–Played with Silca pumps.
–Took the BMW to Bel Air for potato salad. Sweet car.
–Barbecued turkey burgers and (from Sherry/Davis Ranch) corn and tomatoes.
Category: Uncategorized (Page 21 of 232)
–Took the BMW to REI Folsom to get some new sneakers. Car was good, Siri was good.
–Re-hung the parking duck.
–Sherry Stults went to Davis ranch and brought us back (per request) some corn, tomatoes and peanut brittle.
–Still hot!
–Dinner at Zinfandel. Pretty good.
–Breakfast at the Holiday Inn, cinnamon rolls and bagels at Top Donuts, then headed back (Phoebe’s doesn’t open until 11). BMW was good, especially after I redirected the AC air flow.
–Hot here, still not conducive to working in the garage.
–Switched over to iPhone for the BMW in order to get Siri. It’ll be hard to beat the car’s native GPS system, which (I learned today) knows about slowdowns and how long they’ll last–but we’ll check it out.
–Red Baron for dinner.
–Took the 330i to BMW Monterey; traded it in for a 230i. Car salespeople are still jerks: I got a 15-minute high-pressure sales pitch on various kinds of insurance from the finance guy. Anyway, the car is fabulous, though it does have a fairly strong odor.
–Briefly checked out La Selva Beach with chips on the bluff.
–Checked in at the Holiday Inn Watsonville. Got room 319, same as last trip.
–Dinner at McDonald’s.
–Big diarrhea attacks this morning, a day early.
–Paid State Farm homeowner’s insurance $1,186, due in October. Hope this is for a full year.
–Took the BMW to Bel Air for cash, then Coloma Arco for gas.
–Tried to pack, sort of.
–Took a shower and shave.
–While fiddling in the bathroom, I noticed that the two Vern Scharf paintings (hot dog and donut over Capitola) were covered with water spots. (1) Be care when using the water flosser. (2) Tried getting them off with water, Mother’s Mag, white vinegar: nope. Tried alcohol, which seemed to work, but also removed some varnish. Ordered some varnish. May try to clear up all water spots, then re-varnish.
–Went birthday shopping at Oto’s market and Osaka Ya. Total nightmare, due to terribly blurred vision and circuitous routes.
–Haven’t heard a word from Nathan Reed. Looks like I might have pissed him off with my Perma-Plate complaint.
–Went to Bel Air for cheese, milk, cream, dessert, avocado.
–Took the BMW to Folsom Glenn car wash. $45 and a great job. Now that I’m not taking it anywhere soon…
–After verifying travel dates with Grace yesterday (Aug 28–31), she said today those weren’t right, as Kathy’s birthday is Sep 6. So I re-did everything for Sep 4–7. Airline and rental car were no problem. Best Western Eastgate could be a $700 problem. After I explained everything to central reservations, they submitted a change ticket to the the local hotel. Haven’t heard from them yet.
–Meidai Japanese bike pump came in. High quality, but the chuck head (not replaceable) is awful. Hard to get on, won’t stay on. Will toss most of it, keep a few nice parts.
–Double-ring hose clamps came in from Walmart. (a) Too large. (b) Flimsy wire. Tossed. Finally found what I should have been looking for all along: not 10mm but 3/8″ clamps. Ordered some.
–Second Helios 81H came in. Glass, though clear, had many small hard-to-see cleaning marks on it. Compared it to the first one (ultra-clear AND no cleaning marks): first one won. Then compared first one to Biotar (which it had edged out a while back. Biotar won, not really close: the Helios had a sort of misty veiling flare that the Biotar lacked. Hoping I’m done (again) with Helios.
–Talked to Nathan Reed finally at Monterey BMW. Long story short: if my 330i is flawless, I’ll trade it plus $20,000 for a white 230i with 4 miles on it. And a convenience package, surround sound, parking assistance, AND PERMA-PLATE. Can’t believe a Beemer dealer is still doing this crap.
–Spent much of the day transplanting the Mandarin into the ground. I’m totally exhausted. I was shocked to see how small and sparse its roots were. Hard to predict what’s going to happen to it.
–Renewed memberships and made reservations at Alaska Air and Best Western Hotels. Turns out I have 14,000 miles at AA (didn’t use any this time), and the Silver Cloud Eastgate has become a Best Western. All those Silver Rewards…poof!
–Helped Kenny install a wheel on his back patio gate.
–Grace wants to go to Bellevue. Flights and hotel are available, but she’ll wait a week or two to tell me she wants to go the next day.
–Went to S*T Strawberries for some berries for Grace to play around with.
–Picked up Pentacon 29/2.8 lens at UPS. Glass seems clear enough, but the lens is totally useless: impossible to focus, acts like infinity is 10 feet away, ultra-soft and unsaturated photos. Tossed it.
–Picked up Diamond Calk WWII entrenching tool at UPS. Super nice, original paint and all. I’ll almost hate to use it–but I didn’t get it as a collector’s piece.