–Went to Noah’s for bagels, Peet’s for decaf beans.
–Tried to go to (two different) McDonald’s for lunch; both were fenced off for remodeling. Ate at Burger King.
–Took a swim.
Month: August 2021
–Took a swim. Water was too warm at 87 (set for 86). Dialed it back to 85. Air is a little less smoky; sun is a little brighter.
–Barbecued turkey burgers, corn, squash. Tasty.
–Swapped SIM from iPhone to Samsung Flip. Was able to install Resound app and it found hearing aids, but couldn’t pair with them. Put SIM back in iPhone, then got 14 messages saying I had been unregistered from Verizon. What?? I was able to re-register, but I wish I knew what was going on. This didn’t happen when I swapped SIM from SE 1st gen to SE 2020.
–Went to Verizon on Olson to cut through the transfer maze. Got a phone number for porting; I doubt that this is published anywhere on the web. Called it and got Dena, whom I could actually understand. She said Total Wireless had already started the transfer, and the delay was because Verizon didn’t want to go live before I had a SIM, which they thought was coming Monday. Dena expedited things and we’re all good now. iPhone SE 1st gen is kaput. It had battery issues last night, seemed charged this morning, but I cracked the glass when trying to close it back up seamlessly after playing with a connector. Don’t know if I’ll order another or not.
–Had dinner at Il Forno Classico. Very good. Stopped by Bel Air for corn, tortilla chips, dessert, etc.
–Again too cool to swim–just (84 at 3 PM).
–Played with phones a lot, to no avail.
–Picked up new glasses at Eye Center. Feather-light, still need adjusting.
–Went birthday shopping at Tomato Alley (small, lots of BBQ sauce and rub that I don’t need) and Osaka-Ya (got some fancy mochi). Gift shop next to Osaka-Ya is gone.
–Called Total Wireless yet again and got the usual hogwash: Grace’s phone isn’t activated, need to buy a new SIM card, etc. I’m done with them. Went with a pre-paid Verizon plan identical to Total Wireless for $40/month, which goes down the longer you stay with it. SIM comes tomorrow via UPS. AND since it’s an actual Verizon account, I can utilize the Verizon network extender if need be. Finally…(I hope).
–Phone reception is still really spotty.
–Made pizza for dinner. Good.
–Dr. Aminbakhsh canceled 1 PM appointment at 12:30. I didn’t re-schedule.
–Made some peach-jalapeno jam. Pain in the ass, didn’t yield much, not very tasty or hot. Crap.
–Spent hours trying to get Grace’s new iPhone running, including several calls to Total Wireless and a trip to Best Buy for a new SIM. Long story short: It’s locked. I eventually put her SIM in the rose gold SE I had bought and shelved (didn’t care for the color) and it was running immediately. Put in for a return on the gray one, and it was accepted immediately. Hope the new one works…
–Yet another cool no-swim day.
–Another slow, cool day. No swim.
–Made some turkey burger patties. Froze some and barbecued a couple, with tomato corn and squash.
–Another rotten day–pool didn’t make it to temperature.
–Went to the Gun Range in North Highlands to sell Nathan four more pistols (and learned he’s interested in two more, for a total of seven). Went smoothly.
–Ate at Jack’s Urban Eats, then did some shopping at Bel Air.
–Dug into the BMW paperwork and managed to (a) suspend insurance (will be reactivated with new car) and (b) submit a “release of liability” at DMV.
–Looked up 2021 Colt Python. Turns out they’re a lot like Rolex, and every other item where demand far exceeds supply. MSRP is $1,600, and I almost bought one from Eddy’s at $2,200. Fuck that shit.
–Went to Mike’s Bikes in Folsom where Tom Elken was getting his new Specialized Turbo Vado. Went for a ride, and I learned that I need to do a lot more riding to stay in “shape.”
–No swim.
–Finally looked through Vroom paperwork and sent them a photo of the bill of lading–that I should have sent two days ago.
–Went to Sportaman’s Warehouse, waited a bit (at least they have “take a number”), aced the Firearm Safety test and got my certificate. Looking at a 6″ polished stainless Python at Eddy’s in Mountain View, kind of like I did 50 years ago.
–Made a pizza. Okay, though seemed a little dry.
–Replaced hearing aid batteries around 8:30 PM.
