CLIMB INTO THIS FULLY-RESTORED DELOREAN...
...and I will reverse the Flux Capacitor and take us headlong "Forward, into the Past" one more time. We complete this heroic trilogy by sharing with you what must be the longest birthday celebration in living memory. And many, many thanks to all participants and well-wishers. I am damn glad to be here for this one.
FURTHER HIJINKS
My actual birthday was somewhat mundane. It was exceedingly hot here in Liver Beach so the day was spent sorting out medical bills. Many providers had incorrect insurance information, and we were getting statements saying crap like "patient responsibility: $6 jillion. Insurance paid: zero" which is fairly disconcerting. For some reason, UCSF was the most hunched-up, which is amazing. Every time we walk into Admitting, ED, or any clinic they ask us about our insurance, and they have old information about 75% of the time. We give them all of our insurance cards, and the next time (especially at Admitting) they still have the wrong info. Even worse, the correct stuff never gets to Accounting so they have been billing the wrong secondary carrier since like April. When I finally got through to a live person, they just kinda chuckled when I asked why this happens. Great communication over there.
We did salvage the day a bit when Cheryl took me to the First Street Alehouse. It was still about a hunnert degrees downtown, and the Alehouse was still jammed even out amongst the sidewalk tables. We had a coupla nice sammitches and shared a pint of Pyramid Apricot Ale to celebrate the occasion. We resisted the urge for frozen yogies and headed home.
A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER
We joined Leslie, Andrew and the senior Chaws on Sunday (are you following the reverse chronology here?) to take in the Pixar 25th Anniversary exhibit at the Oakland Museum. Awesome is the word. Very fascinating process to create these incredible (like The Incredibles!) films. Of course a particular favorite were the sketches and models of the automotive characters of Cars.
We were then joined by our son-in-law Chris (aka LuckyManSB) at Lanesplitters, a pizza, salad and beer establishment on San Pablo where our Berkeley kids are well-known regulars. We definitely sucked up too much pizza and suds, but did greatly enjoy the food and company on the back patio. With the exception of the out-of-control rugrats who were allowed to run rampant everywhere by their Bezerkeley-casual "parents". We were sorry that Andy's sweetie Linz was not able to join us, but she had her hands full at home with Sampson and some of his doggie buddies.
Taking it forward into the past one more day found us joining Dan and Carol for a jaunt into The City. First on the agenda was a visit to the SF Museum of Modern Art (aka SFMOMA) for a special exhibit. This immense assortment of works from people like Warhol, Lichtenstein, Stella, Close and Calder was on loan from a collection owned by Donald Fisher, who started The Gap in 1969. We wondered where in the Hell they could have kept all of these pieces, since they have a total of 1100 and some of them are quite large. I guess he did pretty well with Gap, I can't even guess how many millions of $$ worth of art were represented here. And it's only a small piece of the pie!
A truly memorable dinner experience started by our arrival at the Ferry Building. I have never been in it, despite my many, many visits to SF over the years. Walking around the shops and food operations, we ran into Chris, a nurse in the ED at UCSF. We have been under his care several times, always at some odd hour of the night, as he works 7:00 pm to 7:00 am. He was quite happy to see us, especially as it was not a medical-emergency situation. Very nice and interesting man, and it was cool to see him.
Dinner plans centered around The Slanted Door, a famous SF spot for Vietnamese (sorta) cuisine. The owner, Chef Phan has taken the food up several notches, and of course the view from the edge of the Embarcadero is pretty spectacular. I had read some reviews on Yelp!, and there was plenty of ragging about long waits (even with reservations), snotty and disappearing servers, so-so food and high prices. I wish I had not looked, since everything (except the pricing) was totally incorrect. We were particularly impressed by the knowledgeable and very courteous waiter and wine "steward", a young dude with ponytail wearing jeans. Great food, great wine (I had the iced tea) and great company, naturally. We even had Morley Safer of 60 Minutes walk by on his way to his table. Very cool place, and many thanks, guys.
STILL THE PAST, BUT OUT OF REVERSE-CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
We enjoyed a recent continuation of Dinner with the Gang hostessed by Cora M., this time in SF at Destino's on Market. They feature Latin American cuisine, with lots of tapas and entrees and some killer desserts. After the meal. out comes our waitress with a burning candle atop a large delicacy, singing "Happy Birthday to You" along with the rest of the inhabitants of the restaurant. It was a gigantic heart-shaped flan, created by JP and Cora after a lot of effort locating a heart-shaped mold. Quite delicious as well, and much-appreciated to be sure.
AND IN CLOSING...
I've blathered on much too long again, sorry everyone. I will add one more wrinkle, this time "Backward, into the Future". I just this moment got scheduled for a RIGHT-heart cath this Thursday at UCSF. Yes, it's a 7:00 am arrival again, but since access is through the neck there is no protracted recovery period like what happened last week. I am strangely OK with a repeat visit to the cath lab, since the staff are so nice to us there.
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot...got an email from our social worker at UCSF about my donor. Nothing further has developed, and she said sometimes donor families wait months or a year (or longer) before responding. Some choose not to respond at all. So I will wait hopefully and patiently for a word.
So, as our boat sinks slowly in the West and the Sun sets sail from the dock, we leave this enchanted Tribune, and pledge to return someday when there is something to blog about. Until then, enjoy your Labor Day....
Bob/Irv
I am so happy you had a wonderful birthday! The Pixar exhibit sound very cool, since I went to college in Oakland, I always had to go to the Oakland museum every semester and they had some "interesting exhibits" that were definately fun to see with friends, but the Pixar exhibit sounds fun.
ReplyDeleteDo you feel sick when you drink? I used to be fine when I drank, now I feel terrible the next day. I was wondering if it was the medications, but now I can't drink at all as of tonight-at all, I asked the doctor: "at all" 3x, just to make sure and he said no three times.
Why are they doing another cath so soon? Is eveything ok?
Have a good Labor Day!