so it might not be the chicken sausages either: i had some with my oatmeal for lunch and i didn't get sick. although i grilled them first this time, instead of just adding them "raw" to the oatmeal (supposedly they're already cooked, but i have my doubts).

so i washed some venetian blinds today. definitely the one in the guest bedroom, and while i was at it, the 4 blinds from the living room. i removed them and put the whole lot in the bathtub with a hot bubble bath of dishwashing detergent. right away i realized my mistake: mixed together, it was hard to tell where one set of blind began and another ended. something else: if i thought soaking the blinds alone would remove the decade worth of dust, i would be mistaken. there'd be no way around it, each slat would need to be scrubbed with a sponge.

each blind is composed of about 75 slats and it took at least 15 minutes to clean a single blind. that's 15 minutes bent over a bathtub, fingers turning to prunes from the water, wiping off the dirt accumulation one slat at a time. after i finished cleaning one, i'd stand it up vertically on its ends in the sink to let the water drain out. after a while i turn it over on its other end, just to be sure there's no more water.

soaking in detergent isn't necessary, and for me it was better to simply use water since i wouldn't need to rinse off the soap after i was done cleaning. the water was very dirty initially, so i drained it a few times. at some point one of the valance clips must've came off and probably went down the drain. fortunately that one remaining clip was enough.

the final drying was done with the blind re-installed back onto the windows. this allowed me to separate some of the wet slats that were stuck together and to more easily wipe dry any wet spots.

besides the guest bedroom blind and the ones from the living room, i also washed one of the blinds from my bedroom, one that was easily dirty (that one actually had mildew growing on some of the slats).

from a distance i can't tell that the blinds have been cleaned. but up close, they look as good as new. when i get the chance, i'll clean the 2 remaining blinds in my bedroom and the 2 from the kitchen. then i can wait another 10 years before cleaning them again!

it took me almost the whole day to wash 6 blinds, punctuated with a lunch break. i felt pressure to get them cleaned because it was getting dark and i needed to have the blinds up. i winded down with some more skyrim.

i noticed in whiterun that all the guards seem to know me. at first i thought maybe because they heard that i was the dragonborn, but when i specifically asked one of the guards about it, the real reason was because there was a bounty on my head for some unknown crime. i could either persuade the guard to let me go, pay the bounty, bribe the guard, resist arrest, or go to jail. paying the bounty meant i wouldn't be a wanted criminal anymore, but i'd also lose any stolen goods i happen to be carrying. so i decided to strip down in my own house and approach a guard to pay off the bounty. that seemed to work but took a long time to unload all the stuff i've accumulated.

from whiterun i went to riverwood, and from riverwood i cut through the mountains to reach ivarstead. there doesn't seem to be an easy way and i had to go by helgen. along the way i passed by fort neugrad and got a chance to practice my flaming arrows. nothing more satisfying than setting a bandit on fire! i then came across haemar's shame, a cave housing several vampires. nearing ivarstead i found a horse on the road. for some reason i couldn't ride it unless i stole it first, so that's what i did. i tried giving my housecarl a ride too but the horse was only for a single person, so the housecarl just ran behind as i galloped.

arriving in ivarstead, i realized there was a bounty on my head - most likely for stealing that horse. the first building i entered was a tavern, and i immediately started a drinking contest with one of the patrons. the result was i blacked out and found myself shanghaied to markarth, all the way on the western edge of skyrim. fortunately a carriage ride back to whiterun was only 20 gold. unfortunately there's no carriage to iverstead, so i have to walk around the mountain again if i want to go there.

for dinner i cooked half a cup of basmati in the rice cooker and finished the rest of my indian curry from last week.

i'll need to wipe down the kitchen and bathroom one last time and the house should be ready for my new roommate arriving tomorrow (saturday) night.

i received a call from an unidentified chinese man this morning. "hello, can i speak to tony wang?" it was too early to correct his mistake. he was letting me know that my new roommate would be arriving in boston on the 28th at 9:00PM. "what is that, a sunday?" i asked. there was a brief pause, then he replied, "no, saturday." "oh, okay," i said, realizing that the new roommate would be arriving a day ahead of schedule. that happens a lot with chinese astrophysicists. must have something to do with traveling halfway around the world.