–Got bagels at Noah’s; sock-it-to-me cake at Safeway while looking for Grace’s Vernor’s Diet Ginger Ale (no luck).
–Took a swim and a shower.
–Slow day. Catalogued guns a little, took a swim.
–A guy came to pick up the Beemer. I have a sheet of paper with a scrawled signature on it. Hope he was legit.
–Barbecued burgers, corn and squash.
–Had brunch with Tom Elken and girlfriend Sandy at Friends with Benedicts in El Dorado Hills. She seems nice.
–Took a swim.
–Another bad night–reflux/nausea/chills. Dehydration again. Slept much of the day.
–Took a swim.
–Terrible night of diarrhea, from dehydration I suppose.
–Marie for dinner.
–Replaced a drip emitter at a tree near the side fence that looks like it’s distressed. We’ll see.
–Sold one of the Les Baer TRSs to Nathan for $2,000. Went to Turner’s first (too busy) then The Gun Range. Nothing like standing for an hour with a bad back.
–Called Grace to tell her I was heading back. Her phone didn’t ring. Sent her a text message. Later noticed a red warning under the message: “not delivered.” She refuses to entertain any thoughts of getting a working phone, of course.
–Ran the pool pump up to 3,400 to get rid of solar bubbles. It pretty much quit–because the water level, which I had just increased, was too low for that much pressure. I dropped it down to 3,200 and added a bunch of water. Bingo! Pressure is between 15 and 20 psi and there are zero solar bubbles. Dropped it to 3,000 and everything held. Will drop lower and try to find a speed that works. I have a vague recollection of doing this before and giving up when the bubbles returned after a while. Hope to do it better this time, and maybe run the pool at a slightly higher than desired rpm for a shorter time every day, watching to see when it hits temperature.
–Watched an episode of Dr. Blake with horrible subtitle sync. Watched S05E04 of Rick and Morty; stupefyingly bad.
–Lowered RPMs on pool and aux2 to 2,500. That cured the over-pressure issue; it’s down from 21 to 16 psi now.
–Put an ad in at calguns.net for one of my Les Baer Thunder Ranch Specials (why do I have two?); it sold immediately.
–Took a swim. Back does seem to be getting better.
–Cleaned up outside a bit.
–Went to Costco for an eye exam. Pretty thorough I thought. I have cataracts between stages 1 and 2 (out of 4). Should be years before they cause significant problems.
–Marie for dinner.
–Very smoky out today.
–Looked at Mini Coopers. Plenty available–in Reno.
–Cleaned bird bath. Top part was coated in a cement-like substance that didn’t come off even with a Foredom wire brush. No idea what that is.
–Took a swim.
–Tried to get Grace to switch iPhones. Didn’t work.
–Took a swim.
–Made appointments with PCP for back, dermatologist for skin, and Costco optical for glasses.
–Somewhat depressed: can’t stand or walk; giving up on coastal home; probably selling the Beemer before I wreck it, and can’t find anything to replace it that looks like fun.
–Up early at Holiday Inn Express Watsonville to get breakfast and make Grace’s 10:30 PAMF appointment. Breakfast was crap: pre-packaged tiny muffins, bagels–nothing hot like bacon or eggs. For $250, we deserved more.
–New case tube and tool came in for Rolex Datejust. Interestingly, the new cheapo tool worked much better than the expensive Horotec tool–which didn’t really work at all. Anyway, watch is good now.
–Had breakfast at the Holiday Inn Express. Drove to Corralitos Market and stocked up on sausage. Went to La Selva Beach. Bought a sandwich at El Patio, shared it on the bluff. Saw some bottlenose dolphins in the water! Walked to Triangle Park, hung around for a while, then Willie showed up. Handshake, hug and selfie. Checked in at the Holiday Inn Express in Watsonville. Kelly’s Bookstore was closed, so we went for an early dinner at Appleby’s. Menu seemed smaller than before, but food was fine.
–Back pain still there, since early May it seems. Not optimistic about the outcome of this.
–Took the Beemer to the coast. Long slow trip, it being Saturday and all. Checked into the Marina Holiday Inn Express. Went to Pacific Grove. Sun was actually out, as were hordes of tourists–mostly on electric scooters and bikes. Had dinner at Rudolfo’s, most excellent. Drove around looking at houses. Kind of depressing. You can’t go home again.