Two Days Worth
Aug. 7th, 2014 01:13 amTuesday was one of those way too late nights because I did something fun after work. And today too.
So yesterday, work was pretty much same ol same ol, but that's more interesting than it has been because there is finally actual work to be done. Lunchtime was spent at Bed Bath and Beyond's Santa Clara store which moved into a space about 1/3 too small, and it is a mess trying to find something in there. The staff was very helpful, though, and confirmed for me that the reason I didn't find any plain vanilla scissors is they don't carry any. Just kitchen scissors. Like for cutting up your goat. And the reason I couldn't find a wall-mount bathroom cup dispenser is they don't carry that either. But I did buy a squeegee for my shower, and a fabric foldable hat for my trip. Good for photography - most other hats get in the way when I take a vertical. And also picked up a 3-for-$10 set of small LED battery-powered lights.
That took way too long. Their web site said it was the closest to work, but I'm pretty sure the one in Mountain View is closer.
Made reservations for parking at the airport. I'll be coming home close to midnight, there won't be any viable public transport ways to get home.
After work I went home, had a snack, then drove to a guitar studio in Los Altos for the second monthly songwriters' meetup. Fewer people, many last-minute cancellations, but the moderator was there, looking elegant and sexy. We went in a circle this time, I was 2nd to last, and it was tempting to ask to jump in early because there was a lot of ose, and I had something funny and trivial to play for them. But I didn't rock the boat. One woman left halfway through, I think she got bored with all the synthesized instrumentals. IMHO songwriters is not the same as soundtrack writers or modern symphony writers. But they all were treated equally. We had about 10 pieces played, and only one of the I thought was a loser, and that was an over-produced boring thing called "Solstice" in which the only words are "here comes the sun". Repeated ad infinitum, echoed and multi-tracked.
When my turn came, they were ready. I had the host point his browser to howeird.com/grossest.html and play the first item on the list "Sincerely". It had been a while since I had heard it all the way through, and it was a lot more content than I remembered. People were LOLing. It was definitely a hit. The last piece was by a couple who folksing professionally, and they decided to follow with something along the same lines about growing up in the Age Of AIDS, which was very amusing and poignant and the chorus ended with "because I can't put a condom on my heart". Lovely.
Next meeting is the first Tuesday of September, I plan to be there.
---
Humpday was kind of boring at work, partly because the bug tacking site was down all day. Lots of people playing pool in the break room. I was able to help with some old automation work.
Lunch was at Thaibodia. As usual the staff was disorganized and not there when you needed them. The food was okay, but I'm not sure the Penang curry was not really some other curry.
Set my AT&T phone account for international roaming, messaging and a little bit of data, just in case. I also tried the non-AT&T SIM in there and yes, the phone is unlocked. Couldn't tell at home because there's no T-Mobile signal there. Also found out that I can't forward the number online, have to use the phone. So that will be a last-day thing. And I checked the UK phone's voicemail, it works.
Got email that a jewelry commission I'd almost given up on was done, and we arranged to meet in Fremont at 7:30 so I could pay for it and take it home. A present for someone I will be seeing later in the month. It took an hour to get there, traffic was insane, and so was my GPS which kept routing me away from reported traffic jams to alternate routes which were under construction. At one point it had me do a 3-mile loop, getting back onto 880 the same place it had me exit. Stoopid.
The piece is beautiful on the front, but unfinished on the back. Doesn't matter, the back isn't meant to be seen.
At her request, when I got home I set up to photograph it. My lightweight tripod turns out to be broken, the lock to keep the camera level doesn't. I thought I had another, but that turned out to be a monopod. My heavy duty telescope tripod worked fine, I just needed to do pile some boxes to get the piece right under the lens. After about half an hour, I switched to my old school macro lens, and those photos turned out the best. Almost all of the ones I shot did a good job of showing off the star in the sapphire.