i'd already been cleaning up the house this week, but now i had to work a little bit faster than anticipated. i vacuumed the guest bedroom,¹ made sure the television worked, tidied up the kitchen, and cleaned my room (washing my comforter cover). tomorrow i'll block out some storage space in the cupboard and refrigerator for the new roommate. since she's only here for less than a month, i don't know if she'll buy a lot of groceries and supplies. i'm kind of hoping she doesn't do any cooking. also tomorrow i'll need to scrub the bathtub and maybe wash the dusty blinds.²

yesterday i washed the bike; today i oiled the chains with triflow oil and wiped down the frame with WD40. after i finished i parked the bike in the basement (since it'd be raining later today). it absolutely amazes me how rusty by new chains and freewheel got after being left out in the elements for only 2 months. maybe it's the quality of the material that's at fault, but if i really love my bike, i should at the very least keep it out of the rain whenever possible.

i also oiled the inner mechanism of my bike lock. maybe the new lubrication will keep it from freezing so often. another contributing factor is the rust build-up inside. since i can only take apart the lock up to a certain point, i squirted WD40 inside the holes, hoping that will take care of the problem.

i've been trying to remove the handlebars from the used raleigh 3-speed bike elias gave me back during the summer and put it on my trek bike. i like the northroad handlebars style much better because you ride upright; i don't like forward leaning on the current mountain bike straight-style handlebars i'm using now. i've tried taking off the handlebars on several occasions but could never get the bend through the stem clamp. i brought it outside today so i could work on it some more. after a few attempts i gave up. at this point it just might make my life easier if i bought new northroad handlebars.

for lunch i made some home fries and bacon. perhaps not the healthiest of meals, but oh so delicious. it did stink up the house though, hopefully i can air out the place before the new roommate arrives. i made juice with the remaining oranges, the same oranges that might've caused my stomach upset earlier in the week. i did feel a little weird afterwards, but nothing like before. so maybe it wasn't the oranges. tomorrow, i'll try the chicken sausages, see if they'll make me sick. it's food poisoning russian roulette!

client N called me this afternoon, had some questions about possible interactives, filled me in on some potential projects in the pipeline (not until spring). it was a welcomed call because freelance business has been slow.

i hit the skyrim hard tonight, logging in 5 straight hours of gameplay. at this point i'm a level 12 warrior, but i feel like i've only maybe uncovered just 1% of the total skyrim world. even if i were to not do anything else but play skyrim day and night, it'd still take me months to finish. i can't comprehend how the designers managed to build this game.

following elias' advice, i went ahead and killed grelod the kind, headmistress of honorhall orphanage. i did it discreetly, closing the door so no one could see, but as soon as i hit her with my battle axe, i could hear the orphans cheering in the other room and constance michel freaking out.

at riften, i joined the thieves guild and practices some petty larceny. a guard caught me one time but i paid him off with some gold. i had some business in whiterun so i took a quick carriage ride. whiterun is also where i have my home and i was able to unload some loot (some of which were stolen). my favorite new past time is collecting ingredients and eating them to see what they do. afterwards i create potions and poisons with those same ingredients. i also learned how to use an arcane enchanter station to create a few enchanted weapons. i love how you can rename a newly created object; so far i've kept it conservative, like my "dwarven bow of fire." i killed another dragon on my way to redoran's retreat. i don't know how much of it was really me, because there were a lot of other soldiers shooting arrows, and they must've mortally wounded it before i cast the fatal blow. i've still yet to kill a giant though, they seem harder to dispatch since they can usually kill me with just a single blow of their club.

---

¹ i discovered that i can actually fit a full-sized bed in the guest bedroom, since it isn't that much bigger than a twin-sized bed. i still think the only way to make the guest bedroom seem bigger is to go with a loft bed, but with my noisy upstairs neighbors, i don't know if i'd want to sleep so close to the ceiling.

