Blah. Meh. Except for dinner.

Woke up at 8:30, when the alarm switched off. No need to rush to work because I was planning on staying late because the play I was seeing after work was only a couple of miles away. Used the new shower for the first time. A little awkward using squeeze bottles instead of the dispenser, but otherwise a HUGE improvement over both the original and the guest shower.

Spent most of the day faceplanting in the test case database, creating steps for testing things on the upcoming product which I had no idea how to really test. But boss is pressuring us to finish the steps by tomorrow, regardless.

And he's badgering me about something I volunteered to take a look at, which has turned into a marketing campaign.

Got a phone call from someone who wants to sell me long term care insurance. No, not as bad as it sounds. Some California department has a partnership program going, and I sent in a slip with my name & phone number. We set up an appointment for Tuesday, but the guy kept wanting to ask me more questions and I had a meeting to go to. Had to hang up on him as soon as he said he would call back in an hour. He didn't.

It's obvious he's used top talking to old Luddite retirees, which should not be his primary audience. If he calls back the first question is what company he represents.

Lunch at Togo's. Same cutie from two days ago was there, but wearing a dress, so not as good a view while she was ordering - she parked in the same seat. Worker with thong pants was there, but the redheads were not. No other eye candy. I started reading a new Kindle magazine. It was billed as just a 1930's hard science fiction magazine, but the intro makes it clear that it is issue #1 of Astounding. I skipped the first piece because it is the first half of a serialized novel which I may come back to if they have volume 2 online. The first short story is well written, and uses a lot of science, though they get some things somewhat wrong which are pivotal story points.

Worked till 6:45, drove to where I was planning on having dinner, but it was already 7 by then, I didn't think I'd make it to the theater in time if I had a real dinner, so I went to Baskin & Robbins and had a banana split. Mint chocolate chip, chocolate fudge and strawberry ice cream, caramel, hot fudge and strawberry toppings.

Got to Santa Clara Players' theater at 7:30, bought a ticket, checked the plumbing, and saw Agatha Crusty and The Village Hall Murders. Four friends in a cast of 8. Two new (to me) faces, hope to see them again. Horrible script, poorly directed. Way too many scene changes for a one-set show. Most of the humor was lost on the cast. British accents were iffy all around.

Chatted with each cast member after the show, except for one guy who dodged me and snuck out early. He played two parts - he did the same in the last show.

Home, only junk mail from candidates and issue proponents.

On the front porch were two Amazon deliveries: three new SodaStream bottles, and a soap/shampoo dispenser for the shower. While looking for my tube of silicon glue I found a 75W-equivalent spiral bulb which I put in place of the 60W incandescent in the bathroom. Took the soap containers out of the dispenser, applied the 2-sided tape and the silicon glue which came with it, which turned out to be enough so I didn't need the tube I had found. Secured it to the wall with white gaffer's tape. It may be ready to fill the containers and use in the morning.

Kitchen, filled the new bottles with water and parked them in the fridge. Will charge one or two in the morning. Put two old ones aside. The labels on those say they are okay to use for another 2 years, but they have not been holding a charge, so I'm thinking the caps have work out.

Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Catch up on Tivo
Water the plants

Freitag You're It

Showered in the guest bathroom because the instructions said wait 24 hours before loading up the soap dispenser in the main shower.

Got a call from UPS, they will send a check for the fraud charges, because I had removed my credit card info from their sites. Should see that in a week. It will go straight to Discover Card, though.

At work I checked out my fave whale watching place, they don't seem to have an afternoon run on Saturday but they do have afternoon glass-bottom boat cruises on the harbor. Book a 9 am Sunday whale trip, and will take my chances on the other when I get there tomorrow. Booked the lodgings I wanted, after not even looking because they are usually full up this close to the day.

Work was boring again, matching tests with the requirements doc and writing steps for tests I don't really now how to do yet because I don't have  machine to look at.

Lunch at China Stix, but had to hurry back for a meeting. This one would have been useful, Boss was trying to go over the massive changes in the schedule he just found out about (I was assigned two more items, one of which looks like it could be fun, the other is a major WTF. But I don't get a machine until maybe September. I hope I didn't hear that right. But once again loudmouth shouted a lot and got caught in one of his infamous infinite loops of non-logic. His failure to understand simple things, and wanting to make them more complex is made worse by his horrible English. He's from a US terrortory, one would think he could at least get the hang of tenses. And his accent is like a parody. I almost turned on my recorder. His writing is even worse.

