them than for adults. (I think it's nowhere near as good as it used to be.) Also it's now quite expensive - $45 for adults and $35 for kids.

[Drunk Monk]

2 D00Mbros w/out kids giving kid advice to the D00Mbro with the most kids. So D00M.

I got 2 telemeets then over to a vale to see what shape my mom’s house is in (we are currently repainting the interior and repaving the driveway & walkway). Then I should study for my exam on Thursday.

Keeping an eye on the D00M4M for Greg news. Let us know how it goes. We look forward to a successful procedure and some posts on pain meds.

[Greg]

I'm currently reveling in the use of two arms. Surgery commences at 2pm. I should be out by 4pm. There is a hiccup awaiting me. They were supposed to send me a prep kit. They never did. I was under the impression it had arrived while I was gone because a lot of things came in from Kaiser. We shall see if the surgery will commence without me doing the prep which included drinking some electrolytes and disinfecting my shoulder. I did all the other blood work they required. I'm hoping the stuff is minor and we can proceed. My mind is currently in the let's get this over with mode.

[Drunk Monk]

[Drunk Monk]

Now that Greg's asleep, let's talk about me. 

I'm at my mom's house where we're having a lot of work done. She did well with the market last year and we're putting it into the house = repaving the front driveway and walkway and stripping and repainting th interior. The repaving is nearly done - they;re just hopung to find a stone to match a leftover hole in the front wall stonework. The painters have tarped the floors and furniture, patched the walls, and laid down primer. The house is a mess. It's very weird being here tonight. But I must let the painters in early tomorrow. 

The fumes. For a moment, I thought I was in N'Orleans for Fat Tuesday with armloads of eco-friendly beads to toss at exhibitionists. But no. Fumes. My old room is the same as it was in high school, only buried under several decades more of swords, books, T-shirts, robes, percoset, crap.  It's not being painted, left in it's ridiculous glory, half 70s wood panel walls, have dark blue painted walls (I wanted black but my folks said no, and dark blue was our compromise. And red carpet. That hides the blood stains. It's the last bastion of my childhood home. I have an iaido test on Thursday and I meant to bring my bokken & saya tonight (I have this super lightweight one I got from Tiger Claw that's super safe. But it's at home. I only have one katana here, my sharpened ninja katana, so a ran my katas very slowly twice each. There are 7 seated kata and 8 standing kata. Nothing like fumes and sharp swords. Reminded me of the good old daze at AFS. Mmmmm fumes.