² in the almost 10 years i've been living here, i've never once washed the blinds before. to say that they're dusty is too kind. i may end up washing all of them (a total of 7).

i woke up this morning around 7:00, which for me was early. although i was improving, my stomach would still occasionally grumble and cramp up. i watched some tv from bed then decided to just wake up. i still don't know what i ate yesterday that could've caused this massive case of indigestion. originally i was thinking the chicken sausages, but now i think it could've been the oranges. one of them was moldy so i threw it away, but maybe i didn't wash the rest of them enough before i sliced them and someone ate some mold.

for lunch i had a few slices of bacon with some scrambled eggs. i also made a smoothie that comprised of a ripe banana, some orange juice, and some frozen pineapple i found in the freezer circa 2005 (no joke). it actually tasted pretty good, no freezer burn flavor.

for those who were wondering, my new roommate will arrive on sunday. i'm back to the chinese astrophysicists, a woman from shanghai who will stay at my place no more than a month while she looks for a more long term apartment nearby. after that i'm hosting a guy for the spring season.

since i only had a few days left, i still needed to get some new pillow cases and sheets for the guest bedroom. i biked down to the somerville target. it felt far away, but it's actually only 10 minutes biking; once i arrive in union square i'm practically there. the temperature was in the lower 40's, colder than yesterday but perfect for biking. unfortunately target didn't have what i was looking for; it looked like the entire 250 thread count stuff was cleared out, and just a handful of 225 thread count items. they had plenty of the higher quality stuff but i wasn't willing to spend that much for pillowcases/sheets. they were also in the middle of renovating the store, making the aisles narrower so they can fit more merchandise. i ended up grabbing a few boxes of candy (jujyfruits) before leaving.

fortunately i still had some reserve pillowcases so i did a wash of bed linens when i got back home. while waiting for the sheets to be done, i scrubbed the rust off my bike with an old toothbrush. when the pillowcases were dried i tried them out: the teal pillowcases combined with the red bedsheets and yellow wall hurt my eyes, but better than nothing. let it never be said that i was afraid of colors, clashing or otherwise!

elsewhere in skyrim, i've been hanging out in the city of riften. just going about my business i've accumulated about a dozen new quests. while in the orphanage i killed the anything-but-kind grelod the kind, much to the delight of the orphans under her brutal care. grelod's assistant freaked out and i ended up killing her too, before soldiers stormed into the orphanage and managed to kill me in return. after i resurrected, i played a more civilized game, heading underground to the ratway and the liar of the thieves guild.

since i woke up earlier than usual, i took an hour long nap in the early evening. it was cold in the living room, and when i woke up i cranked up the heat for the first time in weeks. for dinner i ate two slices of leftover barbecue chicken pizza.

i haven't ridden my bicycle in so long that the chains and gears have started to get rusty. these are new chains too, replaced back in november. all that salt on the road doesn't help either. i'll have to rinse off my bike when i get the chance.

the temperature today was in the upper 50's. felt more like a warm spring day than the middle of winter. my neighbor julia returned to her house, this time with her real estate agent and another moving truck. i noticed the "for sale" has been updated to "sales pending." i wonder who will be my new neighbors?

after going to the library to return some books then coming back from a grocery run, i made some oatmeal for lunch: oatmeal, fried onions, chopped scallions, cooked chicken sausages, a pinch of salt.

maybe there was something bad in the oatmeal because i had digestive issues the rest of the day. i must've gone to the bathroom more than a dozen time to the point where my ass was sore. i was also very gassy and my stomach felt bloated. times like this i'm glad i freelance from home.

the new book i've been reading is black mass: the true story of the unholy alliance between the FBI and the irish mob by dick lehr and gerard o'neill. the book came out more than a decade ago (2001) and i remembered it caused a local sensation but i was never interested in reading it until now. good thing with my numerous bathroom breaks today i was able to do a lot of reading.

i performed yet another water change, this time only in my 10 gallon guppy tank. the last water change was just this past friday and already algae is growing on the glass and gravel. this particular strand of algae seems to require some special care. while washing the glass lid of the tank i accidentally cut myself on the corner, leaving an 1 inch blood gash on my right hand.

the list of oscar nominees came out today and it was entirely uninspiring. i'm kind of tempted to not even bother watching this year (other than the red carpet event of course). i hope melissa mccarthy wins though, sookie in the house! and even though michael fassbender and ryan gosling weren't nominated, would they still be invited to the academy awards? otherwise the overall level of hotness will be quite low this year.