Back to my desk, got done as much as I was going to get done, wrote up some clearer results of a bug test because the boss of the boss of the guy who reported the bug can't read and understand a technical answer.

Home by way of Lucky's because I was counting on them having birthday cards of the humorous variety for my Middle Sister, who turns 60 on Wednesday. As I was waking up this morning, my text message alert went off, it was her (she lives in Baltimore) saying she was at my airport. Close, my airport is SJC, she was at SFO. Why? I replied. She and husband are on their way to Hawaii. Just like I did for my 60th. Except she's been there before. Copy cat.

Walked into the store, immediately slapped myself upside the head in my head, because I needed some diet Coke, and assorted munchies for the 3-hour drive to Morro Bay. I took care of that first, then went looking for birthday cards, which of course were all the way at the other side of the store. Found one cute icanhazcheezeburger themed one, but was looking for a 60 years card.

Staring back at me were cards with big 16s on them. What a great joke.
How old are you?
60
16?
No, 60
One-six?
No, six-oh

Bought three of them, and the mylar balloon (in a package small enough to stick in with a card) 
Also found two more funny any-age cards

At the check-out she asked if I wanted the balloon inflated. No thanks. It won't make it to Hawaii in time. I also bought a $10 straw hat with a chin strap for the boat ride. Baseball caps get in the way of photos and my good suede hat will fly away in the breeze.

The to World Oil to top off the tank - it took almost 8 gallons so that was a good idea. On a good day Morro Bay round trip is a tank.

Home, watched two TMZs, had a beef strogonoff-like frozen dinner.

Looked at the lenses which are candidates for the whale trip. Last time I used the Tamron 28-270, was not thrilled with it. The 55-300 Nikon weighs a lot, but it's fast, so that's on the camera, but in my fanny pack is the Sigma 28-300 lightweight. And will have the Nikon 18-200 in the car too, for when I'm not on  the boat.

Looked up fixed 300mm lenses, the good ones cost >$5k. Not gonna happen. Even the 135 is close to a grand. I have a really nice 65mm macro, but it is only really good for close-ups and portrait work.

Plans for tomorrow:
Put out the big bag of cans for the homeowners' assn. recycling drive
Throw another jacket in the car because Morro Bay forecast is only 65° high
If I arrive before 1 pm, I'll head for the docks and see if they are doing any afternoon whale watching runs. Or if they have a glass bottom boat space free.

About That There ‪#‎Yesallwomen

Tell me if I'm being defensive about this.

Women are almost constantly talking and writing about the time(s) they were raped, and the several hundred slightly less horrible things men do/say to them. I've seen a lot of those things, but not being one who hangs out in bars or parties where people are apt to get drunk or high, I don't see all that much of it.

But I know it happens because:
I have dated three different women who were battered women/rape crisis counselors.

For about a year my house in rural coastal WA was a safe house for battered women, all of whom were fleeing ultra-macho lumberjacks or fishermen.

I saw a housemate in college throw his girlfriend down the stairs. She was a nursing student. She was a nursing student because she had been raped, stabbed and left for dead by a gang of four men, and managed to crawl to a house for help. The house just happened to be the home of a nurse, who saved her life. The housemate's first job after college was as a security guard, a job he got despite all of his housemates contacting his employer with negative recommendations.

A long time friend and former co-worker was staying at my house while hers was being remodeled. My house was on the edge of the Inner City. I came home from work one day to find the door wide open and her purse sitting in plain sight. he had gone for a walk, met a guy, invited him back to the house, and was raped. She had just spent an hour in the shower. I phoned the woman I was then dating, who had a job as a rape counselor with the city mayor's office.

--
But I don't understand it. Not at all. I just can't wrap my head around the concept of a man treating a woman badly. It makes no sense to me.

About as close as I come is I am attracted to women, and make a judgment on first sight if she is "eye candy" or not. But I do this with men too. But I'm just as likely to start a conversation with someone I don't think of as eye candy. I have interesting and talented friends of all levels of attractiveness.