amanda and i went to go visit sick laurie at her apartment in cambridgeport during lunch today. when we arrived in central square, i stopped off at the new wendy's to get myself the biggie sized spicy chicken combo with a coke. at laurie's apartment her friend jess was already there taking care of her friend. i never knew this and neither did laurie until recently, but she actually has cable television. laurie stocks going up! we ate our lunch while watching "a baby story" on the learning channel, a story about one couple's child delivery process. there was a round table discussion about the horrors of child birth, including stretch marks, epidermals, and the proper position for best delivery. i sort of sat there quietly and ate my spicy chicken sandwich, not being able to contribute anything meaningful to the conversation. we were all mesmerized when they showed the wife actually giving birth to her baby, how the baby came out looking like a mayan noble, mishapened skull like a conehead.

laurie's friend jess

amanda and laurie

amanda horrified by childbirth

in other news, my growing hand is slowly shrinking. i left it outside in a dish over the weekend. one weird thing though is when it shrinks, the fingers are spread out. originally when i first got the magical growing hand, the fingers were all closed together. the hand still feels damp. once it's completely dry, i think it'll go back to its original size. right now it's still a little bit bigger than when i first got it. if it had some hair on it, it could pass for a decent monkey's paw.

and joel oliveira left his san diego home for the last time today, driving cross country back to boston. i regret that i wasn't fired the past few weeks, so that i could have the free time to take a plane to san diego and drive back with joel. he's doing what i plan on doing for a potential vacation next year! i hope he takes a lot of photos on his tour of america.

i finally returned my library books tonight. unfortunately it was veteran's day observance so the library was closed. i just throw my books through slot of the book return collection bin. i still owe the library a few dollars in overdue fines. i hate having an outstanding debt.

after work i went to the city sports in harvard square to look for some running pants. i must've spent at least 30 minutes browsing the selection before finally deciding on a pair. they cost a fortune! i hope they're worth it. i plan on taking them out for a spin sometime this week.

another plane crashed in new york city this morning. when i first heard, i thought, "oh, here we go again." i breathed a sigh of relief when they said it wasn't terrorist related though. it's come to a point in our society when people are actually relieved when a plane crashes for some sort of engine malfunction and not because of any terrorist activity.