i bought a wireless mouse today (logitech M305), refurbished but only $5 (actually $10 including shipping). i need it for laptop gaming. i'm currently using a wired microsoft mouse and i'm tired dealing with the very long cord.

mitt romney finally released his tax records today. is this the first time he's done this? i'm surprised these records haven't been shown to the public in all his past presidential/senatorial/gubernatorial runs. the man is rich. when you're that wealthy, i doubt he can easily relate to the common man. and it's not like he was ever poor, since he comes from a wealthy family.

i made some barbecue chicken pizza for dinner, following the same recipe as before. like before, the crust was uninspiring, but there's only so much i can do with a normal oven (compared to a pizza brick oven). maybe next time i can first toast the crust.

the file sharing apocalypse happened this morning. not to say i use such services (because, you know, they're technically illegal), but a whole slew of cyberlocker sites went offline in response to megaupload's take down by the federal government last week. so much for easy access movies, and music, and books!

i met julie for lunch today. she arrived in her new 2012 honda fit (base model). the car was so new it still had the dealership tag in the back which julie promptly ripped off. besides all the different seat/cargo arrangement options, the other cool thing about the fit is being able to connect an mp3 player (or a portable usb hard drive) and access music (including playlists) through the stereo system with song information. maybe mp3 integration is common with new cars but it's the first time i've seen it in action.

the turkish restaurant istanbul'lu in teele square was an original choice but unfortunately it's closed on mondays (a common practice with restaurants these days). so instead we went to yak & yeti in ball square, a nepalese and indian restaurant. the few customers that were there were there for the indian buffet but we came for the fine nepalese cuisine. we both ended up getting the set meal ($20), julie going with lamb while i went with goat. the waiter asked us how hot we wanted our food and we both answered "spicy." julie seemed to really love our meal but i thought it was okay, a bit spartan in quantity (other than the appetizers). served on a metal tray, the food reminded me of the roadside indian restaurant in inman square.

afterwards we checked out the bowling place a few shops down. julie would later tell me she's been going around making pilgrimages with her new boyfriend to all the local bowling spots. this place in particular seemed closed, although stacks of bowling shoes seen through the dirty windows might say otherwise. it was a total old-school bowling joint, with scores kept through paper and pencil.

i biked to belmont around 2:30. temperature was in the 40's, the warmest it's been in days, although the clouds overhead meant there'd be rain later. my parents had the day off so my father was busy reading a novel online before falling asleep while my mother was knitting a dog sweater for hailey. she found out the mixed natural patons wool yarn she bought were actually from several different dye lots so they didn't exactly match. i don't think the dog would be too concerned about that, being color-blinded and all.

i couldn't get enough of the pats-giants superbowl rematch coverage. fortunately my parents had the NFL network on their verizon fios lineup and i was tuned into that for most of the day. i'm so caught up in the excitement that i tried listening to some sports radio last night before going to bed. unfortunately the numerous lengthy commercial breaks turned me off.

i was ready to bike back to belmont until it started to rain heavily. i was perfectly willing to ride home in a 40°F rainstorm, and even brought some trash bags to cover up my things. my father said it was a bad idea and insisted on giving me a ride with my bicycle in tow. that saved me from getting completely soaked. it's one thing to ride in the rain during the summer, but to do so during winter is flirting with hypothermia.

in skyrim, i only played a little bit today, making a carriage cart trip (20 gold) to riften to see if i can get some mysterious gems appraised. turns out riften is the base of the thieving guild and i've been asked by one of the members if i wanted to join (by proving myself as a pickpocket). political intrigue doesn't interest me; i want to be sent out on a mission to fight monsters!

i biked to market basket this morning to pick up a case of soda and to look for some mussels. an old lady grabbed hold of the last bag, after a man from the seafood department came out to tell her they were all out. i stopped by star market to see if they had any but they only had one bag and i needed two. i called my mother to tell her i wouldn't be bringing any mussels for chinese new year dinner.

