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mandy was already awake when i woke up this morning, getting herself ready to meet our former employer for a possible freelance job. "tony, i think i broke your blowdryer," she told me, but i told her it has an auto shutup switch when it detects a high level of humidity, which is always the case in the bathroom after a shower. after we both got ready (i went through three costume changes before i found the right thing to wear, such a diva), we left for porter square, a sense of deja vu, the last time we left together was to go to a transvestite bar in boston. mandy suddenly remembered she left her toiletry bag back at the house and quickly ran back and got it, despite wearing fall-down shoes. we grabbed the train, she getting off at kendall, i riding it out to south station, first day of work this week, the tuesday that feels like a monday because of the long weekend.

in the afternoon i went running with kristine. both of us were badly damaged from our previous runs, both walking around the office with limps. she had something wrong with her hip, i had some pain in one of my ankles. any discomfort disappears when i run though, which is weird. even though there was a chill in the air (temperature in the 50's), i still ran in shorts and t-shirt. i will continue to run like this until the temperature drops to freezing. we ran our usual along the charles, going straight down storrow drive until we got to the exercise station, where we did a few situps/pullups/pushups. we ran behind two girls, one of which was wearing a string-bikini top despite the nippy weather. i watched a man slow down his car on busy storrow drive to honk his appreciation. days like this, i kick myself for not having my camera.

i planned on faking an illness so i could go home early and watch the red sox yankees game at 4pm, but dana and i rigged a makeshift AM antenna for the office stereo and was able to pick up WEEI 850 to listen to the game. i stayed until the 7th inning, boston was down 1-3, i figured they weren't going to win it, but i was still hopeful that i would go home, turn on the game, and discover that the red sox were able to pull out a victory. taking the subway home, going across the longfellow, with fenway park shining in the distance, it felt weird, like right there was this historical battle being fought, and here i am just a few t stops away.

julie came over for our now traditional tuesday night dinner. we made a quick stop to star market to pick up some ingredients, and i went across the street to the liquor store to buy a replacement bottle of red wine, for cooking as well as entertaining. i was telling julie that the last time i bought wine was probably 3 months ago, so i was just buying my quarterly wine. julie made her secret chili recipe, which had elements of spaghetti sauce (lots of tomatoes, fresh ones and canned), but spiced with chili powder and a blend of some other herbs. julie had some issue with the fact that i bite the spoon when i taste tested, which she thought was really weird. she's not the boss of me!

we ate while watching the cubs marlins game, rooting for the cubs, they too a long-suffering ball club, but a cubs win would mean the red sox yankees game would be at 8pm tomorrow in new york instead of 4pm. everything was going well until the 8th inning, when cubs blew a 3-0 lead and the marlins scored 8 runs. my hat goes off for that cubs fan who interfered with that catch that could've saved the inning, perhaps the most hated young man in the city of chicago tonight, even the ghost of ferris bueller couldn't save him from the wrath of cubs fans. at least we're not cubs fans! if red sox fans are hurting tonight, imagine what the cubs fans are feeling?

julie also showed me a snake she had found this past weekend which she kept in a box in the back of her car. we identified it as a northern water snake, it was a big snake, died from an apparent road injury. beautiful red/black/white scales, smells like rotten fish though. julie wanted to throw it away at my place, maybe toss it in the backyard, but i told her no way, she had to dispose of the body herself.

oh, and in case you don't know, the red sox lost this afternoon to the yankees, now we're down 3-2. game 6 is tomorrow. i can't even bear to watch (i won't be able to see it anyway, i'll be at work). wake me when this nightmare is over, i have a weak heart!