ines kasper, you screwed me over! that was the woman i was meeting in brookline early this afternoon to buy all her marbles. i had a hankering for cat's eye marbles last week and once again found someone on craig's list willing to sell them. the original appointed meeting time was yesterday afternoon but i rescheduled due to the rain (not realizing i'd still get soaked regardless). so i waited for her in front of the sol azteca restaurant today for 20 minutes before i gave up and left. it was just $3 for a bag of lousy marbles, but it was a waste of time since she didn't show up. she never left her cell phone number either so there was no way i could contact her, other than through e-mail. it wasn't a complete waste however: i did get a chance to drop by microcenter beforehand and buy the graphic card power cable i needed ($3).
my father showed up in the afternoon bringing with him some rice noodle for lunch. after i finished eating, we went to the restaurant depot and costco to pick up some supplies. i ended up getting another shelving unit for the basement.
taken with motorola krzr cell phone
in the evening zhu lei asked me about winter traveling. apparently he has some relatives in texas he wants to visit during christmas break, but was worried (from news reports he's seen back in china) that a massive snowstorm would grind all air and land traffic to a halt. i reassured him that there's very little chance of that happening, and even if it did, it only affects certain regions, not the entire country.
each additional celtics game i watch, i end up being more excited about the team. tonight the celtics faced off against the miami heat. despite their 1-7 record, the heat is a team with players i actually recognize: alonzo mourning, shaquille o'neal, anfernee hardaway, jason williams, even dwyane wade. i see that line-up (coached by pat riley no less!), and i'd think they'd be the most dominant team in basketball. but here's the thing: i know those guys from when i used to watch basketball many years ago, when they were in their prime. fast-forward to now, and those guys are near retirement age. they have the experience, they have the heart, but their bodies ain't what it used to be. still, the game was pretty closely-matched, which is a testament to their veteran skills, no matter how faded. but like so many games before, the celtics started to build a lead, and at one point the celtics were up by 15 points. by the start of the 4th quarter however, the heat were only down by 10 points, and sensing blood, they managed to tie the game and regain the lead with just minutes to go in the game. the celtics were faltering in the final quarter for whatever reason: maybe they got a little cocky, felt like they had this game won. in the end, the celtics still managed to win, although they squeaked by with just a single point and dwyane wade had the final potential game winning shot. hopefully the celtics can learn from their mistakes to continue their unbeaten streak of 8-0.