i then proceded to bike to belmont after a 2 month hiatus. temperature was just around freezing, but after biking to the supermarket and back, i was already warmed up. i didn't bother with a hat and left my layers opened. i did wear gloves though, my hands did get cold. just as i thought, the bike lanes were all snow covered, so i biked on the edge of the lanes in the streets. it all felt very familiar as i returned to my routine. i did strain a bit when i had to go uphill and when i finally arrived in belmont i was drenched in sweat. fortunately i brought a change of clothes and took a quick shower. my mother made me some noodles for lunch.

with people scheduled to arrive around 5:00, my mother and sister were still in the process of cleaning up the house. once they left for the cafe to pick up the food, i put away some final items in the small bedroom.

i could've cared less about dinner; the most important thing today was the football game beginning at 3:00. in order to pass the time i played some more skyrim. i finally figured out the way to get to the eldergleam tree was to use the nettlebane knife to clear a path through the blockade of roots. once i collected the sap, spriggans appeared and managed to kill me off. after i resurrected, i quickly switched to my battle axe and made quick work of them. if only i had maurice jondrelle! his less violent solution to sap collecting would've spared me from having to deal with the spriggans. he wanted to come and see the sanctuary for himself so he tagged along. unfortunately he was an uncontrollable follower and during my fight with trolls i accidentally killed him. oh well! after that i made it to bonestrewn crest, marked on the map with a symbol that looked like a squid or a multi-horned goat. turns out that's the symbol for dragon's liar! this was an ice dragon. in my first encounter, i ran like the wind, all the way to windhelm. unfortunately the dragon followed me the whole way and managed to kill me. on my resurrection, i drank a cold resistant potion, poisoned my arrow, and climbed to the highest point in my attempt to bring down this dragon. a couple of things worked in my favor: lydia my housecarl follower would occasionally distract the dragon while i shot arrows at it; for some reason wolves, giant rats, and even spriggans kept on showing up, as they all became dragon fodder; every once in a while the dragon would land (to feed?) and that's when i'd switch to my two-handed axe and hack away. it took about 3 landings + hacking before i finally killed the dragon. finally, i walked all the way to windhelm (where i encountered a tiger) before taking a wagon ride back to whiterun.

finally at 3:00 the game started. the new england patriots didn't win as much as they survived their AFC championship match against the baltimore ravens. new england had a bunch of turnovers, from 2 3 brady interceptions (although one was negated due to a ravens penalty) to a strip of danny woodhead on a kickoff return. baltimore seemed to have only one turnover, a flacco interception. nevertheless, the patriots managed to win, on what can only be called a miracle, a missed 3 point field goal attempt by baltimore in the final seconds of the game. i felt bad for the kicker, they're probably going to run him out of town. that spared me from having to endure an overtime, not sure if my heart could've handled it. rob gronkowski looked like he broke his ankle but let's hope it's only a bad sprain. this game was close, and i hate to see the pats advance because they were just lucky; but there's been some other close wins in the past, in the end a win is a win. i can't believe the pats are going to the superbowl again!

when is the chinese new year anyway? lunar calendar is confusing. i just know it's the year of the dragon, which is supposed to be auspicious, if you can believe good luck follows a 12-year cycle. chinese new year eating is more conservative, i don't eat to capacity. the king of food holiday is still thanksgiving. next time my parents will invite people over for food won't be until the summer, maybe a backyard barbecue.

after dinner i gave binbin's boyfriend some photography tips and let him play around with my lenses. i taught him the importance of aperture and off-center focus. hopefully my pointers will make him a better photographer.

after all the guests were gone (earlier my father took home by great uncle and my 2nd uncle; next to leave was my aunt and uncle; finally bin bin took home my 2nd aunt), i watched the final minutes of the giants-49ers game, now in overtime. had the patriots lost, i would've been rooting for san francisco just because i didn't want to see new york in the superbowl without new england. the giants got lucky and after a series of back-and-forth turnovers, they got a break and ended up with the ball in field goal position. 3 points later it became official: a superbowl rematch between the patriots and the giants! i like new york's story book end-of-season rally and post-season triumphs, but new england is looking for redemption. more practical-minded fans would've liked to see new england against san francisco just because it seemed like a better strategic matchup for the patriots, but for any fans who still cringe when they think about the 2007 lost, they can't sleep at nights until the patriots can beat the giants in another superbowl.

