i woke up to a list of bugs which i fixed before noontime. in my mind that entitled me to some relaxation for the rest of the day. i made some lunch of canned chicken soup. out in the backyard i couldn't believe my eyes when i saw that one of the tomatoes had turned red. even more startling was some of the habanero peppers had turned red as well. i thought mine were just going to be green, they'd been green for a long time, but it seemed like overnight they just decided to become red.

red habanero

reddening habanero

red tomato

all seemed quiet on the office front (a few new bugs, nothing pressing), so i left for harvard square to visit some bookstores. apparently harvard freshmen arrive this weekend, since soon-to-be-filled empty pavilion tents dotted the campus. i bought a book from the coop, "new england waterfalls," then came back home. along the way, i saw julie's roommate johana, who honked and waved it me from her car.

the neverending bug list was waiting for me when i returned, but i couldn't get myself back into work mode. instead, i tried finding rob's cat, who was already out today but came back, only to run out again when a traveling student magazine salesman disturbed my peace. the cat would appear off and on, at various points around the house. once i saw it sitting on the neighbor's steps, scaring away another cat. then she came back and sat on my doorsteps, but wouldn't come in no matter how much i whistled and tried to bribe her with imaginary food (a girl walked by and laughed when she saw my futile efforts). finally i gave up and rode the motorcycle back to belmont.

i was in belmont to pick up a craig's list purchase, a $40 used weber grill. the woman selling it lived just a few blocks away from my parents' place, and i drove their SUV to go and pick it up. the grill was in pretty new condition, used only for a season, and the woman also gave me a charcoal starter container and a bottle of lighter fluid. back at my parents', i had dinner there for the second consecutive night, senjianbao, before riding back to cambridge. the night air was cold and i shivered whenever i came to a stop light.

rob was home (the cat was not), working with his new friend, the wireless ibook. around 10:30pm we decided to walk out to harvard square, see what kind of action we could get ourselves into. we saw his cat, who decided to follow us, instead of going back home. we kept looking back, and kept on seeing the cat, but finally we were able to give her the slip when we crossed the street 2 blocks later.

harvard square seemed dead for a friday night. it probably just isn't harvard square, much of boston is like this. rob bought a jamaican beef patty, which is a pastry with some ground beef inside. all throughout the night we'd pass by television, whether in store fronts or inside of bars, broadcasting the red sox/mariners game. we walked from harvard square to central square, as far as the middle east (outside, crowded with smokers), then walked back again. we stopped briefly at the people's republic, rob nursing a beer, me a coke. while rob was checking people out, i was too engrossed in the baseball game, playing live on a wall-mounted flatscreen television.

toscanini's 11:06	towing suv 11:36	middle east 11:36
taxi getaway 11:40	people's republic 11:45	bubble ice tea 12:15

we saw his cat briefly on our street hiding underneath a car, but she followed some other couple home, and ignored us despite our whistling (this probably scared the other couple). maybe the cat was confused. or maybe she wants a new home. the game was still on, the red sox ended up beating the mariners. we also watched underworld on HBO. rob fell asleep on the couch and woke up around 3am to go out and look for his cat, who eventually returned.