t
o
n
y
a
n
g
'
s
 
w
e
b
l
o
g


NOV

26

2012

i brought down my 2nd norwegian package to the porter square post office this morning. what was different this time was i'd completed the custom forms online and already paid the postage. i was there basically to drop off the box. it was faster than the normal route of waiting for the postal clerk to type everything into their computer, but still slow because the clerk was slightly confused as to what to do. after scanning in a UPC code that i'd printed out, all the information about the package came up on his screen. he handed me a copy of the stamped custom form as well as a receipt that showed $0.00. he didn't even seem to be concerned if i got the weight right until i asked him about it. it was 12lbs., which was the weight i got when i measured it last night, but not the weight measurement from saturday, when it was 12.2lbs. i ended up adding a few extra ounces just to be safe, but it looks like my bathroom scale is fairly accurate.

from porter square i biked to the cambridge library to return a knitting dvd. coming back, i stopped by market basket to buy another box of panettone. they carried two brands, brazilian bauducco ($5.99) and italian augusta ($6.99). i went with augusta because that's what we had last night.

back at home, i called to make a dentist appointment for next monday. i was kind of dreading it, but glad that i did. the office is in allston, i'll either bike there or take the bus.

afraid i might be out of motorcycle chain lube, i went to greater boston motorsports in arlington to buy a new can. the temperature barely broke 40°F but i wore my mittens which kept my hands relatively warm. the trip went off without any problems, and i savored the last few miles of riding for the year. back in cambridge, i filled up my tank at the hess station. the attendant inside the office was eyeing me suspiciously as i poured stabilizer into the tank as well.

i came home, took a shower, then had some cereal for lunch. i also checked the status of my telephoto lens repair. it finally arrived at canon factory (courtesy of USPS package tracking) but they haven't had time to look it over yet (since it's not in the canon repair database).

Your Item's Status
Your item was delivered at 10:41 am on November 26, 2012 in MONROE TOWNSHIP, NJ 08831.

around 2:00 i left for belmont. i cleared out the back end of the garage in order to make room for the motorcycle. while waiting for my father to get back home, i figured i'd mow the lawn and thereby rake the leaves in the process. but even after i put in some enzyme treatment and more gasoline, the mower wouldn't start. the ripcord was unusually tight for some reason. i finally gave up trying and decided to oil the bike with some WD40 and a rag.

when my father finally got home, we began to prep the bike for storage. first, we changed the oil. it involved crawling on the ground to see underneath the bike and releasing the drainage bolt from the engine. even though i didn't ride very much this year, i was surprised to see how black the engine oil was. once it finished draining, i put back the bolt and we poured new engine oil back into the engine, approximately 2.5 quarts. once that was done, my father jacked up the bike just enough so it was off the ground. we ran the engine for a few minutes to let the oil circulate. during that time i re-greased the chain with lube; there was actually enough left in the old can so i didn't even need to buy a new one. i then turned the fuel petcock to off and let the bike burn off the remaining gasoline left in the carburetor. it actually took longer than expected, even after i revved the engine to get it to burn faster. we lowered the bike, pushed it into the garage, jacked it back up, and wheeled it into its final resting place. i took off the seat to remove the battery, then covered up the bike for the season.

the final mileage on the odometer read 10041 miles. i started the season with 9222 miles, so this year i rode a total of 819 miles.

we're still eating thanksgiving turkey: tonight we had it with some rice noodle soup. when my sister returned home, we also broke open the new panettone. my father ended up giving me a ride back to cambridge.

i bought a few more things online: a 72mm polarizing filter ($34.89) for my soon-to-arrive 18-200mm lens; K&N KN-303 motorcycle oil filter ($10.24); and an assortment of yogi teas (9 different flavors, $27.41).

drew returned from pittsburgh around 9:30. he bought 2 slices of pizza and had it for dinner with a glass of skim milk. he went to bed an hour later, with a big day of teaching tomorrow.