when it finally came time for me to bike home close to 11:00, i discovered my bike lock had once again frozen (like it did this morning). i had to pour some hot tap water into the mechanism to unfreeze it. i wonder if this is a common problem with u-locks, or maybe because my lock is a little broken. this time around i had more problems with hills, i could feel the muscles in my thighs groaning and my lungs tearing up. i wonder if i'll feel the pain tomorrow? but finally i'm getting some much deserved exercise.

my 2nd aunt woke me up this morning, asking for the number of the tow company because one of the tenant's car might've been towed from the parking lot. i was still asleep (although it was almost 11:00) and when i went to turn on my computer i accidentally hit the restart button. so instead i tried the yellow pages, which only had the number for the boston police (i decided to toss it into the recycle bin). by that point my laptop had already fully booted and i did a google search. even then that took a while, since it brought up a bunch of different numbers and i had to pick the right one. i told my aunt to call that number to get the number/location of the tow company.

so that was my morning. when i looked outside it'd already been snowing for a few hours. even though the storm wouldn't be over until late afternoon, i decided to shovel anyway, just because i wouldn't be home the rest of the day and wanted to at least make a dent in the clean-up effort. the weather outside was surprisingly cold; normally the temperature hovers around freezing during a snowstorm, but my thermometer read 20°F. maybe that's why the snow was especially light and fluffy, could've swept it with a broom instead of shoveling with a shovel. i did the sidewalk first, then worked my way to the back of the house. my upstairs neighbors seemed to be gone for the weekend so they were no help. i was cold at first, but warmed up fast once i started shoveling.

in my ongoing neighborhood watch series, i saw movers loading furniture from julia's house into a moving truck. so maybe she managed to sell her place? but more likely after 4 months of waiting, she wanted to take all her furniture to her new place. i didn't see julia but i did see her husky mustachioed friend who shoveled the snow off of his car with a box lid.

to get to my parents' place i was seriously considering taking the bicycle. never mind that i haven't biked there since november, and that was under ideal weather condition. with the snow still falling and the roads barely plowed and salted, it would be an adventure to say the least. i'd already packed and was dressed to go when my father called me, saying he could swing by my place to give me a ride (after already dropping off the tenant at the tow lot). we stopped by the cafe so he could snow plow the sidewalks before continuing onwards to belmont.

although we'd only get about 3 inches of snow maximum, that small amount was enough to make the roads hazardous to drive. the problem was it was so cold none of the snow was melting, so it'd just combine with the road salt to become this slippery dirty powdery sand. my father was driving 5-10 miles below the speed limit, and even then i could feel the car fishtailing every once in a while. fortunately this storm happened on a weekend when most people could afford to stay indoors if they didn't have to be outside so the traffic was light.

i was lucky that i didn't try to bike under these conditions. bike lanes disappear during snowstorms and the only way i could've gain any traction would be to ride in the middle of the street, much to the delight of cars unfortunate enough to be behind me. nevertheless, it would've been an interesting experience. i still have tomorrow to make the ride.

when i got to belmont, i dropped my things before going outside to help my father with the shoveling. hailey was crying indoors. when my sister finally let her out, she stood in front of us and wouldn't stop barking. turns out she thought maybe we were playing and wanted us to throw snow in the air with the shovel so she could catch it. when we didn't do that, she'd bark angrily. finally we had to put her in the backyard after she got too crazy.

it was already 2:00 when i finally had something to eat (although i wasn't that hungry), a simple plate of pasta with chicken and tomato sauce. there was nothing good on television other than watching the sports pundit talk about tomorrow's football games.

in the evening, news of south carolina's republican primary finally came in: newt gingrich won by a large margin. that thrills me to no end, muddying the republican water. after mitt romney won new hampshire, his nomination almost seemed like a sure thing, but then a few days ago it was announced that he didn't win iowa (rick santorum did by a narrow margin) and the new focus seemed to be why he's so reluctant to release his tax records. new gingrich on the other hand, who would've thought? his 2nd wife's recent allegation that he wanted an open marriage didn't seem to hurt him at all.

