i thought my weatherpop menubar digital thermometer was broken when i saw that it was reading -1 degrees fahrenheit this morning, with a wind chill of -23 degrees (that's -30 degrees celsius for those of you following the celsius scale). the temperature had steadily gotten colder and colder all week long, and today friday was the coldest. it also just happened to be the day that alex kates and i picked to go running. i didn't think it'd happen, but i brought my running clothes anyway. walking to the train station, it was so windy cold that i was involuntarily moaning the entire way. i saw a people look at my from their warm cars, and i glared back with my "what the hell are you looking at" look. i thought about turning right back home and calling the office, letting them know it was too cold to work. by the time i got to porter station, most of my body was fine except for my cheeks, frozen, painful. when i arrived in south station in boston, columns of white clouds were billowing from rooftops, while on the streets, salty ice melted and froze back again to from strange loops and circles.

we hooked up the ginormous widescreen lcd panel at work today. i couldn't stop staring at it, mesmerized by its sheer size, and imagined working on something like that (it wasn't for one of my projects, i didn't get to play with it).

the day went by pretty fast, and when lunchtime approached, both alex and i decided we would brave an extremely cold run. we got dressed, layers upon layers, hats, gloves, and put skin creme on our face so it wouldn't freeze. when we went out, my legs were cold for a change (usually they're the warmest part of my body), and so was my face. the temperature by then was up to -11 degrees wind chill.

it was a struggle to run, besides the cold, i felt like i was out of breath, like the air inside my lungs was too frigid to provide oxygen to my blood. it was just painful, we were trying to outrun the cold, wincing whenever the wind blew through the tall buildings. my face became numb, i couldn't feel my lips, and the tip of my tongue was starting to sting. we headed to north station, to that key place, to finally pick up those medeco security keys. next we headed east to the north end, to mike's pastries, to pick up some cannolis for all the boys and girls back at the warm office. we then returned to the office, cutting through fanieul hall and the financial district, switching off the heavy box of pastries every so often. when we got to lincoln street i had to stop, i was cold, but i also didn't have the energy to keep on running anymore. after i caught my breath, we ran the remaining few blocks back to the office, exhausted, even though we didn't really run that far. with the cold temperature however, it's like trying to run up a vertical incline. once i got myself properly acclimated to the warmth, i went back out to get some roast pork from the butcher for lunch.

the belated holiday office party we were having for next monday ran into some bad news today: the tiki lounge called us up and said they're not open on mondays. there was some discussion as to an alternative venue, and the majority decided that jillian's would be a suitable choice. i personally hate that place and would rather go to any place else besides jillian's, which is essentially an expensive arcade with bar food. maybe the thought of pay-as-you-play video games might sound like a worthwhile office party substitute, but i have serious doubts. my only salvation is come monday, with everyone back at work, there will be a recount and we will decide to go someplace else at the last minute.

back at home, after going next door to buy some groceries, i started to lasagna for the very first time. i started after 8pm, didn't finish cooking until 10pm, and had my first slice of lasagna close to 11pm, after it'd been baking in the oven for close to an hour.

the recipe itself isn't very hard, but i was in no hurry since i was cooking just for myself, and took my time. during that period my father dropped by briefly to pick up some computer printouts for his vacation. i was amazed to see how much cheese goes into a lasagna, with a container of ricotta cheese as well as a package of mozzarella. ricotta for the filling, mozzarella for the stringy cheese. i didn't trim the lasagna noodles so they sort of stuck out along the edges, which later got charred a little bit. i was surprised there was no extra ingredients, everything went precisely into the recipe, zero waste. besides 45 minutes for the baking, there was another 30 minutes beforehand to simmer the meat/tomato sauce. during the waiting time, i washed the dishes and peeled two pomegranates, leaving me with a bowl full of delicious seeds. the lasagna came out very well for my very first attempt, i had two slices, leaving 4 more for leftover.

later in the evening, i fell asleep on the sofa, stumbling into the bedroom eventually to work with a bigger sleep canvas.