i visited client N at allston-brighton this morning at 9am. maybe it was because it was still so early, or just the realization that the deadline is next week, but i was treated much better this time around, getting their undivided attention. we went over the latest revisions, and i got back a new list of tweaks. after the meeting i went to the cafe where i was exchanging the car with the motorcycle (earlier my father had gone down to the watertown registry to update the registration). i immediately took the bike to the motorcycle inspection place in union square. "do you know your idling too hot?" the guy asked me. "oh really?" i replied, having no idea what he was talking about. he fiddled around with a knob underneath the engine and fixed the problem. "$15," he said. with that i officially kick off the start of the 2007 riding season!

with the weather so nice, i was tempted to blow off work and go riding. but responsibility got the better of me and i stayed home and worked, posting a new revision of one of the projects.

when evening rolled around, i went up to ed's place in somerville for a night of empanadas-making and cranium-playing, two things i've never done before. when nobody answered after i rang the doorbell a few times and the upstairs windows seemingly dark, i started to wonder if maybe i had the wrong night. i was about to call eliza to confirm (wouldn't have worked anyway, her phone's broken for the moment) when ed came downstairs to open the door. i turned out to be the first person to arrive, followed by dabney and jason, then nobuko and eliza.

instead of waiting for their french friend allen to arrive (whom i'm told is perpetually late), we started making the empanadas, which to be seemed like a spanish version of the traditional chinese dumplings - except with slightly different fillings and about the size of a folded taco. we made beef ones and chorizo ones, and even special vegetarian ones. jason turned out to be a big red sox fan as well, and when we couldn't get the game (yankees versus red sox game 1) on the AM radio, we'd periodically get scoring updates via computer. dabney, as supportive girlfriend, seemed to be even more into baseball than either jason or myself, and told me that they were going to go see game 3 sunday night, matsuzaka versus the yankees. by the time the empanadas were done baking, that's when alan and his girlfriend thierry and their italian friend paola showed up.

after we had our fill, it was time for cranium, a post-modern party game that's a combination of charades, pictionary, and a slew of other games combined into one. i was on one team with dabney and alan; eliza, nobuko, and ed formed a second time; and jason and the two young ladies formed the third. the best categories were either the ones were you had to act, draw a picture, or make something with clay. we played until 2am, with ed's team finally winning (although my team almost had it).