my father give me a ride back to cambridge after dinner. a crusty film of ice had formed on the car windows and had to be scraped off first. i also brought back all my lasagna dishes and ramekins. once i got back, i shoveled once again, clearing the sidewalk as well as the backyard. there was just enough light bouncing off the snow so i could still see in the dark.

elsewhere in skyrim: walked all the way to eldergleam sanctuary from whiterun (after finally buying my first house for 5000 gold last night), killed 2 trolls in graywinter watch, fought bandits in valtheim towers, got killed by a giant in cradlecrush rock (still not powerful enough to slay giants, only level 8), and clashed with fiery mages at fort amol.

a day of domestic duties, starting with shoveling the sidewalk of the snow that fell last night. it wasn't that much, half an inch at most, but by the time i went outside, most of it had already been trampled, and compacted snow is harder to shovel. afterwards i sprinkled some salt to melt what i couldn't remove.

i saw my neighbor julia, the one that's been trying to sell her house since september. the first few weeks it was on the market i saw a lot of people viewing her place but nothing must've happened because there's been no change on the realtor "for sale" sign hanging outside her house. it's been 4 months already, i wonder if she's reduced the price since then, from her original asking price of half a million dollars; because that condo is not worth nearly that much. i think julia might also be pregnant since the last time i saw her. that's kind of mysterious because i've never seen her with anyone. i wonder if it was in-vitro, since if i had to guess she's in her 40's.

continuing with my domestic choirs, i did another water change on the two aquariums. the algae problem happens so often (about a month after every new water change) that i need to do several changes to purify the water in the tank.

while doing a load of laundry, i also spruced up the kitchen and bathroom, using a magic eraser to clean the outside of the washer/dryer and scrub the sinks. i vacuumed and wiped down the countertop with some 409 spray.

the main project was to recaulk the bathtub. the last time i did it was back in early september, right before marco arrived. it didn't take long for the mildew to collect on the caulk. this time around i used silicone instead of latex. i don't know if one is better than the other in terms of resisting mildew, but silicone is more durable and i can scrub it was a sponge (to clean any mildew buildup) and not have it break apart like latex.

i've caulked the bathtub so many times (at least 2-3 times a year) i'm pretty much an expert at this point. before i caulked, i swabbed the edge of the bathtub with some alcohol. i put a tube of silicone caulk inside a caulking gun, and no matter how hard i squeezed the trigger, nothing was coming out. turns out cutting the tip wasn't enough; i also had to pierce the foil inside. as soon as i did that, a large glob of caulk came out from the pressure build up. fortunately i had plenty of paper towels on hand.

i figured i wouldn't be able to use the bathtub for 24 hours in order for the silicone to cure, but actually i can expose it to water only after 8 hours of drying. to play it safe, i really should wait a bit longer (i've not showered longer than 24+ hours before).

a bowl of cereal for lunch, some leftover curry for dinner.

beginning in the early evening i entered the world of skyrim again. last night i found giants and lost. my strategy is to avoid them all together, or run away when spotted. tonight, i fought bandits at white river watch, then went all the way to orphan rock to retrieve the nettlebane, which unbeknownst to me was guarded by several witches who booby-trapped the place. returning to whiterun, i went around to greywater grotto then helgen. i forgot i've been to helgen before, at the start of the game, when i was about to be executed before a dragon destroyed the town. when i finally came out, that aforementioned dragon was still there! it killed me a few times before i just sprinted all the way to riverwood. as a two-handed weapon warrior with no magical abilities, i have no way of killing an airborne dragon. how i managed to kill that initial dragon at the western watchtower i'll never know. i think that dragon was distracted by several other warriors and i managed to sneak up behind it and watch it a few times with an axe.

i finally went on a grocery run today (my last trip was 2 weeks ago). my bike lock was frozen solid and i had to pour boiling water into the mechanism to free it up. my arms were cold and it was uncomfortable the first few minutes of riding, but soon i warmed up and i didn't notice the temperature anymore. although the sun was out, it was actually snowing a little bit. later i found it was because of moist ocean air blowing inland and crystallizing.

