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i just want to say that the ending was perfect. final seconds, adam vinatieri kicks the winning field goal to make the new england patriots the superbowl champions. the win wasn't decided on anything the quaterback did (although it's no doubt tom brady certainly had a hand in it, bringing the ball close enough for a field goal). it wasn't a tom brady touchdown or a drew bledsoe touchdown that sealed the game. it was settled by a kick.

i was yelling at the tv, kicking my legs up in the air, jumping up and down, clapping and cheering throughout the whole game. my relatives were over for dinner (my grandmother's going back to san jose on wednesday), but that didn't impede the exuberance of my reactions to the game.

this victory is just so sweet on so many different fronts. first of all, it's the home team. secondly, the fact that the patriots were the underdog, that a lot of experts (including our own local sports commentators) didn't think the patriots could do it.

maybe the rams bought into the hype. everyone was saying they'd win, maybe they thought they'd win as well, didn't take the patriots that seriously, just thought it was a simple formality of playing a superbowl game that they were slated to take by a large lopsided margin. but you can't really say the rams were sleeping. this game was tight, and the ram came close enough to win in the end. they definitely had their chances. but the pats came back, and then the kick. whoo! vinatieri should be the mvp.

when the celtics won their game against the clippers earlier today (not much of a feat, it was the clippers, although the game was close), i thought to myself, wouldn't it be great if the patriots also won? well, it really happened! maybe this is sign of future things to come for boston sports teams. celtics? red sox?

on a morning measuring 25 degrees fahrenheit on the digital thermometer, i made the trek to the bus stop to get myself to harvard square. along the way i passed a few hardy joggers, i said hello to every one of them. a beautiful day, crystal clear blue skies with air so cold and crisp it hurt to breathe in the stuff. over the horizon came the familiar sight of the mbta bus and i climbed on, sitting in my usual sunday morning bus seat (left side, fourth seat down).

10 minutes later i was in harvard square, with 30 minutes to spare before laurie would show up at our designated pickup spot. i went to cvs to buy a stick of hair gel, a package of soap (for the office shower), and a toothbrush (i'm afraid i've worn my toothbrush at home down to a worthless bristle comb). i tried to get change for a $20 but this early in the morning, none of the register carried enough cash to break something as large as a $20. i paid with exact change and went to nini's corner to buy a magazine or two just so i can get some change. originally i was thinking maybe a crossword magazine, but sunday morning my mind is in no mood for complex thoughts, so instead i opted for a copy of popular science and an issue of scientific american. i went to the corner of au bon pain and sat down on the freezing stone wall, reading my magazine. scientific american had an especially interesting article about tv addiction, which sort of hit close to home. i don't like people who believe television is a bad thing. i always thought anti-tv advocates were the kind of people who listened to npr and considered reading a favorite pasttime. essentially, highbrow people. i'd love to meet a person who not only hates television but also hates reading. it's either one or the other. nevertheless, it was an interesting article. never really did say whether tv was bad or not. i think the message was anything in moderation is good, but when used to excess it becomes bad. at 10am laurie rolled around the corner in her car and i hopped in. she had a dilemma: she invited sonali, but because she wasn't there, she was wondering if sonali would be coming at all. i told her about the 15 minute rule. we waited for about 5 minutes before we both rationalized that sonali wouldn't be making an appearance and we took off in the car, destination chinatown.

china pearl was not very crowded and we waited no more than 5 minutes before getting a seat. we shared a table with two other groups, a trio of chinese senior citizens and an asian couple. for several weeks now ever since returning from the nyc chinatown i've been dreaming about the china pearl tripe, which i think is the better tripe. i was even set to get two dishes of this favorite tripe, but when the cart actually came by, i only got a single serving. the tripe today was a wee bit dry, not their best tripe, but still i thoroughly enjoyed consuming cow's stomach lining.

after our meal we headed back to cambridge. laurie stashed her car at her parents' place, and we ended up staying there for two hours, chatting with them. her mother was especially curious about my weblog since she collects personal journals as a hobbie. laurie and i then headed to harvard square, where she purchased some domestic items from crate & barrel (cutting board and sugar dispenser). i have never really understood the appeal of crate & barrel, but now that i am a prospective home owner, this store is starting to make more sense. i predict i will be doing a lot of my shopping here once i get a place. sometimes i think the best part of having your own apartment/house is the chance to decorate it however you want. i also find myself almost unconsciously flipping through interior designing books just to get ideas of potential looks.

the most dangerous part of my day happened when we left crate & barrel and i saw a fat black labrador leashed to the railing of a flight of stairs. i made an effort to pet the seemingly obedient pooch, making sure not to pet it on the head because dogs don't like that, so i went for the belly. big mistake. it lunged at me, chomping its jaws a few times. if it wasn't for the fact that i've seen this exact sort of display in my own dog mozart, i wouldn't have been able to quickly yank my hand back at the last second before i got a nasty bite! in hindsight, i think i sort of noticed something was wrong because the dog wasn't making any friendly gestures and when i slowly brought my hand close enough to its face, i could see it snarling slightly. a couple walking by saw what the dog tried to do and it spooked them out. i quickly walked away with laurie, pretending nothing happened. from there we parted, me taking the bus home.

i cut across the park after being dropped off, stepping on a glazed surface of ice as i made my way across the field. the sunlight was glaring, melting the ice, and my shoes crunched noisily over the landscape, leaving a trail of shoe prints. some kids where playing baseball in the tennis courts cage, and i helped them toss a ball back into play when it escaped out onto the frozen surface.

i got home and quickly changed into my running clothes, vowing to get a dosage of exercise before the weekend was through. i checked myself self-consciously in the full-length mirror, making sure everything was tucked in right so i wouldn't be outside running with anything embarassing protruding from my tight outfit. i ran with the gps in my hand, first time (i actually tried to do it one time during the summer around the charles, but it was too much hassle and i ended up just tossing it in my pocket). it must've looked weird, because it looked like i was running with a cell phone, like i was one of those people who couldn't be separated from his phone calls (i don't even own a cell phone). running with the gps was quite informative though. when i got back (after my post run victory shower), i discovered that the route that i usually take is actually 2.4 miles, not 3 miles as i had previously thought (i've been cheating, take a shortcut that shaves some minutes from my run). still, it took me 21 minutes to run that distance, which meant i ran a 8.75 minute mile (i've always considered myself a 10 minute miler). my average moving speed was 6.8 mph, with a maximum speed of 12.6 mph. i'm sure those maximum numbers was when i sprinted across busy roads to avoid being struck by oncoming traffic. the other great thing about gps running is it traced my exact route, in case i was ever curious what that looked like.

on a lazy sunday afternoon, what better treat than a nap? i doze off while watching tv in bed (i am not an addict!), only to wake up for the super bowl between the new england patriots and the st. louis rams.