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MAR

01

2009

it was already snowing by the time i woke up, on this first day of march. not a lot, but enough to coat everything in white. my mother called to let me know my sister was coming around to pick me up. before she arrived, i remembered to go down to the basement with a spare 9 volt battery and change out the smoke detector. i was relieved to find it beeping, which confirmed i wasn't just going senile. when my sister showed up, hailey was in the backseat scampering around since they don't really make seat belts for dogs. snow continued to fall, but it was just a prelude to the much bigger blizzard happening later tonight when everyone's asleep. the plow trucks and the sand trucks were amassing on the roads in preparation. for some reason i thought spring started next week (actually, just daylight saving time, beginning next weekend).

my mother had told me over the phone that they were babysitting a friend's dog for the next 2 weeks, a 6 year old boston terrier named tino. i sort of forgot what a boston terrier looks like and i'm not sure if tino would be a classic example. they're not so much terrier as they are a bulldog. tino isn't the prettiest of dogs, not with his bulging eyes and oversized head, but he has a lot of personality. he has a black and white coat but with hints of brownish brindle and polka dots on his face and chest. boston terriers are supposed to have pointy ears but his are droopy. at 35 lbs he's easily overmatched by hailey (60 lbs), but what tino lacks in size, he makes up for in spirit, able to playfight with hailey without any problems. i was surprised how soft his fur was, short hairs like velvet, and not prone to shedding. underneath that he was all muscles, and although i never managed to pick him up, he's much heavier than he looks. stronger too, as i was unable to get him to release a tennis ball from his mouth. as tough as he was, i was kind of worried for him, because after playing with hailey for a little while, he seemed out of breath, panting heavily through his short snout. playing with tino, we realized hailey actually doesn't know her own name. tino snaps to attention when he hears his name, but hailey will often ignore when called, and when she does respond it can be to anything.

i was relieved to find my internet still up when i returned home. it was down this morning, but started working again before i left. i was afraid i'd have to call comcast to schedule a repair, in light of the snowstorm that will blanket cambridge tomorrow. with all this recent downage, i wonder if i can parlay some kind of reimbursement for my many hours of service interrupts? when will verizon FIOS come to town anyway? i really rather surf the web fiber-optically.