So here it is, a am. Those are uploaded privately to her on Flickr. I've had ravioli and scalloped potatoes for dinner.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Take a nap
So yesterday, work was pretty much same ol same ol, but that's more interesting than it has been because there is finally actual work to be done. Lunchtime was spent at Bed Bath and Beyond's Santa Clara store which moved into a space about 1/3 too small, and it is a mess trying to find something in there. The staff was very helpful, though, and confirmed for me that the reason I didn't find any plain vanilla scissors is they don't carry any. Just kitchen scissors. Like for cutting up your goat. And the reason I couldn't find a wall-mount bathroom cup dispenser is they don't carry that either. But I did buy a squeegee for my shower, and a fabric foldable hat for my trip. Good for photography - most other hats get in the way when I take a vertical. And also picked up a 3-for-$10 set of small LED battery-powered lights.
That took way too long. Their web site said it was the closest to work, but I'm pretty sure the one in Mountain View is closer.
Made reservations for parking at the airport. I'll be coming home close to midnight, there won't be any viable public transport ways to get home.
After work I went home, had a snack, then drove to a guitar studio in Los Altos for the second monthly songwriters' meetup. Fewer people, many last-minute cancellations, but the moderator was there, looking elegant and sexy. We went in a circle this time, I was 2nd to last, and it was tempting to ask to jump in early because there was a lot of ose, and I had something funny and trivial to play for them. But I didn't rock the boat. One woman left halfway through, I think she got bored with all the synthesized instrumentals. IMHO songwriters is not the same as soundtrack writers or modern symphony writers. But they all were treated equally. We had about 10 pieces played, and only one of the I thought was a loser, and that was an over-produced boring thing called "Solstice" in which the only words are "here comes the sun". Repeated ad infinitum, echoed and multi-tracked.
When my turn came, they were ready. I had the host point his browser to howeird.com/grossest.html and play the first item on the list "Sincerely". It had been a while since I had heard it all the way through, and it was a lot more content than I remembered. People were LOLing. It was definitely a hit. The last piece was by a couple who folksing professionally, and they decided to follow with something along the same lines about growing up in the Age Of AIDS, which was very amusing and poignant and the chorus ended with "because I can't put a condom on my heart". Lovely.
Next meeting is the first Tuesday of September, I plan to be there.
---
Humpday was kind of boring at work, partly because the bug tacking site was down all day. Lots of people playing pool in the break room. I was able to help with some old automation work.
Lunch was at Thaibodia. As usual the staff was disorganized and not there when you needed them. The food was okay, but I'm not sure the Penang curry was not really some other curry.
Set my AT&T phone account for international roaming, messaging and a little bit of data, just in case. I also tried the non-AT&T SIM in there and yes, the phone is unlocked. Couldn't tell at home because there's no T-Mobile signal there. Also found out that I can't forward the number online, have to use the phone. So that will be a last-day thing. And I checked the UK phone's voicemail, it works.
Got email that a jewelry commission I'd almost given up on was done, and we arranged to meet in Fremont at 7:30 so I could pay for it and take it home. A present for someone I will be seeing later in the month. It took an hour to get there, traffic was insane, and so was my GPS which kept routing me away from reported traffic jams to alternate routes which were under construction. At one point it had me do a 3-mile loop, getting back onto 880 the same place it had me exit. Stoopid.
The piece is beautiful on the front, but unfinished on the back. Doesn't matter, the back isn't meant to be seen.
At her request, when I got home I set up to photograph it. My lightweight tripod turns out to be broken, the lock to keep the camera level doesn't. I thought I had another, but that turned out to be a monopod. My heavy duty telescope tripod worked fine, I just needed to do pile some boxes to get the piece right under the lens. After about half an hour, I switched to my old school macro lens, and those photos turned out the best. Almost all of the ones I shot did a good job of showing off the star in the sapphire.
So here it is, a am. Those are uploaded privately to her on Flickr. I've had ravioli and scalloped potatoes for dinner.
Plans for tomorrow:
Work
Take a nap