itching for some curry, i first stopped at the indian supermarket to find some vindaloo paste. they didn't seem to have any so i got the next best thing, a jar of generic patak's hot curry paste. when i asked the young cashier, he said if i came back tomorrow i could ask his mother who would know for sure if they carried any vindaloo. i went to market basket next door to get the rest of my ingredients before coming home.

the recipe i used for making curry was adapted from a vindaloo recipe on the patak's website. instead of beef, i used 1.5 lbs of chicken breast. i also fried some boiled potato pieces along with the onions. finally, along with a can of diced tomatoes i also poured in half a can of coconut milk. the curry wasn't spicy at all, sort of bland with the tartiness of the tomato base. if i can't find vindaloo next time, i should just settle for a thai curry (i have several cans in my cupboard).

for lunch i heated up the leftover whopper junior. i only heated the patty, since i didn't want the lettuce/tomatoes/pickles to get all soggy.

i decided this morning that i would end my riding season. the forecast said there would be some snow tomorrow (thursday) night and then some more saturday. neither of them can be called snowstorms, but i didn't want to deal with the motorcycle anymore. even a small amount of snow brings out the salt trucks and i didn't want to needlessly corrode the bike. the temperature has also been falling, and riding in the freezing cold is not fun to say the least.

first stop was the nearest hess gas station to fill the tank. i brought the fuel stabilizer with me and added that to the tank as well, figuring by the time i made it to belmont everything would be properly mixed together.

once i arrived at my parents' place i left the bike running in the driveway with the gas tank turned off to burn off the remaining fuel in the carburetor (so they don't gum up the engine next season). that actually took longer than i expected, almost 10 minutes. i revved the engine towards the end just to speed up the process. finally the engine sputtered and stopped.

with a can of WD40 i purchased earlier, i wiped down the bike, coating the bike in oil to prevent rusting. the temperature was in the 30's and my nose was dripping while i worked outside in the cold. by that point my father came home from the cafe to help me with the final steps.

since i didn't need to start the bike anymore, i removed the battery from underneath the seat, to be trickle charged indoors throughout the winter.

next we elevated the bike on a rolling jack, just enough off the ground so we could spin the rear wheel by hand. we greased the chain with a motorcycle chain lube spray (goes on white; that reminds me, i'm almost out need to order a new can for next season).

with the bike lowered back on the ground, we pushed it (with me on the bike and my father pushing) to its final resting place in the corner of the garage before raising it on the jack again, this time raising it high enough off the ground to lock the jack in place.

i don't remember why we elevate the bike. since it's only off the ground 4", it's not really freeing up anymore space. i used to just park the bike on the ground during winter storage. the one advantage is there's no pressure on the tires, so if one should go flat, it won't drop the bike.

with the bike in its final location, we covered it up with the rain cover, just to keep the dust off during storage.

the odometer read 9219 miles, which meant i logged 1018 miles this season. surprisingly, i broke last season's (2010) mileage of 877 miles. i didn't even feel like i rode that much in 2011, but apparently it's a case of quantity over quality due to the unusually long riding season.

my father said he could give me a ride back to cambridge when he picks up my mother at the cafe in the evening. for dinner we got some burgers and sandwiches from the concord avenue burger king.

it feels liberating not having a motorcycle. no more worries about parking or whether somebody's going to hit it accidentally. no more watching the weather to decide whether i should cover up the bike or not. i think a lot of new england car owners would envy the fact that i can put away my vehicle for the season. owning a car and living in the city during the winter can be a nightmare. having your car buried under snow, digging out the car, and then not having a parking spot when you come back.

elsewhere, back in skyrim, i've been exploring whiterun. i had some opportunity to do some smithing at the warmaiden's (even learning how to make steel weapons/armor). i used up all my gold learning how to upgrade my one-handed combat skill (sort of waste, since i'm more prone to the two-handed weapons). sven is my follower but i'm starting to think he gets in the way from me leveling up because he has a tendency to kill the monsters before i have a chance to dispatch them. i talked to the jarl who wanted me to find the dragonstone at bleak falls barrow; unbeknownst to him, i already completed that quest and promptly gave him the stone. exploring the city is boring; my warrior is itching for battle and finding treasures to sell.