47 Degrees and Raining

Did that deter me from doing my laps at the outdoor pool today? Certainly not!  A beast by any other name would smell as sweet.  Wait, does that make any sense?

https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/beast

I did not get my swim in yesterday.  I showed up around 9am only to find out that the pools were closed for repairs.  The outdoor pool would re-open at 10, but I had a date with my wife. I would have expected a personal phone call from the posh club informing me of the closure, as I am a treasured charter member.

The wife and I spent yesterday morning at SFMOMA, because we’re highly cultured.  We saw a lot of cool stuff.  We were impressed by some of the abstract art, but not all of it.  As far as I am concerned, nailing together two different geometric shapes in two different colors doesn’t cut it.  I found this out the hard way.  A few years ago, I painted a large piece of plywood black and added a smaller green triangle to it.  I sent photos of it to museums all over but no takers.  I had to use one of my bi-annual large item pick-ups from the garbage company to get rid of it.

Back to my date. After MOMA, my wife and I walked a half block to Fang on Howard. Peter Fang started House of Nanking in 1988. I’ve been there, but not for many years.  Back in the days when I worked in the city, three of the best Chinese restaurants in the country were within walking distance of each other: Henry Hunan, Brandy Ho and House of Nanking.  You cannot go wrong with any of them.

We enjoyed lunch at Fang.  We both got tea, which they serve with a big tea ball that eventually unwraps itself in the mug. We found this cool, as we are rubes. After I paid the check, the waitress was working with the next table and blocking my wife’s exit.  I stood up, said “it was nice having lunch with you, see ya” and went outside. I like to kid.

The wife and I also had a busy Thursday. After doing my bi-weekly volunteer activity, we headed down to see 4M and his wife in San Jose.  We had originally planned to hang in his back yard and eat take-out, but he came up with a cockamamie story about not wanting to put up the sunshade due to the impending rain. We ended up at a sandwich joint a few blocks from their house.  I think he just likes being seen in public with a famous blogger. Back home in the evening, we had a bocce game.  The wife cannot play due to her elbow, so she put on a cute cheerleader outfit.  We lost again, keeping our record perfect.

The wife likes to give me blog ideas sometimes.  She said I should write about the constant work at the end of the block. I said to myself, “That will make sterling content”. It actually is kind of funny how a crew shows up every two to three weeks and re-digs the same hole.  They spent a lot of time down there installing streetlights last year, but I don’t know what the hell they are doing now.  Maybe it is a training facility.

I also get blog motivation from #1, aka pork thief.  He lets me know when I’ve gone too long without one of my scintillating posts.  I saw a hit from Sonora, CA today and I got my mojo.  #1 is hanging in Yosemite this weekend.

In my 1/5/24 blog, I made a rare wisecrack in referring to the Golden Bachelor couple.  I said, "I wish them all the happiness in the world for the few years I expect them to remain together." I guess I should have said months, as they are divorcing.  I sent this news on to a couple of my WhatsApp buddy chat groups.  Some of the guys took it pretty hard.

I had a bad week in the options market.  I blame Jamie Dimon. I plan to halt all trading in May, due to Double Brood Cicadageddon.